Nishikigawa Seiryusen - Nishikichō Station

[Ken Ford]

I recently found a perfect prototype for my 1/80 12mm experiment - Nishikichō Station on the Nishikigawa Seiryusen.  This is a compact little three track terminal with great features - a small station that is below track grade, a carbarn and a stabling track with inspection pit:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishikich%C5%8D_Station

 

 

I'll need to compress this down a bit to make it portable; I'm thinking about 5' long by 18" wide.  The modeled portion would be from just right of the first switch shown in the overhead to the end of track with a small staging area on the right.  I could build a second module later to extend across the highway and river - it's very scenic.

 

 

Operation will be very simple, but it's interesting to me.  In most cases there will be a pair of single NT3000 DMUs shuttling in and out with the other two DMUs in the carbarn and stabling track, but I can also make and break larger consists - I've seen photos of up two three cars in a single train.  The brightly colored NT3000s should be attractive at shows:

 

The first DMU is on hand and under construction as detailed here:  http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/9859-max-model-ho-nt3000-dmu/  I have all four sets of decals on hand and the three remaining DMUs are on order.

 

This should make a nice self-limiting project for working in 1/80 12mm.  I'm sure I'll be asking questions, especially when it comes time to look for scenic and structure details!

 

 

[katoftw]

Take the curve away or reduce it for the track shed line.  It doesn't run parallel with the middle holding line or the platform line.

[Ken Ford]

You're right - it will look better that way, too.

[katoftw]

Looking forward to the progress.  Any ideas on how you'll construct the station building?

[Ken Ford]

No idea at this point!  It'll be complex to do, I'm sure.

[katoftw]

Kobura house pieces/parts I think would be the best option.  But it would be a scratch build affair.  I'll watch you do it first, then I'll copy. haha

[Ken Ford]

I might try to mooch time from a friend that has a Cameo cutter.

[Densha]

I vaguely remember seeing this station during a Japanese rail browsing session a few years back. It surely got me interested, but in the end I didn't go for a diesel layout so nothing really happened with the plan. It sure is an interesting small station layout!