With all the Christmas expenses out of the way, I was able to pick up one of Japan's newest limited express trains, the Kintetsu Series 50000 'Shimakaze' that is produced by Tomix. This operates on the Kintetsu Corporation's train lines and runs over multiple train lines in Kintetsu's system. It basically runs between the three farthest reaching towns on Kintetsu's operating systems. One is Osaka in the west, while to the east and north is Nagoya and to the east and south is Kashikojima. Here is a map of Kintetsu's rail system and you can see these places. All of this is west of the Tokyo metro area.

I am always looking for discounted sets and when the price is right, I try to pick one up if I have the funds to do so.  Microace Keio Series 9000. This is an eight car set that primarily operates on the Keio Line in Tokyo and is one of what seems to be dozens of independent rail systems. The Series 9000 train is a relatively modern EMU, and is a commuter train, though the lines offer express service. Apparently these trains can be found on the other Keio Corporation train lines as needed. The set is nicely done and like all but newer Kato brand trains, uses a standard Rapido coupler. As nice as the Kato couplers are, they can be difficult to join if not perfectly aligned.

Another train that was on deep discount was this Greenmax set. I had the funds so picked it up. Greenmax ready to run sets are some of the most expensive I have seen. The company usually deals with kits that provide the bits needed to make a set. Some of them are prepainted and others are not. The kits do not offer lights for the lead and trail cars nor do they have any sort of interior. This one is a Hokuso series 7300 train that operated on the Hokuso Line, another of those independent Tokyo area rail lines. It is one of the main lines from central Tokyo to Narita Airport. The cars in the set are smaller than the usual commuter train cars, but not as small as the cars of the Ginza subway line. The set does have lights, but there is no interior. Like others, it uses the Rapido coupler system. It actually runs quite well. The Keio set needs to be at nearly full throttle to perform well and this one works well at about 40%. I have to assume that the motors in all these brands are pretty much the same so I guess it is just a luck of the draw thing.

Another thing that I was able to do was add a two foot extension on one end thanks to some moving of book cases and scrapping a couple of particle board ones that were falling apart.  The extension piece is from an old desk I had which I'd cut up just in case I needed the bits and had stashed in the garage. It is 1" particleboard held up by a pair of 2x4s and a pair of 4x4s which were also in amongst the scrap. Overkill I am sure, but it meant zero outlay of funds. I added a small lip to one end of the top on which I attached the previous rather flimsy 1 foot addition that was made out of 1/4" plywood. I slightly miscalculated the height of the legs so there is about a quarter inch climb to the new section which so far all the trains have been able to handle. I really added this because the tracks at the ends of the table were just too close to each other and needed to be spaced out more. I have a few additional lengths of straight and another turnout in the mails. The bits on order should be enough to allow some decent spacing and still keep the outer track a couple of inches from the end of the table so I will not need a railing. They will also allow another turnout so I can build up an 'industrial' area. I'll also shift the rest of the layout a bit to relieve crowding of the tracks though that will take some time to move all that stuff.

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