The Introduction Thread...

[Martijn Meerts]

Nice collection. I see you have quite a few of the American named trains. Really love those, and I've recently started collecting them as well, although my main focus is still Japanese :)

[Bernard]

Chava - Welcome to the forum...for some reason I can't see your photos. I like your collection one of my favorites is the Kamone!

I look forward to your post.

Bernard

[disturbman]

Chava, welcome. I think you'll have more luck finding members north of the frontier than South. In and all we are quite a varied bunch, with a preponderance of Americans and Australians.

 

I hope you'll find your stay here enjoyable.

[Salvatore]

Thank you very much for the warm welcome.

 

Ghan ... your words are my model railroad philosophy  

 

Bernard .... That really are not photos, but a YouTube video. I put the link in my post but the system automatically included it as embedded video. To avoid that I send you the link divided into two parts:

http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=gqHyoQq-Yjg

 

Ah! And I received my Kamome just last week. So it does not appear in this video. But next time I will include it.

 

Disturbman ..... what you say is perfectly understandable. Hopefully with time, more of my countrymen will realize how interesting and beautiful the Japanese trains are.

 

Martijn ..... Kato trains, whether American or Japanese, are simply fabulous. The railroad modelers in Mexico would like that someday Kato turn their eyes south of the Rio Grande and produce some of the historic passenger trains of this country.

 

Chava

[Harold]

Hello everyone.

 

I am Harold. I love the Japanese rail system, history and trains. Have travelled quite a bit on them and have a few stories and photos to share.

 

I'm also a genuine fan of the A-Train series by Artdink.

 

Hopefully see you around.

[Bernard]

Hi Harold - Welcome to the forum, glad you found us!

[Mr Frosty]

Hello All.

 

Its amazing what you find when looking for something totally different.

I now feel the need to make a mini tram layout.  :crybaby2: I am sure there will be questions to follow.

In the meantime, I shall keep reading.

[The_Ghan]

Welcome Mr Frosty,

 

Just saw your avatar and thought I'd remind you that you can use your model railroad while drinking beer because most controllers are hand-held.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[Densha]

Hello everyone,

 

So, after some weeks lurking on the forum I thought about introducing myself.

I've been interested in Japan since about 1.5 years ago after I was getting into anime, and discovered that it is a wonderful country. I've not yet been in Japan, but I'm willing to do so.

I've also been interested in trains since my childhood as far as I can remember. I have some Dutch H0 scale modeltrains and sometimes go out to take photos of the trains passing by at the railways that are about 10 minutes on the bicycle from my house. I do it much less than before though.

I also learned that Japanese railways are fantastic and started to like them. Also the models are lots cheaper than H0 trains from manafacturers like Roco and Fleischmann, so you can buy lots more for the same money.

Anyway, I ordered a Kato Yamanote Line E231 trainset and an Kato Unitrack M1 set yesterday at Hobbysearch and hope to receive it somewhere in the following two weeks. After that I'm planning on buying some points and making a small layout for test purposes and to learn how to make a modelrailway, since I don't have much experience in building it. After that I'm planning to use an empty room in my house for building a large layout. But that's probably not going to happen in the near future, since I'm low on my money now.

Also, I got rid of my old H0 layout in the room that's now empty for about a year ago since it looked ugly and the table plates were bent.

 

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

[Bernard]

Hi Densha,

Welcome to the forum and it looks like you've come on to the "Dark Side"......yes you switched to N Scale. 

The greatest thing about the switch is that you will have a lot more room to design a layout.

Bernard

[Densha]

Thanks for the welcome, Bernard.

My grandmother also has N-scale trains by the way, she prefers Swedish ones though because she loves that country. She also has a Kato Thalys (not Swedish, but whatever), so I looked at it as an example for Kato quality. My grandfather also has Swedish trains, but in H0 scale. They have a 3 story house, and the upper one is just a ladder and trains.

 

And maybe you've already noticed, but I do live in The Netherlands.

I read some people saying that there are lots of Dutch people on this forum, is the server perhaps located here and the Dutch version of Google automatically puts this forum at number one because of that?

 

I haven't sold my H0-scale stuff yet, I'm going to sell all my track, buildings, and old trains that I don't like. There are three trains that I will keep. I can get a few hundreds of euros out of it, so I can use that for buying new N-scale stuff.

[John P Boogerd]

Hey Densha, I am Dutch, too, but I have lived in Canada since I was nine years old - even so, I was born in Rotterdam and still have some feelings for that city and for Holland.  I have been in love with Japan since the early 1980s when I wrote a paper on Japanese business for university.  I had collected some Japanese N-scale trains but now that I am about to put up a table in one spare bedroom I didn't like them too much since they are too small to my taste.  I am selling the n-scale and buying ho-scale in its place.  As of now, I have a Kato EF-65, seven sleeping cars and three freight cars, as well as quite a good start in Kato Unitrack.  I am expecting a Tomix EH-500 and EF-66 this week.  I think that's a pretty good start.  I really like heavy electric locomotives.  I have seen a Tomix 4-car multiple unit that I am thinking of as well.  Of course, I have to sell other things that I have collected over the years to raise the money - my wife is quite adamant about that.  With my Dutch background, I have a love for the Dutch trains as well and the new Roco Plan-T hondekop 4-car train is really nice - I might run that around once in a while, too - a Dutch train on a Japanese layout - oh, well!  Another Dutch train I love is the VAM compost cars which Roco has made in several colors. 

[Densha]

@John P Boogerd

I agree that N-scale is fairly small, but I just don't have that much space that I can use for a model railway. Also, there isn't as many Japanese stuff available in HO as in N.

I've always been like that I don't like if I keep things the same for a very long time. I'm starting to get bored of Dutch railways, but the language actually too. I like doing something completely different once in a while, so that's why I like the Japanese railways and find English and Japanese much better sounding languages too. I also prefer to alternate in music genres I listen to, too.

I have the VAM train too! A NS 2400 series loco with 4 Roco VAM cars. Here's a picture of it. There's some other PTT post car as first car. As you can see, that photo has been made on my old HO layout which I have demolished by now. Here are some other photos from it, if someone's interested. It's not really anything close to exciting though. I will keep that train because it's the only one I really like from the many that I have, the most are trashy Lima stuff which are broken or look ugly or have that coffee grinder (that's the nickname in Holland) motor in it.

[Billbuv]

Hello all,  I am a new member of this forum.  My name is Bill Buvinger and I first started in HO modeling in 1947. In 1950 I went into Military Service and my model railroading was put aside. I did not get back to it until the mid 1970s when I started into HO Traction (Trolleys). At that time my layout was running under overhead wire using 12V DC. In 1982 I had a personal tragedy and gave up many activities including model railroading.  Last year I started to build an N Scale layout running with DCC. My layout is about half build and now I have become interested in N Scale Traction. I am using Tomix Fine Track, Tomix Wide Tram Track, and also Kato Unitrack. I am building a few T-Trak modules also. I am located in Colorado USA. BTW I am 79 years old.

 

Billbuv

[Bernard]

Hi Bill - Welcome to the forum and back to model RRing! I would love to see photos of what you have done in the past and what you are working on now (if at all possible)

Glad to have you here!

[Salvatore]

Thanks for the welcome, Bernard.

My grandmother also has N-scale trains by the way, she prefers Swedish ones though because she loves that country. She also has a Kato Thalys.....

 

 

A grandmother railroad modeller???  Wooow!!!! And she likes N Scale???  Caramba !!!!  Now that's A GRANDMOTHER.... !!!!!

 

My congratulations....

 

Chava

[Densha]

Thanks for the welcome, Bernard.

My grandmother also has N-scale trains by the way, she prefers Swedish ones though because she loves that country. She also has a Kato Thalys.....

 

 

A grandmother railroad modeller???  Wooow!!!! An she likes N Scale???  Caramba !!!!  Now that's A GRANDMOTHER.... !!!!!

 

My congratulations....

 

Chava

 

Yes, it's quite an exceptional case. If I'm right it's mainly because me liking trains. Because I liked trains since I was small, I often went to the railway museum and going to look at trains passing by together with my grandparents when I was little. Because of that they started liking trains too.

Thank you for the congratulations.

[The_Ghan]

Densha,

 

Welcome to the forum.  A grandmother who likes N scale trains? That's what family is all about.  Grandma rocks!!!

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[Bernard]

Densha - One question....does your grandmother want to join the forum? It might be a first over here. 

[Densha]

I don't think so, she doesn't want to learn doing stuff on computers except for checking emails (the generalized stubborn old people trait), so it's a no-go. She does use, however, a DCC system for her trains, surprisingly.

[pexinho]

Hello everyone my name is Nuno  and i am from Portugal, i am a train  enthusiast, i'm amaised by the diversity of train's in Japan, In modelism i have only have a train set, from swiss railways, i don't heven now witch scale it is,s!

I am doing some research about te japonese colture too, and i think that they are a very interesting culture, i hope some day go to japan, for a few days to feel the asian atmosphere, a now a bit about potuguese railways, if you whant some informations about it , just ask. We have metric, and iberian gauge , some god trains, i foud this forum by searching in google  :,  to now more about japan rail and much more.

Thank you.

Sory about the english, it's a litle rust 

[bill937ca]

Hello everyone my name is Nuno  and i am from Portugal, i am a train  enthusiast, i'm amaised by the diversity of train's in Japan,

Sory about the english, it's a litle rust 

 

Welcome Nuno.  Portugal is a very interesting country with an interesting train network.  And yes Japan`s trains are amazing and there is always something new.  Enjoy!

[ibm650]

Hi, I was surprised that the registration did not include a retinal scan, reading those characters are tough on old eyes.  I am Allan Levy, live in Gaithersburg Md.  I love running Kato n scale.  I also do computers.  I have a few Kato J steamers.  Is there any N activity in the Washington DC area. 

[cteno4]

Hi, I was surprised that the registration did not include a retinal scan, reading those characters are tough on old eyes.  I am Allan Levy, live in Gaithersburg Md.  I love running Kato n scale.  I also do computers.  I have a few Kato J steamers.  Is there any N activity in the Washington DC area. 

 

Hello Allan,

 

just so happens there is a japanese model rr club in washington dc area! check out Japan Rail Modelers of Washington DC (http://www.japanrailmodelers.org). several members of the club (including me) are on the forum here. Our next gig will be the great scale model train show oct 29-30 at the timonimum fairgrounds over in baltimore, then the lion's club train show in rockville nov 12-13. the club has a japanese layout we set up at shows 4-5 times a year. we also meet once a month for lunch usually on the 8th in bethesda. give us a yell if you are interested.

 

there is also a large and active ntrak/ttrak club in northern virginia and an ntrak in baltimore.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[The_Ghan]

ibm650,

 

Welcome to the forum.  How did you manage to bypass the retinal scan? 

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan