What did you run today?

[Giugiaro]

A bit off-topic, but this is the look down at the workshop level. 🙂

 

[Kiha66]

Wow, that looks like a lot of fun!  I can't think of a better setting either.

[Tony Galiani]

I am not sure if this counts as a real improvement but I actually took one of my Shimabara KiHa 20's out of the box!  And gave it a very short test run.  It is nice to see it on a short bridge over water - something that is common on the Shimatetsu.

 

We traveled quite a bit in June and I came back to an (involuntary) promotion to department director so I have been rather busy.  So my layout project plans have gone nowhere.  However, things are starting to even out and I have started to plot out some project ideas.  So, a very small step but hopefully more in the near future.  Today's project is too pack up my collection of Continental Modellers as I have found a home for them but I am also working on track placement ideas for my next layout.

 

Ciao,

Tony Galiani

[JR East]

I definitely love running my Tomix KiHa 185 ' Around the Kyushu"

 

 

It's smooth as silk

 

 

The motor is silencious at normal speed

 

 

And I'm now waiting for my HKTILC leds to arrive to have a full interior lit properly. 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by JR East
typos

[Giugiaro]

The EF-30 has, sort of, become my favourite locomotive.

Its pure metal look and large single headlight makes it the perfect companion to my six Carel et Fauché coaches.

 

[Giugiaro]

Today the 485-200 and 7000 went on a spin and a photo-op under direct sun light.

 

Unfortunately I have no sunset shots as the Portuguese wildfires meant the sun got covered hours earlier than it was meant to.

 

 

 

 

 

And, yes, I did leave the 485-200 like this for @Kamome

 

 

[Kamome]

On 6/25/2022 at 7:15 AM, Giugiaro said:

A bit off-topic, but this is the look down at the workshop level. 🙂

 

You’re modelling is incredible. Looks pretty realistic 

 

The tunnel tractors are a favourite of mine too. Here’s a sorry looking EF30 at Mojiko.

[ED75-775]

The arrival of my latest locomotive gave me a good occasion to get the N-scale stuff out and have a wee bit of a play. It then devolved into a 'let's test everything I've brought but haven't yet run' session very quickly.

 

 

First time in service for my new Hikari Rail Star. That frontal design is really striking, but it's not my favourite 'nose'; that belongs to the 500 Series which I believe to be the pinnacle of Shinkansen design. Of course, this is slightly unrealistic with those MicroAce Kiha's alongside, but hey - my railway, my rules!

 

 

Slightly more prototypical, a C11 on a goods train passing the Kiha's in the loop and the D51 in the background. Such a neat little set-up!

 

Alastair

[ED75-775]

Quick grab shot from two nights ago, Kato ED75’s and (mostly) Tomix rolling stock:

 

 

Alastair

[Martijn Meerts]

Went on a trip to the open running day of Eisenbahnfreunden Lippe  (@roadstar_na6's club) and brought a few trains along.

 

Gave the Peach Rapi:t a run, which ran really well. Also ran the Kiha 183 Asahiyama Zoo train, which ran ridiculously fast 😄

Finally, also ran the full Hanawa line freight set with triple header 8620's, which looked really good. Oh, and the E10 did a bit of running, but it had done so before.

 

Of course, I managed to not take any pictures at all, because reason o.O

 

 

The trip itself was interesting as well, ended up spending around 10 hours travelling / waiting for trains. Pretty darn exhausting. It's pretty darn impressive having your own train station for a model train club though 😄

 

 

[Yavaris Forge]

I happened to be there too, and I took some photos with my phone.

My Kato E127 Oito Line waiting for departure at Cologne central station

 

@Martijn Meerts's Asahiyama Zoo Kiha 183 seen on its later uses as a tourist train in the Rhine valley

 

@roadstar_na6's 117 series, ED19, and EF81 Twilight Express gathering near the junction on the far side of the Anhalter Bahnhof

 

My new EF80 with a 25 car freight train could also be seen on through services from the Joban line to the rhine valley

 

Martijn's Hanawa line train hiding behind the bigger fellow from the Joban line

[Giugiaro]

This time I managed to get 5 trains on the layout using some extra switches I ordered three months ago.

 

Today I really had to try out using my DSLR for photos.

 

 

 

Also, here's a GIF

[ED75-775]

Decided to stop procrastinating and run some trains quickly before leaving for work:

 

 

The JR East stuff came out first - the first time on track for the E233 and the DE10 with its expanded eleven-car ballast train. Really glad I got those extra hoppers, they look so good running around a decent oval of track!

 

And then finally, the 'old lady' of steam:

 

 

Only quickly had time to test this, but thoroughly in love with the SL Hitoyoshi. Such a gorgeous model! Another one I'm definitely glad to have in my collection. Now, hopefully the pandemic will subside in Japan far enough for me to travel there next year to ride this train...

 

Alastair

[railsquid]

6 hours ago, ED75-775 said:

And then finally, the 'old lady' of steam:

 

 

Only quickly had time to test this, but thoroughly in love with the SL Hitoyoshi. Such a gorgeous model! Another one I'm definitely glad to have in my collection. Now, hopefully the pandemic will subside in Japan far enough for me to travel there next year to ride this train...

 

Alastair

 

Are you sure about running it on that carpet? I could almost weave a new one from all the fibres I've untangled from cheap 2nd hand "non-runners" over the years ;).

[ED75-775]

37 minutes ago, railsquid said:

 

Are you sure about running it on that carpet? I could almost weave a new one from all the fibres I've untangled from cheap 2nd hand "non-runners" over the years ;).

To be honest, I'm not entirely comfortable running on carpet, which is why I nowadays normally use our dining room table - more comfortable to work from, but the tradeoff is that I have less room to work with and lay track on. I only run on the carpet very infrequently if at all, and that when I need more room.

 

At some point I will need to open up my rolling stock for regular maintenance, probably in January if my leave gets approved. Won't be surprised if there's plenty of hairs tangled around some of the worm drives! I'll probably need one of those 'how-to' videos so I can do my steam locomotives though, don't want to break those!

[cteno4]

LOL squid, I had the same reaction for the same reason. I’ve cleaned out so many used power units from ebay and for club members that have been packed with fibers, hairs and unknown schmutz! One chap had 2 cats and I was shocked at how much cat hair was in his locos, couldn’t imagine that much being sucked in there. One was a spring drive dd15 that whole spring drive chain was a total muck of grease and cat hairs as I guess it all came up thru the truck, thru the grease filled universal box and then sucked out the length of the springs. It was a horrid mess, kind of like cleaning out a badly clogged bathroom sink with a ton of hair.

 

jeff

[Kamome]

To be honest, the rental layouts are just as bad. A lot of loose scenic material, fluff and hair, so my stock usually gets checked during or afterwards. And that's not even the one with cats sitting on it. Actually the largest issue with my nearest HO rental layout is finding the air hoses that pinged off my coaches on unnecessarily tight radius corners.

 

When I lived in the UK, not having enough table space I sometimes ran on the floor using a large plastic rug I bought in Ikea, I think designed for patios. It looked similar to those roll-up bamboo rugs but made of garish red polypropylene or similar.  Not something you want to have on permanent display but superlight and rolled up easily. It certainly eliminated any issue with carpet fluff.  Now in Japan with hardwood floors, it is very obvious when there is the slightest of dust or hair lying anywhere before you run anything.

[ED75-775]

Yikes, you can't win either way, huh?

 

Now relocated to a Squid-approved safe zone:

 

 

Not as much room to run, but not as many carpet fibres or other schmutz to worry about either. And I did check a few of my trains while they were running, I couldn't see anything in the drive mechanisms that shouldn't have been, but then again it's unlikely that I would until it does anything it shouldn't!

 

 

Moving now to the Keihanshin area, with four- and eight-car 103s and a Keihan interloper... The Osaka Loop 103 looks good at its prototypical eight-car length, I'm very happy with that! Both the Nara 103 and the Keihan 800 are 'project' trains right now, the other cab car on the 103 that you can't see has its front windscreen number too high (and I don't have a spare right now), while the 800 tends to make funny 'revving' noises as it goes through some of my curves. I don't know why, it used to run around those curves just fine before I opened it up for some servicing. Not sure if I may have done something silly in the process, so it's not a regular runner anymore.

 

 

And on to the good stuff! Who doesn't love a good steam locomotive? There can't be many that wouldn't be moved by the sight of one of these machines at work. From left: C11, C12, C56 and D51 Tohoku 'Slug' version. Plus there was a 8620 on the other side in the loop which you can't see for stock boxes all over the place.

 

For some reason, I find myself drawn more to the C12s than the C11s for branch line stuff, not sure why, maybe it's just the more balanced and compact look? I really should look at getting a third...

 

Alastair

[Kamome]

4 hours ago, ED75-775 said:

For some reason, I find myself drawn more to the C12s than the C11s for branch line stuff, not sure why

I hear you. Also have a real love for the C56s at each end of a short freight train. 

[disturbman]

6 hours ago, ED75-775 said:

the 800 tends to make funny 'revving' noises as it goes through some of my curves. I don't know why, it used to run around those curves just fine before I opened it up for some servicing. Not sure if I may have done something silly in the process, so it's not a regular runner anymore.

Reopen it and reassemble everything. Check for unwanted binds. Seems something is not set as it should. Maybe you didn’t repositioned the bogies correctly in the frame. Or one of the gear worms is not sitting properly. I wouldn’t run it until this is sorted out.

Edited December 23, 2022 by disturbman

[ED75-775]

1 hour ago, disturbman said:

Reopen it and reassemble everything. Check for unwanted binds. Seems something is not set as it should. Maybe you didn’t repositioned the bogies correctly in the frame. Or one of the gear worms is not sitting properly. I wouldn’t run it until this is sorted out.

Thanks, @disturbman. My initial suspicion is that the drive shafts or gear worms might be the problem. Either way, I'll strip the 800 down on my next weekend and see what the problem is. It'll be a good excuse to get some stuff out and have another play!

 

Alastair

[marknewton]

9 hours ago, ED75-775 said:

For some reason, I find myself drawn more to the C12s than the C11s for branch line stuff, not sure why, maybe it's just the more balanced and compact look?

I have a pair of C12s in 1/80 made by Tramway. They look good, and they're sweet runners as well. I also prefer them to my C11s for branch line working.

 

 

5 hours ago, Kamome said:

Also have a real love for the C56s at each end of a short freight train.

I've got two of them from Kato. They're gorgeous little engines.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

Edited December 23, 2022 by marknewton

[disturbman]

3 hours ago, ED75-775 said:

My initial suspicion is that the drive shafts or gear worms might be the problem.

It's probably that, yes. Thinking about it, seeing the car length of the Keihan 800, it must use a compact worm/shaft architecture similar to the one Micro Ace used on its KiHa 32s. I had issues keeping the shaft in place when putting the seat plate back when reassembling one KiHa 32 that was a tad too loud out of the box.

[ED75-775]

While the Keihan 800-series remains in my To Do pile along with the Nara Line 103, trains were running again tonight!

 

 

Well, okay, this one's actually not a train, it's a Kyoto tram! This was the gateway drug to buying more (currently six), and now I doubt I'll stop in a hurry. Though five of those purchased lack powered chassis, so I wonder if I'll have to stop... actually, no, since when is 'stop' in anyone's vocabulary when you're buying trains?

Though back on topic, this model runs wonderfully smoothly thanks to some servicing by the former owner. It also looks ridiculously ludicrous putting along, which is great fun.

 

 

And here's the latest arrival, the Tomix C55 and Soya Line local train. Like my Tomix C57, the C55 ran beautifully straight from the box. Very happy with this one too. I plan to run a few more trains after dinner, then it's onto Japan 2023 planning and paying for my airfares to Tokyo and home again!

 

Alastair

 

[bill937ca]

Actually very often you will see trams called trains in Japan. There are several operators that operated both trams and trains: Tokyu (Setgaya), Iyo Railway in Matsuyama and Toyama Chihou Railway and the the abandoned Meitetsu 600v lines at Gifu all fall into this category.   

 

Chikuhō Electric Railroad Line is a remnant of a former tram network Kitakyushu that uses trams on a line that is legally a railway.  The Hiroden Miyajima Line was formerly a high floor railway line and there are still stations with high and low platforms. Now this line runs through to the JR Hiroshima  station over Hiroshima's streets with Hiroden's other tram lines.  The public doesn't know or care whether its a train or a tram.