G'day from sunny Perth, Australia.

[TRod]

Having always owned a HO train set since my first memories it's time to get what l have wanted for a long time. N gauge! Not a huge choice here in remote Western Oz.

Travelling to Osaka and Tokyo over new years for two weeks and have a budget of around 95,000 Yen. Ohhhhh yeah!

I've planned my 2.5 loop layout with scenic branch and shunting yard.120cm by 220cm.

Going modern but not Shinkansen, one nice cruise style passenger and one goods style like EF210 and some oil tankers.

I'm late 40's and enjoy woodwork, motorbikes, stargazing and Pink Floyd.

Had my heart set on DCC but may have to settle for good old dc for the foreseable future.

I will make it to the Kato shop when it opens after the holiday period but Imon in Shibuya will be getting most of my money.

Kyoto rail museum is on the list also.

Until then I'll keep reading all the good idea and advice on here.

Cheers. Rod.

 

[marknewton]

From another Australian - although on the other side of the country - welcome to the forum, Rod. Sounds like you have your holiday plans well sorted. 

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[cteno4]

Rod,

 

glad you dound us and are diving into Japanese n scale. Think you will find it provides a lot of variety and interesting things to model. Train quality and prices are also nice! Keep us posted on your progress!

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

ps Pink Floyd goes well with modeling!

[chadbag]

Welcome, and enjoy the trip and trains!

 

[katoftw]

Hello.

 

Sounds like a awesome trip. You'll get snow for xmas.

 

Don't worry about nothing being available close to home.  Online buy from Japan and get sooper dooper cheap shipping.

Edited December 12, 2018 by katoftw

[TRod]

On 12/13/2018 at 6:13 AM, katoftw said:

Hello.

 

Sounds like a awesome trip. You'll get snow for xmas.

 

Don't worry about nothing being available close to home.  Online buy from Japan and get sooper dooper cheap shipping.

Yes looking forward to a train trip out of Kyoto up the mountains in the snow hopefully.

Taking the Shinkansen (not Nozomi 😞 ) Osaka-Tokyo-Fukuoka-Osaka. My first time to Japan, just love the style of their railways.

While it's still cheaper to buy online from Aust and pay the GST (tax) in Aust, than buy local , my partner is Japanese so future trips are almost guaranteed.

I've used XTrack to design my layout, had to use some odd pieces of UniTrack but it all joined up in the end.

I'll hopefully get the EF210 starter set plus some more freight/oil cars and something like the E257 Azusa pax express and l just saw the Eiyama series 900 10-1472, l like. More importantly l know what l don't likke/want on a layout with modern stuff and that's steam trains. They're pretty to look at but so out of place.

Like a kid in a toy shop at Christmas time! 

 

Edit. yes l bought a steam train. D51  it's cute.

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by TRod

[miyakoji]

Hi Rod, welcome to the forum!

[katoftw]

Lots of steam trains run on normal line in Japan. To this day. Luckily on a Japanese modern layout, they dont look out of place.

[Davo Dentetsu]

Evening, wonder if you're north or south of the river.  Either way, I can let you know about some interesting N adventures happening here with other folks in Perth.  :)

[TRod]

Howdy Davo. On the river nearly. Freo area.

We'll see how l go once l have a little set up next year. 

Edited December 13, 2018 by TRod

[Das Steinkopf]

G'day Rod 

 

 Welcome aboard, with your shopping spree just a few suggestions, for the more common items I would suggest hitting Yodobashi, the best stores are in Akihabara and Shinjuku, the Akihabara one is probably the easiest to get to as it is near the station, after there hit the Electric Town side of Akihabara and walk down Chuo Dori, there are many store there including Tam Tam Hobbies which is good for a wide range of gear. With Tam Tam they don't have the tax included on the prices on the boxes so be prepared to pay the 8% GST at the till, Popondertta is also worth a look at for more unique items but they are a bit pricey compared to other retailers, there is also a Models Imon store in Akihabara which is near the Sobu Line, they have a wide range of models but predominantly HO, there are two sides of the store which are divided by the stairwell. If you get a chance you can always go out to Nishi Kawaguchi and drop into Modeltrainplus, Nariichi has a nice little shop out there and it's not far from the JR East Museum at Omiya, you can also check out the Tomix Shop out that way, one thing with the Kato Hobby Centre and the Tomix store is they don't offer the big discounts that you can find in a lot of the retailers, the logic behind this is that they want the hobby retailers to thrive selling their products, if they sold their products at factory outlet prices it would have a negative effect on the many retailers that they supply. That said they are still worth going too, I went to the Kato Hobby Centre and it was great seeing not only displays of their current products but also some that were to be released in the future, the display layouts were also awesome.

[TRod]

Thanks for the info. Being my first time to Japan I'm going to do a lot of following my girlfriend around as l speak virtually no Japanese and don't know how l will get on by the myself. I'll sit down with my maps and put a few more train shop dots on it and see what happens when l get there but it's a family holiday to see family and friends so trains shop surfing isn't high on her list, and l would like to preserve the peace.

 

Thanks for the welcome everyone, hope l can share my experiences of the next year or ten scratch building a nice layout.

 

Edited December 13, 2018 by TRod

[cteno4]

Maybe one of the family is a train and/or model train fan and you will be a hit!

 

jeff

[martin67]

Hi Rod,

 

welcome! Congrats, you have a japanese lady on your side, the best that ever can happen ! I'm married with a japanese for more than 10 years now, a wonderful cultural mix in every part of our life! We travel to Japan almost every year, meeting relatives and friends. Usually (after having seen most of Tokyo's touristic spots) I can take plenty of time for train spotting and shopping. One of my favourite places for the latter is Tenshodo near the Ginza. Don't miss the 3rd floor, which is entirely dedicated to used stuff. N-scale goes really cheap there. A few years ago I found a Kato 7-piece Azusa 183 class train in mint/boxed condition for just 7500 Yen.

 

No worries about travelling without a local, I don't speak/read much japanese either and never had a problem, especially in the big cities. Once you find out how it works it's really easy.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[chadbag]

 

Don't worry about not speaking Japanese.   I don't speak Japanese, though I've been married to a great lady from Japan for 18 years, and I've done all sorts of shopping, traveling by train, etc. in Japan on my own or just me and the kids.  A lot of Japanese will feign ignorance of English, as they seem to be quite shy and self-concious about it, but they will understand more than they appear, even if they don't reply in English.  They will point a direction, or ring you up (just look at the register for how much and cash money or a credit card is self explanatory when you hand it to them [and the correct answer when they ask "how many times" when you use a credit card is "one time" and put up 1 finger]), without needing to say much.  You'll find it is very easy and the people are happy to help as much as they can, and to deliver good customer experiences.

 

Good luck!

 

[TRod]

Thanks guys.

 

[TRod]

On 12/13/2018 at 6:05 PM, Azumanga Davo said:

Evening, wonder if you're north or south of the river.  Either way, I can let you know about some interesting N adventures happening here with other folks in Perth.  🙂

Yes well definitely have to catch up. I won't have a permanent layout for another six months so I'm happy to show off my new collection to those interested, and have a nice layout of course hehehe.

[TRod]

Well I'm back in the warmth of Oz, have been running my trains around a simple loop on the kitchen table.

Time to pack up my house and move to a shoe box for 6 or 12 months before l regain a train room and permanent layout.

Had my ideas on what sort of layout l wanted but with further research l soon discovered l was selling myself way short.

I don't  need (much) more track, just a few cross overs and I'll be in limited express and freight train heaven.

R.

 

[ben_issacs]

TRod, 

Good to hear that you're embarking on the interesting but occasionally confusing sea of Japanese N scale.

I've been on this sea for several years, don't have a layout, but am a member of a  small local mob who do exhibitions with various layouts.

If you're looking at freight operations, now-a-days there isn't much variety with this, tank wagon trains, container trains, sometimes limestone and cement trains, probably much as you see in the west.

Before 1988, JNR, as it was then, was  a 'Common Carrier', which meant that it offered to carry anything that it could, so you got open waggons, box vans, refrig vans, flats and even such vehicles as cattle trucks, not something that one associates with Japan.

Passenger train wise now-a-days, a great variety, all the way from single car DMUs and EMUs to eighteen car Shinks.

Private railways by the score, and all the varieties of JR passenger stock.

Not much in the way of loco hauled pass., almost all the o'night sleeping car trains have gone, but there are often loco hauled special pass. for tourists, charters, etc. many well represented in N scale. often very colourful liveries.

But, being a modeller, you can run anything that you like.

As for purchasing Japanese N scale stuff, for many years I've dealt with the Japanese mail order house, Hobby Search, just tap that in in Googly.

They have a vast range of stuff, and I've never had any problems with them in regard to payments or poorly packed items.

Various means of delivery from Japan, SAL (Surface, Air Lift) reasonably cheap, about fourteen days or so from Japan here to Melbourne, EMS, quicker, about a week, dearer

Most important thing for you to have, a re-railer, nothing's more annoying than trying to put bogie vehicles on the track without one.

Hope this helps.

Visited W.A. in about '65, a fascinating place then, obviously vastly different now.

Regards, 

Bill.

Melbourne.

 

 

[TRod]

Hi Bill. Very different over here these days. About the only thing that hasn't changed are the beaches and the driving skills.

I do have a re-railer, learnt that tf playing with my brother's trains.

I also have a Seven Stars in Kyushu. I listed my spoils in another thread here somewhere.

I've got most freight cars you mentioned bar the hoppers, l got a crane though so 'll reckon I'm ahead still.

Thanks for the welcome.

[ben_issacs]

TRod,

'Seven Stars in Kyushu'! Wheee!!

One of our members has this set, but I've not yet seen it.

Apparently a very nice set, with good internal detail, unfortunately, with N scale, this internal detail isn't easy to see.

Looked it up on the internet, very swish inside, way beyond me.

The one thing that I don't like about this train is the little almost car like radiator grille on the loco front, a bit like that on an Alfa Romero.

Looks out of scale.

Regards, 

Bill, 

Melbourne.

 

[TRod]

I'll check it out, better run better than an Alfa.

[ben_issacs]

TRod, 

Yes, the bloke next door had an Alfa for a while, he got rid of it because of unreliability and high cost of repairs, and bought a small Japanese car.

But I doubt whether we'll see the same problems in 'Seven Stars...'.

Regards, 

Bill.

Melbourne.

 

[TRod]

Hello again.

Been away renovating the new (to me) house, neverending job that is. Now with Mrs Me. only working 4 days a week l have to reign in my spending on hobbies. So l went and bought some layout material..... Oh that didn't work out well did it.

Anyway,  just wanted to say hello again and let you all know l will finally start building a layout, not quite as big as l first planned but a quite involved layout all the same. Got my train room sorted with layout table, tv, surround sound and PlayStation.

See you all in the build thread.

Rod.

Perth WA.

The spell check on here is very very stubborn. 

Edited April 20, 2020 by TRod

[cteno4]

Trod,

 

will you ever be seen again? Tv, surround, PlayStation, layout... nice knowing you!

 

sounds like the new digs are working out and time to play! Keep Us posted on the play room!

 

cheers

 

ejff