hello from Spartanburg, SC USA

[ronin]

Hello, my name is Eric, and I recently found this forum and wanted to introduce myself.  It is nice to see so much interest, outside of Japan (as well as inside), in Japanese trains.  I first visited Japan 25~30 years ago and brought some N gauge trains home as part of my souvenirs from the trip.  I have done this ever since.  I lived over there for a couple of years as well and visited as recently as a couple of weeks ago where I was now able to get my son excited about all things train related.  He's 10 so it wasn't a hard sell.

 

My father had a decent N gauge collection from before I was born so N gauge was an easy choice, and I was thankful Japan was heavy into N gauge.  

 

I generally focused (and continue to focus) on trains I have been able to ride, but don't limit myself to that if I find something I am really interested in.  I lived close to Tokyo, in Chiba prefecture, so most, if not all, of my trains are from around that area or at least originate from there.  When I was a poor student I bought only individual cars as a sampling and to show my dad.  As I got older, and had a real job, I was able to start buying some sets which was really nice.

 

My current line up consists of the following:

 

From my first trip (summer of '89 or '90):

 

Tomix 2814 JNR Shinkansen type 123

Tomix 2820 JNR Shinkansen type 124

Tomix 2307 JR kuha481

Kato 407 JR moro181

Tomix 2743 JR Freight taki5450 (tank car)

Tomix 2752 JNR Freight chi1 (log car)

 

While I lived in Japan (1991~93):

 

Kato 4006-4 JR kuha103 canary yellow (local commuter car)

Tomix 2389 JR moha112-1500 (rapid commuter car)

Green Max 409 Keisei 3500 4 car set kit (local commuter train)

Green Max 604 Enoden 2 car set kit

 

During subsequent visits in the late '90s or 2000s:

 

Tomix 2388 JR moha112-1500 (rapid commuter car, motorized)

Kato 4147 JR sero124 (rapid commuter car, double decker)

Green Max 413 JR111(115) 4 car set kit (large headlight version)

Tomix 92605 OER LSE Series 7000 11 car set

Kato 10-399 E26 Cassiopeia 6 car set +

   Kato 3021-4 EF81 Cassiopeia version drive unit

 

During most recent visit, July, 2017:

 

Tomix 90163 JR E5 Hayabusa basic set (4 car train and track set, layout A)

Tomix 91064 track layout D

Tomix 91012 track layout B

Tomix 92489 JR E6 Super Komachi 3 car set

Micro Ace A-0626 JR 115-300 6 car set (rapid commuter train)

Tomix 92097 JR 103 4 car set (local commuter train)

Kato 10-1119 JR 115-800 5 car set (including motorized car)

Micro Ace A-7683 Keisei 3300 4 car set (local commuter train)

 

I've got a smattering of things like a station with platform, some people and other misc. stuff, but mainly rolling stock and most recently some nice, new track to run this stuff on.  As you can tell, my most recent trip to Japan I really spurged on train related stuff.  Took my son to the National Railroad museum and got to ride the Keisei Skyliner and 2 different Shinkansen in one day, not to mention seeing all the trains at the museum and even whatever rolled by on the tracks next to the museum, which included a brief view of the new E001 Shikishima long distance train.  That was awesome as I had no idea what it was at the time I saw it, I just knew it was really cool looking and looked it up later that night.

 

A hobby store in Akihabara ended up being my favorite place to go for new trains at discounted prices and a super large Book-Off in Funabashi, Chiba had a nice selection of used trains at even better prices.

 

Sorry for the long winded intro, hope it wasn't too boring.  I am looking forward to hanging out and learning more.

Take care,

Eric

Edited August 8, 2017 by ronin

[cteno4]

Welcome Eric!

 

Glad you found us! It's a fun place and lots of folks with similar interests to yours. Glad your son is getting interested in all things trains!

 

Enjoy!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

[JR 500系]

Welcome Eric! It's nice to see a roster post in an introductory message! Thanks for sharing!

 

At first glance, I thought it was a sale going on and I got a little excited... haha  :P

[ronin]

Thanks for the warm welcome!  I don't claim to know much, but will try and help where I can and plan to ask random questions as well.

 

Wish I were closer to DC, a Japan Rail modelers club sounds like a great place to hang out.

 

Nothing for sale at this time, but I was hoping someone would find something interesting in the list or that it might help to strike up a conversation.

 

Have a great day,

Eric

Edited August 8, 2017 by ronin

[Sascha]

Welcome to the forum Eric.

[cteno4]

Eric,

 

Yell if you get north or come visit when we have a show! We've had visitors come for show from around the us and even from Europe and Japan!

 

Jeff

[miyakoji]

Hi Eric, welcome to the forum :)