What Kato 16 car set is good for a beginner?

[Eradicatorbrid]

Hi I am addicted to very long trains and decided going for Kato 16 car sets but I don't have experience with n scale trains please help

 

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Nothing wrong with full-length trains! If you have the space, then a 16 carriage train is no more challenging than a 4 coach train (it takes no more than a minute or so to add the extra carriages to the track). It depends whether you want to fork out for a 16 carriage set if you are starting off in the hobby.

 

A full length Bullet is about 8' in length...

[Kamome]

Depends on what your area of interest is and you’ve stumbled into the world of Japanese railways, probably the most comprehensive range of trains and running options you could possibly imagine. 

 

Tokaido-Sanyo shinkansen are 16 cars long in most cases. 

Some Kato shinkansen have come in a single 16 car set like the 300 series or the N700-2000

 

Alternatively many longer  Kato trains  come in 2 or sometimes up to 4 parts so you’d need to check which set numbers you need to make up the train. Usually product numbers are in consecutive numbering but there are some exceptions when product is re-run. 

Other possible options

 

E5 and E6 shinkansen. Services are coupled from Tokyo. 17 cars. 

 

Tokyo area commuter trains are up to 15 cars long.

 

The older loco hauled sleeper trains were up to 15 cars long 

 

Freight cars like Koki, Taki and Wamu now tend to come in bookcase sets (used to be only individual and in twin wagon packs)

 

Freight container trains can be over 20 koki wagons long and the blue Wamu 380000 were up to 45. 

 

 

[bc6]

Considering I just got a Kato N700s 16 car set I'd have to say that one. 

But considering I like freight trains a 16 car Koki set isn't a bad looking train either. 

[cteno4]

With long trains, especially fast shinkansens, the biggest issue with long trains is having a layout space large enough so it doesn’t end up chasing its tail! Also with 16 car shinkansens being a little over 2m long you need about a 3m long station if you want the whole train in it with passing sidings (little shorter if just thru tracks). Our old club display layout was about 4.5m long and the full shinkansens consists would barely finish a 180 before hitting the 180 at the other end. Slower trains it does not matter as much, but with fast shinkansens this tail chasing just stands out more.

 

so the question is do you have the track to fit a longer train?!

 

jeff