The Introduction Thread...

[dickturpin]

Hi Calvin, welcome to the group. Model trains are at there best when in action on a layout, however small.

 

Dick Turpin

Birmingham

England

[Nozomi4ever]

Chan - Welcome to the Forum! That is an interesting mix of Marklin and Kato trains. The Marklin trains are beautifully detailed but in the USA they are very expensive. Are the Marklins HO or Z scale? Have you come across the Kato Chinese Shanksen trains?

 

Well my Marklin trains are in HO scale and operates with Marklin Digital controller-Mobile Station 2. I come across the Kato range of models when I was visiting Taiwan quite some time ago.I went to a large mega shopping mall and went to the indoor top floor of it and saw this Kato dealer shop .It 's called Wingmax.(The official Taiwanese distributor for Kato, Tomix , Greenmax) I bought quite a number of them there as the price is Taiwan is on par to the Japanese price and secondly, I don't have any language barrier encountered there. BTW, the shop was small though , it was displayed neatly and the range was very impressive! 

[Nozomi4ever]

Welcome, Chan! I'm actually applying for a job in Singapore. Its a long shot, but my wife and I have been reading quite a lot about you country the past couple of days. even if I don't get the job, I would love to be able to visit someday.

 

That 's nice. Hopefully you will get the job and I will design a good food trail for you which will beat any tourism agency guide.Trust me.

[CaptOblivious]

Welcome, Chan! I'm actually applying for a job in Singapore. Its a long shot, but my wife and I have been reading quite a lot about you country the past couple of days. even if I don't get the job, I would love to be able to visit someday.

 

That 's nice. Hopefully you will get the job and I will design a good food trail for you which will beat any tourism agency guide.Trust me.

 

Yum! Food is my favorite part of tourism!

[Mudkip Orange]

Hey welcome you guys.

 

Andrea - my father lives 2000km away, but I find sending him pictures of my N-scale Japanese setups inspires him to put in more work on his (and to some extent my) HO setup, which is a really loosely free-lanced combo of PRR/CNW/CN/CP (American and Canadian Midwest) operating practices. Some of his trains date back to the 60's. When I visit home for Christmas layout work will definitely be involved.

 

Chan - hey, I too have applied for a job which might take me to Singapore - it would definitely be fun to live in such a dense place. I agree, travel is very much about the food. So if you ever find yourself in Houston Texas just shoot me a message, I know ALL sorts of awesome places to eat here - you'll leave 15 pounds heavier!

[Nozomi4ever]

Hey welcome you guys.

 

Chan - hey, I too have applied for a job which might take me to Singapore - it would definitely be fun to live in such a dense place. I agree, travel is very much about the food. So if you ever find yourself in Houston Texas just shoot me a message, I know ALL sorts of awesome places to eat here - you'll leave 15 pounds heavier!

 

Nice.. Mudkip Orange..

 

@Mudkip Orange and CaptainOblivious : Most of the Singaporean food are really cheap and delicious. If you want Indian curry, it is easily available and all have the same good standard like India. BTW , Chinese food are widely available too. Those Chinese restaurants and takeaways you have seen in America is to fool your money. They are completely piece of junk after you tried the real Chinese food. BTW, Singapore is not a good place for railway sighting. Most of the locals here are not interested in railways and the only trains owned by Singapore are suburban places. The railway system are operated by KTM(not Katsumi) , a Malaysian Railway company.

[Howard1975]

Hello everyone, I'm Howard from the Chicago area, Illinois, in the United States. I have enjoyed model trains since around 1984, when my dad built a 4x8 foot HO scale layout. Since that time, I have mostly modeled in HO scale, using typical American equipment from Athearn, Atlas, MDC, Bachmann, etc. My first exposure to Japanese trains was when I decided to buy some Kato Unitrack, a few years ago. In my opinion, it's a lot more reliable compared to Atlas or Bachmann switches / turnouts.  I have also recently purchased a few N scale trams from Tomytec and Modemo. Doing a lot of soul searching, I have decided to build a Japanese layout, and sell all my American trains. Watching a variety of train videos on You-Tube, and I have fallen in love with Japanese trains. Watching those videos, for me, they make the average American train appear quite boring in comparison. I have never visited Japan, but sure would love to visit sometime before I die.

 

Eventually I plan to build a layout with a large city with many skyscrapers and run Kato and Tomix Shinkansen trains, along with other Japanese passenger and freight trains. But that is in the future. Right now, I don't have lot's of space, apartment living you know, so I'm going to build a small portable layout for my Tomytec and Modemo trams. Later in the future, if and when I have more room, I can build my dream layout. To see what else is available, I'm going to get the Kato and Tomix 2011 catalogs, when they are released. I'll be like a kid again in a candy store, hehe.

 

Cheers,

 

Howard

[CaptOblivious]

Howared, welcome! Glad too see another midwesterner here, not too many of us on the forum you know?

[Bernard]

Howard - Welcome to the Forum.....and the Dark side.  Switching from N. American to Japanese trains is an adventure, but a fun one.  I too have lots of HO, S scale and Lionel N. American trains and only run my N scale Japanese Prototypes, they're by far my most favorite trains!

[bikkuri bahn]

Those Chinese restaurants and takeaways you have seen in America is to fool your money. They are completely piece of junk after you tried the real Chinese food.

 

You obviously haven't eaten at some of the seafood restaurants in Monterey Park and other cities in the San Gabriel Valley in the Los Angeles area- fresh and cheap California ingredients cooked by chefs originally from Hong Kong.  Almost all customers are Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese, as well as ABC types- no "Chinese-American" (P.F. Changs etc.)food is served here.  Nice memories of weekend meals at these places with my Chinese roommates from college.

[Howard1975]

Howared, welcome! Glad too see another midwesterner here, not too many of us on the forum you know?

 

Howard - Welcome to the Forum.....and the Dark side.  Switching from N. American to Japanese trains is an adventure, but a fun one.  I too have lots of HO, S scale and Lionel N. American trains and only run my N scale Japanese Prototypes, they're by far my most favorite trains!

 

  Thank you for the warm welcome "CaptOblivious" and "Bernard". Yeah it's certainly an adventure, switching to Japanese trains from the normal American stuff. I have previously modeled in mostly HO scale, but I have dabbled with N scale before, and Lionel trains. I think the Japanese prototypes are my favorite now, because of the diversity they have in passenger trains. Plus those Shinkansen look so sleek and cool!! I really wish we would build our own high speed rail network in this country, besides what we have already in the NorthEast Corridor. Would love to see something like that, here in Chicago.

 

    Good to know, I'm not the "only" Japanese train lover in the Midwest.    I think the Midwest could work nicely for a high speed line, because of the mostly flat terrain.

[Mudkip Orange]

Would love to see something like that, here in Chicago.

 

Well the last high-speed rail package included a bunch of money for upgrading most of the major Chicago-centric corridors to 110/125... which isn't Shinkansen, but it's faster than the Hokuetsu express.

 

My little brother lives in Batavia... decent city for railfanning, yours is. Not so bad on the food side either (Portillo's, hello)

[bikkuri bahn]

My little brother lives in Batavia... decent city for railfanning, yours is.

 

And noted for being the location of a pioneer model railroad club- the Midwest Railroad Modelers, which emphasized prototypical operations with an emphasis on the trains rather than massive scenery and toonerville cuteness.

 

http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/31371896/The-Midwest-Railroad-Modelers-influential-club-layout

[Howard1975]

Would love to see something like that, here in Chicago.

 

Well the last high-speed rail package included a bunch of money for upgrading most of the major Chicago-centric corridors to 110/125... which isn't Shinkansen, but it's faster than the Hokuetsu express.

 

My little brother lives in Batavia... decent city for railfanning, yours is. Not so bad on the food side either (Portillo's, hello)

 

 

  I guess I'm fortunate in that, Chicago and it's surrounding communities are decent for railfanning. We have six Class 1 railroads that come here, some regional railroads, and also commuter trains (Amtrak, Metra, the CTA EL trains, South Shore and South Bend). Anything I forgot?

 

  Even though the stimulus package for high speed rail is good news, and I would love to see more railroad investment nationwide --  but so much of the infrastructure is in need of repair, it's going to take a while to upgrade. And IMHO, there is too much focus on the airlines and interstate system, and not enough on the railroads, or on modern light rail. I realize it all takes a lot of capital investment, since money does not grow on trees.

 

  But anyway, getting back to the hobby, I'm certainly glad I found this forum, it's been very helpful to me.

 

  And yeap, Chicago has good food too.

 

Howard

[Calvin]

Hi Calvin, welcome to the group. Model trains are at there best when in action on a layout, however small.

 

Dick Turpin

Birmingham

England

 

Thanks, that is what my friends keep telling me... I decided to set two layouts yesterday, one Tomix and for the first time a Kato V13 I bought this week for my Shinkansen. The Unitrack looks beautiful but to my surprise the train doesn't move at all, I checked the electricity, looked at the manual in Japanese and still don't know what is wrong with the circuit. I don't know if the control is broken but the green light is on when I plug in the charger.

 

One more thing I can tell is that the control of the Kato looks pretty cheap and flimsy in comparison to the Tomix one.

[Samurai_Chris]

Hi Calvin, I have lived outside Fukuoka for the last 10 years.. Good to see someone else from Japan here.. Are you Japanese?

 

Chris

[Bernard]

Calvin - Do you have both Kato and Finetrack? If so have you switched you Shinkansen on to the other track and see it it works any better. If not you might have to open it up and oil all the moving part in the motor can and clean the wheels. If you are having more problems start a post in "Train Doctor"

[disturbman]

I would advise you to test another train on the Kato track.

 

Tell me, why do you use two different types of track? It's quite unusual. Normaly people stick to one brand.

[CaptOblivious]

I would advise you to test another train on the Kato track.

 

Tell me, why do you use two different types of track? It's quite unusual. Normaly people stick to one brand.

 

Not that unusual for this board ;) I'm thinking, although I like Tomix FineTrack, that I might use Kato double-track viaduct for my shinkansen lines, because the closer track spacing might help the track appear to be a wider gauge than it is.

 

back on topic:

Calvin: If this problem continues, as Bernard mentioned, please do open a thread on the Train Doctor forum, and the collective expertise of this board should have it running again in no time. Some mighty fine folks here to help you out :D

[westfalen]

 

Hi Calvin, welcome to the group. Model trains are at there best when in action on a layout, however small.

 

Dick Turpin

Birmingham

England

 

Thanks, that is what my friends keep telling me... I decided to set two layouts yesterday, one Tomix and for the first time a Kato V13 I bought this week for my Shinkansen. The Unitrack looks beautiful but to my surprise the train doesn't move at all, I checked the electricity, looked at the manual in Japanese and still don't know what is wrong with the circuit. I don't know if the control is broken but the green light is on when I plug in the charger.

 

One more thing I can tell is that the control of the Kato looks pretty cheap and flimsy in comparison to the Tomix one.

Welcome aboard.

 

Re your problem, I know it sounds silly but do you still have the direction controller on the Kato controller in neutral? It still tricks me up occasionally. As you get more into the hobby a multimeter is an invaluable tool for tracing the source of electrical problems.

 

The control handles on the Kato 22-012 controller are exactly the same and interchangeable with those on the Digitrax Zephyr, I have my suspicions that they are made at the same place.

[The_Ghan]

Hi Calvin, welcome to the group. Model trains are at there best when in action on a layout, however small.

 

Dick Turpin

Birmingham

England

 

The Adams Family sure proved that right !!!

[bikkuri bahn]

Welcome Calvin, I live very far from you (Hokkaido), but always nice to have another Japan-based member on board.  You live in a nice, historical city-love those canals!, with a pretty good railway scene, what with the Sanyo Line, Sanyo Shinkansen, and this little railway, the Mizushima Rinkai Railway:

*beautiful dmh17 burbling!

 

Container/tank container freight hauled by DE701 (DE11 type):

 

If you have any info or observations about your local railway scene, please don't hesitate to post- I for one will be eager to read it!

[sedril]

Hello everybody,

 

I'm Steve, from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  I've just started into get into model trains.

I have a Kato N700 - the full train kit, I figured it would be easier than buying individual bits - along with the inner loop kit, and a double crossover.

 

Right now everything is on a 120 X 75 cm Ikea kitchen table.  I'll expand once I've moved out to the apartment and into a house where I can have a more permanent layout.

 

Steve

[Bernard]

Steve - Welcome to the forum and that is a nice set you bought. The great thing about Unitrack is that it can be easily put up and then stored away.

[KenS]

Welcome aboard.

 

Although I'm not a big fan of the duck-node Shinkansen designs, you can't go wrong with a Kato set of any kind. And you can have a lot of fun with a temporay layout while planning "the big one".  I did.