If your girlfriend is around your age then her parents would probably remember it LOL. Oh, I guess you were posting while I was editing my post, I changed the link, it has a few better videos. :tb-wink:
@Drop: That is a really nice set with those cars! I have the recent Minitrix version of that same locomotive...its nearly half the price of the Fleischmann version, but I would expect the Fleischmann's details and other bits of design to be bit better. My Minitrix version is not that detailed. On the subject of 'foreign' models and the Netherlands, here's a few from my fleet: Class 1600 from Minitrix: Class 1200 from Minitrix...older model, a bit rough by today's standards... 6400 Class, newer model I finally found on eBay after a long period of searching! A little bit to the west...is this older representative from Roco, Class 59 (just converted to DCC) from Belgium:
@Drop...is this what your looking for: http://www.phildie.nl/Phildie/home.htm I have to use Google Translate to read it, but it looks like they're making one of these...pricey though I expect! I'm actually looking for one of the older Koplopers that was done in the KLM paint scheme! So cool....but so hard to find! Any NS stock seems to do really well in the secondary markets (ebay, etc...) but I wish the manufacturers would make more! As far as the Class 1600...Minitrix made a nice locomotive with this, but i would expect that if you were to hold it up next to your Fleischmann model you would be able to note the difference in quality....I still may get one of the red Fleischmann versions of the 1600/1700 (?) that was done for Railion/NS Cargo.
This just came in from Japan. It's an RTR model of the Odakyu Railway 8000 Series by Greenmax. The Greenmax model number is 4156. The interior is detailed but I found the shell to be very thin. (Anyone else notice that about Greenmax?) I rode the Odakyu line in 1999 when I was in Tokyo and my wife used to commute on the Odakyu line.
On the Greenmax sets and the thin shells, it varies from which model you get. I found the same to be true with some of the earlier Tomix trains that had the spring worms.
No, EMU. It runs into Shinjuku and I think everything there has to be electric. There are two cars with pantographs toward the middle. I did ride a DMU out in rural Japan and I wished I had paid more attention to it. There are some nice models available. Another note, Greenmax RTR is NOT cheap. Andy Tetsu Uma
I guess I'm going to have to build two layouts now, one for my US prototypes and the other for my Japanese stuff! On You Tube I saw some videos of Japanese modeler's layouts. Very nice work.
I've seen some super detailed modules or 1' by 2' layouts that just astound me. Then there are modelers who just build the models as they have no room for even a tiny layout. Different constraints shifts the focus of the modeling. I just run what I like and it can be transition, 70s, 80s, present day, or Japanese. I do want to get some of those Tomix cherry trees. Andy Tetsu Uma
It runs on the Odakyu Electric Railway, one of the many private railways running out into the Tokyo suburbs. Odakyu Electric Railway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia All passenger services into Tokyo are electric and have been for many years. I spend a lot of time on my trips to Japan riding diesel railcars along country branch lines and forgotten secondary routes, it's not all bullet trains and busy commuter lines.
I was pretty sure about Tokyo but just as soon as I say that, someone points out the exception so I give myself an out. (Let's me "save face.") I rode the Odakyu line out of Shinjuku Eki and when I checked their route map, it looks like most of their trains terminate in Shinjuku. The Odakyu Group is HQed in Shinjuku. Funny, when I originally wrote that post, I wrote about the Odakyu Group Keiretsu and how they own transportation systems to complement their department stores. Since the Japanese shop for groceries almost every day, the and other Keiretsu often run the transportation systems at break even or as a loss leader to get people into their stores at the stations. I haven't been to West Tokyo but I believe Keio is the same way. That post got lost in the ether. Andy Tetsu Uma
Interesting, American companies built trolleys to get people to their amusement parks. The Japanese built lines to get people to the companies grocery stores. Or did I read something wrong?
I think that is a good parallel. The in the U.S., amusement companies built trolleys or trolley companies built amusement parks. In Japan, the companies built or acquired lines and then built store at their stations. Some might have started out in the transportation business and saw there was money to be made in retail. Andy Tetsu Uma
Many Tokyo private railways such as the Seibu also have amusement parks and/or baseball stadiums where they own or sponsor the home team at the outer ends of their lines. There are a lot of similarities to American interurban lines of the early 20th century.
Besides the railway and the Seibu Lions ball team, Seibu Holdings has business lines in the real estate, construction, hotels, and tourism fields. A quick check has the Odakyu Group (holding company for the Odakyu Railway) owning over 100 businesses as of 2007. Clearly, these are large and diversified conglomerates. Maybe this is where Warren Buffett got the idea to buy BNSF. Andy Tetsu Uma
