Hello from southern New Jersey, USA

[VonRyan]

Hi all! I'm Cody. I'm an avid N-scaler in the southern end of New Jersey, USA. I've been into N since i started modeling when I was only 3 years old, nearly 19 years ago. My interests are pretty varied, but they are fairly specific. While I don't model any of the Japanese railways at the moment, I do have a general interest in small Japanese narrow gauge railways, and I'm also interested in the railways of Japan as a whole but specifically pre-1945.

 

The list of what I currently model is as follows:

Rural Ireland (various narrow gauge railways) - 1940s

Pennsylvania Railroad - 1939-1944

Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines - 1939-1956

Great Western Railway - 1930-1948

Soviet Railways (SZD) - 1960s-1980s

 

I don't really have a home layout, but I am a member of a local N-Trak club.

 

However, I do have an 11in x 17in Nn3 layout titled "Killashandra" which depicts the rural countryside of Ireland during the 1940s. I've attached a photo of the layout to this post.

 

Technically it could be said that I have done some modeling of the Kubiki Light Railway, as the only coach my Nn3 layout is a Toma Model Works kit of the "Coach HA6" that I had miraculously found on the US eBay. As I understand it, Toma kits are just about impossible to find second hand. I was suprised to find this one, and it was even in the US already. It also seems like Toma no longer makes their etched brass narrow gauge kits, as they don't list any of their old kits (or any brass Nn3 kits for that matter) on their website, which is a shame because I desperately need 3 more of them for my layout. If the clerestory part of the roof is left off, they are very close to coaches that were in use on the Schull & Skibbereen Tramway in Ireland.

 

 

Anyhow, that's it for my long-winded introduction.

Thanks for having me aboard!

 

-Cody F.

[cteno4]

Cody,

 

Welcome to the madhouse! Glad you found the forum. I think you will find many kindred souls here and a great place to discuss Japanese trains! Nice little nn3 layout?

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Azamiryou]

Hi Cody, glad you're here!

[velotrain]

Hi Cody -

 

Nn3 tends to be rare anywhere, with much of what's out there representing the Colorado lines.  In general, the Toma site doesn't show much in stock at the moment.

Their Japanese site lists their planned releases for this year: 

 

You might be able to locate older kits on the Yahoo Japan auction site.

 

Showcase Miniatures is offering Class B and C Shay kits on eBay, which need the Power Max / Sea Rails Power Truck.  They don't have any drive shaft - which isn't actually continuous - motion, but otherwise look good.

Edited May 10, 2017 by velotrain

[velotrain]

Hi Cody -

 

Nn3 tends to be rare anywhere.  In general, the Toma site doesn't show much in stock at the moment.  Their Japanese site lists their planned releases for this year:

http://tomamw.cart.fc2.com/

 

You might be able to locate older kits on the Yahoo Japan auction site.

 

Showcase Miniatures is offering Class B and C Shay kits, which need the Power Max / Sea Rails Power Truck.  They don't have any drive shaft - which isn't actually continuous - motion, but otherwise look good.

 

[miyakoji]

Welcome to the forum Cody!

[VonRyan]

Hi Cody -

 

Nn3 tends to be rare anywhere. In general, the Toma site doesn't show much in stock at the moment. Their Japanese site lists their planned releases for this year:

http://tomamw.cart.fc2.com/

 

You might be able to locate older kits on the Yahoo Japan auction site.

 

Showcase Miniatures is offering Class B and C Shay kits, which need the Power Max / Sea Rails Power Truck. They don't have any drive shaft - which isn't actually continuous - motion, but otherwise look good.

While even as a whole Nn3 is not all that common, I wouldn't say that it's exactly rare either. Now Irish Nn3 on the other hand is pretty rare to see. My layout "Killashandra" is one of only two Irish Nn3 layouts that I know of, with the other being Mark Fielder's "An Clar".

 

I know of the kits that Showcase Miniatures is offering, but being Shays, and of US prototype, they have no use in 1940s rural Ireland.

 

The rolling stock on my layout currently, other than the Toma coach kit, are all Peco N6.5 wagon kits that I bought second-hand from a gentleman in the U.K. and put onto modified chassis from Märklin Z-scale Talbot hoppers. The locomotive is a Märklin z-scale 0-6-0 chassis with a Peco N6.6 whitemetal saddle-tank body kit on top.

[Sascha]

Welcome to the Forum!!

[ToniBabelony]

Welcome! I've been doing a bit of N-narrow (somewhat Japanese) and Nm (Dutch/German steam trams) in the past (basically the same as Nn3), but still wanting to do more with it soon again. The main problem is coming by good power units, but so far the best I've come past is the US made PowerMAX. Limited and quite expensive, but very very high quality stuff! All the things I've done were all 3D printed and designed by me, so it's nothing too fancy.

 

As for Toma kits (or any Japanese model train product for that matter). There is usually one production run and that's it. Some manufacturers might do a second run on things if there is a high demand, but for small manufacturers this is usually not the case. Toma Works I believe have ventured into the HO-narrow and O-narrow markets, with a new C-tank engine coming up very soon for N-scale as an exception to the rule. Nn3/Nm/N-narrow stuff is also very very rare here as well, as most narrow gauge modellers choose HO over N because of the already existing market and the resources that can be had from the massive N scale market. I'll try to keep an eye out, as I always keep an eye out for N-narrow stuff, but I can't make promises (I also want them xD).

Edited May 10, 2017 by Kabutoni

[VonRyan]

Welcome! I've been doing a bit of N-narrow (somewhat Japanese) and Nm (Dutch/German steam trams) in the past (basically the same as Nn3), but still wanting to do more with it soon again. The main problem is coming by good power units, but so far the best I've come past is the US made PowerMAX. Limited and quite expensive, but very very high quality stuff! All the things I've done were all 3D printed and designed by me, so it's nothing too fancy.

 

As for Toma kits (or any Japanese model train product for that matter). There is usually one production run and that's it. Some manufacturers might do a second run on things if there is a high demand, but for small manufacturers this is usually not the case. Toma Works I believe have ventured into the HO-narrow and O-narrow markets, with a new C-tank engine coming up very soon for N-scale as an exception to the rule. Nn3/Nm/N-narrow stuff is also very very rare here as well, as most narrow gauge modellers choose HO over N because of the already existing market and the resources that can be had from the massive N scale market. I'll try to keep an eye out, as I always keep an eye out for N-narrow stuff, but I can't make promises (I also want them xD).

In due time, the PowerMax chassis won't be the only game in town. There's a gentleman I know here in the US who is working on building some smaller, heavier, and quieter Nn3 chassis. From what I've been told, it should be only a bit more costly than the PowerMax, if not the same price.

 

I don't have the time or the wherewithal to learn enough CAD to be able to do any 3D printing, nor the budget to hire a draftsman, so I'm limited to kits, and not many kits can be used for Irish narrow gauge, let alone the small size and tight radii of my layout.

 

And I appreciate your willingness to keep an eye out for the Toma coach kits. And if you happen to come across a kit of anything that looks kinda close to the breakvan in this photo, that would fill a huge gap in my rolling stock roster since the one thing I don't have is a breakvan/guards-van.

 

Edited May 10, 2017 by VonRyan

[ToniBabelony]

I don't have the time or the wherewithal to learn enough CAD to be able to do any 3D printing, nor the budget to hire a draftsman, so I'm limited to kits, and not many kits can be used for Irish narrow gauge, let alone the small size and tight radii of my layout.

 

I'm also working with tight radii, so all my rolling stock is made for this type of operation. However, I mainly have developed all on a sort of whim, so it's not 100% perfect and rather amateurish:

 

 

And I appreciate your willingness to keep an eye out for the Toma coach kits. And if you happen to come across a kit of anything that looks kinda close to the breakvan in this photo, that would fill a huge gap in my rolling stock roster since the one thing I don't have is a breakvan/guards-van.

 

I have yet to find something like this, but I guess I can modify some of my rolling stock in 3D to resemble this. Another manufacturer you might not have heard of is Pairhands from Tochigi prefecture that produce a handful of N-narrow rolling stock: http://pairhands.c.ooco.jp/narrow.htm They're also not too serious models, but they're rather cheap. I've not purchased one yet, but will probably do so later again when I regain interest in N-narrow modelling.

 

P.s. I'm looking forward to this new power unit in development! If it's smaller than the PowerMAX that'd be amazing! I was already deeply impressed by the performance and size PowerMAX, so I can only imagine what something smaller would be like.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Kabutoni

[VonRyan]

I'm also working with tight radii, so all my rolling stock is made for this type of operation. However, I mainly have developed all on a sort of whim, so it's not 100% perfect and rather amateurish:

 

 

 

I have yet to find something like this, but I guess I can modify some of my rolling stock in 3D to resemble this. Another manufacturer you might not have heard of is Pairhands from Tochigi prefecture that produce a handful of N-narrow rolling stock: http://pairhands.c.ooco.jp/narrow.htm They're also not too serious models, but they're rather cheap. I've not purchased one yet, but will probably do so later again when I regain interest in N-narrow modelling.

 

P.s. I'm looking forward to this new power unit in development! If it's smaller than the PowerMAX that'd be amazing! I was already deeply impressed by the performance and size PowerMAX, so I can only imagine what something smaller would be like.

I haven't heard of Pairhands before, but one of their kits (number N-205) looks quite useful, but I don't seen any way to order them. I could definitely make use of 2 or 3 of those kits.

 

And I've actually seen your YouTube videos before! It's great to finally be able to meet the person who made them. I've watched probably all of your N-narrow videos at least twice. Whenever I find myself lacking in motivation for my Nn3 projects, I end up rewatching vaious prototype and modeling videos to get my brain going again.