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Kato announce new tram


Fenway Park

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Well most of the modemo articulated trams are in the $90-100 range so this is right there at that price really. i was astounded at the price of $40 (with the pre-order discount from hw) for the tomytec toyama lrvs! i expect the kato will be a bit more refined in look and function and will have the head/tail lights, but you will have to pay for that!

 

cheers

 

jeff

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granted they aint cheap and its a &$#@ habit to get hooked on! i left a small tub of like 12-15 trams at a small local train meeting (far away so took a while to get them back) and i realized it was like $1000 worth of trams in this rather small tub...

 

cheers

 

jeff

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My experience with the Tomytec train collection stuff is that they're pretty highly detailed. I'm not really sure what more KATO could do as so far as details go, though I will be willing to guess the running gear is going to be a lot better than the Tomytec stuff.

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Luckily for me the Tomytec Tram is going on a DC auto-reverse line otherwise I wouldn't consider it.

 

Alpine - Recently there have been so many nice look trains on eBay with very good prices and it is soooo tempting but when I see that it's Tomix and I'm running DCC,  I just can't click on the "Buy it Now" icon or bid on it.  :dontknow:

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Just an update.  HW Japan has gladly cancelled my pre-order for Tomytec.  I am now looking forward to the Kato's one.

 

Has Kato given a suggested retail price on their Tram?

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thats on par with the modemo articulated trams. better than the hodel hiroshima and nagasaki articulated trams!

 

cheers

 

jeff

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Hobby Dreamer - Are you planning on purchasing the Kato Tram and the track set?

And on behalf of the forum thank you for the compliment.

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Martijn Meerts

Cheaper trains with less detail are necessary to get children into the hobby. Parents don't want to buy expensive models with lots of small details that'll just come off when the kid plays with them.

 

Maklin made the mistake of doing only extremely expensive high detail models, running them in limited quantities.. The only people buying them are collectors who never run the trains. Parents won't buy them for their kids because they're way too expensive. Marklin has been fighting bankruptcy for about 10 years now.

 

 

As for the trams, I have 3 of the Tomytec ones on pre-order. They'll be my first Tomytec trains. I'm not too worried about the detail, because in my case, the trams are secondary to the trains.

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Alpine - As you stated, I think you just started a new and interesting topic, it should be a new thread for discussion.

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I think what will be interesting is the sales of the Portram in Japan. The percentages of that buy the Kato version compared to the Tomytec.

 

I some ways it reminds me of the early Bachmann models a few years back, but in reverse. Bachmann offered a less expensive line but it was of poor quality, with as a result gave them a "poor quality" reputation. To combat this rep., they came out with the higher quality Spectrum line of Bachmann trains, but it's taken them a long time (and some modelers still think their not up to par of other manufactures) to get rid of this reputation. 

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I do really understand Alpine's worry about relaxing standards in design, quality, and production. its happening all over the place. design has been in a real downward spiral with most things being a quick xerox/cad knockoff of the previous thing out.

 

My hope is the model train industry in japan has enough pressures on it to maintain these different levels of product as its a pretty large and robust market. All of the main companies have been in the game a long time and seem pretty well committed to it so hopefully they will not spiral down to junk. Other companies also do not seem to be trying to bash into this market with really cheap junk. i think with the established players and each with their own strong niches make it hard for someone to invade this market.

 

also worth putting your money where you think the quality is and not where it is not. also worth giving them feedback. while this is hard to do with japanese companies, probably worth the trouble to at least try and send in support letters for products you think really stand out and you are happy with! manufacturers dont get a lot of positive feedback on their products other than them selling well. they dont always know why something is popular, so telling them that quality and detail is important to you and why you spent your money on their product helps re-enforce what they did right and hopefully do that again in the next product. They do get an earful and usually know what is wrong when there is a problem!

 

I too like a few more poignant and meaty threads like this as well. this one made me do a step back and look at all the stuff we have in the hobby and what the players might to be doing as well as make me appreciate all over again why i do the hobby and how lucky i was to stumble into japanese trains!

 

cheers

 

jeff

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Hobby Dreamer

Hi Guys..

 

I was thinking about what I like and dislike about the new trams (Kato or Tomix);

 

Likes:

- modern tram that has a universal look

- Japanese quality

- reasonably priced - you get what you pay for in either version

- the colour white is perfect for N scale; and there are several variations of the door colours

- looks as though it could handle tight curves

- working lights on the Kato version

 

Dislikes:

- it appears to be left hand doors only (hope I am wrong)

- the top of the joint between the cars looks weird - on the prototype many of the parts would not seem so thick

 

If Kato makes tram track that has numerous possible configurations then I would be tempted for a multi-car layout. I wonder about this because the Portrams are low floor trams Kato has either to develop tram track or some form of low platform; or likely have customers buy Tomix track.

 

There is always concern about price/quality but if you snoop around the internet there are a couple of German tram makers. First, their prices are about 3 times not counting the shipping. And, even if the quality is on par or better there is really only a small support. And product availability is not assured.

 

Its too hot in the summer to actually do hobbying but its a great time to plan.

 

Cheers

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More info from N Gauge Blog  3 versions of tram in red blue and green plus Starter Set and Base Set. Looks like there will be Unitram track. Dummy catenary poles included, centre type.

 

Starter Set 32,550 Yen

 

Base Set 18,900 Yen

 

Trams are 9975 Yen.

 

I except there will be further details over the next few days.

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CaptOblivious

More info from N Gauge Blog  3 versions of tram in red blue and green plus Starter Set and Base Set. Looks like there will be Unitram track. Dummy catenary poles included, centre type.

 

Starter Set 32,550 Yen

 

Base Set 18,900 Yen

 

Trams are 9975 Yen.

 

I except there will be further details over the next few days.

 

 

 

Got a link? I know lots of people are dying to know more about the possibility of Unitrack tram track (Unitram?).

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