I've hesitated to make a post yet, but I've decided that I'm going to!This one's going to be a bit of a tangent- I promise it's going somewhere.Some of the music a sibling of mine likes, you can't get in the US (some music I like too, for that matter), it was released domestically in Japan but not for other countries such as the 'states. But there are ways to import things thanks to the modern marvels of the world wide web, and you can have a proxy service act on your behlaf to buy such things from overseas. I got one of my LPs this way. Anyhow, at some point a thought ocurred to me.If there was music I liked in Japan, then surely there were other things one could buy on the secondhand market. Like toy trains! And wouldn't you know it, there certainly were, if one kept watching the auctions. If I waited long enough, and was content to settle for something in less nice condition, there were certainly some options I could afford (keeping in mind the expense of international shipment).I had it on my radar but put it to the side since I had other things to direct my funds to.But, something lined up just right this winter. Some conditions meant that I was going to have to sit out the annual train show I always go to. Unfortunate, but it left with me with some un-allocated train funds, and I decided it was time to satisfy the urge.I think if I was more patient I could have found some better deals, but I was eager to find something. As of right now I'm just keeping an eye on a final piece before I call things settled. In the end I'm going to have a lot of work ahead of me, but hopefully it pays off.While Sakai certainly intruiges me, I'm less interested in it because as cool as the Marx look-alike set is, I'm more interested in the trains that model domestic prototypes. They seem to show up less frequently than O gauge equipment produced by Katsumi and Endo. I'm a little confused as to how you can identify which company made an item since their products seem extremely similar if not identical, it would be nice to know more about collecting trains by the two companies.Anyhow, I've successfully won an auction for a locomotive, and am still wrapping up on rollingstock for it to pull.One of the auctions I won is going to be a bit of an adventure- a pair of freight car bodies, both in need of significant attention. They both need new wheelsets and one lacks couplers. I'm a little worried about what I'll be able to do to replace the missing parts, but it seems like rolling stock in decent condition can often go for more than the various single truck electric locomotives, and it was hard to find any rolling stock under ¥2500 (a little over 20 USD).
I guess... wish me luck, and any advice or information on collecting & repairing Katsumi and Endo trains is more than welcomed.-Ellie
"Unless bought from a known and trusted dealer who can vouch otherwise, assume every train for sale requires servicing before use"
Here's the images from the auction for the locomotive, by the way. Unfortunately, a restoration seems neccesary- I'm going to need to fix many solder joints as well as solder in replacements for missing details, which is going to ruin the remaining paint. I will do my best to match the original color, since I'm quite fond of it. It seems that the EB557 came in a wide variety of (largely non-prototypical) colors. The same applies to some other locomotives and most if not all of the rolling stock I've seen images of.Note that despite the somewhat poor cosmetic condition, the most important pieces appear to all be present- both couplers are intact, the manual reverse switch appears to be intact, as does the center rail pickup shoe. The pantograph appears to be complete and intact, though perhaps slightly deformed. It doesn't appear to be beyond repair. And of course, the spring belt is present and appears to be intact. Replacement pantographs seem to get expensive when someone lists a new replacement, but I don't think I've see the spring belts come up for sale at all, so it was very important to me to make sure I got a locomotive where these two parts especially were present. Hopefully the motor is in good shape. From what I understand, these motors came in 3 and 5 pole versions, but I think the 5 pole version may have only been for the double truck models, I'm not sure. I'm completely new to collecting these Japanese 1/45 scale tinplate trains, and don't really know of any resources to go to yet.
Ellie, I hope you're aware of the fact you're going to have to find an O scale Godzilla to go with that!
Flintlock76Ellie, I hope you're aware of the fact you're going to have to find an O scale Godzilla to go with that!
Catzilla's will do! I've had Dogzillas myself.
Almost completely unrelated, just stumbled into this neat video:Just check out that action! It's so cool to see this quirky battery-powered tinplate train doing something that otherwise hasn't really been seen until today's fancy, logic controlled high end trains.I'd love to own one of these some day, I'd especially love to see the mechanism inside.-Ellie
Pretty darn cool!
Same me, different spelling!
Here's the latest scoop: It took a little while, but everything's at the warehouse now and I've decided to abandon any plans of bidding on other items in the interest of not spending more money, and getting my new projects sooner.Here's what we have:-A class EB55 (EB557) locomotive in need of a serious overhaul, but which appears to be complete and not suffering any dire issues.-A seperate boxcar body, gondola body, and 8 journal boxes/bearings. Only the boxcar has couplers, appears to have a very dull coat of paint. The gondola is unpainted and needs body work.-A combined gondola/breakman's cabin, painted blue. The condition seems ok, it is complete and intact-A set of 2 similar, but possibly mismatched axles and corresponding wheels. The goal is to use these to repair the boxcar, with the gondola being a more "long term" potential project, if I can locate suitable wheels and couplers for it.After some thought, I've opted for paying an added ¥1000 (~9 usd) to have the package given extra reinforcement. From what I understand, most shippers aren't particularly careful with packages and it's probably best to reduce the risk of some sort of serious damage ocurring (ie being put under another heavy package and getting crushed). The odds may not be terribly high, but there's just no way of knowing so I'm trying to play this one safe.
I should have some sense of how expensive the international shipping will be later this week, it could be anywhere from tomorrow to a few more days, we'll see. I'm hoping for the best but it could definitely get pricey depending how big the package is (and of course how heavy it is). I know roughly how heavy it's going to be, but the size is another matter! Wish me luck, I may need it.-Ellie
Ellie, looking at those wheels, axles, and spring hangers they look very, very similar to pre-war Lionel tinplate types.
New-made replacement parts for those Lionels are available from Henning's Trains in Lansdale PA. www.henningstrains.com
Check their on-line parts catalog and see what you think. They may just work on your Japanese rolling stock if you need some.
I would have to disagree, I don't think they're all that similar to prewar Lionel. While also spoked, these are made of brass and have scale flanges and treads- My best bet is going to be procuring some non-spoked, scale brass wheelsets. They wouldn't have to be brass to work but I'd prefer to at least have them match the originals in material if they can't be the classic spoke wheels. The bearings/springs aren't the same either, in that the Lionel ones are purely cosmetic trim whereas these are structural, they are the actual bearings for the axles and support the weight of the car. I should have all the ones I need (4 per car) so there's nothing to worry about there. If I used Lionel trim parts I'd need to make my own bearings and supports, and then I'd solder the Lionel trim to the outside. That would be a lot of work though, so I'm content not needing to figure that one out.The couplings are where I'm most concerned right now, since I don't yet know if they're true O scale couplings, or if they're a size that I can't get in the US in which case I either have to try to make a mold and then cast my own, or try to make something out of scrap pieces of metal that can do the job. The latter is most likely.Nothing much to do yet except wait until I have the stuff in my hands, and then I can start measuring and figuring out what I need.
-Ellie
The monumental day has arrived! Yesterday, when I checked the tracking number on my package, it was in a sorting facility in CT. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but it seemed possible that it could arrive the next day. I wake up this morning, check again, and by golly, it's been delivered!Now, on the one hand, perhaps purchasing the optional package reinforcement was a bit overkill......but on the other, well- I can tell you, that thing was absolutely SOLID. Granted I didn't try it, but I almost believe I could have stood on it and it wouldn't have crumpled. Again, very, very sturdy. It took me about 8 minutes to get all the reinforcement bracing off!That said, once I got the bracing off of it, I found the package to still be quite sturdy (and it was well packed), so I probably won't need to go for this option in future. It was still worth trying it out if only to see what the reinforcement is like.The contents of the package were snugly wrapped in multiple layers of bubble wrap, and additional bubble wrap was used to snug everything up inside so it couldn't shift around inside. All in all, a very nice job, very consistent with what I hear from others about them (the proxy service I used).It wasn't hard to visually identify which item was in each wrapping.
I am happy to report that nothing seems to have incurred any injuries during transit. I need to do some work on everything I bought, but nothing unepected. The easiest task will be repairing the steps on the gondola/break van, one of which broke off when I attempted to bend it back into position. I don't want to hurt the paint by re-soldering, so I'll be using glue. I plan to dab a little on the one that didn't break off, for added reinforcement.But without further adeu, here's some pictures to back up my words!(next post)-Ellie
EB577 electric locomotive (manufcaturer unknown, either TER[Endo] or KTM [Katsumi]. Pantograph is marked KTM [Katsumi], the couplings have SA embossed on their brackets, the locomotive bears no other obvious maker's marks.
Boxcar, gondola (manufacturer unknown, either TER or KTM). The boxcar's couplings are embossed KTM, otherwise there are no maker's markings on either car or the bearing castings. I suspect that they are Katsumi rather than TER but I could be off the mark.
Brass wheelsets (manufacturer unknown). No markings to indicate a manufacturer. They have the same diameter wheels, but the axles are different lengths. After comparing with the locomotive I bought, it would appear that the longer axle is for a locomotive. Why it is paired with such small diameter wheels (19mm) I have no clue. I am currently thinking about my options regarding making both wheelsets usable under the boxcar.
Gondola/Gaurd's Van (manufacturer unknown, either TER or KTM). No markings to suggest a manufacturer, but the couplings seem to be identical to the ones on the boxcar, which are clearly KTM products However removing them could not be done without harming the paint so I cannot verify. It uses tinplate bearings instead of the cast metal ones for the boxcar and gondola. Could this differentiate it in terms of who made it? I don't know. Of note, the wheels and axles are of a smaller diameter than the ones I purchased seperately to use with the boxcar. Hopefully I don't run into issues here.
The whole "train":
On the whole, the equipment is smaller than I was expecting it to be, somehow. I figured that they would be 1:45 scale, and so larger than your typical 1:48 scale model by a smidge. But the locomotive is actually quite small. I need to check it against my Lionel 253, but I'd reckin they're very close in size, I think the 253 is taller but they are probably about the same length. The EB557 might be a smidge wider.The Locomotive currently won't run, but I have gotten a few meager twitches out of the motor. I believe I have our culprit narrowed down to poor electrical continuity through the wheels, pickup shoe, reverse switch contacts, brushes, and commutator. Bascially every surface that ought to be clean for conducting electricity is quite oxidized and dirty. I have my work cut out for me...Neither headlight came on when I hooked up power, but that seems to be because the leads aren't wired up! Both bulbs work, and come on very bright. These trains were intended to run on up to 20v, I'm a little concerned that there should be some sort of resistance between the power and the bulbs though, based on how bright they came on at no more than 8-10 volts. I don't want to blow them out, since the bulbs look hard to remove and I'd have nothing to swap them with except modern LEDs. I prefer the look of these original bulbs.The roof vents are not original, the originals would be larger and probably made out of tinplate, rather than brass. Someone must have removed the originals at some point and fitted these more realistic, scale ones on.The pantograph seems to be in reasonably good shape. It raises and lowers without fuss, the tension seems to be pretty good, and all 4 of the mini ceramic insulators are intact and present. The pantograph does seem in need of cleaning, and there is some minor repair I need to do (a missing brace needs replacing, and the remaining identical one needs to be resoldered), but I'm pleased to see it's not severely injured. Interestingly, despite the miniature insulators, the pantograph does not in fact seem to be insulated from the roof, so that will be a project as well. Thankfully all the missing pieces from the locomotive shouldn't be hard to re-make out of scraps of sheet metal and brass wire.-Ellie
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