My shinkansen collection

[Guest keio6000]

Just for fun, here is my collection of N scale shinkansen (a subset of my total collection.)  Sorry the photo is not very good as i am on the road and all I have is my iPad with me.

 

 

 

Some notes:

 

• the 700 series is the 'ambitious japan' version. i think this is a particularly attractive one to run on a layout.  if you dont have a 700 series in your collection, i suggest you take the extra time to find this exact one which has the 'ambitious japan' logo tampoed on directly (as opposed to with stickers, as some were issued with stickers).  you will probably have to pay a small premium for this, but it is worth it.
• the 0 series is the tomix-produced but otherwise branded jr commemortative one which comes with a number of (necktie) pins.
• 923 is the full 6 or 7 car  700-series based dr yellow
• not pictured is my E1 set as it comes in that shorter box.
• also not pictured is my E3 komachi set.   got the original 'pink' one.  good train, but in n gauge the colored pantographs look very plasticky.
• also not pictured is my e2 set.  hmm where did my e2 and e3 go?  so many boxes..
• the microace 200-1000 renewal shinkansen is absolutely beautiful, as is the kato 800 tsubame
• i used to have a few more shinkansen, but sold a few to keep it sensible.
• i am thinking about adding the jr kyushu N700-7000/8000 'light blue body' set.  it's actually quite attractive.
• i am also thinking about not getting the E5 and E6.  Honestly, I think they are ugly and even though I don't run my trains much, they look silly on every n gauge layout where i've seen them.  that said, probably in a few years i'll reconsider when i see them for sale cheap (already E5 sets are starting to get cheap in japan from people who bought them and realize they'll never run them).
• E7 however maybe I'll get only because JR Kyushu has such wonderful aesthetics.  we'll see.
• While I am generally a Kato fan, there are a few cases here where after head to head comparison I explicitly took Tomix.  E4 is a good case of this.  0 series, too.  However, as you see I took N700 kato despite some peple's objections to the Kato N700 coupler.  i much prefer kato for the 500 series and the 800.
• Annoyance notes:   look how the N700 case says 'add on set.'  this is a really annoying byproduct of how kato now sells their sets.  I dont want the set of my shelf to say 'add-on set' on the spine! 
• even worse, i note that kato's new E6 add-on sets come in a 'big' case where as far as i can tell there are no holes in the foam for additional cars!  i hope i am wrong and actually they did the smart thing and put the foam holes 'halfway through' or something so you can flip the foam around if you want to buy the starter set in the same case, but i see no evidence of this.  if true, then this is a rare strike against otherwise saintly kato.
• Easti also not on my buy list.  an older dr yellow might be, but probably i have more pressing buys.

 

thank you for looking at my collection and my notes!

Edited November 13, 2013 by keio6000

[tantousha]

My Kato add-on sets all came with stickers that went on the spine and front cover that are designed to change the title for when you complete the set... So Japanese haha

[Guest keio6000]

My Kato add-on sets all came with stickers that went on the spine and front cover that are designed to change the title for when you complete the set... So Japanese haha

 

i hate stickers :)

[Densha]

E7 however maybe I'll get only because JR Kyushu has such wonderful aesthetics.  we'll see.

Wut? You mean JR East/West.

[Guest keio6000]

Wut? You mean JR East/West.

 

i  thought there was something that jr kyushu people contributed to the color scheming of the e7 which is why it is markedly more tasteful than the gaudy e5/6. maybe i just made that up though.  indeed, i did make it up since it seems the same guy who did the e6 did the e7.

 

sigh.

Edited November 13, 2013 by keio6000

[JR 500系]

Sayonara O ? I thought that came in the larger box of 16 cars? 

 

Nice to see the grand hikari~ Ever thought of getting the new N700A to go along?

 

It's a long tricky (it's a scam!) process in getting all Tomix for majority of JR East Tohoku shinkansen to keep prototypical correct: 

 

I can understand getting the Tomix for the E4 so that you can couple with the 400 series Tsubasa, which was never produced by Kato... It would then mean to get the Tomix E3-1000 Tsubasa to couple with the E4, and while you're there you need to get the Tomix E2-1000 to couple with the E3-Tsubasa to get the current Yamabiko services the E2 runs, and then since there is a Tomix E2 so you might need a Tomix E3 Komachi for Hayate-Komachi service.. And if you like you might wanna get the Tomix E5 to couple with the E3 Komachi, which in turns require a Tomix E6 to couple with the E5... 

[Densha]

Do you mean Eiji Mitooka? I like quite a lot of his designs but some are way too exaggerated like the Seven Stars in Kyushu.

[Guest keio6000]

Sayonara O ? I thought that came in the larger box of 16 cars? 

 

Nice to see the grand hikari~ Ever thought of getting the new N700A to go along?

 

It's a long tricky (it's a scam!) process in getting all Tomix for majority of JR East Tohoku shinkansen to keep prototypical correct: 

 

I can understand getting the Tomix for the E4 so that you can couple with the 400 series Tsubasa, which was never produced by Kato... It would then mean to get the Tomix E3-1000 Tsubasa to couple with the E4, and while you're there you need to get the Tomix E2-1000 to couple with the E3-Tsubasa to get the current Yamabiko services the E2 runs, and then since there is a Tomix E2 so you might need a Tomix E3 Komachi for Hayate-Komachi service.. And if you like you might wanna get the Tomix E5 to couple with the E3 Komachi, which in turns require a Tomix E6 to couple with the E5... 

 

there is a tomix sayonara 0 series that is 16 cars.  however, this is a 6-car (i think) set made for... well, so i dont say the wrong thing, i'll take some photos of it tonight as i will be there this evening.  basically, nowhere does it say 'tomix' except where they couldnt get rid of it - stamped on the bottom of the cars.  also, i'll be digging through boxes trying to find that missing e3 and e2 :).   i have so many boxes of stuff it's embarassing. i found something in the order of 40 island platform sections that i totally forgot about.

 

but yes, the sayonara 0 16-car set is one that i also think about getting at some point down the line.

 

I dont quite understand what the 100 grand hikari has to do with the N700A but i am not really a shinkansen expert.  the N700a from my standpoint is basically a new livery on an N700, and I dont see any particular point to get it.  id sooner get one of the light blue n700-7/8s.

 

as you see from my collection of these, i havent really cared for prototype length of formation on these.  however, at one point i did care about linking shinkansen to one another, at least slightly.  i am sure my e3 linked to somehting... maybe even to the 200?   my e2 is kato.   it's actually an interesting question given that i dont particularly care for the e5 and e6 should i just get the 3-car version of each and run them linked together?  but then that's taking ridiculous looking trains (in n scale) and making a complete travesty of it.

 

honestly, for all the complaining that we collectively do about jr tokai's boring orange striped limited expresses, im sure glad they hold down the fort and insist on variations on white with blue stripe for the shinkansen.  the jr east shinkansen are just ugly (i liked the e3 pink stripe akita komachi and the tasteful e4 and the 200 renewal, but thats about it from the modern era).

 

i'd probably go for the kato e5 and e6 simpy because my kato bias, even if i lose that potenail linkability.

 

 

mmm - light blue.

Edited November 13, 2013 by keio6000

[Guest keio6000]

Do you mean Eiji Mitooka? I like quite a lot of his designs but some are way too exaggerated like the Seven Stars in Kyushu.

 

i agree - looking at his designs, *except* for the e7 which is very good but not as good as jr kyushus efforts aesthetically, i dont seem to like his stuff very much at all.

 

of course, japan also has its share of terrible aesthetic trains, even recent ones:

 

[Densha]

The E6 and E7 are by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Okuyama though so you know.

 

Yeah, the Marine Liner is weird but that's why I love it! You should take a look at the crazy combination JR West makes with their 113/115 series, with different colour schemes in one consist and trailers rebuilt into ugly cab cars and such.