Why Japanese track? Why Japanese trains?

An innocent question posted on a forum I participate on got me thinking. Why do we use Japanese track and what is about Japanese trains that appeal to me?

In a word Japanese track is “bullet-proof”. It works out of the box or package, first time, every time. You can set up a layout in a matter of minutes.

I originally started with a tram line, but the same track could have built any number of small rural train lines. The appeal of elevated track was too much to pass up even though I wasn’t sure my hobby tables were wide enough to effective build an elevated line.

There are numerous radius choices particularly with Tomix Fine Track, tight radius switches, Y switches, super elevated curves, double crossovers, curved switches, slip switches and double slip switches plus elevated track and slab track.

Maybe some people are more set in their ways. The full basement around the walls layout or the bookshelf fiddle layout is not for everyone. For me there is tremendous appeal in micro layouts that just go around and around with perhaps a siding or two, but can have a tremendous variety of scenes many based on the ultimate 10 Km railway prototype: the Enoden.

I also find great appeal in instant layouts created with tight radius Tomix Mini Fine Track, B-Train Shorty, Modemo’s numerous Enoden trains and similar rolling stock, colored art paper ground cover and tightly packed quintessentially Japanese structures. I’ve seen videos of many a Japanese train right of way just barely wide enough clearance for the train to pass through. It can be found on many older Tokyo private railway lines and on numerous minor local railway lines whether running DMUs, EMUs or old fashioned interurban stock.

One of the major advantages of Japanese track like Unitrack and Tomix Mini Fine Track is that you can set up a layout in a matter of minutes and salvage all of the track afterwords for reuse. The Japanese rarely have room in their houses for permanent layouts. The most common house layout is probably the on the floor temporary layout followed by the small micro layout. Banquet halls are often rented for larger “driving association” layouts built on table tops. That just wouldn’t happen with a flex track and under table switch set up. With Japanese track you can set it up in the morning and take it down in the evening and you aren’t tied to a set track plan.

You can build an entire layout on a table top whether its dedicated benchwork, a banquet table, a spare desk or the dining room table. You can’t install a layout on the dining room table with under table switch motors!

As for the trains themselves, although they are overwhelmingly passenger, there is tremendous variety. Everything from Shinkansen, sleek deluxe main line trains, vintage sleeper “Blue Trains” hauled by electric or diesel locomotives, long EMU trains, trams and interurbans–some new, some built to vintage designs, steam trains in semi regular service and single track rural lines operated with DMUs. And there the niche ‘only in Japan’ train lines like the Bandai’s B-Train Shorty and Tomytec’s Railroad Collection.

For many the appeal is simply all the current structures and trains offered by various Japanese suppliers.

Japanese trains and track may not appeal to everyone, but to many of us Japanese is the only choice.

Trains and Trams

Over the last few years I have created several different layouts as more and more items arrived from Japan. I originally started with trams and later added trains.

These are some photos from my first layout with trains and trams and these were taken about two years ago in March and April 2008. There were two 2 1/2′ x 5′ tables arranged in an “L” shape.

Modemo Tokyu 300 articulated tram.

While the trams ran on the surface, the trains were running on a double track elevated line. A 30 inch wide table turned out to be a bit too narrow for to create an elevated line without tram track under elevated lines. But the tables existed before I even looked at Tomix and Japanese trains.

Single track tram line under the double track elevated line.

There were two tram lines which separated an then came back to together again. The inside tram line radius was C140 and the outside tram line radius was C177. There was a seven track carbarn partially under the elevated line. The train line was a long loop, most of it elevated, with a single siding and a couple of yard tracks.

Looking down the tram line at a Modemo Tokyu 80.

The point at which the two tram lines separated.

The pavement was created with art paper on foamboard (the type used for matting pictures). Add some buildings, some with signs and a few trees and you are well on the way to creating an interesting scene. I never really got to the point of adding figures or more vehicles.

Most of the stuff you see was pretty well right out of the box and I like it that way. People will tell you Japan is the cleanest place on earth. A few were kits thrown in mainly the Greenmax small shops. I did add a lot of stickers creating signs on the buildings but otherwise most things are original.

Aerial view of the tram end of the layout.

By June 2008 this layout had been disassembled. I like the elevated line and would like to set up an elevated line again. That is something I really miss. Ultimately the art paper faded after exposure to day light.

The next layout featured a simplified tram oval with longer straight sections inside a double track train line and my first four track station.
I was adding more trains and wanted to be able to have more than three trains on the layout at a time.

Today, I have three layouts. I have a train layout on these tables that allows up to ten trains to be on the layout at a time. I have a portable micro tram layout in a 21″ x15″ serving tray. I will soon have a small table where I set up a small tram layout once some items I am waiting for come on the market later in 2010.