Chinese trains

[dwiemer]

Does anyone know if there were any trains made in China in the past?  What I am interested in would be similar to the ogauge or similar trains that were made post war in Russia and Japan, but only these were made in China.  I am not looking for the current manufactured trains like what are being made for Lionel, MTH and the rest.

Secondly, are there any trains made to model Chinese steam trains?  I would even be interested in a model of the Susquehanna steam that was built in China in the nineties.

Thank you,

Dennis

[cnw1995]

Hi Dennis, This is an area of interest for me too. There isn't much that I've found that is produced for 'local' markets in any electric trains - and certainly little in O gauge. However there are 'found' items that could be used ...  In my travels, I've searched local toy stores, department stores, outdoor toy and 'flea' and specific 'antique' markets, and the few hobby shops over the years.  I've not found any  'old stuff' - I imagine given China's pre-and post-war turmoil and the 'bourgeois' nature of trains as toys, there's wasn't much of a market for them. But that's only my opinion. I've communicated with a hobby club in China that turned out to be mostly expats with their own trains. I've talked to folks in the railway industry...  There's a lot of 'imports' in small scales (much in N)  especially from Japan. Lots of 'toys' - especially of the high speed trains.... The hobby stores had very expensive European trains.  It's fun to look.  

[dwiemer]

Thanks for the reply Doug.  I thought that may be the case.  I am trying to make connections for the whole family to keep the interest to each.  I may end up kit bashing something.  I have saved some programs on the steam trains in China so I plan to copy something seen there.

Thanks again,

Dennis

[Seayakbill]

if there are any Chinese themed trains they probably were made by Kader Industries of Hong Kong, the largest model train manufacture in the world. They have been manufacturing model trains for 40 years or so in Hong Kong. They have 4 or 5 brands including Williams by Bachmann, last years sales of electric trains was $115,000,000 USD.

[dwiemer]

Thanks Bill.  I will have to see if they have such items in O-gauge.  I suspect they are just a manufacturer for other brand names and may not have the Chinese themed items.  I will try to investigate.

[cnw1995]

Dennis, when I was last in HK, I went in search of Kader and some of the other toy reps - they were indulgent of my attention, but did  not / would not sell anything 'locally'.  There is still a nice little rail museum in Kowloon.

[dwiemer]

Thanks for the information Doug.  Not sure how much time I will have to check things out.  The main city we are going to is the main connection to all rail service for China.  I may have some better luck railfanning than hobby hunting!  Last time we went, the city we  were in was the source of SAM missiles!  I don't think they would like me wandering around with a camera near there.  We may end up going throuch HK, depends on the flights when we make our booking.

THanks,

|Dennis

[Bob Keller]

I doubt if there is any Chinese O gauge, but there is Chinese HO. Bachmann's website used to let your through to the Chinese version of the website, but I couldn't get it to work. Here is a link to a Canadian retailer selling Chinese HO. Also, I believe that Bachmann hstill has a store in Hong Kong that focused on Chinese outline trains (saw a youtube video of it some years back).

 

http://www3.telus.net/ChinaRail/Models.html