What's your theme for rolling stock?

[Matthew Brown]

I'm curious as to what theme people have in collecting trains. Are you modeling a specific line and only buy what's appropriate? Or are you at the opposite end and buy whatever you find neat? Or do you have a specific theme: shinkansen? Freight? Special paint schemes only?

[cteno4]

I tend to collect what I like, I have no real period, region, or line fidelity.

 

I love shinkansens so have collected full consists of most all the main flavors. I also love the painted trains so have collected (too) many of them. Many passenger emu and DMU consists because I like how they look or have interesting history behind them. I have a smattering of interesting freight and locos as well. I also love MOW equipment and have most all of the models produced (maintenance and plows).

 

one of our club members collects only trains he has ridden on only pretty much.

 

Cheers,

 

jeff

[ED75-775]

Matthew, train collections tend to differ from person to person. In my case, I have a couple of themes running:

1.) Steam - mostly JNR 1950s and 1960s.

2.)Tohoku c. late 1970s/early 1980s.

3.)Trains I have seen/ridden on during my holidays in Japan.

 

While I could also add in trains I want to ride on in future, in truth I've only done that once and then I went and rode that train on my most recent trip: the SL Hitoyoshi. I could also admit to being a sucker for early railways, but I *only* have one Iori Koubou coach kit and I haven't built it yet, nor do I have any other coaches to go with it or an appropriate locomotive to pull it.

 

When it comes to my Märklin H0 collection on the other hand, just to veer slightly off-topic, it was supposed to be Era IV (1970-90, specifically late '70s-early '80s for me) but I've since fallen into the trap of 'see it, like it, buy it' and I now have no set theme any more. In my defense, I had good teachers in both my uncle and grandfather, as they both ascribed to the same philosophy.

 

Alastair

[railsquid]

For Japan:

 

1) anything which runs or ran on the Chuo Line

2) anything which ran/runs on lines which intersect with the Chuo Line

3) Seibu and Chichibu railways

4) random other stuff which takes my fancy (because iconic, or I travelled on it, or historically interesting-but-obscure, or just because)

5) random other stuff I seem to have ended up with but not sure how

6) stuff which I didn't want but came in a job lot with something else I did and I haven't got round to disposing of it

 

Need to start getting rid of 6 and probably a lot of 5.

Edited October 10, 2023 by railsquid

[kami_illy]

Oh that's easy! My Themes is: Everything I like 🤪

 

But seriously, for my Shorties the theme is: Trains I have ridden / seen / touched in JPN and some that i really wish to see / ride / touch. 

Also some of them just bc of fancy. 

For full scale models, i reduced my fleet so much that there is no theme left... maybe first Japanese trains i got in touch with in real life. 

 

BTW, nice question. 

Edited October 10, 2023 by kami_illy

[SwallowAngel]

What I want my Theme to be:

Everything that looks good to me.

 

But to be slightly more realistic:

Everything that looks good, doesn't break the bank and isn't totally ridiculous on my tiny layout.

 

To be honest though, I prefer SLs. The mechanical movement is just something I will never get tired of.

Otherwise I had to resist the urge to splurge 16-car Shinkansen 100 set. My ridiculously tiny layout isn't nearly big enough to accomodate a 16-car set. This is also why I decided to get any other Shinkansens in Shorty form. Their chibi proportions look just right on my chibi layout... (And they are not nearly as expensive as their normal counterparts)

 

Most of the above mentioned also goes for my small 00-Gauge SL collection, except this time I don't even have a layout to run them on.

I have 3 locomotives, all of which are on what I like to call "moving static display". In a nutshell I built small display stands with integrated DIY-Train controllers, hoist the locomotives onto stilts and et voilà: You have a SL that can still move its valve gear and linkage without needing a layout.

 

...

 

Yeah I need to get more space for my collection. Definitely.

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by SwallowAngel

[lighthouse]

Hi, in the past, it was like "I all want and can pay!"

 

Nowadays, I tend to:

 

1. 60´s-70´s of JNR Hokkaido, because the combination of steam-, diesel- and electric locomotives + EMU & DMU

2. 2015 "Blue Trains" of Hakodate Main Line (finished theme)

3. 2019 - now JR Hokkaido trains with DMU´s and freighttrains on main lines, nearly finished

4. 2012 - now JR West Hakubi Line (nearly finished for a smaller project)

 

But today, I am at the point to remove a batch of models, because it is too much for running in the future

[Martijn Meerts]

Going through everything since I started with model trains ..

 

• Dutch trains (My father had an H0 layout with mainly Dutch trains made by Lima)
• Steam (1 steamer was included in some stuff we bought used)
• Dutch and German era 3 (switched from H0 to N, bought a Dutch starter set, then some used stuff which included steamers, BR103, v200 etc)
• More modern stuff (got a hold of a Bachmann TGV, then some of the cheap Minitrix ICE3s)
• Bavarian (moved to Norway, bought some Marklin stuff, and wanted to build a Bavarian layout, before ...)
• Japanese (... buying my first Japanese N scale trains. The first were the Kato 500 and 800 series shinkansen, many more followed, whatever I liked really)
• JNR era and steam (got much more into the JNR trains which I initially didn't think were that interesting. Also, plenty steamers)
• Forest railways (bought a World Kougei H0j kit, then some H0e kits, then more H0j kits, and then tools to build my own turnouts and hand lay track ...)

 

Overall, I still like pretty much everything, but from a layout building perspective, the main interest now is forest railways and a (section of) branch line that allows transferring logs from the forest line to the branch line.

 

[SL58654号]

As I now collect Japanese N gauge I'm heavily biased towards KATO for their quality, track, and what rolling stock they make;

• I collect mainly Kokutestu (JGR/JNR) locomotives and rolling stock, as they're my favorite period and look of Japanese locomotive (mainly steam of course, earlier brown-bodied JNR electrics and diesels like the DE10)
• JR Kyushu - for obvious reasons (SL Hitoyoshi and other D&S tourist trains that I've seen and ridden on since I'm in Kumamoto!)
• 009 - if KATO will make more Ffestiniog Railway engines, which they will, I'll likely buy them all! 
• Swiss and possibly other foreign locomotives - I have some KATO Rhaetian Railway locos and I'm tempted to eventually get a hold of some American steamers KATO have done, like the Southern Pacific Daylight, etc. 

 

And if I were a good scratch-builder, which I haven't got the skills for yet, I'd love to create Meiji period 'Okajoki' to go along with my collection, since no commercially-made models of Japanese locos imported from builders like Baldwin, Schenectady, Porter, Brooks etc seem to exist in quantity. 

Edited October 10, 2023 by SL58654号

[bc6]

I like almost everything but I started collecting commuter sets like Yamanote and Joban then I got some Shinkansens and luxury trains. Now it's short line commuter cars being less than 3 cars in length. I started collecting MOW equipment from TOMYTEC and TGW, I think I have enough MOW equipment so freight cars are next I have a shopping cart almost ready to go but need to add a couple more items.

[Skasaha]

Whatever I feel like, particularly steam, but I do have a few themes I'm trying to build up. Starting with Japanese N:

 

- Kagoshima Main Line, all three of them. I find the history of it being essentially built three times interesting, and because they all take quite different routes they have varied scenery. The Hisatsu in particular runs though some absolutely beautiful countryside. This is the main reason for the Kyushu bent in my collection.

 

- In the opposite direction, the Tokyo-Hakodate lines and branches in Tohoku. Similar reasons, also extending to the rolling stock as anything running to Hakodate has to be cold-hardened. I don't have much for this yet. I'm still weighing up which blue train to get, between Tokyo-Hakata or the Hokutosei, since I doubt I'll get more than one any time soon.

 

I also want some older Japanese steam from around the turn of the century, but as mentioned above that's basically all kits. I think the 5500 would be the holy grail for me (like the one in Ome Park) - as a Beyer Peacock it shares design language with many local steam locos from the same time here in Victoria.

 

Outside of Japan, there's:

 

- Victorian Railways in N. Unfortunately RTR steam is non-existent here, although there have been kits in the past. An R-class would be my aim. And by R-class I mean a Kato C62 with a custom body replacement because there's no way anyone does that commercially.

 

- OO9 narrow gauge. The main one is Puffing Billy Railway, which I grew up with in my backyard. I have some 3D printed kits for this I'm trying to work up the courage for (and get the tools, for that matter). For UK lines, the Lynton and Barnstaple (one of their locos is basically a 'little sister' to the Baldwin design used on PBR) and the Talyllyn, which is getting it's first RTR OO9 model vaguely soonish.

 

These are pretty loose themes though. I'd also extend them to anything adjacent, like branch lines (or in the case of the narrow gauge, the main line).

Edited October 11, 2023 by Skasaha

[SL58654号]

5 hours ago, Skasaha said:

Whatever I feel like, particularly steam, but I do have a few themes I'm trying to build up. Starting with Japanese N:

 

- Kagoshima Main Line, all three of them. I find the history of it being essentially built three times interesting, and because they all take quite different routes they have varied scenery. The Hisatsu in particular runs though some absolutely beautiful countryside. This is the main reason for the Kyushu bent in my collection.

 

- In the opposite direction, the Tokyo-Hakodate lines and branches in Tohoku. Similar reasons, also extending to the rolling stock as anything running to Hakodate has to be cold-hardened. I don't have much for this yet. I'm still weighing up which blue train to get, between Tokyo-Hakata or the Hokutosei, since I doubt I'll get more than one any time soon.

 

I also want some older Japanese steam from around the turn of the century, but as mentioned above that's basically all kits. I think the 5500 would be the holy grail for me (like the one in Ome Park) - as a Beyer Peacock it shares design language with many local steam locos from the same time here in Victoria.

 

Outside of Japan, there's:

 

- Victorian Railways in N. Unfortunately RTR steam is non-existent here, although there have been kits in the past. An R-class would be my aim. And by R-class I mean a Kato C62 with a custom body replacement because there's no way anyone does that commercially.

 

- OO9 narrow gauge. The main one is Puffing Billy Railway, which I grew up with in my backyard. I have some 3D printed kits for this I'm trying to work up the courage for (and get the tools, for that matter). For UK lines, the Lynton and Barnstaple (one of their locos is basically a 'little sister' to the Baldwin design used on PBR) and the Talyllyn, which is getting it's first RTR OO9 model vaguely soonish.

 

These are pretty loose themes though. I'd also extend them to anything adjacent, like branch lines (or in the case of the narrow gauge, the main line).

I think you and I have much in common. I'm a big fan of "Lyn" in her original appearance. A beautiful 009 model of her in this form exists.
The Vauclain compound Baldwin provided to the Puffing Billy appeals to me also.

For turn of the century Japanese steam I think you'll find The Roots of Steam - Steam Locomotives in Japan (機関車の系譜図 - volumes 1 & 2) by S. Usui an invaluable technical resource. I myself have the first volume and plan to use it once I pluck up enough courage and patience to scratch build someday.
And you're right about the Hisatsu Line and its beautiful countryside. I'll never forget my many journeys on it and 肥薩線again and I will restore it or bust! 

Edited October 11, 2023 by SL58654号

[Socimi]

The "theme" of my Japanese N-gauge collection is essentially late 1990s to late 2000s (west side of the Yamanote Line) Tokyo, the rationale behind it, being that i've been more or less working on a Gotanda layout, any train that went trough the real-life station between 1996 and 2007 potentially fits into the fleet.

 

For the rest of my stuff, the theme is rather more "murky" - my Italian H0 has a somewheat "Italia '90" theme, with stuff from the first half of the 1990s, and the rest of my H0 collection being centered around "funky, exotic and colorful" electric locomotives (and multiple-units) from the 1970s to the early 2000s, a theme that more or less applies as well to the miscellanea of non-Japanese N-scale i've acquired over the years.

[Bigdog]

For me it’s just anything that runs around the Tokyo area. I’ve tried to recreate Tokyo station and failed miserably. But I just tend to collect present day Shinkansen, Commuter trains and anything that runs around the Chuo area.

[Cat]

We are modelling specific locations in Ibaraki, so JR East Joban Line, Hitachinaka Seaside Railway, Kashima Rinkai Railway, and perhaps Suigun Line.

[Skasaha]

On 10/11/2023 at 2:52 PM, SL58654号 said:

I think you and I have much in common. I'm a big fan of "Lyn" in her original appearance. A beautiful 009 model of her in this form exists.
The Vauclain compound Baldwin provided to the Puffing Billy appeals to me also.

For turn of the century Japanese steam I think you'll find The Roots of Steam - Steam Locomotives in Japan (機関車の系譜図 - volumes 1 & 2) by S. Usui an invaluable technical resource.

 

I have just bought that Lyn model in its early SR livery, actually.

 

None of the Vauclains lasted long in Victoria unfortunately, because of the whole problem with excess wear. Including the NAs, VR scrapped all their Vauclains around 1930 rather than repair them.

 

And thank you very much for the reference. I'm sure that will be useful.

[Kamome]

Sorry for the long message. Started reminiscing a bit which was a nice cathartic journey. Thanks for the thread as its given me quite a bit of nostalgia.

 

I lived in the Kanto area on the outskirts of Tokyo between 2006-2009 although did not rediscover model railways until about 2011. I was living in the UK between 2009-2017 until we eventually moved back,  but visited my wife's family once a year and my initial interests were to collect JR East shinkansen, commuter and expresses. The East shinkansen were going through an exciting time with the E5, E6 and E7 being introduced but I always had an unexplained love for the big ugly E4. I just loved the colours of the JR East trains compared with other regions and the the commuter trains evoked nostalgia for my "single days" living around Tokyo.

 

That later moved to Kokutetsu as I learnt more about railway history, particularly the banking locos on the Usui and Itaya passes. Irritatingly, I had to visit Takasaki a few times for work (not the most exciting of cities) and never realised or appreciated how close it was to the Usui Heritage Park until I was very much back living in the UK.  I bought my first steam engine from Kato, D51 498, possibly as a nod to visiting Gunma, as it and the EF63s were stationed there. I was overwhelmed by how well it ran compared to what I'd seen from British manufacturers so that became my next focus.

 

As my collection started growing, my focus just became a bit eclectic, and I really lost any sense of theme, other than "Japanese Trains of Then and Now" although I have a greater weakness for loco hauled stuff, so sleeper trains and freight interest me a lot. I also really like the designs and liveries of the JNR era expresses. My collection is predominantly Kato, as that's what I started with and have always felt happy with the level of quality and value. I really have a bit of everything although Hokkaido and Kansai are not that well represented other than a few interesting trains.

 

In HO, I have mostly JNR era and again loco-hauled dominates with the odd Kiha 40, 81, 82. I currently have 3 full formation blue trains (12-15 cars) as well as a number of other coaches and wagons.  The only modern HO I own is JRF stock, 4 locos and umpteen kokis and takis and I don't think you really get much more detail on modern commuter or express stock in HO than you do in N. The older JNR locos and coaches are much more detailed than their N counterparts.

 

If I had to start again, I'd probably try and be more strict about era and district. I've seen some great collections of Tobu, Kintetsu, Meitetsu, Hankyu so would most likely collect and construct a layout around a private or third sector company. As most of my current collection have some sense of nostalgia or memory attached, I would be reluctant to part with any of them.

 

 

[JR East]

On my side, the driver for purchasing is "train I have ridden" first (so that roughly, I got them all, except Kiha85 preordered and Spacia X where I'm tracking when it'll be possible to preorder). Then trains I have shot in Japan (eg: Hello Kitty Shinkansen). 

[SL58654号]

10 hours ago, Skasaha said:

 

I have just bought that Lyn model in its early SR livery, actually.

 

None of the Vauclains lasted long in Victoria unfortunately, because of the whole problem with excess wear. Including the NAs, VR scrapped all their Vauclains around 1930 rather than repair them.

 

And thank you very much for the reference. I'm sure that will be useful.

Well, if I may agree to disagree, I think Lyn looked best just as Baldwin first built her. Something about that front smokebox roundel that she wore really stands out.

 

I've been told that a replica of the Victorian Railways V class 2-8-0 is in progress with compound cylinders, and a former member of the project said some design implements were being devised, probably to rectify the drawbacks associated with the Vauclain arrangement. Quite a handsome engine with that green livery and Russia iron boiler jacket. 

 

Glad to be of help. The early turn of the century Japanese steam locos look really handsome to me for their usage of English-type buffers and screw couplings on American locomotives. Can't have too many of those. I sometimes wish American railroads stuck with this coupling system. 

Edited October 12, 2023 by SL58654号

[Matthew Brown]

Certainly superior to the link-and-pin!  I do think the eventually universal knuckle coupling they ended up with is good, though.

[Sascha]

Everything on the Tokyo Metro lines, and lines that intersect with them from 2014 on, since it was my first time visiting Tokyo.

[Skasaha]

9 hours ago, SL58654号 said:

I've been told that a replica of the Victorian Railways V class 2-8-0 is in progress with compound cylinders, and a former member of the project said some design implements were being devised, probably to rectify the drawbacks associated with the Vauclain arrangement. Quite a handsome engine with that green livery and Russia iron boiler jacket.

 

Unfortunately that was one of those projects started by a rando with a spare garage, a rusted out tender frame and a lot more ambition than sense. They built the cab walls/roof and it's since been abandoned. Full size new build projects take 20 years and millions in funding, which is always going to come second to restorations and projects led by actual groups like PBR or Steamrail. There has never been a full size replica here, and the list of new steam builds for the entire world is very, very short.

[SL58654号]

@Skasaha Drat! What a letdown... I would've liked to a see a working Vauclain. It would've been so beautiful too.
Ah well, it would be nice to see Japan added to the countries with new-build steam. Might I suggest an American Meiji 'Okajoki'?

Edited October 13, 2023 by SL58654号

[Yavaris Forge]

Like a lot of others before, I started out just buying whatever I found cool, both Japanese and German N gauge. Over time my interests became more focused on two vague areas:

 

1. Joban Line / Tohoku in general, as my layout is set on a fictional branch line east of Toride. I chose this because of the voltage change there, so I could put AC and DC locomotives next to each other. Time-wise I focus on ~1960s JNR stuff (steam and electric) on one side and some modern EMUs on the other.

2. My German N gauge interests shifted to modern (era VI) freight, but the collection grows slowly because of the cost of new models.

 

I haven't cleaned up my collection, so there's still a lot of random stuff as well. And I usually don't really care if there are trains from different countries/eras next to each other on the layout.

[tripel7]

Kinda simple, I collect HST's, Shinkansen, TGV, german stuff, chinese stuff. 

I'm mainly partial to the east asian ones, but I also got a Thalys PBA, basically if it goes above 250kph it will peak my interest.