Rolling stock for the Kohei line

[David Weber]

I already have various scratchbuilt and kitbashed wagons and vans which will appear later. For now, here is a picture of the first RTR rolling stock purchased for the project; a pair of Tomytec tanker wagons.



Like almost all the Tomytec H0 narrow gauge series, they are freelance but based on a prototype, in this case the Kosaka Railway tankers used to haul sulphuric acid from Odate to Kosaka copper mine. These will carry the same cargo from Nagawara to Yamaguchi copper mine on the Kohata Electric Railway.

They will need renumbering and relettering, but not much else. That's the whole point of buying RTR - the work is done/mostly done for you!

[Robin Webster]

I like the pair David.
What type of couplers are you using?
I did not know that Tomytec made narrow gauge rolling stock.
Robin.
                             

[engerth399]

Could you give us a website where we can see details of the Tomytec H0 narrow gauge series?

Thanks

[David Weber]

Robin, I use the standard N gauge Rapido couplings. They turn up everywhere and can be fitted to almost everything.

Here is the master list of every Tomytec rail vehicle. HO narrow gauge is near the bottom. Only in Japanese as Tomytec only target the domestic market. Try feeding it to some translation software.

https://www.tomytec.co.jp/diocolle/lineup/tetsudou/tetsudou30.html

Here is a Hobby Search listing [English] of all Tomytec HO narrow gauge:

https://1999.co.jp/eng/m/search?typ1_c=117&cat=train&state=&sold=0&sortid=0&searchkey=Tomytec&spage=1&Scale=HO+Narrow

All Tomytec products are sold as display models, so motor units for motive power must be purchased separately. Similarly there are metal wagon wheelsets sold to replace the plastic ones factory fitted. So they're actually not quite RTR.

[Frank]

Thanks David, 

That's verry interesting.  Occasionally I spot a press release or someone posts one on here maybe, just covering a new model, but I had not seen the range before and it looks good.

Frank

[engerth399]

Thanks for those links.

[Robin Webster]

Thanks David.
So Tomytec sells the body shell separately from the powered bogies.That's different. I learn something new every day.  :)

[David Weber]

Thanks David.
So Tomytec sells the body shell separately from the powered bogies.That's different. I learn something new every day.  :)

That is because they are sold as display models with the option to make them run with a little work. This improves sales to the collectors market and encourages people to buy the odd model that isn't their scale/era/subject just because it looks nice on the shelf.

I haven't updated this thread as intended, so here's a quick picture or two from my Imageshack archive.



Left to right:

Bogie open using Dundas WDLR D type body on Bachmann USRA tender bogies with reworked brake gear. It is meant to resemble some of the Igasa Railway's wagons.

Scratchbuilt plasticard van body on Peco N 10' wagon chassis. My first attempt at rolling stock, which sets the design and dimension standards for my other scratchbuilt van bodies to make them look like they all came from the same builder. Made following pictures of a van on the Tochio Railway but with the dimensions chosen to suit the chassis.

Society wagon kit body (free gift on joining) on Peco N 10' chassis as the provided chassis was too archaic. I'm not sure about this one; steel bodied wagons were rare on the prototype and the whole thing is probably too small.

Scratchbuilt plasticard van body on Peco N 15' chassis with Minitrains F&C balcony railings. Based on an Ogoya Railway design but with the dimensions and details modified to fit the standard.

Building coaches is not so easy and I have only one anywhere near completion at present. Plasticard body and balsa roof on Peco 009 L&B wagon bogies. Body seen during painting showing the KDK standard green and yellow livery on the sides and ends.



Painting it with a brush is not turning out well as the finish is just not smooth enough. I have since been advised that steel bodied stock should always be spray painted except if you are an expert, as those large, flat sheet metal surfaces need a very flat coat of paint to look right. Fortunately the Army Painter paints I use have identical brush and spray products for most of their colours.

[Robin Webster]

The 4 freight wagons do give the impression that they were manufactured by one company. I quite like them.  Scratch building coaches are time consuming, but you are making good progress.
The societies produced steel wagon is on my list to purchase. It looks like the one in a photo taken way back in 1907 at Hangu station on the North Western State Railway of India during the Raj.
Robin.

[David Weber]

Maybe you'll like these too then. Bogie vans produced to the same outline as the four wheelers. Also using the Bachmann tender bogies. The size was not very scientifically chosen, I simply mocked up larger vans until they started to look silly due to the small bogies, then chose the size that was just below the limit of sensible appearance!



At this low angle, the dodge of using L-section for the king posts of the underframes is obvious, but actual eye level viewing on a layout is rare.

These wagons are quite small compared to the carriages and locomotives. This was based on how the first big loading gauge keiben line I found out about, the Tochio line, ran mixed trains where the roof line of the vans came up only level to the lower edge of the carriage rooves. The size of passenger stock appears to have increased considerably more over time than the size of goods stock. Since then I have found examples of rather larger vans on the Kosaka Railway, but not many of them. So I may include a few more modern goods wagons getting on for the same size as the carriages.

Japanese railways have always tended to make more money from passengers than goods and so put much more money and effort into modernising and replacing passenger stock rather than goods. Additionally, for a long time the size of goods stock was deliberately kept restricted to allow for hand shunting, while passenger stock was not designed with hand shunting in mind.

[Robin Webster]

It all fits together well David. These bogie boxcars look good behind the little 4 wheeler. In this small scale what's under the floor is not visible to most of us, or should say all of us unless you're 4 foot high.  :) :)

[duttonbay]

It all fits together well David. These bogie boxcars look good behind the little 4 wheeler. In this small scale what's under the floor is not visible to most of us, or should say all of us unless you're 4 foot high.  :) :)

Or unless you build a near eye-level layout, all the better for realistic views of the passing trains.

[David Weber]

You may remember my 009 News article on Silhouette cutters and the set of side and end pieces used to demonstrate the basics of the cutting procedure. Here they are assembled properly and with microstrip added.





A big jump up in precision and detail compared to an entirely hand made effort, but unlike a single piece 3D print, it does not take away the skill of assembly and detailing. All the same it does feel like it ought to be classed as kit rather than scratch building, at least in the 'craftsman kit' sense....

[David Weber]

Moat of the way to completion now.  :) This was my first attempt at multi colour spray painting with masking tape so needs some tidying up. (Roof is brush painted, but I am tempted to use spray painting instead for rooves as well).



Shortened Lilliput luggage van chassis, section of Lilliput luggage van roof wrapped in tissue paper, Peco NEM pockets, Garland ventilators from Echo Model.

[multivac]

I like the look of the freight stock you have built, particularly the bogie box cars. Passenger coaches look good and with the aid of the Silhouette cutter the difficult process of cutting out the windows give a clean and tidy look. The green and cream reminds me of the Enoshima Electric Railway cars.

Will you be producing representations of the IC powered railcars used on similar railways.