Finding N700 set 10-548 for sale?

[Kevin]

Hello,

 

I recently picked up two of the 3 Kato N700 sets. The 10-547 starter set and the 10-549 8 car add-on set. I have been unable to find the 4 car 10-548 add-on set anywhere. I have searched the internet for many hours for it. I have also had a few friends search as well. I know it is out of production and there is a newer version. And I will have to get a used version. That is fine. I got a really god deal on the first two sets and would love to complete the train. If anyone knows where I could find the 10-548 N700 set I would greatly appreciate it if you were able to point me to it. Thank you. 
 

take care,

kevin

[bc6]

You may want to to put this in the "wanted" section also?

[cteno4]

The classifieds require a forum member to have at least 10 post to view them and 50 posts to list something. We do this to make sure folks have some exposure here on the forums before being able to list or view the classifieds. We don’t want folks coming here exclusively for use of the classifieds. Since classified transactions require some trust on both sides of the transaction (the forum does not get or secure or guarantee the transactionees or transactions) we wanted only folks interacting on the forums to have access to the classifieds.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Wolf]

I recommend keeping an eye on Yahoo Japan Auctions, they might pop up there. Although most people likely will sell it in tandem with 10-547 (as currently two are listed as sets on there). If you cant bid on YJA yourself, common third partys that people use are Zenmarket or Buyee.

[disturbman]

Yes, they will likely pop in one of the big second hand retailers on YJA like ToyKing. They usually resplit the sets if someone brought them together. It's mostly a game of patience.

[jappomania]

.. and a couple of consideration based on my "experience" 👴

is probably one of the worst coupling system ever done by Kato, so take a look about condition of used items, junk declared items normally have the couplers damaged or broken

sometime is less expensive to buy one A+B set instead to a single B set (if declared like "unused" the price can be higher than original shop price), add to this the high probability of a wrong re-pack, 3 sets, maybe from a single seller but if you can't see a really good photos and you don't know the right set composition, the risk to buy a mix of cars is high

buying an A+B set maybe is better also because reduce the mix probablility and you can store some parts like spare, now not so easy to find

 

ciao!

Massimo

 

 

[Kevin]

9 hours ago, cteno4 said:

The classifieds require a forum member to have at least 10 post to view them and 50 posts to list something. 

Thanks for clarifying that Jeff. I was wondering why I could not see the wanted section. 
 

[cteno4]

Yes I agree the diaphragm coupler system really sucked on the Kato n700. Not only fiddly and easily breakable (never broke one, but I could see folsk very easily breaking them) but it also made the train run poorly. It couldn’t do more than a couple of laps on our club layout Kato viaduct loop without derailing. Dozens of other shinkansens ran all day on the same track. Would derail in different places so no obvious point or junction causing issues. I tried to run it at 3 shows and had to give up after 15-20 minutes as not great for public viewing. I sold it to another club member with complete disclosure on this (and he was there for an episode) as he really wanted it. He tried a couple of shows and never got it working well. We looked at wheel gauges and all good. We looked at car alignments and tilting, all looked normal. We watched specific places we knew trains would once in a while have an issue (passing siding points) and never could see a derailment occur at a specific thing. All very frustrating. Got a Tomix n700 right after and it ran like a champ. Again no other shinkansen (and we had pretty much all of them in the club) had this issue. A chap in the local ntrak club also bought one a bit later and had similar issues on their ntrak setups, so I expect not just a lemon issue but some odd thing the diaphragm couplers were doing to twist cars.

 

really is the only Japanese train I had to just give up on and get rid of. One of the very few times I really got frustrated with a Japanese train and could not figure out the cause of the issue.

 

jeff

[Kevin]

Well that is not good news for me. Perhaps I will have to sell off the two parts I have and buy a different version. I do have a Kato N700 set from about 20 years ago that I had put a wired decoder in back then. There was not decoder ready. And either the decoder was fried or there was something wrong with the motor. I never investigated it because I did not want the aggravation of putting in another wired decoder. But that N700 from 20 years ago ran like a champ. It did a LOT of miles on many different NTRAK and TTRAK layouts over the years until it quit running. I guess my “bargain” on the 10-547 and 10-549 sets wasn’t such a bargain after all. Isn’t there a newer N700A set that is available now from Kato? (10-1174, 75, 76) How does it run? Thank you for the feedback. 

[cteno4]

To be fair we were usually running full 16 car trains and a few times down to 8 cars and things were better with 8 cars. But we were running all sorts of 16 car shinkansens. It had something to do with the trains getting twisted some with the diaphragm couplers. Guessing 3 car train would not get much of that.

 

jeff 

[jappomania]

54 minutes ago, Kevin said:

... Isn’t there a newer N700A set that is available now from Kato? (10-1174, 75, 76) How does it run? Thank you for the feedback. 

 

well not really available, or not at decent price, but considering the last policy to re-releasing everything with just the new motor and minor improvement, I'm 99% sure it will be "renewed" in a future not so far

here you can find some infos and photos of the cars "b..t"

http://www.speedsphere.jp/RailRoad/Shinkansen/TecN700SeriesModelReview13.aspx

the new one use the same coupling system like E5, E6, E7 so I think it working good, sorry but I have only a small ring for testing my collection, no layout until retired...somebody other can help you better

[Wolf]

Newest Kato N700 series sets should be of the N700S, 10-1697 / 10-1698 / 10-1699 released 11/2022, if that helps.

[Kevin]

that makes sense Jeff. But I NEED the 16 car trains running, not 3 car. 😄 I'm going to suspend my search and figure out which way I want to go with this. Thanks again. 

 

[cteno4]

Sorry didn’t mean to rain on your parade but it’s the only shinkansen that was just unrunnable in my experience. I have most all the 16 car shinkansens and they run like a charm, which is wild with that big of a train racing around!

 

maybe look for a Tomix? It has all wheel pickup which is nice.

 

jeff

[Kevin]

Not raining on my parade. I am glad I asked in here before I spent any more money. Maybe I should just dig out that 20+ year old n700 and see what’s wrong with it and replace the wired decoder or brushes or motor. That thing has a lot of actual miles on it. I appreciate everyone’s help here!

 

thanks!

 

Kevin

[hbr245b]

Funnily enough I'm looking for a 10-548 too. 

 

Not trying too hard as I only have an ebay search currently but it doesn't get triggered very often!

[Kingmeow]

On 4/25/2023 at 3:20 PM, Wolf said:

Newest Kato N700 series sets should be of the N700S, 10-1697 / 10-1698 / 10-1699 released 11/2022, if that helps.

 

On 4/25/2023 at 6:08 PM, cteno4 said:

Sorry didn’t mean to rain on your parade but it’s the only shinkansen that was just unrunnable in my experience. I have most all the 16 car shinkansens and they run like a charm, which is wild with that big of a train racing around!

 

maybe look for a Tomix? It has all wheel pickup which is nice.

 

jeff

 

I recently got the N700S 10-1697 basic set when I was in Japan.  Until they release the N700A in January 2024, these are the latest.  Do they have the coupler issue or they have addressed it in these sets?  I don't want to expand by getting the add on Set A if it won't run right.  I bought it as a "souvenir" when I was in Japan last month.

 

I have run the set for quite some time on a simple Unitrack loop on a coffee table and have not experienced any problems.  Although it's only 4 cars and speed was slow to medium.  No high speed runs.  Since I run at shows, I doubt I'll be doing much high speed runs with multiple freight trains on the same line, with derailments and problems here and there to slow things down.  😃

Edited October 8, 2023 by Kingmeow

[Yavianice]

@Kingmeow I assume you mean the N700 rerelease in 2024 because the N700A did not get a new re-release announced yet.

 

the N700 Kato re-release will be identical to the original release with the exception that the single motorcar will have a slotless motor. If you buy it I advise to also buy a set of replacement couplers just in case.

[Kingmeow]

Oops, yes I meant N700 ("Small A"?).  They have the part numbers 10-1817 and 10-1818.  Given that the current release was in 2022 the new one in 2024 will probably be the same other than the motor as you pointed out.

 

But I Imagine the 10-547 series that the OP inquired about probably doesn't have the current coupler as it was released in December 2007 (15 years ago)?  So all the earlier discussion about the bad coupling doesn't apply to the current/future releases?

 

I finally read the PDF link that jappomania posted earlier where it has differences comparison.  The PDF says that the new (and current) coupler design first came out with the N700A in July 2013.  It's been 10 years and I'm thinking this current design is working fine else I can't imagine people complaining about it for 10 years.

[Yavianice]

KATO 10-1817/10-1818 as well as KATO 10-1819 and 10-549 will have the same couplers as 10-547, as can be seen in the product description from KATO. 

[Kamome]

Just to clarify for others wanting the N700 set, last released in 2007:

 

There is no mention of 10-549 being released along with updates N700 10-1819 set on the Kato website in new releases at time of writing this. If it’s there, it’s certainly not obvious from the poster, or the release schedule nor a link from the product to new releases as with other upcoming products. The retailers however have the add on for preorder releasing in January 2024.

 

On 10/9/2023 at 9:10 AM, Yavianice said:

N700A did not get a new re-release announced yet

 The 2013 version release no but the N700 that has the smaller “Advanced” A logo rather than the larger one. These seem far more common on my recent shinkansen journeys so a nice addition if Tokaido-Sanyo floats your boat. 

[Kingmeow]

On 10/8/2023 at 7:23 PM, Kingmeow said:

I recently got the N700S 10-1697 basic set when I was in Japan.  Until they release the N700A in January 2024, these are the latest.  Do they have the coupler issue or they have addressed it in these sets?  I don't want to expand by getting the add on Set A if it won't run right.  I bought it as a "souvenir" when I was in Japan last month.

 

I have run the set for quite some time on a simple Unitrack loop on a coffee table and have not experienced any problems.  Although it's only 4 cars and speed was slow to medium.  No high speed runs.  Since I run at shows, I doubt I'll be doing much high speed runs with multiple freight trains on the same line, with derailments and problems here and there to slow things down.  😃

Just to update and add a data point in case others stumble upon this thread in the future.

 

I went ahead and ordered the 4-car Set A Expansion set, Kato 10-1698.  I received it a few weeks ago and finally got a chance to add DCC and two FL12's for the front and rear lights and run the 8-car set.  Very nice and I'm happy to report that the coupler is rock solid.  I even ran the train at a train show during the Christmas holidays and it just kept going and going and going with no uncoupling on its own.  What a sight to see an 8-car Shinkansen on the same layout as a BN 20-car coal train.  😄

 

I'm going to bring it to the Amherst (Massachusetts) Railroad Hobby Show at the end of January and run it on a 32' x 32' (approximate) "E" shaped combined T-Trak layout.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Kingmeow