What did you run today?

[Sheffie]

First run of the Minitown DF11z. 

These are very nicely put together, with lots of fine details. The locomotives are also quite heavy compared to other motor units. 

 

They’re far from quiet running, but they can maintain quite a low speed without becoming at all unsteady.

 

 

Overall they give the impression of being substantial and nicely built. 

 

Having said that... there are a few problems. The locos seem to have the wheels far enough from the end of the cab that there is a lot of head swing on corners. Trees, bushes, and even tunnel portals might come into contact with the outer corner of the lead car. That’s on R282 curves, supposedly the minimum, although they did negotiate an R249 loop without derailment. I’m also quite disappointed that the package didn’t include rapido couplers. 

 

If you’ve got a wide open layout and a budget to match, I’d recommend this set, with coaches or perhaps a freight train to match. If not, I’m sure you can do better for the money. 

[railsquid]

Some DR in Japan...

 

rear-left-running-lines-2019-09-01_01 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

(not sure how prototypical the rake is though)

[cteno4]

Someone threw the wrong point!

11 hours ago, railsquid said:

Some DR in Japan...

 

[Welshbloke]

After attaching the headboards it needed a run:

 

My snow modules went a bit odd and warped as the glue dried. It doesn't seem to bother the EMUs I've tried on them so far, just looks peculiar from some angles!

 

[Sheffie]

Blue Symphony and new Koki 104’s

The good news is that the Blue Symphony motor unit runs smoothly, and pulls well, at low speeds. It comes with a couple of attachments for the roof, apparently an antenna for each end cab and two fuse boxes for the power unit, which went on easily. There were several other detail parts that I couldn't find homes for, and the diagrams included with the set did not show any other potential attachment points. Unfortunately for me, one of the 12 table lamps doesn't light. That's a small annoyance, and nowhere near sufficient to warrant a return. Disappointingly for everyone, I think: there has been no attempt at running the cars with any kind of close coupling. It's just bogie-mounted rapido's, and no attempt at any kind of bellows to minimize the gap between coaches. That said, it's a very pretty little train, and I'm mostly very happy with it.

 

The Kato units are exactly what you'd expect. No nonsense and no drama, if you don't count the yellow brake wheel flying out of the tweezers. I really should throw those tweezers away and stick with the good ones. The only real difference is the shade of blue. This should give an idea:

Edited September 4, 2019 by Sheffie

[JR 500系]

Wow the Blue Symphony! It truly is a nice train... and I am waiting for mine to arrive! Did you check the connections? Maybe one of the connections were disconnected hence the unlit table light... I'll see if mine has the same issue when it arrives ~

 

Like most recent GM motors, they are really TOO smooth for my comfort... as in, in the regular setting for the CL system on my Tomix, Kato/ Tomix & MA trains sits nicely in stationary position with lights lit, but for GM trains, they tend to move off, and at a pretty high speed too... In order for the GM models to sit still with their lights lit, it would often mean just 1 and max 2 notches above the zero line for my CL controller....  The rest does it well at about 4... 

[Yavianice]

On 9/4/2019 at 3:18 AM, Sheffie said:

Disappointingly for everyone, I think: there has been no attempt at running the cars with any kind of close coupling. It's just bogie-mounted rapido's, and no attempt at any kind of bellows to minimize the gap between coaches. That said, it's a very pretty little train, and I'm mostly very happy with it.

 

Like TOMIX (except shinkansen and HG models), Green max doesn't do close coupling out of the box, you need to buy them separately, and installing them is super easy (like Tomix). Either from Green Max themselves or from MicroAce, Tomix or KATO.

 

49 minutes ago, JR 500系 said:

Wow the Blue Symphony! It truly is a nice train... and I am waiting for mine to arrive! Did you check the connections? Maybe one of the connections were disconnected hence the unlit table light... I'll see if mine has the same issue when it arrives ~

 

Probably a broken LED. So it needs to be returned.

 

By the way, Miyakomokei shows how to apply all the parts, how to convert it to close couplers, and it shows the table light assembly.

 

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Yavianice

[serotta1972]

@Namba5 Check out the sale on HS, they have the Tomix Urban Liner Plus on there. I purchased the Limited Edition as it already has the TN couplers installed.

[JR 500系]

And finally gotten a chance some weeks back to run some Odakyu trains... and a chance to share some pictures and videos here:

 

First up, some commuter trains ~ 

 

A 1000 series crossing the girder bridge 

 

Stopping at the station 

 

Coupled with the 3000 series 

 

3000 series at the rear of the 1000 series 

 

 

And 2 short videos 

 

Shown here with a 4000 series 

 

The 4000 series just looks so familiar to the E233s...

 

4000 vs 3000 series 

 

Into the yard for some servicing goes the 4000 series... with a brethren 8000 series in old painting

[JR 500系]

And what's Odakyu without some romance cars? 

 

MSE 60000 series 

 

I love the MSE blue!

 

Shown here with the 1000 series 

 

Short video of the 60000 series MSE

 

 

With the new 70000 series GSE

 

Lights are a bit too bright eh? 

 

Love the GSE! 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by JR 500系

[Welshbloke]

Got the double width viaduct station out for the first time:

 

 

From L to R, a lost Eurostar, the Hokutosei, the Asakaze and the Fuji. There has been some loco swapping as that was easier than moving the entire train to the other loop...

[chadbag]

Tonight I ran a bunch of stuff on DC to break it in (most were never run or only quickly test run a few seconds in the past).  Once broken in I feel comfortable doing DCC conversions on them.

 

The KATO ICE4 motor cars from the basic set and the expansion. The Tomytech Gudetama motor car.  Two different Micro Ace HB-E300.  A Greenmax coreless KiFa 200 Seaside Liner set.

 

I also test ran several Arnold loks I got used on eBay last year.  They all need lube and maintenance but they all ran -- some herky jerky, some pretty well but with some contact issues occasionally.

 

I do need to finish my DCC track feeder project.  My DC track is the innermost loop of single track.

 

[Welshbloke]

A motley collection of KiHas (needs another KiHa 58 and a KiRo 28, the KiHa 52 is only there to give the power unit a proper workout) and a short version of the 1988 Hokutosei:

 

 

[bill937ca]

First time running the layout since a late summer trip to Prague. Spent the morning cleaning the tracks.

[Welshbloke]

Exercising the RhB fleet:

 

I hope to start printing my own metre gauge wagons next week...

 

[Sheffie]

Testing the new train.

 

[gavino200]

19 hours ago, Sheffie said:

Testing the new train.

 

 

Nice layout Sheffie!!

 

[Sheffie]

1 hour ago, gavino200 said:

 

Nice layout Sheffie!!

 

 

Thanks! I spent too much money on high detail trees but otherwise I’m quite happy with how it turned out. 

[Sheffie]

Another day, another new train.

 

 

[bill937ca]

Next in line is my NEX E259 Narita Express.

 

 

[JR 500系]

On 11/23/2019 at 6:23 AM, Sheffie said:

 

Thanks! I spent too much money on high detail trees but otherwise I’m quite happy with how it turned out. 

 

Actually the trees makes the layout really impressive! Nicely done! The yard is in a nice place too to view those parked trains ~

[bill937ca]

My E259 was out on the layout today along later my C12 and an Ohani 61.

 

 

[gavino200]

Maiden run of my Sunrise Express. I love it. I think I'll get the expansion set too. I'm amazed how fast this train runs. Unnecessarily fast, but still impressive. Though, I usually run trains in DCC. I've always wonder about the power loss. 

 

 

[gavino200]

First run of the Green luxury train and the Emperor's train. I was a bit worried I wouldn't like the Mizukazi, as I'm a bit suspicious of hyped items, but I really like it. The color looks great, and it runs nice and smooth. 

 

Edited December 25, 2019 by gavino200

[Pauljag900]

Both are equally beautifull Gavin,2 nice purchases buddy👍😀