Kabutoni Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Hi all, This evening I've been wondering about Japanese Nm gauge. ... It could have been a result of drinking beer outside with degrees celsius closing in to zero, two cute girls as compay and the Kosaka-RR topic I've been researching, and blasting Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" in the subway while avoiding conductors in bliss; aaaanyway it triggered an interest in Japanese light N-narrow trains. For a while I've been a slumbering forest railfan (think of Alishan in Taiwan and the Kiso RR in Japan), as these railways have some kind of extreme romantic aura surrounding 'em. No matter in what light these railways are, no matter the time of day or year, these railways are attractive in any way possible. The handiness of these trains lie in that they are able to run on Z-gauge track, offered by a few manufacturers and are compatible with regular N-trains on the same layout in a visual way. Now, I've been wondering where to buy these trains, as it has proven to be quite hard to search manufacturers of these models. http://homepage1.nifty.com/tfw/index-e.html was one of my findings, but alas, no further results. Could also be that my Google-fu is low atm. I used it all up at work I think. Anyway, does anyone have experience with N-narrow and is it worthwhile the effort (and money) in investing in this kind of modelling? I'd like to know, as this could verily be partially a project for an eventual layout. If only for the romantic atmosphere of these companies. Cheers! - Toni Link to comment
Nick_Burman Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Tony, AFAIK he is the only one at it, at least in Japan. There is one other guy I saw in Youtube (I saved his page I'm at office now, will post his link when I get home) who regauged Kato and Tomix stuff to 6,5mm to better represent the 3'6" gauge used in Japan. Since my "Tomii Dendetsu" is looking conceptually more and more like the defunct Kita-Ena Railway, I could do with some NG stuff to represent a feeder logging railway. Forgot to mention that I'm a "keiben" fan...Kosaka, Igasa, Kubiki, Numajiri, Semboku, Shizutetsu Sun-En; Kintetsu Matsuzaka, Hokusei, Utsube & Hachioji; Hanamaki, Tochio, Shimotsui... the list goes on and on, if it is narrow, I like it. My favorites are the Shimotsui and the Kusakaru Dendetsu - this last line was once described as being the most wayward railway in Japan... Cheers NB Link to comment
jappomania Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Hi Tony, yes, I know this guy and I bought on yahoo some old AKIA ZJ power cars to transplanting the engine on Kenji brass chassis I've ask to Kenjii when the kubiki locos and the 6,5 axle are availabe again and I wait to send my order (for now I've on the fly some ARUMO brass kit and I think I try to re-gauge them with Nn3 axle) let me know if you start a new Nn3 collection... ciao Massimo Link to comment
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