Mutro Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 (edited) Hi @miyakojiSmall world... my koseki tohon is from Soja. But I now live in California. I am planning to revisit Japan in May-June this year, hoping to ride the SL Gunma Minakami /SL Gunma Yokokawa but when they finally published their schedule, it's not scheduled for the weekend 'll be in the area 😞. Guess I'll take solace in visiting the JR East RR Museum in Saitama and riding some of their Joyful Trains in the Tohoku area. Edited February 22 by Mutro 1 Link to comment
Diana P Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 (edited) The Nagareyama Line in my spare room. *** Edited because the website altered the order on my photos *** In photo one, Nanohana (the yellow set) is on the closer shed track and Ryusei (the orange set) is on the open-air track. The 12-inch ruler shows the depth from the eventual back of the module to two inches short of the front. Built to T-Track standards (more-or-less) Nagareyama will be 930 mm x 355 mm (about 36-3/8 x 14 inches). In the 3.5 inches beyond the retaining wall (which will be the height of the catenary) there will be, from left to right, a parking lot, a residential tower, a forested park with a huge hill, a bus stop and elevated walkway, two two-storey homes, and another residential tower. Photo two is the eventual station and platform area. Two-thirds of the front car of Nanohana will side an uncovered platform while its rear car and the forward car of Ryusei (the orange set) both side that platform with a concrete butterfly roof. The rear car of Ryusei will side the station proper. In photo three, Ryusei is on what will be the open air maintenance bay. Three railway buildings and the depot will occupy the three-inch foreground. The shed roof pictured is from an old Green Max kit. The final version will be scratch-built, but it shows scale. You can see a stand-in for tower one in the 3.5 inch background (behind the Home Depot retaining wall). (continued) Edited February 28 by Diana P 3 Link to comment
Diana P Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 (edited) ** Edited because this website publishes attachments backwards ** Photo four: A pedestrian bridge over all tracks will be built to the right of the ruler, connecting the bus stop to the station. Photo five is the extreme right (south) end of the module. The two freight cars are sitting on the Permanent Way track. Someday a Pocket Line steeple cab, flat, gondola, and box will live here. [PS: I don't know (or care) if Ryutetsu ever used / uses an orange steeple cab. The pictures I have seen were of a tiny internal combustion critter. Maybe someday...] Photo six is the middle of the module. The closest 64mm track piece wasn't needed and was removed. Photo seven is the left (north) end of the module. The module will extend three inches in front of the wood bases. The folded card is where the station will sit. Three railway buildings will sit left of the station. A bicycle parking area under a pedestrian bridge and several two-storey homes will sit to the right of the station. Edited February 28 by Diana P 3 Link to comment
brill27mcb Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 From my experience, most websites publish uploaded photos in "backwards" order. The better way to think about it is that they post the most recently uploaded photo in a group at the top. If you think of it that way, then it makes some sense. It's just something I've had to get used to. Rich K. Link to comment
MeTheSwede Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 (edited) The solution is to not just upload attachments, but hover the mouse of the photo attachments to see the text "Insert" (into post) and click that. (It works simular on mobile). Then insert them into the order you want them and write text in between photos when you want to. Attachments that haven't been inserted just get added to the end of the post, in an order that might not be what you wanted. Edited February 29 by MeTheSwede Link to comment
cteno4 Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 welcome @Diana P, glad you found us! sorry the forum editor is not very clear on where it puts your attachments. One way is to add your attached photos then click where in the text you want a particular photo then double click on that photo in the attachments thumbnails at the bottom of the editor, then it puts that photo where the cursor was currently inserted. looks like a fun Ttrak module! Getting a siding in even on a double Ttrak module is tough. one thing you might try is anyrail, it’s a track layout software to try ideas with. Their demo allows like 40 pieces but I don’t think you can save it so need to do some screen grabs before quitting the program. But a free way to play with track ideas. There is also the free, open source xtrakcad, but it can be a bit of a challenge to install and use (not the most elegant interface), but very powerful and free! Looking forward to your progress on this. Please start a topic on it in the layout form and keep us posted on your progress. It’s always wonderful to see folks ideas and how they evolve and come out! cheers jeff Link to comment
N-Osoi Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 Hello all, I’m a train-loving Australian who, now that I have just returned from an amazing holiday in Japan, have returned to model trains and I want to model Japanese N scale! As soon as I stumbled into a shop that sold model trains in Den Den town in Osaka I knew what I was bring home as souvenirs and reignite my childhood hobby (which was British OO stuff). I ended up even visiting the Kato showroom in Tokyo. It was overwhelming! Bought some trains that I had ridden and some track including an M2 starter kit from there and some other shops… and made sure to grab an N scale FamilyMart 😄 This seems to be a good place to join a relevant online community. I’ll hopefully post some pics when I create some space to set things up! 5 Link to comment
cteno4 Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 Welcome @N-Osoi, glad you found us. Yep lots of good info here to feed your Japanese train modeling, cruise the forums ans you’ll find a lot of info. The pinned topics tend to be ones rich in more evergreen content. The forum has been going for 17 years now is has tons and tons of topics to try some searches (best with more than one term and use the and option) to see if it comes up with anything useful. Lots of helpful folks here also t answer questions and share with. Start a layout topic even if it’s just a temporary setup, always fun to see how folks start. cheers, jeff 1 Link to comment
N-Osoi Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 (edited) Thanks everyone. Good to be here to help motivate me organise some layout space. One other thing, for want of a better place to mention - In that first shop I encountered, looked for a model of the Aoniyoshi train in Kyoto having just been on it. Turned around to find an HO model on display for Y547,800... took me a while to process that one! Now I realise its from Endo - seems to be a small-run high-end company. Yikes! But beautiful. Edited March 23 by N-Osoi Link to comment
cteno4 Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 @N-Osoi Yep Japanese HO in general is a fair bit more expensive than n scale, then there are the high end brass models! Fortunately greenmax rolled out the Aoniyoshi train in N scale last fall and it’s still around! Bit expensive, green max is a smaller manufacturer and generally the on the expensive side along with micro ace. Kato and Tomix are the big manufacturers. https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10957699 N scale model trains in Japan in general don’t stay in stock all the time. Big run main stuff may stick around for a year or two, but eventually usually goes out of stock and usually only had on the used market (which in Japan is big and usually pretty high quality, but a bit harder to source). There are some shops that sell some used trains online to overseas, yahoo.jp auctions (tons there but requires an agent company to do the bidding, purchase, and shipping to you), and a model trains plus at times will do a personal shopping service for you to find something odd (but for an additional fee). Smaller runs or really desired trains can sell out within a day or two and really require preordering to make sure you get it. The general rule of thumb is figure out then things you want and then grab them when you can as waiting they can sell out easily. im guessing the higher price kept the green max Aoniyoshi train from selling out fast. there are a lot of discussions on the main online shops that sell overseas as well as proxy services in the Suppliers forum. cheer, jeff 1 Link to comment
N-Osoi Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Thanks Jeff. Yes I think I asked the very helpful staff at the Kato showroom if they had an Aoniyoshi and he mentioned greenmax (The Kato showroom had a few non-Kato products on sale but not that). This is all great info, N scale seems to be in very good health as a hobby in Japan. There’s a great exchange rate for Australia at the moment too. I’ll check the forums for best way of getting stuff from Oz, as there’s no retail near me. That’s interesting about personal shopping, would be fun to have that job in Japan! Link to comment
b.nice2000 Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 (edited) 11 minutes ago, N-Osoi said: Thanks Jeff. Yes I think I asked the very helpful staff at the Kato showroom if they had an Aoniyoshi and he mentioned greenmax (The Kato showroom had a few non-Kato products on sale but not that). This is all great info, N scale seems to be in very good health as a hobby in Japan. There’s a great exchange rate for Australia at the moment too. I’ll check the forums for best way of getting stuff from Oz, as there’s no retail near me. That’s interesting about personal shopping, would be fun to have that job in Japan! I'm in the Hunter region , NSW. I bought a fair bit of what I have through eBay, especially from Plaza Japan.. but haven't brought any major trains for a couple of years now. I have to keep telling myself, very firmly........ YOU HAVE GOT ENOUGH !! 🙂 Edited March 24 by b.nice2000 1 Link to comment
cteno4 Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 N scale in Japan is probably the biggest single model train marker in the world! hobbysearch is a good “catalog” website that has most of the stuff made over the last 25 years, even if out of stock/production. 31 minutes ago, b.nice2000 said: I have to keep telling myself, very firmly........ YOU HAVE GOT ENOUGH !! 🙂 You and me brother, you and me cheers, jeff… 1 Link to comment
N-Osoi Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 (edited) I'm going to assume that model train collectors are like bike riders in that the correct number of trains that one should own is n + 1, where n is the current number you own. N + 1 if you will, for correct scale/gauge 😄 Edited March 26 by N-Osoi Link to comment
RS18U Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 A quick intro. I am in Western Canada and have been an HO scale/gauge model railroader and interested in the prototypes since the late 1970's. My main interests are Canadian Pacific in western Canada in the mid 1970's and Canadian west coast logging post WWII. My father had strong business ties to Japan in the 70's and 80's, and my wife's family all originate from Hiroshima, so we have this tie to Japan that goes back a fair ways. We just finished our 4th trip to Japan in 10 years and as usual enjoyed ourselves immensely. This last trip was all about Kyushu while the one before was Hokkaido. All by rail of course! Since I have the interest in railways already, I have taken an interest in how the Japanese have managed to do such a great job. I don't have any intent to change what I model, but I will do the odd bit of Japan starting with a purchase I made this last trip of a Kato KiHa 81. Will be searching the forum for info on what detail parts Kato provides to add, and which of the many decals to apply. Looking forward to the forum! 9 Link to comment
cteno4 Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Welcome @RS18U, glad you found us! bBe careful Japanese trains can become addictive, get enough of them on your layout and when the lights are out late at night they knock the other trains off the layout and onto the floor or behind things! Great you have the family attachment to Japan. Keep us posted on what you get and if you feel like it start a topic on your Canadian layout in the layouts forum. cheers, jeff 1 Link to comment
RS18U Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Thanks @cteno4 for the welcome. Yes, I can see how they could be addictive! The quality of the KiHa 81 is amazing, even better than I was expecting based on the Kato North American units I have. I may post some of my Canadian stuff at some time, things are a bit in confusion at the moment in the train room/office as I get ready for retirement. Then look out 😉 Link to comment
RS18U Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 So a bit of an update. I am putting it here as it is very general and its seems to fit best. First, thank you so much for the warm welcome, and responses to my other posts, this seems like a great place to be. A particular shout out to @cteno4 for not only his excellent advise, but patience for what must seem both repetitive and basic questions. And the amount of information in the forum is amazing. Keeps my quite entertained browsing as I sit in a hotel room for (this week) 3 nights. Second, this whole delving into Japanese model railways and now into to T Track has been a real eye opener for an old school HO modeller. It has re-energized my interest in modelling, and opened new friendships in my local modelling community. I dabbled in N scale in the early 80's when I was trying to pick a scale to work in, and wow has it changed since then! So much to learn, and un-learn from HO. 5 Link to comment
cteno4 Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 RS, you are most welcome! That’s the whole point of the forum and why we all spend time and effort on it! Very enjoyable to see someone take off in the hobby like you are! We have 16 years worth of great stuff in the archives here as well. It’s a nice big group of friends here and has spun off many personal friendships for members. janoanese n scale is a real sweet spot. Some of the best quality and prices, enormous variety, tons of amazing scenes that rail can be in and small enough to pack a lot in a small place. Plus n is jsut right to do some fun details but you do pnt have to keep details high on every bit the way you do at larger scales. All this means you have fewer limits to your creativity! also great you’ve developed new friendships in your local hobby community, that’s the best! Real human and contact are sort of secondary in our social media culture now. enjoy! jeff 1 Link to comment
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