andreas Posted May 1, 2010 Share Posted May 1, 2010 Hi all Maybe a stupid question just showing my total ignorance, but anyway here we go: Many passenger cars have "cab" style ends, some of which are at the end of the train but often also facing the locomotive or even coupled together in the middle. While I understand that some are observation cars, others clearly are not, e.g. the new relsease of the Series 24 Type 25 KANI 24 by Tomix (it is a luggage/crew car). Why do they do that? I don't think on the long sleeper train they do a push-pull operation, or am I wrong? On another note, the Series 24 Type 25 KANI 24 from above is announced as "with motor". From what I gather the original had a diesel power unit, but I assumed that was to provide electrcity and heating to the cars, or did they also have motive power? Does Tomix put the motor in just to provide additional pulling power for the locomotive? Thanks for answering my stupid questions. Andreas Link to comment
bikkuri bahn Posted May 1, 2010 Share Posted May 1, 2010 No questions are stupid, we all have them. On the kani 24 HEP generator cars, the end has crew space (chair, desk, etc.)- I assume this is for a crew member when the generator car is on the tail end of the train. These cars are equipped with two DMF31Z-G engines (6 cylinder turbocharged, 180mm x 200mm bore x stroke) of 430ps each. These are coupled with DM95 generators (300kvA) which provide hotel power for the sleeping cars. Link to comment
CaptOblivious Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 The "cab" style ends have a room for the conductor/brakeman, and are designated with -フ ("-fu") in the name to indicate that they contain a cab for the brakes. Older style freight cars had these cabs too (cf. コキフ "kokifu"). That said, there is some push-pull operations during shunting into terminals. At Ueno Station, for example, sleeper trains depart from stub tracks, and so have to be backed into position. The conductor or someone anyway stands in the rearmost cab, and either directs the driver, or controls the train directly (not sure which) as it backs into the station. The backing maneuvers often occur at quite high speed, so there may well be full cab controls in those cars. Link to comment
andreas Posted May 3, 2010 Author Share Posted May 3, 2010 Thanks guys. The -FU should have given me a clue, but for the KANI it does not work and that threw me. So I could somehow justify a bit of push-pull on a small rural branch line that serves a special train just on that day Anyone has any clue why the KANI from Tomix comes with motor? That still strikes odd. Link to comment
CaptOblivious Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 Thanks guys. The -FU should have given me a clue, but for the KANI it does not work and that threw me. So I could somehow justify a bit of push-pull on a small rural branch line that serves a special train just on that day Anyone has any clue why the KANI from Tomix comes with motor? That still strikes odd. I think it just means that the diesel engines are modeled on the inside. I have an older Tomix KANI with zero interior detail, so the inclusion of the engines would be a feature worth mentioning. I guess "engine" gets translated into english as "motor". Link to comment
andreas Posted May 3, 2010 Author Share Posted May 3, 2010 But there are 2 versions with a very different price tag: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10047586 http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10116493 The higher price could fit in with an actual motor and also the picture shows the car to be quite "closed" at the bottom, suggesting the same, and the Japanese version of the webpage has the (M), often indicating motor. I just noticed and started to wonder.... Added: found this: http://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/products/n/92771_8509-13.htm Google translate says it has a power unit to climb hills. So it is just to support the traction, I guess, not that the original was self-propelled? Link to comment
ToniBabelony Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 The KANI has a motor as confirmed by a friend. What is even more interesting is that the MicroAce release of the 24 Series 'Fuji' train has a sound generator in it! http://microace-arii.co.jp/poster/img/10_04_1.jpg anyone know more on this? It looks like it's reproducing the sound of the generator in the KANI. The item hasn't been released yet, but is still on pre-order on HWJ: https://www.hwjapan.com/sh/ACE2010041412.aspx and the add-on set: https://www.hwjapan.com/sh/ACE2010041413.aspx (deadline 6th May, so hurry if you wanna get one for a lower price). Link to comment
CaptOblivious Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 Andreas, I think you must be right! Wow, how interesting! But there are 2 versions with a very different price tag: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10047586 http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10116493 The higher price could fit in with an actual motor and also the picture shows the car to be quite "closed" at the bottom, suggesting the same, and the Japanese version of the webpage has the (M), often indicating motor. I just noticed and started to wonder.... Added: found this: http://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/products/n/92771_8509-13.htm Google translate says it has a power unit to climb hills. So it is just to support the traction, I guess, not that the original was self-propelled? Link to comment
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