Tomix Elevated Track
One the biggest appeals of Japanese N Gauge train track is the ability to create snap-together elevated or viaduct track.
There are a variety of supports available, you can have single track or double track lines, stations, switches and crossovers. But it is more expensive than surface level track as you need both the elevated track section and the supports. In some cases you will also need pieces of track.
The pieces are made out of ABS plastic which is very hard. I’ve assembled and disassembled much my elevated track several times without any sign of wear or tear. The pieces are very precisely manufactured and keep on holding together.
Tomix elevated track on an earlier version of my layout showing two different types of elevated track supports.
But it does take a lot of space. The 317/280 curve in the photo above was on a table 30 inches wide. It took almost the entire table width to accommodate a 180 degree curve.
There are fewer radius of curves available than with the regular snap track. Curved double overhead track radius include (all in millimeters) 317/280, 391/354 and 465/428. Single overhead is available in 243, 280, 317 or 354 mm radius. To build the 91075 HB-SL elevated station set requires 1120mm or just over 44 inches. A station for a full 16-car Shinkansen train requires over 9 feet.
Tomix elevated track system provides unique operating options not normally found on model railroads outside Japan. I will go into various track and support components over the next few weeks.
Tomix 1633 TCS Electric Turntable 2 N-AT212-15(F)
Japanese dealers have started taking pre-orders for the Tomix turntable and control. Hobby World Japan lists a pre-order deadline of early November 2008 with the release expected in December 2008. The old turntable set, Tomix 1631, is now discontinued.
TCS Electric Turntable 2 N-AT212-15(F)
Tomytec “Overhead Wiring Pillar”
Plastic overhead poles are common with Japanese model railroads. These are available from both Tomix and Kato, but have a decided mainline stature. On minor private railways and minor railway lines you will find overhead supported by wooden poles on both sides of the track and a wooden crosspiece that supports the catenary.
The recent Tomytec suburban station included wood tone overhead poles which will now be released as separate item in January 2009. Pictured below is the double track version, although most rail lines with this type of overhead poles these days tend to be single track.
Wood type Tomytec overhead pole.
THe white mark on the crosspiece is a result of cutting the pole free from the sprue. I plan to correct this with an art marker.
Tomix Catalog 2008-2009 due this autumn
The Japanese language Tomix web site is listing a new Tomix 2008-2009 catalog for release this autumn. The catalog’s release is tenatively scheduled for November 2008, but these dates are often subject to change.
Shizuoka Hobby Show
From You Tube comes a short video of the Tomix layout at the Shizuoka Hobby Show in May 2008.
Tomix track on Plaza Japan
Those that prefer eBay will be glad to see that Plaza Japan has greatly increased its line of Tomix track. These items are set up to ship SAL. Hopefully, switches will be available soon as Tomix’s retooling of their switches continues.
Tomytec Streetcar Controller
My battery powered Tomytec streetcar controller arrived about a week ago from Hobby Search. It takes four AA batteries and runs my Modemo streetcars or Tomytec drives at typical streetcar speed around a loop of Tomix C140mm track.
Unlike other Tomix DC feeder, the DC feeder on the Tomytec controller is fixed and cannot be removed or perhaps more importantly replaced.
This is green controller. There are four notches on the controller, a power light and a forward and reverse switch at the right side.
Green Tomytec Streetcar Controller.
You will find controllers this color on streetcars on the Hiroshima Electric Railway, Tosa Electric Railway, Kumamoto City Transportation Bureau and formerly on the Nagoya Railway streetcar and interurban lines at Gifu.
Here’s a small layout on top of a file cabinet using Tomix C140 track, Modemo streetcars and the Tomytec streetcar controller.
Streetcar track loop atop file cabinet.
There is also a cream colored Tomytec streetcar controller, prototypes for which can be found on the Hiroshima Electric Railway and other Japanese lines.
Ordering from Japan
So you’ve decided to venture into Japanese trains. What’s involved in ordering from Japan? First off, most Japanese dealers have English language web sites to handle your order.
If you are contacting a dealer by email, keep in mind late afternoon in North America is the beginning of the day in Japan. When it’s night here, it’s day in Japan.
Japanese Holidays
There are three periods during the year when your order may be delayed by extended country-wide holidays in Japan. These are New Years (usually about 5-7 days beginning December 28), Golden Week in late April and early May and Oban in mid-summer. Oban occurs between mid-July and mid-August depending on the region in Japan, but most internet dealers seem to close in mid-August. During these times no one will be there to answer your email, orders will not be processed and orders will not be shipped.
In 2007-2008 for instance, Hobby Search was closed 30 December to 4 January for New Years, closed from 29 April to 7 May for Golden Week and on vacation from 13 August to 17 August during Oban. During these holidays Plaza Japan shuts down its store completely, taking the whole site offline.
If you need to order items at these times, I suggest ordering soon enough that your leaves Japan before the holiday or waiting until a week after the holiday to avoid the order backlog that develops during the holidays.
Credit Cards
When using credit cards online to order the address on your order needs to be the same the address as where your credit card statement is mailed. If it is not, the transaction will fail even before an attempt is made to draw money.
Be aware that some credit cars will charge you a fee for foreign exchange transactions. Usually this runs about 1-2% of the order.
With some dealers, like Hobby Search, Plaza Japan and Hobby World Japan also accept PayPal.
Shipping
Most parcels coming from Japanese dealers will either come EMS or SAL.
EMS means Express Mail Service and a very reliable delivery method. EMS shipments are insured without extra charge up to a value of 20,000 Yen. For order values over 20,000 Yen there is an additonal fee for extra insurance. EMS orders are trackable online. On shipment of your order the dealer will email you an EMS shipping slip number. You will be able copy and paste that number into either the Japanese or destination country’s EMS tracking link and see the progress of your shipment. EMS shipments also have priority in clearing customs. EMS orders usually take about 5 days to arrive at their destination.
Most Japanese sources will insist on EMS for train sets or any powered rolling stock and Hobby Search only ships EMS.
Here’s the EMS tracking links for Japan, the United States and Canada.
SAL is the Japanese version of economy air mail. As SAL uses unbooked cargo space on airplanes, the delivery time varies greatly. One Japanese source says between 2 weeks and 6 weeks on average. At one time my SAL shipments would arrive with in 10-14 days, but recently most shipments have been closer to a month or longer. Rainbow Ten posted warnings on their web site last mid-December that because of heavy New Year’s holiday traffic SAL shipments were becoming erratic and were not recommended at that time. SAL is not trackable and is not insured.
Tomix Layout Support Book
When you are looking for Tomix track plans there is not a lot out there. But there is one book previously published by Tomix that I have found very useful. It’s called the Tomix Layout Support Book.
Layout Support Book
Although the text is in Japanese characters, the track plans show the track piece numbers in Arabic numerals allowing you to determine which track pieces are needed. Illustrations of items such as Tomix structures give the Tomix item number. There are 15 track plans from very small and simple to large and complicated. One drawback for North American modelers, none of these layouts are around the wall configuration. All the plans are for table top or floor layouts.
The only outlet that stocks the Layout Support Book as far as I know is Hobby Search. Currently it is sold out, but you can leave your email on the waiting list to be notified when (if) it is in. Once Tomix has finished upgrading and re-issuing its switches perhaps Tomix will reissue the Layout Support Book. In the meantime, if you can find a copy of the Layout Support Book I think you will find it very useful.
p.s.
Several months ago Hobby Search separated its model railroad books from the model railroad items. Now books for all genre are located in one category listed as “Magazine.” This also where you will find magazines on Japanese trains and Japanese train models and model railroading.
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