The Introduction Thread...

September 29, 2009

Tristan, welcome!

Hi, the names Alvin, from Ipswich, just west of Brisbane in Australia. I'm N scale layout coordinator at the Ipswich Heritage Model Railway Club. The Santa Fe in the 50's and 60's is my main interest but Japanese railways are a close second. I started out with a second hand Kato '0' series Shinkansen I won at an N scale convention in 1989, a year later I visited Japan for the first time, and then, well you know what happens once your hooked. Been talking Japanese at Trainboard for while and finally decided I might as well join up here.

Alvin, hello! I spent the month of July with my family in Brisbane on our summer vacation. We spent a day in Ipswich, touring the Workshops Museum there, and had a great time. (Plus my wife is really into bats!) Welcome to the forum!

September 29, 2009

Westfalen (Alvin) this is a great and wonderful surprise for me! Your knowledge that you've shared with me at TB has been inspiring. I hope we continue with our dialogues here as well as TB. What you are going to find here is that a large part of the members at the forum come from Australia. (You probably know some of them already.)

Again a big welcome.

Triplex - I also want to welcome you too and I hope you enjoy the forum. If you are seeking out information of the Japanese RR, I'm sure you are going to get it here.

September 30, 2009

Tristan, welcome!

Hi, the names Alvin, from Ipswich, just west of Brisbane in Australia. I'm N scale layout coordinator at the Ipswich Heritage Model Railway Club. The Santa Fe in the 50's and 60's is my main interest but Japanese railways are a close second. I started out with a second hand Kato '0' series Shinkansen I won at an N scale convention in 1989, a year later I visited Japan for the first time, and then, well you know what happens once your hooked. Been talking Japanese at Trainboard for while and finally decided I might as well join up here.

Alvin, hello! I spent the month of July with my family in Brisbane on our summer vacation. We spent a day in Ipswich, touring the Workshops Museum there, and had a great time. (Plus my wife is really into bats!) Welcome to the forum!

Our club rooms are at the Workshops Museum in the old tool and gauge shop (large brick building on the right at the main entrance).

September 30, 2009

Tristan, welcome!

Hi, the names Alvin, from Ipswich, just west of Brisbane in Australia. I'm N scale layout coordinator at the Ipswich Heritage Model Railway Club. The Santa Fe in the 50's and 60's is my main interest but Japanese railways are a close second. I started out with a second hand Kato '0' series Shinkansen I won at an N scale convention in 1989, a year later I visited Japan for the first time, and then, well you know what happens once your hooked. Been talking Japanese at Trainboard for while and finally decided I might as well join up here.

Alvin, hello! I spent the month of July with my family in Brisbane on our summer vacation. We spent a day in Ipswich, touring the Workshops Museum there, and had a great time. (Plus my wife is really into bats!) Welcome to the forum!

Our club rooms are at the Workshops Museum in the old tool and gauge shop (large brick building on the right at the main entrance).

I missed the tour of the tool shop, unfortunately, so I would have never noticed the club rooms. Ah well!

October 1, 2009

Tristan, welcome!

Hi, the names Alvin, from Ipswich, just west of Brisbane in Australia. I'm N scale layout coordinator at the Ipswich Heritage Model Railway Club. The Santa Fe in the 50's and 60's is my main interest but Japanese railways are a close second. I started out with a second hand Kato '0' series Shinkansen I won at an N scale convention in 1989, a year later I visited Japan for the first time, and then, well you know what happens once your hooked. Been talking Japanese at Trainboard for while and finally decided I might as well join up here.

Alvin, hello! I spent the month of July with my family in Brisbane on our summer vacation. We spent a day in Ipswich, touring the Workshops Museum there, and had a great time. (Plus my wife is really into bats!) Welcome to the forum!

Our club rooms are at the Workshops Museum in the old tool and gauge shop (large brick building on the right at the main entrance).

I missed the tour of the tool shop, unfortunately, so I would have never noticed the club rooms. Ah well!

It's not on the tour as we rent the building from QR and it's technically not part of the museum, so it's closed up when we're not there. (1st Sat/3rd Sun every month).

October 13, 2009

Hello JNR Forum members,

My name is Toni Helm, but I go on the internets by the name of Toni Babelony. A nickname given by a friend in middle school that I still use. Maybe some of you know who I am, but most would have probably never heard of me. For those who might know me: I did quite some sprites for the Japan Set for Transport Tycoon and gathered hard to find information on trains for that set. Some may know me from way back from the Yahoo! forums as a member of a few Japanese train boards. Anyway, I've recently picked up my old hobby again and started to renew my collection.

I used to collect trains that I liked for their looks, but didn't have any connection to one another. So I ended up with a mishmash of rolling stock; Hankyu, JR Central and Odakyu stuff. Now I've decided to model a 30~40 Shõwa-era coal mining layout with diesel and steam traction. Recently I've bought a DD51-1 (MicroAce, super great runner btw) and a Kashima RR KIHA431 (Tomytec) to provide a solid base for the rolling stock. My old DD54 (Tomix) will probably be used for a while as well, but when I can find a worthy replacement, this engine will end up on a side spur, just as all of my EMU.

The space I have for my layout that I'm going to start to build soon is not much, but sufficient to start a first serious attempt to a layout. A window bench of about 220 x 15cm with a possibility for an extension for a cassettes operated fiddleyard. The base is probably going to be foam-paper. Lightweight, sturdy and easily transportable. Maybe I'll attend some local railway shows with it, so a choice of lightweight material isn't a bad idea.

The theme will be coal mining in Tohoku, or maybe Hokkaido, with this website as a great inspiration: http://homepage3.nifty.com/syomonai/index.htm Despite my inspiration being 1/80 gauge, it's still packed with ideas and detail.

Anyway, first I have to invest in buying some more railway material and then I can think about actually building the layout and buying some hoppers (which are desperately needed).

I hope to learn a lot from you guys on modelling techniques and find some interesting links to interesting Japanese websites, not discovered before by yours truly (the language shouldn't be a barrier as I've been studying Japanese for quite a few years now).

October 13, 2009

Toni - Welcome back into the hobby. Good timing since the winter months aren't too long away. Because of the input from the members here, we have built up a nice resource of video, articles on a lot of subjects on the Japanese RR. Enjoy your search and I look forward to your posts!

October 13, 2009

Thanks. I've regained a good contact with the owner of the Japan Model Railways shop in Kamen (Germany); we go back quite some time. And the release of the Tomyetc Diorama series a few years ago brought the hobby back to me.

Anyway, I have some T-Gauge material lying around (not in original box anymore), so if anyone is interested in taking it over for a low price, please PM me. It's too small, requires too much maintenance (yes, I'm lazy when it comes to that) and there is not much room for detailing.

October 13, 2009

Welcome aboard Toni, I will just have a last question for you to complete your introduction. Where do you come from? Germany I would guess but that's not so clear for me. :)

October 13, 2009

Thanks. I've regained a good contact with the owner of the Japan Model Railways shop in Kamen (Germany); we go back quite some time. And the release of the Tomyetc Diorama series a few years ago brought the hobby back to me.

Anyway, I have some T-Gauge material lying around (not in original box anymore), so if anyone is interested in taking it over for a low price, please PM me. It's too small, requires too much maintenance (yes, I'm lazy when it comes to that) and there is not much room for detailing.

Heiko has helped me a lot with Japanese trains, and is in fact the main reason I'm modeling Japanese prototype now. Real nice guy, and extremely helpful. (Even before spending many thousands of Euros on trains there =))

October 14, 2009

Toni, welcome! We're glad to have you.

You're not the only one here interested in the Tohoku region

Also, maybe too modern for you , but Kawai has been pumping out the coal hoppers lately. Been tempted by them myself.

October 14, 2009

@disturbman: I'm actually Dutch, but I live in Bonn, Germany a.t.m. I've intended to migrate back to the Netherlands after a year, as I have some unfinished business to attend here (finish University). Until then I remain in Bonn and drink German beer.

@Martijn Meerts: yes, Heiko has always been a great help to me as well. I've seen him expanding his shop and going through some hard times, but now he's quite on a roll.

@CaptOblivious: I'm intending to buy either a few 2-axle TORA hoppers, or some 4-axle SEKI 3000 gondolas. Both were in extensive use during the 60's and were the last additions in coal hauling trains for Japanese railways. The hoppers KAWAI is releasing are mostly for hauling cement, which is still a great commodity in rail-bulk transport. Besides, cement hoppers are more expensive in N-scale then coal hoppers and don't have that 'romance-flair' :P KAWAI also has a wide range of coal hoppers, so that's probably going to be my choice of rolling stock :)

October 31, 2009

Hi guys, my name is Lawrence, I am 48 and live in Fife, Scotland. I have just ripped up my B&O N scale layout (to give daughter her bedroom back :angel13: ) so was considering a small (8" x 40") shelf layout and had perhaps thought about going with some Japanese theme. I know nothing about the Japanese railways so this is going to be an information gathering exercise for me initially and if I feel this is the route I wish to go down, then there may be a layout thread in the future.

For now I'm just trying to figure out where to start, I would like something along the lines of a 2 car DMU and another diesel loco with some freight to shunt about. I will be using the Peco track I rescued from the old layout and assume it will be okay.

I am sure you will all have your personal favourites but I am open to suggestions and I would also be grateful for any UK supplier recommendations.

Many thanks

Lawrence

October 31, 2009

There's M.G. Sharp in the UK, I believe they're the official importer for Kato. http://www.mgsharp.com/

Other than that, I would recommend going through some pictures/videos, and see which DMU you like. From there I'm sure there's people able to give you a huge list of DMU's and diesel loco's that would fit your taste =)

November 1, 2009

Slightly fraudulent, as I have been a member for some time, but recently changed my email address which must've thrown me up as a new member. I have been mainly lurking on this and Yahoo groups, learning and studying the Japanese railways systems, giving an opinion here and there if I think I can be a help. I'm a nearly retired firefighter of 65, and have built up an 11 x 5 foot layout to stage 1 (bare frames with double-tracked mainline) of no particular area, but with facilities to allow loco changing of trains at sites like Aomori, Shimonoseki, and with running in the Tokyo area. I'm hoping to model the four sides in each of the seasons. I enjoy collecting interesting sets of trains from early steam to the latest in bullets. I am one of just a few modellers or Japanophiles in this country, and hope to get there for a trip next year. Looking forward to spending much more time developing this layout. I could not have reached my present understanding of the Japanese way of life (and railways) without these forums by way of the internet, which I rate as the biggest and best educator in my life:))

regards to all

Angus McLean

New Zealand

November 1, 2009

Angus - Well thanks for re-introducing yourself. (we get these re-welcomes sometimes)

I didn't realize you were from New Zealand. You have an 11x5 layout! Would you mind posting photos of it?

Oh, and welcome to the forum....again.

November 5, 2009

I forgot to tell it earlier but the is now a thread dedicated solely to answering Lawrence's question.

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,1972.0.html

November 8, 2009

Hello all.

So I just ordered my first set containing a Japanese locomotive from Hobby Search (http://www.katomodels.com/product/nmi/s1_d51_sl_e.shtml). And I thought it was time for me to intoduce my self. Been a member for some time but only been reading so far.

I found my way to this forum by the way of http://quinntopia.blogspot.com/. I have read that blogg since the start of my model railroading career, which is about a year long now. I like the approach to Model railroading in Quinntopia.

Else I am from Sweden, or as I like to see it East Denmark. My part of Sweden used to belong to Denmark but where lost to Sweden in 1658.

However my first layout is neither Swedish nor Danish, but German and set around 1920. So even if I am very found of Quinntopia I still like to be somewhat more specific about the time and regions of my own layouts. But then it looks like I will have to build several small layouts instead of mixing epoches and regions in one big layout. All to satisfy my needs to explore this new world of model railroading.

I have published some pictures of my first layout (size 200x80cm) at a german site (Mobablog).

http://www.mobablog.info/blog.php?id=839

http://www.mobablog.info/blog.php?id=842

http://www.mobablog.info/blog.php?id=882

and also some pictures of a small Christmas layout (100x50cm) I have made.

http://www.mobablog.info/blog.php?id=973

A perhaps more exotic version can be found at http://www.svensktmjforum.se/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5365&title=mossbergs-tgbana. Be warned it is all in Swedish, but there are more and later pictures further down that thread.

Both my current layouts are in scale N (1:160)

And now I have plans to build a small Japanese layout based on the set I just ordered. The plans are that it will be a rural layout, inspired by shiniji's layout at http://forum.ig-nippon.org/ (for pictures http://forum.ig-nippon.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=86&start=90)

But I think I will have even less tracks and buildings :-).

Regards

Magnus Mossberg, Lund, Sweden.

November 8, 2009

Welcome to JNS Magnus!

Aha! That's a very fine plan to start a layout with! Also, I've heard from IG-NippoN before. A friend of mine is also active on that forum, though he's not a modeller, rather a photographer. He's now studying at Sophia University in Tokyo. A very interesting forum! I'll browse around it a bit more tonight I think :9

November 8, 2009

Greetings Everyone~

I'm Daniel Soledad, age 23, from Houston, TX (though currently in Atlanta, GA earning my Masters degree in Industrial Engineering). My interest in trains goes back to my childhood days playing with Brio / Lego Trains and watching Thomas the Tank Engine. Later, I got a Lionel train set, but I never did get into actually railroad modeling. That, along with my interest in Japanese railroads, didn't come along till a few years ago when I made my first trip to Japan in 2007, and further reinforced with two more trips in 2008 (All trips were to Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, though I did spend a good chunk of time visiting Tokyo as well). Armed with the JR Rail Pass, I rode trains like there was no tomorrow. Nothing jump starts my interests like experiencing the real thing! ^_^

Since my trips, I have started collecting some trains, though mostly the Shinkansen Types (MicroAce 200 renewal, Tomix 300, 500, 800, E1, E2, E4). As money permits, I also have interests in SL, Local, Commuter and Express trains as well. Others that I've come to own are the Kato Eurostar and 700T. Since I'm still only renting housing, I don't have a permanent layout, and go about it much like most Japanese do: clearing a table/room for a while and making layouts from my Kato uni-track. :) Though I know it is an ambitious dream, Tokyo Station is something I hope to model one day. But for now, I plan on starting a small 3x6ft permanent modern-day layout after my graduation. :)

As far as other Japan-related interests are concerned, I am also a fan of Anime/Manga/Light Novels and the language itself (I have been studying Japanese for about 4 years now, though its still no good... ^^;; ).

I came across this website during one of my japan railroad research splurges, and this place is a treasure trove of information! I look forward to chatting it up with all of yall~

Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu~ :)

November 8, 2009

Else I am from Sweden, or as I like to see it East Denmark. My part of Sweden used to belong to Denmark but where lost to Sweden in 1658.

Oh, a Scanier! ^^ I think I might be visiting Scania quite soon, a friend of mine is going back to Sweden and I will have to visit her there.

Welcome aboard both of you, Daniel and Magnus. I do myself love the Japanese language. Find it beautifull even if I'm not able to speak it.

November 9, 2009

Magnus & Daniel - Welcome to the Forum, glad to have you both here.

Magnus - I love the lighting effects you have on your layouts (Xmas tree and street lights )

what track are you using? Great work with scenery, highly detailed.

Daniel - That is how I got started collecting Japanese trains on a visit to Japan. I was astounded by how far ahead the Japanese are with their technology.

November 10, 2009

Magnus - what track are you using?

On my main layout I have used Minitrix, and on the Christmans layout Fleischmann Piccolo.

I havent decided yet but I think I will use Kato or Tomix on my Japanese layout. Peco Code 50 is very popular among "serious" model railroaders in Sweden and soner or later I have to try that too. But I save it for later.

And I am using DCC on the Christmas layout and Selectrix on my main layout. The Kato starter set I have ordered is analog. I havent been able to find a Digital Japanese starter set. Which I find rather strange. Running analog is no option for me so I really hope it is possible to put a decoder of some kind in the D51 that comes with the set.

Regards

Magnus M

November 10, 2009

Magnus - what track are you using?

On my main layout I have used Minitrix, and on the Christmans layout Fleischmann Piccolo.

I havent decided yet but I think I will use Kato or Tomix on my Japanese layout. Peco Code 50 is very popular among "serious" model railroaders in Sweden and soner or later I have to try that too. But I save it for later.

And I am using DCC on the Christmas layout and Selectrix on my main layout. The Kato starter set I have ordered is analog. I havent been able to find a Digital Japanese starter set. Which I find rather strange. Running analog is no option for me so I really hope it is possible to put a decoder of some kind in the D51 that comes with the set.

Regards

Magnus M

Magnus - Code 55 in the US is also very popular with serious modelers. The Peco version is very easy to use since it's code 80 just sunken deeper into the ties.

Some modelers have taken the Kato Unitrack, removed the code 80 rails and replaced it with code 55, which to me is a very costly process, but the results do look great.

November 10, 2009

It's weird to remove code 80 rails and replace them with code 55 on unitrack.. Usually the ones using the code 55 hate pre-balasted track ;)

The Introduction Thread...

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