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

[cteno4]

Sorted through then and about half are going up for sale in the club now. Any not sold I’ll put up on classifieds.

 

jeff

[bc6]

My latest auction win from Yahoo Japan.

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by bc6

[Sascha]

Joining the club. My first and last fright car set.

[cteno4]

Platypi rule!

 

jeff

[ED75-775]

On 5/14/2023 at 7:02 PM, cteno4 said:

Platypi rule!

 

jeff

Uhhhhh, no, I thought we all agreed (through subliminal messaging by our squidly overlord) that cephalopods rule. I thoroughly expect consequences for your apostasy, Jeff!

 

Oh, and back here at the ED Depot, some more train stuff turned up because, well, I couldn't help myself once again. Though thankfully Zenmarket has stopped tempting me which is good for my wallet, because in exactly a week's time I'll be sitting in Tokyo getting ready for 28 days of full-on holiday fun! Chasing trains, riding trains, buying trains, thinking about trains... life goals. 😁

 

 

After buying an interesting-looking book on Japanese rolling stock bogies (with a few tram bogies and trucks noted for good measure) I didn't think I would be buying much else to go with it and the two Hiroden trams. Then I found the Kato 'Allegra' unit which came with free internal shipping, plus it fitted in well with my RhB collection... and as another pointless excuse to own a train, I saw no less than three of these sets in service in 2013 while travelling on the Bernina Express from Tirano to Chur.

 

The cute JR West notepad, on the other hand, was not expected but came as a freebie with Hiroden 352, the sole motorized tram in today's package. Hiroden 651 currently does not have a motor, but will get one in due course.

 

And on the preorders front? Well, I've got quite a bit, actually.

- May: WaMu 60000 two-car set (en route to NZ), KiHa40-500 Middle vers. two-car set (all Tomix)

- July: Tomix Tadami Line KiHa40 Tadami Line two-car set (ltd. edition)

- August: Tosaden 209, 210, TM-TR01 powered chassis x4 (all Tomytec); EF55 1 (Kato) 

- September: ED75-1000 early type, Post Office/Baggage Train 'Tohoku', SuNi 41-2000 freight car, MaNi 36 baggage car (all Kato); Nagoya Rinkai Railway ND552 (Tomix)

- November: C58 239, KiHa 141 passenger train 'SL Ginga' (both Tomix)

 

That should keep me busy a while, now the challenge is finding the motivation to run stuff and have fun with it! I'm sure I'll have no excuses not to run the N-scale stuff once I come back as I'll have a few more new toys to play with.

 

Alastair

[cteno4]

3 hours ago, ED75-775 said:

Uhhhhh, no, I thought we all agreed (through subliminal messaging by our squidly overlord) that cephalopods rule. I thoroughly expect consequences for your apostasy, Jeff!

Well each have their own kingdoms to rule over, platypi the aquatic and squids the marine. Fortunately their habitats do not overlap or there would be bloody issues.

 

jeff

[Arctic]

JR West 201 series and a couple of other things arrived today!

 

Love the green colour of this...

 

 

 

[ED75-775]

So rather than saving what few yen I had (and because I topped up my card slightly later in the day), this was the result of a little shopping at the Keio department store here in Shinjuku, with thanks to @paolo for pointing me in the right direction.

 

 

What I don't recall from watching Paolo's video was whether he mentioned the shop is accessible through a Maruzen bookshop, as I haven't watched that video in a while, though no doubt I'll be watching his Akiba videos again to plot my great plunder of the area's stores, mwahahaha...

 

So anyway, Popondetta yielded the 2023 Tomix Guide, plus some other odds 'n sods bits: two Tomytec Hiroden buses (one new, one SH) and two boxes of Tomix 0652 wheelsets, a Kato 20-026 rerailer track with side ramps, infill piece and a bonus S124 straight, the 8039 WaMu 80000 2-car set without box, and a similar 8057 pair of Tsumu 1000 ventilated box wagons. From Maruzen came the latest Shinkansen Encyclopedia to complement my 2019 version, and a new, special-purpose eki-stamp book. Last time around I had a Suica Penguin notepad but I wasn't able to get it out this time for reuse. Oh well, the little stamp book only cost 550 yen!

 

Alastair

[Tony Galiani]

Japan's GDP rises, economists can't figure out why.  Don't think to correlate with JNS Forum member visits.

Tony

[cteno4]

Customs folks are gunna love looking in your luggage!

 

jeff

[ED75-775]

15 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Customs folks are gunna love looking in your luggage!

 

Jeff

Now why would that happen Jeff? Seriously - the last time I brought model railway equipment across the border, I only had to tell the staff operating the scanner at Auckland International and they were happy enough to let me carry on without opening my suitcase. And of course most of what I brought back then was posted back too so only a small amount of equipment rode suitcase-class to New Zealand.

 

Since it's our sworn duty to continue growing Japan's GDP by purchasing trains, I thought I'd do my duty and add a few more things to my pile of stuff that I now own!

 

 

Must have more reading material, because there's nothing wrong with adding to what you already know! A visit to Kinokuniya Books produced four volumes of RM Library and Re-Library, while stopping at Mandarake in Nakano later tonight brought in three more volumes of the Japan tramway stock albums. I still haven't found the 2023 volume yet though, so I must keep looking for that while I'm out and about.

 

And since I was at Nakano, I decided to add a few more pieces of rolling stock too:

 

 

Well, the West Japan tram theme is well and truly over folks, I now have three from Eastern Japan courtesy of Mandarake. They also had the Märklin H0 baggage cars, which I decided I couldn't let pass and which actually weren't advertised on their website. Crazy! The station building and platform ends, on the other hand, came from the Hobby Center Kato which I visited earlier in the afternoon.

 

And for those who might be tempted to point it out, I am aware that the Nagoya tram is the wrong way up in the box. Oh well, at least it's the right way up for when it crosses the Equator, I might have to turn the other trams to match!

 

Alastair

[cteno4]

My first trip to japan I brought back a small duffle of windup toys at near the duty level at the time. Customs guy looked at my form and looked at me and said “you spent all your duty free on windup toys? I have to look.” Opened up the bag and he was like a kid at xmas morning and had to see how the push flying helicopter flew. About that time the supervisor came by a bit miffed my inspector’s line had stalled and the inspector sheepishly helped me pack them all back up and passed me through. Only time I’ve had anyone really want to look at my stuff at a boarder crossings. But he had fun!

 

jeff

[Giugiaro]

Reminds me of when I was stopped at Standsted airport and the guards dug out my Bardic lamp from the bag.

 

They looked at it with some of the most confused expressions I've ever seen.

[ED75-775]

And the plundering continues! Mwhahahahaha!

 

With the slowing-down remains of Typhoon Mawar working their way up the coast, I decided that today was best 'not' spent indoors and headed off to Akihabara for some more train shopping. I can safely say that I haven't even scratched the surface of what's out there despite having cleared about half of @paolo's list of train stores. Of the three I visited in 2019, the two Imon stores haven't changed but Volks has shrunk drastically with just one corner now devoted to trains.

 

 

But at the end of the day, I ended up with even more stuff courtesy of Hobby Land Pochi, Greenmax, Scaleton and Popondetta. So we have:

- three more Railway Collection trams (Tobu #103 and Nagasaki #217 from the Greenmax store, Yokohama #1156 from Popondetta);

- my first Modemo tram, an NT3 Toden 6000-series brought from HLP Akihabara store #1 for just 2750JPY and which has been forgiven its chunky mechanics for said price;

- four buses also from HLP store #1 - two Tateyama Kurobe trolleybuses, one Tokyo Airport Limousine bus and one JR East long-distance bus;

- three MaNi 44 wagons in what look like ex-VHS cassette cases from Scaleton;

- a truss bridge from Popondetta's main store for just 330JPY;

- two Kato 8620's which now brings my total up to five of these magnificent locomotives, again from Popondetta's main store;

- and three assorted Märklin wagons from Popondetta's second store in the Gachapon Hall building.

 

I also managed to empty Scaleton's hoard of Tomix 0652 wheelsets, because having a few extras won't hurt. And Jeff, if you love windup toys you'd love Scaleton's assortment of capsule Plarail toys, there's a whole rack of them in store. There's also plenty of B-Train shorties too if you're into that sort of thing.

 

So, just out of interest, are the decals included with my Toden tram rub-on or waterslide?

 

Alastair

[ED75-775]

I made the mistake of thinking I didn’t do enough damage to my wallet in Akihabara on Friday and went back Saturday night after my jaunt on the Chichibu Railway (and a second trip to Narita and back):

 

 

The Chitetsu DeKi 300 and WoKi/WoKiFu wagon set came from Volks in the Radiokan after I saw the real things (including the prototype of the Micro Ace locomotive, DeKi 303 itself) earlier that day, and while there I threw in two more boxes of Tomix 0652 wheels and the Kato Wa 12000 box wagons.

 

No more Akihabara trips for me now, otherwise things could get dangerous very fast!

 

Alastair

Edited June 4, 2023 by ED75-775

[bc6]

I thought I was done buying EMU's but I purchased another Shinkansen lol.

 

https://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/products/n/98662.html

[paolo]

On 6/2/2023 at 5:12 PM, ED75-775 said:

And the plundering continues! Mwhahahahaha!

 

With the slowing-down remains of Typhoon Mawar working their way up the coast, I decided that today was best 'not' spent indoors and headed off to Akihabara for some more train shopping. I can safely say that I haven't even scratched the surface of what's out there despite having cleared about half of @paolo's list of train stores. Of the three I visited in 2019, the two Imon stores haven't changed but Volks has shrunk drastically with just one corner now devoted to trains.

 

 

Alastair

 

I see that you've put my videos to good use, I'm glad they helped you!

And as a matter of fact, I was browsing those stores in Akihabara on the same day as you were! I was in Tokyo from Friday till Sunday last week, so we might have crossed paths! That Mawar typhoon was really nasty, I was able to take one of the very last few shinkansen's from Nagoya to Tokyo on Friday, before the whole line shut down.

On Thursday I visited the stores in Osaka and in Nagoya. I have to say, my now favorite one is the Joshin Super Kids in Nipponbashi (Osaka). The amount of stuff they have, and the great prices are unbeatable. They have tax free (so 10% less) and another 5% discount if you buy with VISA.

[ED75-775]

On 6/6/2023 at 6:11 PM, paolo said:

I see that you've put my videos to good use, I'm glad they helped you!

Yes! Thank you @paolo for putting them together in the first place. Had you not done the legwork already, I wouldn’t have known where most of the stores were, and thus wouldn’t have ended up with this little lot:

 

 

‘Tis but a little haul compared to some of the other purchases showcased here, but then again I don’t have a ‘real’ job that could support my hobby... much as I don’t like admitting it, working as a fast-food manager isn’t all that flash (or enjoyable).

 

Thanks also for the tip about Joshin, sounds like it’s worth a visit. And yes, we conceivably could have crossed paths, next time if we ever do so let’s take the time to say hi!

 

Alastair

 

 

[bc6]

My Hello Kitty set showed up today and came with some freebies not the Reddit mascot,The  decoder showed up today for the Hello Kitty set.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by bc6

[ED75-775]

Some further shopping today because @paolo mentioned about Joshin Super Kids Land, and because I also went back to Popondetta to snag another two excellent Märklin tinplate coaches for my H0 hoard.

 

 

My stuff in the foreground came mostly from today's trip: four boxes of Tomix 0652 wheelsets and the Popondetta ToRa from Joshin, while the Tomix TsuMu came from Popondetta the day before. I also did a little shopping on behalf of fellow forum member @Wolf and landed the 500 Type EVA for ¥46,200 from Hobby Land Pochi. It has some missing or damaged parts, but Wolf's been in contact with Tokonami-san who will take care of that and eventual shipping onwards.

 

So, well done Wolf!

Alastair

 

[tripel7]

Put in a preorder for the re-release of the Kato E6 with Plaza Japan, took a look on ebay, but get the feeling that a lot people quickly hope to sell theirs, buy the new one, and make a profit... 

[katoftw]

EF66

Taki 1000 number 1000 set

 

Both arrived in the last month. First run today.

[Sascha]

One small box from Hobby Search!!

[katoftw]

Prefect for the Xmas tree.

[Sascha]

2 hours ago, katoftw said:

Prefect for the Xmas tree.

That is the plan!!!