Tama Tram

[cteno4]

ok how long before modemo does this tram? figure with tama's popularity they would have it high on the list!

 

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww69/TransitJapan/Trams/IMG_0125.jpg

 

its Okayama Tramway which has an affiliation with Wakayama railway. and ad to go see the cat...

 

from and interesting blog

 

http://www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=52130

 

other picts

 

 

cheers

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

But you know Modemo has never done a character tram.  More likely if it was Enoden, Tokyu Setagaya, Hakone-Tozan, Keifuku or Meitetsu 600V. Check how many of Modemo's releases come those five lines. 

[cteno4]

well there is the hakone sheep train!

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10061138

 

and the Momotaro Dantestu tram

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10016124

 

tama seems like one that would a big seller! licensing might be expensive!

 

jeff

[scott]

If Anders sees that Tama tram with all the cats on it, he's going to want one! (Assuming somebody makes it....)

[bill937ca]

 

If Anders sees that Tama tram with all the cats on it, he's going to want one! (Assuming somebody makes it....)

 

Just blame Jeff..... 

[cteno4]

maybe tomytec! that would be great make it more affordable to have two running!

 

i wont tell anders... besides when aaron sees it he will whine harder than anders anyway!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[scott]

We should get them together and see what happens. 

[cteno4]

maybe we get a tama tram then!

 

jeff

[Eliphaz]

there is/was a Tama EMU train as well on the Wakayama Rly.

[scott]

Maybe Anders could wallpaper one of his Lego creations with one of Aaron's pictures.

[Guest ___]

there is/was a Tama EMU train as well on the Wakayama Rly.

 

The one piece of rolling stock that was in the car barn that I couldn't get in to.

[cteno4]

youtube i ran across while looking for tama tram shots

 

 

aaron if you got on this train they would never get you off!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

You know if this is produced as a model it will only be available for sale at Okayama Electric Railway office at the far end of line 1.  That cat was made stationmaster on the Wakayama Electric Railway for one reason only. To generate traffic so people will ride the railway. If I recall correctly the Wakayama Tama train has been produced for Wakayama by either Bandai or Tomytec as a private issue.  Limit two per customer (or whatever). Available only if you ride (the train hopefully) to the Wakayama station.  Not on general sale.  Which doesn't help us one little bit. But that's the way things are in Japan sometimes.  Everybody wants their own little monopoly. 

[cteno4]

Bill,

 

I think you are right, the licensing on this would probably want this, they make the money more on the train ticket and other money spent at the other end than the license on the product. a limited edition going on sale at a particular date could really drive in a crowd one weekend that could really drop some change!

 

oh well im not that fanatical about tama that i just have to have this! looks like there is one toy train already

 

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll43/jesse-san/Summer%20Vacation%202009/IMG_3444.jpg

 

in bumping around i did find the times article on the tram opening

 

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090501a5.html

 

actually this would be an easy one to roll your own with printed decals as its on white background with pretty distinct little images. just would need some decent quality/resolution side shots, but even then the final images are pretty small. then just repaint a shell white. not a lot of other markings on the train that would be hard to reproduce!

 

a start here

 

http://www.iridetheharlemline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/concept1.jpg

 

http://www.iridetheharlemline.com/tag/wakayama-electric-railway/

 

http://nappi10.spaces.live.com/?_c11_BlogPart_pagedir=Next&_c11_BlogPart_handle=cns!39E8451829AE7F4!15603&_c11_BlogPart_BlogPart=blogview&_c=BlogPart

 

 

cheers

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

Another one:

 

http://railf.jp/news/mintetsu/okaden/

 

Okayama Kido web site:

 

http://www.okayama-kido.co.jp/tramway/iroiro.html#kasikiri

 

They do have a beer tram even if they don't have models of the Tama tram.

[ToniBabelony]

Front and side view photographs: http://rail.hobidas.com/bogie/archives/2009/05/post_31.html and someone who reproduced a paper model out of this: http://peparama.blog22.fc2.com/blog-entry-21.html

 

If you are a bit handy, you can alter and clean the side views in Photoshop and print it out on a sticker sheet. Also, if you rebuilt the 'new' Kato cheap streetcars a bit and put 'em on a new chassis, you almost have the same model as the 'Tama Tram'. http://blog.joshinweb.jp/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2010/06/17/ham_1394.jpg

[cteno4]

tony,

 

hey thanks perfect shots of the tram! yes those shots are probably good enough to recreate them from, but i may have a line on scans of the actual stickers that are on the train, which would work on the tram.

 

have not been able to find a really close tram or train to match the prototypes yet. the tram is simpler in design and graphics than the train. also im starting to think it might not be too hard to build the tram frame out of styrene. its a pretty blocky design. of anything to try and cut out myself this might work the best as its pretty simple and also very symmetrical and very few curves! wheel base looks like a kato btrain chassis would do the trick!

 

groan, yet another project idea! but a cool one!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Bill,

 

Turns out there was a btrain shorty done for the tama densha for the station. of course sold out at the station!

 

http://cart-imgs-1.fc2.com/user_img/i/ichigoec/213_3_35.JPG?943887600

http://cart-imgs-1.fc2.com/user_img/i/ichigoec/213_5_36.JPG?943887600

http://cart-imgs-1.fc2.com/user_img/i/ichigoec/213_1_33.JPG?943887600

 

cheers

 

jeff

[disturbman]

have not been able to find a really close tram or train to match the prototypes yet.

 

Well, I'm sure you could improvised something. There is some tram that look a bit similar with this one. The only thing I'll be woried is too find a tram with a very clear paint scheme to match the original white livery on which the stickers are applied. You could even just take a random tram/train and applied your home made stickers to it. Nobody will really care if this is a perfectly prototypical model or not. ;)

[bill937ca]

You could apply the stickers to the Tomytec white Portram LRV and have a one of the kind tram.

[bill937ca]

 

 

 

 

[Guest ___]

You know if this is produced as a model it will only be available for sale at Okayama Electric Railway office at the far end of line 1.  That cat was made stationmaster on the Wakayama Electric Railway for one reason only. To generate traffic so people will ride the railway. If I recall correctly the Wakayama Tama train has been produced for Wakayama by either Bandai or Tomytec as a private issue.  Limit two per customer (or whatever). Available only if you ride (the train hopefully) to the Wakayama station.  Not on general sale.  Which doesn't help us one little bit. But that's the way things are in Japan sometimes.  Everybody wants their own little monopoly.   

 

As far as I know, it has only ever been reproduced as a B-train shorty. I almost boguht one at the office, but decided not to becasue I'd want the toy and strawberry trains to match. Also do note that the WERR is a rinky-dink outfit, with less than fifty employees. In contrast it is about the same size as the railroad I worked for on the weekends from 1991-2009 (wsrr.org, with only a few more miles. (We gave 4 miles back to the state to get 2 miles north last year)

[bill937ca]

There's a special timetable.

 

[cteno4]

have not been able to find a really close tram or train to match the prototypes yet.

 

Well, I'm sure you could improvised something. There is some tram that look a bit similar with this one. The only thing I'll be woried is too find a tram with a very clear paint scheme to match the original white livery on which the stickers are applied. You could even just take a random tram/train and applied your home made stickers to it. Nobody will really care if this is a perfectly prototypical model or not. ;)

 

Vincent,

 

Brilliant, perhaps this will make the project actually happen! i do have two nice white portrams already that came with my cases, so would be perfect to make a custom tama train! was thinking of doing something unique like this with decals on them. it could be unique, sort of a blend of the 2 car train and the single car tram into the portram two segments. interesting!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Eliphaz]

Oh! I want a few yards of that upholstery fabric!

 

I like it better than the 70's style shag in the Totoro Cat Bus