Hello from Indiana, USA

[SantaFe1970]

I am a long time train enthusiast (and also a fan of model railroads), and have been lucky enough in my life to have experienced some very special train journeys -- including the Ffestiniog in Wales, the Flamsbana in Norway, and the Cass in West Virginia. But perhaps my most special train trip ever was, as a seven-year old boy, riding the Santa Fe Superchief from Los Angeles to Chicago in 1970. Thus my "SantaFe1970" username.

 

This coming May will be my first trip to Japan: I am co-leading a school group (with a Japanese colleague). We will be in Kyoto, Nara, and Tokyo for nine nights and eight full days. The official focus is the history and culture of traditional Japan, so we will be concentrating on temples, castles, shrines, museums, and the like.

 

But -- of course! -- we will be traveling extensively by train (and bus, and maybe cablecar, too). And I'm looking forward to experiencing the train culture of Japan (ekiben, eki stampu, etc.) as much as seeing the temples, castles, shrines, etc.

[ozman2009]

Welcome to this forum, and enjoy your trip in May. Which scale are you most interested in?

[SantaFe1970]

Thanks for the welcome.

 

I had childhood train sets, Lego and HO. And in high school I was very much interested in fine scale modeling, both military and railroad related. The bug to build a big layout was always there, but school, work, moves, etc. always got in the way. 

 

Right now I am thinking about maybe getting into Japanese N-scale. I like the variety and price of the available items. And I like the idea of temporary layouts I can set up and then take down. I am thinking of perhaps purchasing a Kato boxed track set and transformer here in the US, and then getting a souvenir set or two of trains while I am in Japan in May.

 

It would be fun to pick up the model of a train I actually got to ride -- like the Yamanote, perhaps. I'll have some time for shopping in Akihabara before the end of my trip.

 

I assume a Kato train purchased in Japan would run fine with track and transformer purchased in the US? 

[kvp]

 

I assume a Kato train purchased in Japan would run fine with track and transformer purchased in the US? 

Yes, the standard voltage for N scale is 12 volts everywhere and the track gauge is also standard, so you can even run American, European  and Japanse trains on the same layout if you want. Just make sure you get a power pack (transformer) that works in the USA, because that's the only thing that can be different in various parts of the world.

[SantaFe1970]

Thanks for the confirmation of US/Japan compatibility. I assumed that gauge wouldn't be an issue: n-scale is n-scale. Are wheel flanges ever an issue? Are flanges standard across all the major Japanese manufacturers (Kato, Tomix, Micro Ace)?

 

(And I'll be sure to get a USA-market power pack.)

[cteno4]

Welcome Santa Fe!

 

Sounds like it will be a fun trip. Yeah the selection, price and variety of interesting prototype trains and scenes you can model make Japanese a really rich and fun hobby!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[brill27mcb]

Thanks for the confirmation of US/Japan compatibility. I assumed that gauge wouldn't be an issue: n-scale is n-scale. Are wheel flanges ever an issue? Are flanges standard across all the major Japanese manufacturers (Kato, Tomix, Micro Ace)?

 

(And I'll be sure to get a USA-market power pack.)

 

No, actually it's "N-gauge is n-gauge." The scales vary from 1:160 (North America, Europe, Japan shinkansen) to 1:148 (Great Britain) to 1: 150 (Japan's common narrow gauge). I think you'll be hard-pressed to notice the difference on your layout, since the larger scales tend to have models of trains built to tighter loading gauge/clearances.

 

Rich K.

[SantaFe1970]

Thanks for the clarification, scale vs gauge. And since nobody is responding anything about flanges, I guess that's not an issue.

 

(My concern regarding flanges comes from my experience with HO scale in the US, a long time ago, when non-NMRA wheels had trouble with code 70 rail, or some similar incompatibility.)

[brill27mcb]

If you use Tomix or Kato sectional track, you should have no problem with deep flanges. Their rail is about Code 80 (0.080 inches in height from base of rail to railhead, so it can handle most flange depths. Japanese flange depths are deeper that what is now generally produced for U.S. N-gauge trains, but not out of line with older Micro Trains rolling stock. The only issue I ever had with flange depths involved old Graham Farish coaches from Great Britain, with their deep metal flanges just touching the plastic nibs holding down the rails on Kato viaduct slab track, so that many wheels doing it created a buzzing sound on the curves.

 

Rich K.

[Ken Ford]

Hi, Santa Fe - welcome! What part of the state are you in?

[SantaFe1970]

Scenic Muncie, Ken.

 

Though we do have plenty of mainline freight action passing through town: CSX, Norfolk Southern. Lots of opportunity to be held up at a crossing. 

 

(And thanks brill27mcb, for the further confirmation that n-scale Japanese flanges aren't an issue.)

[Ken Ford]

I haven't been to Muncie in years (early 80s) - there used to be a great camera store downtown, but it's probably long gone.

[SantaFe1970]

The store's still there: "Jack's Camera." I'm not much of a photographer, so I've only been in once. Frankly, it's been surprising to me that it has managed to stay around. I wonder where their business comes from?

 

(For those of you outside the Hoosier State, Muncie is a typical post-industrial Midwestern small city. The factories are now long gone, and the population is gradually drifting downwards... Most young people, if they see a chance, head out of town for greener pastures.)