What did you run today? (HO and other scales)

[marknewton]

Running night at the club - the D51 "Slug" on a passenger consist. 
 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

[miyakoji]

Very nice detail above the cab Mark.  Would those tubes vent off steam or smoke?  Great formation as well with the mail car and green cars.

[Kamome]

I didn’t realise the Tohoku versions had such a long cab roof.  That’s the nice thing about the D51s. There were over 1000 manufactured but quite a lot of variation depending on the region. I do like the large oil tank on the tender and the slugs were the best looking in my opinion.

[ED75-775]

9 hours ago, miyakoji said:

Very nice detail above the cab Mark.  Would those tubes vent off steam or smoke?

At least one of those pipes is for the steam exhaust from the turbogenerators that power the locomotive's head, cab, and instrument lights. I had to pull my own N-gauge D51 200 out to confirm this, Hobbysearch wasn't very helpful this time around for photos to confirm this. I'm guessing that the reason for this was to keep the exhaust steam from the generator obscuring the crew members' vision while running.

 

12 minutes ago, Kamome said:

I didn’t realise the Tohoku versions had such a long cab roof.  That’s the nice thing about the D51s. There were over 1000 manufactured but quite a lot of variation depending on the region. I do like the large oil tank on the tender and the slugs were the best looking in my opinion.

Yep, they're something else, all right. With so many regional variations and production variations, it makes me wonder just how 'standard' standard was. I can well imagine that the extended cab roof provided some additional weather protection in northern Tohoku over the normal-length roof, but not as much as the nearly-enclosed Hokkaido version. Using photos on Hobbysearch (because I'm feeling too lazy to dig out any more of my stuff right now), the Kato 8620-class locomotives have the same extended cab roof too.

 

Oops, I'm getting carried away again. Sorry...

 

Alastair

[marknewton]

On 4/9/2022 at 12:40 PM, miyakoji said:

Very nice detail above the cab Mark.  Would those tubes vent off steam or smoke?  Great formation as well with the mail car and green cars.

They're extensions of the turbogenerator exhaust steam pipes. They're a common fitting on locos operating in the colder areas of Japan. I'd say the idea of them is to keep the exhaust steam away from the cab windows so it doesn't condense on them and obscure the crew's view forward.

 

 

The extensions often also include a muffler - steam exhausting straight to atmosphere from the generator is surprisingly high-pitched and noisy. The reason for the loco carrying two turbogenerators is that one supplies current for the loco's lighting, and the other is a dedicated power supply for the ATS system.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by marknewton

[Kamome]

Took the locos for some exercise at Stage 1 rental layout. Worked out there’s only 2 of the 4 tracks that I can use as either the 9600, DD54 or DF50 have some issues with either tight curves or relatively uneven track where details catch. 

[marknewton]

At the club on Friday night, ran the D51 on a plough special, and the C61 on a passenger train.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[marknewton]

Last night I ran the other "slug-form" D51 on the blue passenger car rake. It has an older QSI decoder, and is a little temperamental. It won't accept a four-digit or long address. I'll either reset it to the factory default, or replace the decoder with something more recent. But until then, it runs nicely and can haul a decent sized train.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[shadowtiger25]

On 4/10/2022 at 4:55 AM, marknewton said:

They're extensions of the turbogenerator exhaust steam pipes. They're a common fitting on locos operating in the colder areas of Japan. I'd say the idea of them is to keep the exhaust steam away from the cab windows so it doesn't condense on them and obscure the crew's view forward.

 

 

The extensions often also include a muffler - steam exhausting straight to atmosphere from the generator is surprisingly high-pitched and noisy. The reason for the loco carrying two turbogenerators is that one supplies current for the loco's lighting, and the other is a dedicated power supply for the ATS system.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

 

I have a question related to the cold weather specs.

What is that circle thing on windows? And what does it do/how does it do it?

[Kamome]

I think this was discussed on another thread. 

 

Here is some further info. This was adopted on the cold region D51s and  DD51s as well as the snow clearing equipment locomotives and stock. 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_view_screen

[brill27mcb]

These have always been unclear to me. Is there still a window behind the spinning disk? If so, wouldn't snow/ice/condensation accumulate there, in between the window and the disk? If not, how is the spinning disk's edge sealed against the weather?

 

Rich K.

[Cat]

They're heated to prevent condensation and icing.

In related news, super snowplow/blower train in action here that has them:

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Cat

[cteno4]

The ones on ships I’ve seen have a seal around the edge of disc. I think there are 2 discs, the inner disc is fixed to the outer ring and the motor fixed to the fixed disc. Motor shaft then spins the outer, rotating disc.
 

Idea is as disc spins the water and snow fly off. I’ve only seen them in really heavy rain a couple of times and it was pretty wild. Window all blurry with driven rain on it (even the window with windshield wipers there was just a moment of clarity) and when the spinning wheel went on it was bam clear to see out the window! 
 

jeff

[shadowtiger25]

So basicly they use the centrifugal effect to sling off anything that gets on them. And the heated ones are an extra layer for preventing ice forming.

Very interesting, and thank you all for the insight!

[cteno4]

Yep. They are kind of magic.

 

jeff

[alain10025]

Well, today was mostly a TGV day !

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRmNRtMSLNI

[Kamome]

Headed up to Stage One in Kokura with some trains that needed exercising. I discovered the next HO rental layout would be all the way to Hiroshima, unless I can befriend someone with a nice layout.

 

Always a good test as the track can be tight and uneven in places, especially on the HO rental layout. Also good to check tolerances of your Kadee couplers with poor track laying too. I was over the far side of the layout this time which gives 5 longish sidings, some with a container terminal hard standing, as well as a long mainline passing loop. Ran out of space on occasion hence the DD51s are taking a rest off the track. 

 

Anyway the usually suspects that i’ve shown before, although this time with added Kiha 40 as well as the Piggyback Kumu flats. Sorry, don’t seem to have a photo of the Kiha. I must have been just enjoying it navigate the track. The Kumus looked nice. Didn’t have many “prototypical” things to throw behind them although a few Koki 104s and 50000s joined its train. 

 

The Kumus are a tad light without loads, although the piggyback trucks raise their centre of gravity and give them a very slight wobble. I tried backing a rake into a siding with a very smooth EF81 but the one empty Kumu kept jumping off the track while pushing some loaded kokis. All have been fitted with kadees as the plastic Koki type are way too long and also ping around if shunting. May need to weight these. There is very little room to weight, although i could glue some track sections to the underside out of view and paint over with some matching blue paint. I did this with my N scale Chiki flats as the military loads made them a bit top heavy too. 

 

For those interested in what’ was running, 

 

Kato Kiha 81/80 (7 car in Tsubasa formation)

Kato DD51 cold region

Kato EF81, Koki 104s + Tomix Kumu 1001s and Koki 50000s

Tomix ED78 + EF71 + 50 series

Tomix DF50 + Kato 12 series + Tomix 10 series + Tenshodo 10/11 series

Tenshodo 9600 + Kato Wamu, Tora and Yo + Tomix Taki 1900 kits

Zoukei Mura DD54 (3rd and 6th versions)

Tomix Kiha 40-2000 (Sorry didn’t make the photos apparently) 

 

Edited July 18, 2023 by Kamome

[Kamome]

Had a bit of a 貨物列車 (kamotsu-ressha) running day on the long Japanese weekend as my plans got rained off. 

 

Gave me a good excuse to check the newly acquired Koki 104s as well as run a few locos that haven’t seen much sunlight for a while and don’t have enough track to run a 26 Koki container train at home without it obviously chasing its tail.

 

Locos

 

Tenshodo 9600

Tomix ED76

Tomix EF64

Kato EF65-2000

Kato DE10

 

Wagons and Flats

 

Kato Koki 104 (famously the wrong blue)

Tomix Koki 104, 106, 107, 200

Tomix Kumu 1000/1001

Kato Taki 1000, 43000

Kato Wamu 80000, 90000 Tora 45000

Kato Yo 5000

Tomix Taki 1900 (kit)

 

EF65-2000 with a container delivery and some additional yard help. 

 

An EF64 milk carton with a fuel train awaits departure. 

 

Yamato Ta-Q-Bin train incoming on a currently barren lot of Japanese real estate. 

 

A ED76 heading a late 80s/early 90s Kyushu freight liner with a mix of koki 50000 and 104s with JNR containers and newly painted JR 18Ds. Additionally some Seino and Kurume piggyback trucks on Kumu 1000s. The 9600 has a short cement train. 

 

Myojo cement tankers and the piggyback trucks.

[Raicho485]

JR E26 Cassiopeia last night.

First edition (2013)

Second hand set through yahoo Japan auction. 

[Falcon]

Hello,

#KAMOME, what is the release date of your EF65-2000
and EF64 ?  I would like to buy both locomotives.
Do they run well ?  Thank you for the nice pictures .

 

.......Rainer

[Raicho485]

DD51 Hokutosei livery 

Aww I miss Hokkaido trip back in those days!

[Raicho485]

KTM Katsumi Kiha183 new express livery tonight 

Panning shot this time

[Raicho485]

KTM Katsumi Hokutosei

Red label (assembled decades ago)

I like these tail lamp better than LED! 

 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Raicho485

[Kamome]

On 11/3/2023 at 4:10 PM, Falcon said:

Hello,

#KAMOME, what is the release date of your EF65-2000
and EF64 ?  I would like to buy both locomotives.
Do they run well ? 

Sorry @Falcon I must’ve missed your post. EF65-2000 from Kato was released in 2018. Tomix EF64 was bought used in 2023 but was originally released in 2017. Both run beautifully now. Had a slight issue with the EF65 as the pickup wires from the bogies are pressed between the brass motor contacts and the light board. As they’re not soldered I did have a few issues with loose contacts so needed some tinkering. Apart from that, haven’t really had any issue with HO locos across the main (plastic model) manufacturers. I do find Tomix are a tad noisier in terms of motors but that’s if I’m really nitpicking.  I also have a JRF DE10 from Kato that’s a bit gravelly at higher speeds but still runs well. This EF65-2000 is actually the standard the same mould as Kato’s 1000 so details found on the modern freight locos are missing. Recently bought a window cooler duct detail set from Kofu model to rectify this. 

 

As for purchasing, the EF64 in this livery doesn’t come up that often. I’d like a second to make a double header but I’m still looking. Not sure how Tomix decide what will get re-issued or when. I do see the Kato EF65s around from time to time. I wouldn’t pay above about ¥20,000 for a used one. They were ¥22,000 at full price, think I picked mine up for just under ¥17,000. The EF64 were around ¥30,000 7 years ago. The used one I bought was around ¥22,000 which I thought was reasonable.  There’s currently one on sale on Mercari but they’re asking ¥60,000. HO tends to retain its resell value due to its lack of availability and so you do get some silly prices. Some deals can be had, i was lucky with the Tenshodo 9600, EF64 and a good number of coaches. I have passed up on some nasty looking used products still asking high prices. You’d think people would look after HO far better but in my experience, detail parts are often missing, broken or horrendously applied although this has been in general used shops like Book Off rather than railway specific shops.