What did you order or the post deliver? (Japanese N Gauge)

[Densha]

Sad to hear about the problems with EMS. My experiences are the same in the Netherlands. I advice you to just use SAL from now on. Even if it would get lost, which I have had never happen, in the long term you basically insure yourself by saving on a lot of shipping costs and additional costs.

 

Also, the Koploper and ICR coaches crossing the bridge looks great! Looks like there's no problem in using the Kato (?) bridges in a European environment.

[NB1231]

Beautiful additions to your collection! Sorry to hear about the awful experience with DHL and EMS! I found that EMS was slower than DHL but EMS never took longer than a week. Of course there can be exceptions. DHL has always made it from Japan to my door in two or three days.

 

 

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[kvp]

I do however believe that the customs is trying to tell me something, however. Also, didn't DHL come at the door to ask for the customs fee, or send you a bill afterwards? They used to for me, but not anymore! When asked, the customs people gave me the following advice: Buy European trains instead. Pff... what??

 

Never using EMS/DHL Express again...

Actually this should only happen (at least in Hungary) if you refuse the 'import customs agent' offer of the local delivery company, which means they for a larger fee are willing to handle this for you and you can pay at the time of delivery. Usually i get an SMS about the package, so i can send the filled out customs form in an email which they compare with what is glued on (or in) the package. Otherwise they wait 30 days, then they leave the package there and i would have to collect it at the central office way out at airport. While they had their offices near one of the downtown railway stations, i often went there to avoid paying the 12 euro service fee and get my package 2-3 days faster, but since they moved beyond the city limits, i just pay for the service and pick up my package at the same railway station as my local post office is still there.

 

One solution is to ask the seller to write your mobile phone number on the package. The other is to closely watch the tracking and when the package enters the customs office, call the local delivery company and ask for their import customs service. If they don't have your email or mobile phone number, they might choose not to contact you for the 30 days. The customs office won't write you a letter either and they return the package after some time. (imho another 30 days)

[Yavianice]

One solution is to ask the seller to write your mobile phone number on the package. The other is to closely watch the tracking and when the package enters the customs office, call the local delivery company and ask for their import customs service. If they don't have your email or mobile phone number, they might choose not to contact you for the 30 days. The customs office won't write you a letter either and they return the package after some time. (imho another 30 days)

 

All packages have my phone number and e-mail on them. Nothing is done with this information. When asked about package status in customs, DHL just responds with "It's in customs, you will have to wait until it leaves customs". Usually, the DHL people just show up at my house and ask for money directly, handing me over the receipt of what I owe them as they pre-paid the customs. But not this time. This time it was sent with express courier within a day to about 80 km from my doorstep. Even though the invoice was added to the outside and they opened the box to verify the invoice. "Packages are always sent to us" said the customs clerk, even though it is not true. Or it is some change in policy. Anyway, no more spending money on EMS.

[Suica]

My Kato 787 arrived as well now. Air Mail sure got quite a bit slower for me. At least the prices didn't change.

 

I also got my hands on the Kato Thalys PBKA for relatively little money~

[Darklighter]

All packages have my phone number and e-mail on them. Nothing is done with this information. When asked about package status in customs, DHL just responds with "It's in customs, you will have to wait until it leaves customs". Usually, the DHL people just show up at my house and ask for money directly, handing me over the receipt of what I owe them as they pre-paid the customs. But not this time. This time it was sent with express courier within a day to about 80 km from my doorstep. Even though the invoice was added to the outside and they opened the box to verify the invoice. "Packages are always sent to us" said the customs clerk, even though it is not true. Or it is some change in policy. Anyway, no more spending money on EMS.

When too many packages pile up at customs in Frankfurt / Leipzig, they forward them to the responsible local customs offices. I'm quite sure this is not DHLs fault.

[Yavianice]

When too many packages pile up at customs in Frankfurt / Leipzig, they forward them to the responsible local customs offices. I'm quite sure this is not DHLs fault.

Whose fault it is does not matter to me. I do not see the point of spending much more money for EMS either. Which is my point of never choosing for DHL express anymore at all, if there is absolutely no benefit over SAL besides insurance. Though as previously mentioned, it is cheaper to take the risk of items not arriving rather than spending money for super slow delivery and no extra benefits. Besides, my SAL packages arrived without any delay, even though they were sent later (but arrived earlier) than the EMS. One even got rerouted to the customs office because the seller did not add a receipt, and it was still faster than the EMS shipment.

 

Also, why charge money for the customer hotline that doesn't do anything? Why is that even a thing?

Edited May 15, 2017 by Yavianice

[bill937ca]

Kato 10-890 E231-500 from Tenshodo.

 

I am so enchanted by the way Tenshodo wraps their packages.  Orders are shipped by noon on the day of purchase so processing is very fast. I ordered at 1620, paid by Paypal at 2030 and it was marked shipped at 2152 local time. It was at my door by 0800 on the third business day. Price was cheaper than HS too.

 

Edited May 15, 2017 by bill937ca

[Nick_Burman]

Delivered - second set of Tomytec NG railcars - modern version with wooden coach. Bought it mainly for the coach...

 

Ordered - 40 packages of Micro-Trains Z scale couplers. With these I hope to get rid of the conversion backlog, I still have N scale rolling stock I bought in Japan two years ago which I haven't converted yet...

 

Ordered - 5 packages of FVM wheelsets. To be used by both N and HOn30 rolling stock.

 

Cheers NB

Edited May 15, 2017 by Nick_Burman

[serotta1972]

My Kato 787 arrived as well now. Air Mail sure got quite a bit slower for me. At least the prices didn't change.

C_4FyJYWAAINEAw.jpgC_4F0YYXYAEaHoo.jpg

 

I also got my hands on the Kato Thalys PBKA for relatively little money~

C_tPouPW0AEsf-S.jpgC_tPpq4XcAA7twJ.jpg

Very nice - I really like the Thalys but this belongs in the new thread you created. :)

[serotta1972]

I got me some cute little freight cars to go with my cute little steam engines.  Sorry I'm not able to describe them by their prototypical names.  And I love how they come in pairs.

 

[bill937ca]

After 26 days a large general order from Hobby Search with videos, Greenmax structure kits, Tomix Fine Track and Tomix platforms. Actually this was three separate orders that Hobby Search held awaiting two back-ordered videos. Now I can work on my layout. This also is probably my last substantial order for some time, but I have lots stockpiled to work on.

 

Edited May 16, 2017 by bill937ca

[NB1231]

My Kato 787 arrived as well now. Air Mail sure got quite a bit slower for me. At least the prices didn't change.

C_4FyJYWAAINEAw.jpgC_4F0YYXYAEaHoo.jpg

 

I also got my hands on the Kato Thalys PBKA for relatively little money~

C_tPouPW0AEsf-S.jpgC_tPpq4XcAA7twJ.jpg

Very jealous over the Thalys

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rod.H]

These turned up today. Yes I really need to plan out my ordering better to cut down on the number of packages arriving on my doorstep & the empty space in the box. At least it was mostly filled with a non-train item from another HS category. 

[railsquid]

A World Kogei EF57 in pristine condition for a lot lot less than the JPY28,000 RRP printed on the box.

 

world-kogei-ef57-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[cteno4]

Someone is haunting yahoo.jp auctions! ;-p

 

Jeff

[railsquid]

Someone is haunting yahoo.jp auctions! ;-p

 

It's a hard, thankless task but someone has to do it ;)

[nah00]

Layout support guide (even though I can't understand any of it the pictures are self explanatory) and destination boards for my E3. 

 

Also thank you for the GIANT BOX HS. 

[cteno4]

Nah,

 

Try the google translate app on your phone or pad, works great to snap a pict of a paragraph and then translate it. Super helpful when you just have a little question to answer!

 

Jeff

[adrianKeith]

Finally purchased these two to get my diorama started!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tomytec-Building-019-2-Station-B2-Suburban-Station-1-150-N-scale-New-Japan-/151915500744

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tomytec-Platform-Expansion-for-Double-Track-Set-2-1-150-N-scale-Building-020-2-/201732790566?hash=item2ef8361926:g:S38AAOSwcUBYPZb0

 

Getting them from eBay proved to be cheaper for these items compared to Hobby Search, as much as I wanted to use them. They were going to tack on a $10+ charge to ship to the US so I opted for the "free" shipping through the eBay sellers. Ended up being about $10 cheaper in total.

 

I'll probably pick up the paper diorama vending machines as well but for now I'd like to try to fit this into the Daiso diorama cases. We'll see how it goes!

 

I also picked up a Bandai B-Train model of the EF65. I saw an episode (might have been 1 or 2) of Japan Railway Journal and really enjoyed watching him drive it and seeing it *pushing* the other cars. I had never seen this before and being a rail newbie just assumed that all trains just pulled the other cars. In this episode, it showed TWO EF65s pushing. That was neat!

 

Edited May 24, 2017 by adrianKeith

[kvp]

I also picked up a Bandai B-Train model of the EF65. I saw an episode (might have been 1 or 2) of Japan Railway Journal and really enjoyed watching him drive it and seeing it *pushing* the other cars. I had never seen this before and being a rail newbie just assumed that all trains just pulled the other cars. In this episode, it showed TWO EF65s pushing. That was neat!

Actually push-pull trains have locomotives that are usually pushing 50% of the time. One good european example is the Railjet high speed train that has a control car on one end and the locomotive on the other for bidirectional running. Many japanese electric multiple units have the motor cars in the middle with control trailers on both ends. One good example is the 113 series that ran in a 4 car Tc-Mp-M-Tc configuration, that is motor cars in the middle pushing and pulling the control trailers on the ends.

 

In Japan it was once common and it still happens to have strong locomotives pushing trains up steep ramps. In this role, the pushers are called banking locomotives. Imho the most famous japanese banking locomotive was the EF63 series, that were used in pairs on the Usui pass and they were even used for getting otherwise self propelled emu-s up and down the pass. The rule usually is that the helpers have to be on the downhill side to prevent runaways.

[adrianKeith]

Actually push-pull trains have locomotives that are usually pushing 50% of the time. One good european example is the Railjet high speed train that has a control car on one end and the locomotive on the other for bidirectional running. Many japanese electric multiple units have the motor cars in the middle with control trailers on both ends. One good example is the 113 series that ran in a 4 car Tc-Mp-M-Tc configuration, that is motor cars in the middle pushing and pulling the control trailers on the ends.

 

In Japan it was once common and it still happens to have strong locomotives pushing trains up steep ramps. In this role, the pushers are called banking locomotives. Imho the most famous japanese banking locomotive was the EF63 series, that were used in pairs on the Usui pass and they were even used for getting otherwise self propelled emu-s up and down the pass. The rule usually is that the helpers have to be on the downhill side to prevent runaways.

 

kvp, Thanks for that interesting bit of info, it was exactly that Usui pass where I saw the train (sounds like I bought the wrong one, haha). It was really impressive to watch.

[Kiha66]

Help! I can't stop looking at Yahoo auctions! I got the vehicles I won a few weeks back today, very happy with how they look. Eventually they'll go on the layout, but for now they fit well on my current diorama project.

[adrianKeith]

Help! I can't stop looking at Yahoo auctions! I got the vehicles I won a few weeks back today, very happy with how they look. Eventually they'll go on the layout, but for now they fit well on my current diorama project.

20170524_140037.jpg20170524_140050.jpg

 

I know this "pain" very well lol. I can spend hours at a time just browsing and then subsequently buying more B-Trains! I've seen boxes of 12 go for ~$50 and have been tempted to buy them =\

 

BTW, any update photos on the dio project? I checked the Anaheim Daiso and they didn't have the cases :( I'll have to check the others!

Edited May 24, 2017 by adrianKeith

[Kiha66]

I know this "pain" very well lol. I can spend hours at a time just browsing and then subsequently buying more B-Trains! I've seen boxes of 12 go for ~$50 and have been tempted to buy them =\

 

BTW, any update photos on the dio project? I checked the Anaheim Daiso and they didn't have the cases :( I'll have to check the others!

 

Painting the street lines as we speak!  I'll see if the Torrance ones have any more in stock tomorrow if I can, otherwise I have a few extra I'd be willing to sell.  I'll try to get some photos of today's progress up in a little bit.