People’s Republic of China N Scale trains

[ND5-2]

I finished adding detailed parts on my Charming HXD3 and HXD3C. The handrail is thinner than I thought. Overall looks good, but the small parts are very easy to lose. The HXD3 wipers cannot perfectly fit with the holes on the shell. I reduced the width of the wipers to fit them into the holes.

My photography skill is not very good. Sorry about that.

 

Something common in real life. The locomotive engineer turns on headlights and red marker lights at the same time. 

I changed the head lights color to cold white. Some HXD3Cs have LED head lights instead of halogen lights.

 

The rubber bands on the wheels increase the traction force a lot. They are very helpful when you run some heavy and long trains.

[disturbman]

5 hours ago, ND5-2 said:

The HXD3 wipers cannot perfectly fit with the holes on the shell. I reduced the width of the wipers to fit them into the holes.

Jeff, @cteno4, gave another method to do this. It's possible to carefully enlarge pre-drilled holes by using dental reamers. These are manual drill bits that progressively enlarge, you just need to find the correct one and then slowly enlarge the hole to fit. Less risk of breaking tiny plastic bits.

You are running DCC?

[cteno4]

Yeah these little dental reamers help in this situation. You can gently enlarge the holes. It’s also a tiny bit tapered so the shaft will pressure fit and the hole does not need to be spot on perfect to pressure fit. Handy little tools!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254827626999?epid=13003229426&hash=item3b54e901f7:g:ggoAAOSwZMNffRHC

if duty and customs is a real hassle on stuff like this search ebay for an in country seller, these goobers are pretty universal in use.

 

jeff

[ND5-2]

8 hours ago, disturbman said:

You are running DCC?

Yes. DCC allows me to run multiple trains on one track with one controller. This is especially helpful when I need to run double-heading trains. The wipers are etching parts, which are stronger than plastic parts. Changing wiper size is safer than drilling on the shell. In addition, there is one extra pair of wipers that comes with the detail parts.

[cteno4]

With the reamers you just enlarge the hole very gently and you can do a tiny bit at a time and test to get things just perfect. Also with the slight taper it really does make the perfect hole to pressure fit stuff into w.o having to force the part. Many times if the hole was there pre painting it’s just a tad of paint in the hole which the reamer is especially good at removing gently.

 

jeff

[ND5-2]

Thanks for your advice, Jeff. Personally, I would rather adjust the 6 wipers than enlarge the hole on the only housing. I don't have perfect hand-on skills. If I made any mistakes during the drilling process, it would be a disaster. 

[cteno4]

It’s not really drilling, the reamers are just like a tiny round file you put into the hole and twist gently and it just enlarges a very tiny bit. Not like trying to drill out with the next size up bit. It takes way less skill to do this than trying to reduce the shafts on detail parts which is way more tricky and easy to mess up.

 

you can experiment with these just drill some small holes in a piece of styrene to practice, very simple and easy and works like a charm and used it for many years now on many many detail parts. Making the hole a tiny bit conical also helps with the insertion and pressure fit of the pat shaft. Give it a whirl.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[disturbman]

The Modu Factor 25B double decker coaches that @Nozomi329had announced have made it to TaoBao, I believe for pre-orders. But Im unsure. At the moment only the light blue and white livery of the Shanghai-Nanjing Express are available, it's a five-car set.

https://s.taobao.com/search?q=25B魔都

Somebody also reposted pictures of the manufacturer's booklet. I would be happy to see more liveries be released.

https://tieba.baidu.com/p/7616251864?pn=1

[gavino200]

Lots of great Chinese releases. I really need to find a guide to Chinese railways to understand how the rail network is laid out. I'd really like to pick a region and build a Chinese collection. At the moment I have really no idea what any of the liveries mean.

[disturbman]

Picking a region and building up a Chinese collection shouldn't be too difficult. Locomotives are always produced in five to twenty versions, each with a different running number and with their administrative region noted. Passenger car sets by Kunter and now Modu Factor are of specific trains and routes. You can then match a specific set to a locomotives. Freight cars are less of a problem, and gondolas seems ubiquitous.

For making up consists, http://www.trainnets.com/ can be a good reference. They have a database of locomotives, freight and passenger cars. If you click on the [locomotive name] or [car name] tag at the top of the page of each page in the database, the site brings up all the pictures tagged with this name. Like here, for the SS8, http://www.trainnets.com/archives/tag/ss8.

What I parsed about the diverse colors are, other will correct me, that the liveries are roughly regional for the bi-level cars, except for the orange livery, with different railway administrations having different liveries. For single-level cars, the situation is a bit different. You can roughly separate them in time periods, but some routes or specific series had their own specific liveries, like the BSP cars. Before 2007 (iirc), the type 25 passenger cars where mostly white and red, and have now been repainted to the green and golden livery.

You will see that the pictures on trainnets show a lot of flexibility in consists, with cars and locomotives being often freely mixed together.

edit: For those wanting to browse/buy Chinese trains, here are my saved Taobao searches:
1. https://s.taobao.com/search?q=迷拟堂 (Minitown)

2. https://s.taobao.com/search?q=kunter (Kunter)

3. https://s.taobao.com/search?q=25B魔都 (Modu Factor)

And Charming's N scale product page:
https://rmco.taobao.com/category-1611306087.htm

I have no links for the last N scale manufacturer *CMR(, as I have read too many bad reviews of their locomotive.

Edited November 21, 2021 by disturbman

[Nozomi329]

On 11/19/2021 at 5:47 PM, disturbman said:

I believe for pre-orders.

Correct, current estimate delivery is before February 2022 (as shown by one of the Taobao dealers) for the first set A.

Also according to the item description, 4 different liveries are planned, with each of them coming in set A and set B. The one currently opening to preorder is set A of the Shanghai-Nanjing service. The other 3 versions seems to be all in orange-white livery but I'm also not 100% sure. According to that booklet, the full consist of these 4 versions are 11~16 cars.

set A is said to come out soon, while set B is currently expected to come in later half of 2022.

 

On 11/19/2021 at 7:09 PM, gavino200 said:

I'd really like to pick a region and build a Chinese collection.

Well...China is huge and so is the railway, and the currently available N scale models are so few comparing to what's running.

disturbman offered great tips. I'll have a introduction to the trains here based on what is currently available (Or has been produced). Like any railway, one can always find some special cases, but I'm trying to create a general ideas of these trains, since you are trying to "pick a region".

 

Minitown

DF8B: Universal freight focused diesel locomotive seen all around China.

DF11: Universal passenger diesel locomotive seen all around China for all types of services.

DF11G: An express specific diesel locomotive. Slightly less common than DF11 and mostly seen in eastern parts.

DF11Z: Special duty diesel loco. How special? Kim Jun-un's special train. It has been seen everywhere, but rare sights.

BSP25T coaches: The production is specifically for a train between Beijing and Shanghai. Similar coach type is used on several major services, but not the most common train cars. Top speed 160km/h.

 

Kunter

CRH380AL: Common high speed train but seen more south from Beijing.

CRH2A: Common high speed train but seen more south from Beijing.

SS9G: Universal passenger electric locomotive seen mostly in eastern parts. Used to be express focused but now more and more seen on slower services.

25G series passenger cars: Currently he most common passenger train car in China. Seen everywhere. Top speed 120km/h for slower services.

25K series: still common but not as much as 25G. Seen everywhere. Top speed 140km/h for slightly faster services.

25T series: Common express train cars, basically a domestic version of BSP25T. Seen everywhere. Top speed 160km/h.

25Z series: Rare express train cars. The two versions are for Guangzhou and Shanghai. Top speed 160km/h.

S25B: double decker cars for slower services. Different liveries for different regions, less common. Top speed 120km/h.

S25K: double decker cars for faster services. Different liveries for different regions, less common. Top speed 140km/h.

 

Modu factor

S25B series: same as above but theirs are modeled for an earlier time period (before 2000).

 

Charming model

6K: freight focused electric locomotive mostly appear around Zhengzhou.

8K: freight focused electric locomotive mostly appear around Beijing-Datong.

HXD3C/CA: C is a passenger/freight dual usage electric locomotive. CA is a freight only version. Seen all over China.

HXD3: freight electric locomotive seen all over China.

 

CMR

DF4B: Dual usage diesel locomotive. It's the SD40 of China.

22 series coach: The old generation of passenger cars. Appeared everywhere but mostly phasing out now.

 

The freight cars from any brand is good for all regions.

 

That's about it. See? There're so few of them that I can write a summary in one page. 😜

I don't want to dictate your models but if you have any concerns or interest please let me know.

Here are some websites about the prototypes (and even models!) in English and Japanese:

https://www.chinesemodeltrains.com/website-information

http://www.railography.co.uk/lands/lands.htm

http://tentetsuki.info/china/pc/top.htm

[disturbman]

5 hours ago, Nozomi329 said:

China is huge and so is the railway,

Exactly. China's size on world maps is deceptive, China is in my opinion a continent in itself. It's noticeably when you finally travel there.

What I appreciate with the Chinese railway is the diversity of rolling stock you can get at large stations. Traffic is not as segregated as in Japan, and all types of trains share tracks there. This picture from Guangzhou station is a good example: http://www.trainnets.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/QFA8152-C02A0976-2.jpg

Gavin, if you want to keep your options open, you could pick models from Beijing or Shanghai. They see a lot of different traffic and rolling-stock, and it's been easy to find models from these regions. In any case, depending on the regions, you can always find consists that are in transit.

The difficulty would be to find the exact models as Chinese manufacturers produce in relatively small batches and a lot of models have very low availability at the moment. Charming's HXD3s (both models) and 6K are almost fully sold out, same for Kunter and Minitown locomotives and sets.

 

Minitown is re-releasing their BSP sets, but it's expensive and quite big. Kunter just released their CRH2A and their line up of coaches have not seen a re-run or new announcement in a while. I fully expect Charming to release something of importance soon, maybe a new locomotive, or their first high-speed set. It would be time, they had a very quiet month, just releasing batches of containers.

[Nozomi329]

After a month of quiet in Chinese N scale,  Kunter made a more formal announcement for their limited version of CRH2A here: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zUuK7mKc_4U9C4QJDKxydQ

The model itself is mostly the same with previous release. This limited version features paint scheme from 2007 when the train was first put into service. That paint scheme is slightly different from the current version, mainly in the front and the roof.

Limited release of only 145 sets. Good luck finding one if you want...

[gavino200]

I finally got to run my Hexie. There was an initial disappointment with this train. Kunter changed the coupling mechanism between releasing the basic and add-on sets. They weren't fully compatible. I sold the original basic set and bought the improved basic set. Now the train runs perfectly. Smooth, fast, reliable. No uncoupling. No derailments. Probably one of my best trains.

 

 

 

[Axl]

On 12/24/2021 at 6:07 PM, gavino200 said:

I finally got to run my Hexie. There was an initial disappointment with this train. Kunter changed the coupling mechanism between releasing the basic and add-on sets. They weren't fully compatible. I sold the original basic set and bought the improved basic set. Now the train runs perfectly. Smooth, fast, reliable. No uncoupling. No derailments. Probably one of my best trains.

 

 

 

Hi, 

 

my two CRH380 sets arrived as a Christmas present :) 
Lights are already installed and the train is running very smooth...I was just wondering about the DCC sticker on the box. 
Does anybody know if there are versions with included decoders? 🤔 I didn't have the confidence to place the motor car on the track of programming. 

[gavino200]

4 hours ago, Axl said:

Hi, 

 

my two CRH380 sets arrived as a Christmas present 🙂
Lights are already installed and the train is running very smooth...I was just wondering about the DCC sticker on the box. 
Does anybody know if there are versions with included decoders? 🤔 I didn't have the confidence to place the motor car on the track of programming. 

 

Hmm. I wasn't aware it had a decoder. I had assumed it didn't and was prepared to install. I'll post the process when/if I do.

 

I wouldn't worry about placing a loco on the programming track to read it. The programming track uses very low voltage. It won't damage anything.

[Nozomi329]

5 hours ago, Axl said:

I was just wondering about the DCC sticker on the box. 
Does anybody know if there are versions with included decoders?

I don't think Kunter has ever had anything with factory installed DCC. Can you take a picture of the sticker so I can see what it says?

[Axl]

I tried it with google translate and it says "could not be used with DCC"...I'll place it on the programming track in the afternoon and will double check. 

Here is the sticker:

 

[Yavianice]

Most likely this refers to that they do not recommend using the interior lighting with more than 12V, so it might not be compatible with DCC systems. By the way, can you make a picture of the interior light? I wonder what brand or system they used.

Edited December 30, 2021 by Yavianice

[gavino200]

I wonder if that interior lighting was installed by a third party. Mine doesn't have it.

[Nozomi329]

9 hours ago, Axl said:

could not be used with DCC

Yep, Google got it right this time.

 

7 hours ago, Yavianice said:

do not recommend using the interior lighting with more than 12V

I don't think Kunter ever had any factory installed interior lights either. The sticker just says "lights included", instead of a specific "interior lights included", so I guess this refers to the headlight and taillight rather than interior lights.

 

6 hours ago, gavino200 said:

interior lighting was installed by a third party

I am aware of one Chinese dealer that offers interior light installation but I don't think they add additional stickers. I could be wrong though...

[Axl]

As I'm not at home at the moment, I'm not able to take pictures, but all cars have lights already installed. (Cabin lights and switching head and taillights)

I'll post the pictures later on. 

 

A friend of mine ordered it, i asked him for contact details. The seller also speaks englisch, so it should be easier for me to get in contact 🙂 
I'll also ask if he offers the installation of DCC decoders on behalf. Could be also an option for me. 

 

Back home and here we go: 

Edited December 30, 2021 by Axl
pictures added

[Yavianice]

These are Densha.Me lights which are not compatible with more than 12V if memory serves. Pretty sure that that is what the sticker indicates, because it clearly refers to the interior light type by name.

[disturbman]

I don't think they are. The board does not fully match the pictures of densha.me's TOG2 boards: https://yimg.orientalexpress.jp/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/98750_485-89.jpg

Also, all boards of Charming locomotives are labelled TOG II. I think TOG II must be another denomination, maybe a label or type of electronic board.

Edited December 31, 2021 by disturbman

[disturbman]

If I read it correctly Kunter is realeasing its CRH2-022A (10-304L) now and partially via direct sale. Only very limited numbers are available. Payment by January 2 will see the train shipped by January 4.

 

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/kqpc2qTPjsNX9T7ie3spBA

 

The set is also available via https://www.facebook.com/CNRailModel/posts/943799372912220 in HK.

Edit: CNRailModel is also accepting reservations for the new 25B double-decker sets by ModuFactor in orange/cream, https://www.facebook.com/CNRailModel/posts/943805549578269

Edited January 1, 2022 by disturbman