N Gauge japanese starter

[The Birmingham train spotter]

I'm making this to document my progress on my Japanese N Gauge layout and collection and I've been looking for wagons for cheap prices as my main interests are the JR Taki 1000 tankers and the KOKI 107 cars and I've found a website called Train Trax and their prices are brilliant yet they lack in some departments (N Gauge Japanese diesel selection) but that's the plan for rolling stock for my freight services

 

Passenger services and coaches:

To start off small and simple I've decided on the JR Kiha 25 Type 1500 series,The JR Kiha 25 Type 1500 series severed on the Takayama Main line starting it's journey at Gifu Station in Gifu and ends at Toyama station in Toyama,I'd use the Kiha 25 Type 1500 series for short passenger runs on my layout

 

to boost passenger services a E231 would be needed as it's extremely useful and common on the Chūō-Sōbu line in the Chiba Prefecture,it's size,length and passenger capabilities are extremely useful in real life and for N Gauge!

 

freight:

For freight JRF have many electric and diesel locomotives to choose from the beautiful EF65 to the powerful EH200 " Blue thunder ". For me I'd choose the EF210,DH10,DF200 and the EF65!

these are all my personal choices so your allowed to disagree and agree in the chat,thank you very much for reading this it's greatly appreciated to know people view my work in the N Gauge Japanese side of model trains,have a good day everyone!

[Kamome]

Train Trax is a good website and Keith Blanchard who is "Train Trax" has always been very helpful when I have dealt with him over the years. I am of the impression that Train Trax stock comes via a large Gaugemaster container once a month so you may need to wait for Japan release date + 4-6 weeks. His prices are reasonable for the UK and are probably equivalent to ordering from Japan and getting stung by Parcel Force ransom demands or a little cheaper. Certainly cheaper than other British retailers for new Kato. Obviously his prices are also affected by the exchange rate which hasn't been great over the last few years and I remember him sending out an announcement to inform his customers if he was forced to raise his prices in sterling.

 

His range of diesels is probably limited due to the number of Kato diesel releases and his knowledge of his customer base, JNR vs modern image modellers etc.. I noticed he still has stock of the 20 series Sakura (Sasebo formation) blue train coaches (10-1142) that I bought from him in 2013. It's an awesome formation but obviously not enough interest from British modellers if he still has stock. Perhaps more modern image modellers like yourself.

 

I am sure he would oblige if there is something you particularly wanted and Kato have stock to go on the next shipment. At the moment it looks like he only has the recently released DF200.

 

Good luck with your layout and train collection progress 

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, Kamome said:

Obviously his prices are also affected by the exchange rate which hasn't been great over the last few years and I remember him sending out an announcement to inform his customers if he was forced to raise his prices in sterling.

 

The yen has weakened across the board in the past few weeks, also against sterling (though not to the pre-June 2016 levels), and I suspect it will stay that way for a while. Wether that will be reflected in importer prices is another question.

 

TrainTrax does come highly recommended, though for dubious reasons they block access to their website from Asia (which has alway prevented me from providing people with useful links; their loss...).

[railsquid]

6 hours ago, The Birmingham train spotter said:

to boost passenger services a E231 would be needed as it's extremely useful and common on the Chūō-Sōbu line in the Chiba Prefecture,it's size,length and passenger capabilities are extremely useful in real life and for N Gauge!

 

At the risk of sounding pedantic, the Chūō-Sōbu connects Chiba and Tokyo, and is the local service for both the Chūō and Sōbu Lines (I live within walking distance of the Tokyo terminus). If it's any help, most of the units running on it at the moment are former Yamanote Line E231-500 series; there are a few E231-0 sets left.

 

6 hours ago, The Birmingham train spotter said:

freight:

For freight JRF have many electric and diesel locomotives to choose from the beautiful EF65 to the powerful EH200 " Blue thunder ". For me I'd choose the EF210,DH10,DF200 and the EF65!

 

Do you mean "EH10"? (The diesel equivalent is the DD50, though harder to find).

[The Birmingham train spotter]

No I actually ment the DE10 

[The Birmingham train spotter]

Japanese n gauge isn't as popular in the UK unfortunately and I discussed this with my local model train shop owner,he says he can get Japanese n gauge products but I'm the only one he knows who's asked for it before

[cteno4]

Why not import directly from japan? That’s the problem with most of the world, not enough interest to warrant much importing by local dealers and when they do it can be at pretty high markups. Great to get as much as possible oval if reasonably priced, but outside that there are many options for importing yourself directly from japan.

 

jeff

[katoftw]

Get it from Japan. Cheaper and quicker.

[TimWay4]

I can recommend importing from Japan to the UK, I usually use Hobbysearch, everything has arrived quickly and well packed, though I tend to pay for EMS and it arrives shortly after the relase date, though if TrainTrax has it I do just tend to use them for the reasoning of it's quicker and fractionally less faff to get it from them IF they have what I want in stock. 

 

You can also occasionally find the odd bit of Japanese N gauge through Hattons pre-owned section though obviously it depends on what they get in as to what they have and despite the limited interest in Japanese trains in the UK the stuff they get does tend to sell quickly. 

 

Love the inclusion of a Chūō-Sōbu line train in your passanger roster, when I've stayed in Japan it's probably the line I use most as we tend to stay at Asakusabashi so it always makes me smile when I see the line represented on layouts

[railsquid]

5 minutes ago, TimWay4 said:

You can also occasionally find the odd bit of Japanese N gauge through Hattons pre-owned section though obviously it depends on what they get in as to what they have and despite the limited interest in Japanese trains in the UK the stuff they get does tend to sell quickly.

 

Beware that they seem to end up with some right junk as well, like this old Tomix EF81 missing various bits (in particular they seem to have a regular supply of various Bo-Bo-Bo locos missing the middle Bo, which will be hard to replace). Also it's often not clear whether the box, if still available, contains the various add-on parts, in particular number plates. BTW the Tomix locos in the 2xxx catalogue number series, of which they have a few knocking about, are usually older models and a new version direct from Japan would be much better value for money.

[The Birmingham train spotter]

Thanks everyone for the info,tomorrow I'm going to place my order for my Japanese n gauge products at my local model shop

[The Birmingham train spotter]

Unfortunate news has stuck about my n gauge plans,I've been told it's too expensive to order n gauge products from Japan so I've had to choose more British oo gauge items,I'm gutted by this news

[bill937ca]

What about second-hand from Hatton's?  There is not a lot right now but they do come from time to time. Much of Kato is North American, scan down 

 

Kato

EF65

https://www.hattons.co.uk/720511/kato_302kato_po_class_ef65_505_of_the_jr_pre_owned_good_box/stockdetail

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/stocklist/preowned.aspx?d=180&scid=1000589&manid=1000504

 

Tomix

 

 

[railsquid]

24 minutes ago, bill937ca said:

What about second-hand from Hatton's?  There is not a lot right now but they do come from time to time. Much of Kato is North American, scan down 

 

Kato

EF65

https://www.hattons.co.uk/720511/kato_302kato_po_class_ef65_505_of_the_jr_pre_owned_good_box/stockdetail

 

 

Possibly interesting for someone into collecting Kato models made in the 1980s (or possibly earlier, gaze in awe upon that 3-digit catologue number) but for 50 GBP will likely be a disappointment.

 

The only half-way decent Tomix or Kato model I can find there at the moment is this Tomix EF210: https://www.hattons.co.uk/745788/tomix_2140tomix_po01_class_ef210_of_the_jrf_pre_owned_replacement_box/stockdetail  which is quite possibly missing the side numberplates.

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by railsquid

[Arctic]

Why not use Train Trax, they're selling various EF6x, EF70, EF81 and EF210's for £70. As mentioned above they have the DF200 which is also on your list for £70. They are also selling various EF58's for £58-£62 if that interests you. They also have some Taki and Koki in stock. These are pretty much the best prices you will find inside the UK for new. You also don't have to worry about the international delivery and import tax costs for the UK. These prices for locos new are pretty similar to or even better than Hornby OO gauge new british locos for example aren't they? Like others have said above in this thread when I've used Train Trax I've got excellent service and always received my orders within 3 working days, and orders are always shipped the same day if you order before midday, and everything has always arrived in excellent condition.

[cteno4]

27 minutes ago, Arctic said:

Why not use Train Trax

I completely agree, using a local store that has reasonable prices is always the preferred to keep things local and as sources as diverse as possible.
 

I was only saying import if your can’t source an item easily or reasonably priced locally and not to be scared of that process. Yes the international shipping and customs can be a pain, but for the most part folks around the world do it quite successfully when needed.

 

sadly here in the US we only have one dealer that imports a few Kato trains (direct from kato japan thru katousa) and doesn’t do special orders on them. The big distributor Walthers tried to import some Tomytec structures and track (no trains really) but jacked the prices up to an unreasonable price and that fizzled out very fast. We had a wonderful old importer/distributor that supplied small shops all over for decades, but he retired and the one importer that was making great headway here tragically passed away. No one has filled the void except one importer that basically just uses stock from a Japanese shop and charges 2-3x on the price… So we are left with importing most everything.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[gavino200]

On 10/21/2021 at 11:46 AM, The Birmingham train spotter said:

Thanks everyone for the info,tomorrow I'm going to place my order for my Japanese n gauge products at my local model shop

 

Buying directly from Japan can be an anxty step for many people. I remember being reluctant to do it at first. Hobbysearch is easy to use after you get to know it. But I remember being baffled by it for quite a while.

 

I'd really recommend using modeltrainplus to start. It's a small model train store in Tokyo. The owner, Narichi, is a very nice guy. If you have any questions about a product or train you can email him and he'll reply. Often he'll go out of his way to acquire a difficult to find part. Once you've bought a few time from Japan you'll have to think hard to remember why you were ever reluctant.

 

As for Hobbysearch, if anything (or everything) about the webside isn't clear, just post her, and someone will be able to walk you through the process.

[Szdfan]

On 10/23/2021 at 11:39 AM, gavino200 said:

 

Buying directly from Japan can be an anxty step for many people. I remember being reluctant to do it at first. Hobbysearch is easy to use after you get to know it. But I remember being baffled by it for quite a while.

 

I'd really recommend using modeltrainplus to start. It's a small model train store in Tokyo. The owner, Narichi, is a very nice guy. If you have any questions about a product or train you can email him and he'll reply. Often he'll go out of his way to acquire a difficult to find part. Once you've bought a few time from Japan you'll have to think hard to remember why you were ever reluctant.

 

As for Hobbysearch, if anything (or everything) about the webside isn't clear, just post her, and someone will be able to walk you through the process.

My approach with both Plaza Japan and Hobby Search is to make a couple of small orders as a test, so that if things go south, I haven’t lost a lot of money. So far, so good.

 

I like that Plaza Japan includes fancy Japanese erasers in their orders as a thank you. 

 

[katoftw]

I was happy to take the recommendations of fellow community members.

 

With so many saying positive things about buying from certain retailers, that I assume I'd have a positive buying experience.

[The Birmingham train spotter]

Hello everyone I'd like to say thank you very much for the kind and positive advice on the different websites! I've decided to now focus on both British OO  Gauge and Japanese N Gauge!

[cteno4]

Yes I get the fear of ordering overseas all the time from folks at shows. It is nice shops like plazajapan are on ebay that gives some some better feeling with Ebay around to help. Shops like modeltrainplus and Rokko with excellent English support and individual care also help bring folks in with lots of comfort. Big shops like ami-ami and hobbysearch work very well and have wide ranging stock, but no real personal service as the smaller shops, but their service still works well w,o it. We are very fortunate in our hobby even doing it at a distance usually!

 

jeff

[Drunkenclam]

I've been getting stuff from Japan all the time. either direct through shops like Amazon.jp or hobby search, Through ebay (PlazaJapan) and from online shops using deputy buying services. for some Yahoo Auction items and Rakuten shops. Its unbelievably easy. A little to much some times 😄

 

Everything from these little Toheart figures awaiting to go on the layout. (yes. Finally found some, sitting in Tokyo waiting to be shipped along with an anime cel and a jigsaw puzzle)

 

 

to  a pachislo and pachinko machines weighing over 30kg for when I want something a bit louder to play with.

 

[gavino200]

2 hours ago, Drunkenclam said:

I've been getting stuff from Japan all the time. either direct through shops like Amazon.jp or hobby search, Through ebay (PlazaJapan) and from online shops using deputy buying services. for some Yahoo Auction items and Rakuten shops. Its unbelievably easy. A little to much some times 😄

 

Everything from these little Toheart figures awaiting to go on the layout. (yes. Finally found some, sitting in Tokyo waiting to be shipped along with an anime cel and a jigsaw puzzle)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very Nice! Can you take a closer shot? Do you know if there are others available. I remember searching pretty hard for n scale anime characters a few years ago. Never saw those.

[Drunkenclam]

I will do when I receive them. As I haven't requested them shipped to me. Pic came from the original auction listing. I'll put them with my ToHeart2 figures, although they are 1/8 scale  

[MeTheSwede]

21 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Yes I get the fear of ordering overseas all the time from folks at shows.

 

The perils of living in a large country!

Those of us who live in small countries are less likely to develop that particular kind of internet shopping fears. 😎

 

Admitedly I'm a bit extreme, having navigated and used webshops in 7 different foreign languages while doing internet shopping.