Continuing from the last edition, I am still adding
trains. One of the first new ones is a four car train from the
Ryomo Line that runs near
Tokyo. It is part of East Japan Rail and is one of those smaller lines that
the
major train makers do not cover. However, Tomytec does a display model of it and
as you recall from the last time, motorizing them and adding
proper wheels and metal pantographs is not a difficult task. This line uses the older series
107-100 trains, purchasing
a number of two car trains that are frequently hooked up to form a four car
version. This meant purchasing two of the display trains to duplicate this.
These are the oldest trains on the line.
I have also bought a Limited Express train. This one
is a Tobu series 250
train. It is part of the relatively large
Tobu Railway system.
These limited express trains have few stops and you have to buy a seat in them
like an airplane. The fittings are also quite similar to what you find in an
airliner. Like you find in the US, certain train types are given names and this
service using these trains is called 'Ryomo', not to be confused with the Ryomo Line. This particular train is
from MicroAce (Arii) and like most of what I buy, was on sale at a very good
price.
I liked the 'Ryomo' so much, that when I saw another
similar type, the earlier
Tobu Series 100 train, I picked it up as well. This train is called the 'Spacia',
of which there are nine trains in three different colors. This particular train
is a Tomix offering and over the past few years, they have offered all three
colors. This one is their "Iki" blue shade. Apparently, unlike the
Shinkansen trains which are often as many as 15 cars or more, these limited express
trains are 6 or so cars in size.
Thanks to the increased costs of keeping warm and the holidays, my train purchases have trickled to nearly nothing, though I'm sure there will be more to report later on as funding becomes less of an issue. This sort of sucks as it is this time of the year when many new and desirable items are released!