For all the fans of Nankai, the item you've all been waiting for, the Southern!!
......Not talking about the Jap band or baseball, anyway.
Good evening, Kapinozuka here.
I've touched on it slightly in
last weeks blog post, the
Nankai Series 10000 currently active with the [Southern] will be released from Greenmax in N-
scale.
Yay! *claps with joy*
What is Nankai Electric Railways?
For those unfamiliar with them, here is a quicl explanation.
The Nankai Electric Railways is the oldest private railways that is still active at present, here in Japan. Starting from Namba of Osaka, it's a railway centered around the
three main destinations, Wakayama, Kansai International Airport, and Mt. Koya.
Here is the roughly drawn rail map.
*click to enlarge
Being one of the large Private Railways, it also runs busses (such as Nankai Bus), Boats (Nankai Ferry), Parks (Misaki Park), and Shopping Center etc, other than the Railway
business, running them as a grouped company. It is also famous for having the Pro Baseball team Nankai Hawks at one point (currently the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, after the
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks).
What is Nankai Series 10000 Electric Train?
The series 10000 is the electric train that made its debut in 1985, used for the express train [Southern].
Equipped with reclining seats, with them all requiring reservations.
It is also equipped with a pay phone, vending machine, and toilet etc. so you can have a relaxing trip on a very well-equipped train between Namba station to Wakayamako
Station
Back in the days of debut, it was running on a 2-car formation, but had middle cars added later and became a 4-car formation. Also, it was originally white and green as base
colors, a traditional Nankai train colors, but was repainted silver with blue and orange strips in 1992.
What is the [Southern] Express?
It is the limited express train that runs through Nankai Mail Line and Wakayamako Line, connecting Namba station and Wakayama region. From the final destination of Wakayamako
Station, you can switch onto the ferry heading towards the Shikoku region. With this combination of waterway and railway, it is the fastest contact route between Osaka and the
Shikoku Region.
*the name I predict is taken from the Nankai, which means the southern seas, and having a southern cross mark on the destinations table, so it
could also be linked to the Southern Cross, which could mean it has a very grand meaning.
Having the conventional commuters train merged on, and using that as the free seating car, the [Southern] uses a class-separation system, making it an unusual train for a
private railway. Normally, a limited express train of a private rail company is normally either all seats being reservation seats, or all seats being free seating, in many
cases.
By the way, the limited express trains that aren't using the series 10000 and is formed entirely of free seating seats, are not recognized as a [Southern], being just another
limited express train.
The limited express of Nankai Electric Railways also has the [rapi:t] that heads to the Kansai International Airport direction, and [Koya]/[Rinka] to head towards Mt.Koya,
other than the [Southern], being separated in different systems.
Scheduled release in Completed or unassembled!
From Greenmax, a release of pre-colored assembling kit and a pre-colored pre-constructed model has been announced!
The pre-colored assembling kit is recommended for people who just enjoy assembling models, or wants to make their own customization or increase detail etc. and have time to
actually build it. It's slightly cheaper than the completed version, too!
The pre-constructed complete model is recommended for those that want to play with it straight away, or is not good at assembling models and is worried that they might not be
able to build it properly, or is just unable to make time to build it. However, it does cost slightly more than the kit.
Also, there is a set for with or without motor each, so you can make purchase according to the formation you wish to reproduce.
Pre-Colored Kit
Nankai Series 10000 `Southern` Total 4-Car Formation Set (w/Motor) (Basic 4-Car Unassembled Kit)
Nankai Series10000 `Southern` 4-Car Formation Basic Set (w/o Motor) (Basic 4-Car Unassembled Kit)
Pre-Constructed Complete Model
Nankai Series10000 `Southern` Basic 4-Car Formation Set (w/Motor) (Basic 4-Car Set)
Nankai Series10000 `Southern` Add-on 4-Car Formation Set (w/o Motor) (Add-On 4-Car Set)
Prototype is the New Formation
The Nankai Series 10000 [Southern] has 2 different formations existing, due to the different middle cars used from when it was made into a 4-car formation.
(1) Reformed Formation:
Using two former lead cars customized for use as the middle cars, and placing it between the existing two leader cars.
(2) Newly Customized Formation:
The newly created 2 middle cars placed between the 2 leader cars.
The formation of prototype for the release item from Greenmax this time, is the
[Newly Customized Formation]. The newly added middle cars
have large continuous windows, different in design to the existing leader car. In the image above, it would be the 2nd and 3rd cars which are newly customized middle cars. This
newly customized formation has mixed design between the ages of 1980s to 1990s.
Method of Enjoyment
This here is the formation diagram from Greenmax.
<--- Namba Wakayama City/Wakayamako --->
*Top: Pre-painted Kit
Bottom: Pre-constructed Complete Model
Regardless of Basic Set or Add-on Set, they are both written separately.
The series 10000 is generally in the 4-car formation, hence written this way, I believe.
And here, Kapinozuka have worked on it to add more details, and explain further.
This is how it would be to make the same formation as the actual Southern.
The Wakayamako station side has the 4 series10000 cars, and the Namba station side have the 4 commuters type electric trains.
This is the 8-car formation!
As a model, it will run as long as u have motor on either the series 10000 or the joint train. The commuters train that is connected on the the Namba side is normally the 4-car
formation of series 7100 or 7000.
Greenmax has not released a 7100 or 7000 series yet, but in Jan this year (2010),
MicroAce has released a 6-car set
of series 7100, so you can use for cars of that if you have it, and you can form the formation like he actual Southern.
Also, if you make a formation with the set with motor and without motor, the formation will turn out as marked below. This is the All-Reserved Seats 8-car formation Southern
that was used 'til the schedule adjustment in Oct. 2009. Along the railway, this formation of Southern formed purely by the series 10000 has become a nostalgic sight, I say.
Let me just say this
They say a decade is a is a long time ago, but it was a very hard task to enjoy Nankai trains in N-scale in the old days. And that was because back then, the models of Nankai
trains were almost non-existent, compared to other large private railway companies. You had to first look for a metal garage kit and materials. Otherwise, you had to customize
a similar train, or build from scratch using a plastic board, if it was in recent years, customizing a B-Train Shorty could work too...... but those were basically the options
you had, but in any case, you had to make it yourself.
But with the release of
series 50000 [rapi:t] from MicroAce, there were also the
series 7100 and
Series 6100 released this year.
On the other hand, the Railway Collection from Tommytec had the
series 21001 [Zoom Car] in the vol.3, and
series 1521 in the vol.7, and the series 22001 for the business limitation version (aka. the Kaku Zoom) also
productized. So it may be slow, but they are starting to increase the number of completed models of the Nankai Railways.
Hearing the announcement of
Series 10000 [Southern], I'm
sure I'm not the only one that thought "ah its finally time for Southern". Ah, the world has become so great! And I hope the N-Scale lives of all the Nankai Fans will improve
more.
By Kapinozuka, who personally likes the series 8200.
oh and btw, we've started
twitter for the Railway Models too, along with the
Figurines,
Gundam Models,
Military Model kits and
Car Model kits, so feel
free to check them out!