New Member from Germany!

[Midnighter90]

Hi all!

 

found some time to register and write a few words. Been reading since almost 8 years now, and finally wanted to join and probably ask some questions and get inspirations from the JNS enthusiasts here. 

 

I started with Japanese model trains in 2013 with my first set from Tomix, the N700 Kumamon & Kurochan ordered from Mr. Nariichi Takayama (ModelTrainPlus). I had a pretty big layout in my attic while still living with my parents. It did not survive unfortunately, due to hot temperatures and sun exposure, KATO track does not like the combination of both. Most tracks are now trashed, but the trains, mostly Tomix Shinkansen (N700 Kumamon&Kurochan, Series 500 PLA-Rail, Series 500 Kansenger Ad-wrapping, E7 and a EH-800 with some container waggons) were not stored in the attic, so no losses there.

 

Now I am living with my fiancé in a nice apartment and re-started last christmas with a temporary layout around the christmas tree. Happy times! My fiancé still doesn't mind the tracks and the noise, as long as it's all temporary for a few weeks, so I guess I got lucky ;-) The last weeks I treated myself with some more Tomix limited editions, the E4 Max last run, E1 in old color, E5 Treasureland Tohoku, Series 800-0 Nagareboshi Shinkansen and the N700-9000 (N700S verification testing).

 

Wow writing this makes me wonder if I ordered a bit too much...  

Anyway, I am glad I joined and look forward exchanging ideas and thoughts.

Best,
Dominic

 

Edited February 11 by Midnighter90

[cteno4]

Welcome Dominic, glad you decided to start posting! 

 

Yes the train bug is unfortunately has no real cure! Temporary layouts can be fun to get going and you learn a lot of what you like and dont like to do with setups and trains. Keep us posted on your progress!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[miyakoji]

Hi @Midnighter90 welcome to the forum!

[lighthouse]

Welcome Dominic,glad you found this forum.

 

I think, when someone is writing down his fleet, sometimes you can be overwhelmed or surprised.

Anyway, Where do you come from in Germany? Here we have a small community of japanese themend modelrailrailway enthusiasts in southern Germany and in the capital city Berlin.

 

cheers, Ulli

[Martijn Meerts]

14 hours ago, Midnighter90 said:

Wow writing this makes me wonder if I ordered a bit too much...

 

No such thing as ordering too much 😄

 

[Midnighter90]

Thank you all for your kind welcome!
 

  

On 2/12/2025 at 7:06 AM, lighthouse said:

Welcome Dominic,glad you found this forum.

 

I think, when someone is writing down his fleet, sometimes you can be overwhelmed or surprised.

Anyway, Where do you come from in Germany? Here we have a small community of japanese themend modelrailrailway enthusiasts in southern Germany and in the capital city Berlin.

 

cheers, Ulli

 

I live in the most southern part of Bavaria, im Allgäu, with Austria just around the corner.

Edited February 20 by Midnighter90

[gibet_b]

Welcome @Midnighter90 ! 

[chadbag]

Willkommen bei JNSForum!

 

You can never buy too much, as has been mentioned.  Just make sure the fiancée is happy and you'll do ok.    I don't know the Japanese rail prices in Germany, but it's probably cheaper than the German stuff.  I know that compared to what I pay for Japanese stuff from Japan shipped to the USA, compared to the prices I've paid (Lippe, DM-Toys, Kramm, usw) for my European stuff, the European stuff is much much more expensive.  Hopefully it's the same for you and you can build your Japanese rail empire!

 

Ich wohnte mal in Essenbach bei Landshut/Niederbayern, und arbeitete in München anderthalb Jahre.  Aber schon lange her (91-93).  (War auch 2 Jahre 86-87 in Süd Deutschland).  Aber bin in ein Hobby-Laden in Landshut eingegangen, und hatte Arnold Modelleisenbahn Digital gesehen, und wusste, daß ich irgendwann eine Modellbahnanlage mit Digital-Control haben mußte.  Ich kaufte mir ein Katalog.  Es dauerte noch 25 Jahre -- och habe geheiratet, und Kinder bekommen, und sie mussten gross und alt genug geworden sein, bevor ich es tun konnte.  Endlich in 2017 habe ich angefangen, mit einigem aus Japan mit nach Hause gebracht, als wir dort waren, und ein BR110 von Lemke/Hobbytrain, da ich auch Interesse an Deutsche-Eisenbahn auch hatte.  Das war der Anfang und es ist ziemlich stark seitdem übertrieben worden.

 

So, enjoy, and with ongoing moderation (but ongoing and never ending growth) you'll soon have your rail empire!  My problem is for a while I didn't practice the moderation part of it...

[gibet_b]

Quote

 

You can never buy too much, as has been mentioned.

 

True. As a meme said : "If somebody says you have enough trains, stay away from them. You don't need this kind of negativity !" 😂

[UnfinishedKit]

I think the Japanese way is not to have the most trains but to have the best trains so stock up on detail parts and start working on perfection 😉
 

E4 max is a great one to have. I got to ride on one back in 2019 and they are a great train, sadly missed. 
 

Welcome to the club. 

[lighthouse]

Quote

Ich wohnte mal in Essenbach bei Landshut/Niederbayern, und arbeitete in München anderthalb Jahre. Aber schon lange her (91-93). (War auch 2 Jahre 86-87 in Süd Deutschland). Aber bin in ein Hobby-Laden in Landshut eingegangen, und hatte Arnold Modelleisenbahn Digital gesehen, und wusste, daß ich irgendwann eine Modellbahnanlage mit Digital-Control haben mußte. Ich kaufte mir ein Katalog. Es dauerte noch 25 Jahre -- och habe geheiratet, und Kinder bekommen, und sie mussten gross und alt genug geworden sein, bevor ich es tun konnte. Endlich in 2017 habe ich angefangen, mit einigem aus Japan mit nach Hause gebracht, als wir dort waren, und ein BR110 von Lemke/Hobbytrain, da ich auch Interesse an Deutsche-Eisenbahn auch hatte. Das war der Anfang und es ist ziemlich stark seitdem übertrieben worden.

 

Very interesting information from you. My in-laws have lived near Dingolfing, a 15-minute drive east of Landshut, since the late 80s. I also know the model train shop in Landshut, but unfortunately it is more geared towards Märklin and H0 gauge.

 

2 hours ago, gibet_b said:

True. As a meme said : "If somebody says you have enough trains, stay away from them. You don't need this kind of negativity !" 😂

 

Or has he developed common sense over time and specialized in something more? At the very latest, when the boss at home has something to complain about with your purchases, the collection won't grow so quickly! 😅🤣

[gibet_b]

5 hours ago, lighthouse said:

Or has he developed common sense over time and specialized in something more? At the very latest, when the boss at home has something to complain about with your purchases, the collection won't grow so quickly! 😅🤣

 

Of course, one modeler, one kind of modeling. I can't be specialized. Diversity is what I love. I would be annoyed if I would have to be specialized.

 

No boss at home, we're equal (at least, it's what I want to believe 😂). We don't become really crasy about our purchases, and that being said, we accept the not-so-crasyness of each other 🤣.

[chadbag]

On 2/22/2025 at 3:46 AM, lighthouse said:

Very interesting information from you. My in-laws have lived near Dingolfing, a 15-minute drive east of Landshut, since the late 80s. I also know the model train shop in Landshut, but unfortunately it is more geared towards Märklin and H0 gauge.

I never really drove further east on the A92 past Essenbach, where I lived.  I did see the signs and Dingolfing is just a hop, skip, and a jump further east.  
 

I can’t find it online but there was a massive pileup on the A92 at the end of February 1992 in the fog.   A pic with my car and me (foggy and far enough away you can’t see face details at the angle I was at) from the accident was on the front page of the Landshut newspaper.  I have a copy somewhere in a box.   My car was totaled but I was fine.  64 cars total.  No fatalities but some serious injuries.   I was charged with speeding above conditions and wreckless driving.  I had just barely gotten on the exit before and was doing none of those things but when I skidded to a stop I was between lanes and so moved into the left lane before I bailed from the car.  The police had made charges purely on the position of cars when they took aerial photos.  In court the charges were dropped.   Only time I’ve been in a court room actively was in Germany. 
 

I don’t know if it’s still there but the store I was at wasn’t really a train store. It was a general toy and hobby store on the corner of the Main Street that went along the river (not the Altstadt but the main shopping street parallel to Altstadt and further down from the post office).   Anyway on a corner of that street and a perpendicular street that went to a dam or bridge over the river.  This is from memory but if not on that corner it was near it.  I’ve not been there in almost 25 years and it was over 30 years ago I lived there.  I probably  bought the Arnold catalog not when I was living there but a few years later when I visited friends a few times.  (1999 time frame I went like 3 times for short visits as I got $250-$300 round trips out of Boston). 

Edited February 24 by chadbag

[cteno4]

I met my best friend from grad school on the first day we showed up. We shared a desk and the first thing i put on the desk was a little n scale snow plow on a piece of track. She had me pegged as the next week she gave me the tee shirt saying “The one who dies with the most toys wins!”

 

jeff