Hand built Brass

To complement my Modemo 373 unit, I have taken the plunge and bought a second hand type 253 Narita Airport Express hand built brass three car EMU by ENDO. These trains operate several routes around the Tokyo area to the Narita airport.

These super models by ENDO are expensive by European prices and are only just at a viable price on the second hand market, I dont make purchases very often of this kind, and this might be a one off to go with my only other brass EMU set, a four car type suburban 209 by the KTM company.

The major problem with all these nice "handbuilt" models is the drive systems, OK as other models its totally hidden under the floor and powers the bogies through very small axle diffs, and there is no facility for DCC thus to get the models fitted with decoders will again be an expensive outlay.

A rare item now.

Here in the United Kingdom the Hasegawa company is well know for its models of military prototypes and aircraft, however in Japan they also market a small growing range of model trains under the "Modemo" marketing name.

Originally the Modemo name was known for its models in N, 1/80 HO and even O scale for their range of plastic tram kits that were either static models or motorised. Their range continues to grow in N scale and now includes some DMU and EMU sets.

Besides some plastic kits of older 1950's prototype passenger cars and a private railway two car EMU, the only other item available in 1/80 ready to run was the JR Central type 373 EMU set pictured above, this is one of my personal favorite trains on modern Japanese railways and I was pleased when the item first became available eight years ago. The model is of dubious quality compared with models that are available from Tomix and Kato, underframe detail is very limited and the bogies compensate to a degree that the wheel sets fall out of the bogie truck every time the model is taken from the box. The model otherwise runs well with another well designed underfloor "invisible" mechanism.

The comment that I have made above although personal has also been repeated in the Japanese model railway press, and the model is now no longer part of the Modemo range, it has been their only offering of modern image rolling stock to date in HO 1/80, perhaps the press comments worried them about starting another model.

The models now command high prices on the Japanese used market and are very hard and scarce to find, originally these items were available from the now closed JR models in Taunton for £180, I have seen them sell for over £250 on Japanese auction sites recently, so perhaps it might be worth some effort by Modemo to re-engineer the model and offer it again made to a higher standard.

Intergreated Transport

Outside most Japanese railway stations you will find Taxi's normally painted in a particular colour scheme relevant to the town they serve, you will also find other public transport connections like buses but in some of the larger cities trams too.

Until last year there were no models of road vehicles in 1/80 besides two sports cars made by Kato , you could obtain models of Japanese cars and light vans by the German makers in left hand drive in 1/87 and a brave attempt by the Green Max company at a 1/87 modern Isuzu Erga citybus, and to confuse the situation you could get some super models of Japanese buses and highway buses in the British OO scale!!

Last year the tables changed and Tomix introduced their car collection 80 to the 1/80 scale, this has now been expanded to include eight models including some nice modern Toyota Hiace vans in Japan Post colours and Crown taxis for the station forecourt.

The latest manufacturer to commence a series of 1/80 models in the One Mile company (www.one-mile.net) they offer the type 96MC citybus in some attractive colour schemes, the model must be a success as they have now announced a modern type SDII highway bus. I have obtained two 96MC citybuses for the layout and when available I will add some highway coaches too.

Ever Expanding Ranges

One of the largest HO 1/80 brass manufacturer's in Japan the Tenshodo company (of SPUD bogie fame) have gradually been introducing a range of plastic ready to run models in conjunction with the Bachmann company. The first offering was the JR West type 500 bullet train followed by a couple of steam locomotives and recently the popular type 103 commuter EMU sets in blue,yellow,green and orange, I hope to obtain a blue 4 car set at a later date.

My motley collection of freight stock by Tomix and kato can now be enhanced by a set of eight WaKi 10000 bogie box cars the same as the picture above introduced by Tenshodo this week. This brings my freight collection up to five trains, as there will be no shunting/switching on Futatsu no Kawa they will operate in fixed rake formation.

"Shining Glitter"

The type 485 is a really ubiquitous train and can be seen in most parts of Japan as it is a dual volage AC/DC unit. These multiple units truly were the front line units on the old Japanese National Railways network but with the ever expanding high speed shinkansen network blossoming, these units have had to take the back seat.

Some of the new operating companies have refurbished and totally reworked the body style to give a more modern unit but many like the model above are still operating with the body design as delivered new.Originally they were new in the JNR national express EMU and DMU red and cream colour scheme but with the sectoring of JNR into smaller regional companies most have gradually been repainted into brighter regional colour schemes.

The 485 is presently represented on Futatsu noKawa by the four car unit pictured above made by Tomix three years ago, this particular unit started to operate the "Shining Glitter" service between Tokyo and Toyama Kanazawa in 1988 to offer a high class service aimed at business men.
It really is a beautiful model with superb detail and very fine paint work, it is driven in one of the centre cars with a mechanism that it totally hidden under the floor and with its flywheel drive is ultra smooth.
Tomix have slightly reworked the model recently to offer the type 489 "Asama" units and I guess that many other colourful schemes will follow in due course,I will hopefully add some more of these units to the collection for operating on the layout.

Small and Beautiful

My good friend in Hokkaido Japan has been sending me some wonderful photographs of the small halts that can be found on some of the rural lines on Hokkaido Island.

The photograph here depicts the small single car halt for the hot springs resort of "Teshiogawa-Onsen", the small building contains a few plastic seats, a small heating stove ( you can see the chimney for this at the rear) and a toilet!

The wooden platform gives me memories of some of the similar halts on the Cambrian Coast line also served by single car diesel units.

This small halt would make a beautiful small diorama with the new Hokkaido type 40 single car diesel unit imminently available from Micro Ace in 1/80, operating on a shuttle into a tunnel back and forth, the total space needed, i guess 120cms, who says you need space for HO 1/80!!

Mainline Diesel Power!!

We have had a short introduction on models of Electric motive power in Japan, now its time for the diesel locomotives.

As with the electric services today there is very little diesel passenger haulage apart from the use with the many private hire sets of coaches with a matching liveried locomotive or the seasonal tourist trains that operate with uniquely designed "open sided" coaches operating on some of the mountainous scenic lines.There are also some diesel locomotives painted in passenger "blue" for use on the overnight blue train services but most of the locomotives are allocated to the JR freight sector.

Today the most numerous and general all purpose locomotive is the type DD51 (left) this has the unusual bogie configuration of BO-BO-BO but for traction power this would be classed in the UK as BO-11-BO i.e. the central bogie has no traction motors and acts only to ease the spread of the axle weight of the locomotive on the tracks.They often operate in pairs on heavy freight trains throughout Japan.

The model here is by Kato and is in the typical JR orange livery scheme used for diesel locomotives I have two of these locomotives with another due very soon, I have been asked via my e-mail where these HO models can be obtained, obviously the answer is "Japan" but this can be of great complication because of not just the language barrier but also they dont use the "Roman" alphabet!. I can recommend the Japanese specialist Doug Coster who is the proprietor of internet based Japanese Model supplies http://japanese-model-supplies.com/ he can help you with supply of most of the large manufacturers ranges in N and HO 1/80 as well as some wonderful DVD's.

Everyone has a dream model,,,,,and my dream would be the brass model of the modern BO-BO-BO diesel locomotive class DF200 by the Musashino company, as used on the Northern Island of Hokkaido, at a price of over £800 for this hand made model and second hand examples at over £400 this is a little extreme a purchase and would mean much explanation to my wife why we shouldnt get a divorce!!