I am sure many of you are not familiar with the Japanese local railway called "Ryutetsu," so please allow me to introduce it to you.
It is a very very small railway connecting Matsudo and Nagareyama city of Chiba prefecture in the eastern part of the Japanese main island of Honshu, not a long way from Tokyo.
The line is only 5.7 km long with only 6 stations, 2 to 3-car trains running on it.
It runs through residential areas where newly built modern houses stand peacefully in nature. In spring, charming cherry trees blossom along the rail line, attracting a great number of visitors from nearby cities for "Hanami" cherry blossom viewing parties, some of them a cup of sake in their hands, not quite sober.
Anyway, Ryutetsu has 5 variations of trains in total, coming in 5 different colors, each earning their own nicknames.
The yellow one is called "Nanohana," a yellowish flower you see coming out in the spring time Japan, and the blue one is called "Aozora," or "a blue sky," for an obvious reason.
The orange one is nicknamed as "Ryuusei," or "a shooting star," the green one "Wakaba," or "a young leaf" and the brown one "Myojo," or "the evening star."
Several years ago there were some more, like "Ryuma," or literally "a flowing horse," and "Akagi," or "a red castle," and, and, and...
In fact, some are cutely "shortened" as B Train Shorty and released from Bandai.
You see, they are all turned into some cuddly models in this series.
"Myojo" and "Nanohana" were once produced from Micro Ace in a more "ordinary" N-scale rendition.
'Myojo' & 'Nanohana' (5-Car Set)
Unfortunately for all of us, long out of stock and not scheduled for re-release at the moment.
And even sadder for Ryutetsu fans is the fact that "Myojo" is actually supposed to retire in the April this year. Its replacement is to be introduced some time this winter.
Let us hope that the newcomer will be just as beautifully colored and uniquely named as its predecessor!