Good morning, Kapinozuka here.
With the Shizuoka Hobby Show just up ahead, we have started taking reservations for many new products, mainly for the genres with unassembled plastic kits, and there were new
products from the Train Model genre too. It had already been opened to reservation since yesterday, actually.
So, without further ado, let's check it out!
JR Series 455 (Training Car)(3-Car Set)
Wow, what a
plain looking train......I mean, an Unsung Hero!
Btw.
A Training Car is a railway car designed to
Train
Staff, I.e. to prepare the attending conductor and driver in case of emergencies while the train is running.
Under normal circumstances, they should using the actual operational car itself for the training, but in the 1990s, JR East had customized spare electric or diesel trains for the
use of training, and placing it within their jurisdiction.
So there were different training cars used behind the scenes for each company, and inside the train,
- A portion of the seats were removed
- Equipment locker, table used for training, audio equipments for audiovisual education monitor etc. were equipped.
So the train had been basically transformed into a mobile classroom.
And cars like these really couldn't be used to transport customers, so the exteriors had been...
- Marked with two white lines
- And had the lettering [Training Car] boldly in white on the center of both sides.
to appeal the fact that its not the same as the normal trains used for public.
And I would say this is enough to qualify it as
this week's No.1 Odd Train, yup.
But seriously,
it is thanks to this train working behind the scenes, that the safety of the railways of Japan
is sustained, if you think about it.
Only the staff knows the actual training content, so I can only imagine, but for example, I would assume they are taught what to do if there is a level crossing accident while
the train is running, or what to do if a door is jammed open as the train is about to depart etc. and seems that they were educated on how to deal with emergency situations
periodically.
The item that will be released in N-scale from Tomix this time, is the
455 series training car stationed at the
JR East Sendai Train Center.
- Formation No.: S-I
- Formation Content: Kuya455-1, + Moha454-1 + Kumoha455-1
The leading Kuya455-1 is the car set up as the training car. However, the Kuya455-1 cannot run on its own, so it was running on the combined electric engine unit of Moha454-1 +
Kumoha455-1, as a 3-car formation.
*I've mentioned in an article before that the notation used in the
formation identifier [Ya] meant servicing car. Meanwhile, [Ha] means normal car (= second class car, or 3rd class in the old standards).
Over a period of approximately 15 years from 1991, it was used as the training car. However, with the introduction of new cars in the Sendai branch, and the Kumoha 455-1 being
put in the Train Museum, it had also retired as of 2006 and was disposed.
The 455series was originally used as the local/direct express train by JNR, and was running mainly in the Sendai district as the local train after the removal of the express
train, you could say this is one of the memorable train for JR East, which has jurisdiction in the Tohoku region. While other
series 455 were being colored with cream + green Tohoku coloring, (what people call the Green Liner), it was the
last formation that was left as the JNR Express colors, and it has a production number (after the hyphen) of 1, it wouldn't be surprising if it was to be put in the Train
Museum.
Right then, the product info is somewhat on the
product page (although its just an automated machine
translation), you can find out more about it on the product page. The car number and JR logo is pre-printed. It seems that the louvre on the roof of Moha454-1 is different, and
the expression of the interior of Kuya455-1 etc, the minor details are different so its scheduled to be productized as series 455
[type] item.
So yeah, it's a very maniac N-scale train set, and as it's a
limited edition item, I assume there is a limitation on the
number produced. Its scheduled to have options for the klaxon and electric testing antennae too.
- Those that are interested in servicing train, starting with the training car
- Those interested in trains that are displayed at the train museum
- Those that are interested in anything that ran in the Tohoku Region
- Those who just has a thing for express type trains
If any of the above matches you, this item is recommended.
[Side Discussion 1]
Looking at the points that are different mentioned earlier and the selectable parts, I get the feeling this is going to be something to play
with for those that likes to customize things themselves. I personally think there may be people that will try to prefect the training car, or work the other way and revive it as
normal passenger train too.
[Side Discussion 2]
I thought it was the specialty of Micro Ace to release such maniac train in N-scale, but this time it's going to be released by TOMIX, so it's
quite surprising.
Moving along, next up is the structure.
Multi-unit apartments (White) (Pre-painted Unassembled Kit)
From Aoshima, under the Skynet brand, the 3rd volume of the Kenchiku-Roman-Do (Way of the Building Romance) series, Multi-unit Apartment will be released.
The Kenchiku Roman Do series apartment that was released last autumn was very popular, and the white one had gone out of stock rather quick. And that white apartment will be
returning! According to the material given, there are new parts such as the
parabola antennae (a whooping 20 pieces!),
aluminum sash, and
curtain sticker are included.
Its already been 20 years since the NHK Satellite Broadcast had begun. These days, I would imagine most places have shared antennae equipped on the roof and stuff, or tune in on
the satellite broadcast from cable TV etc.
But looking back, the multi-unit apartments from when the satellite broadcast had started, they had to equip parabola antennae individually on the verandah just to watch the BS.
Plus, you needed to change the NHK viewing contract
from [Color] to [Satellite Color], and the ability to watch
satellite broadcast was dependant on if u have a parabola antennae or not. I remember being a bit jealous of a friend who had gotten satellite broadcast ahead of me.
So yeah, I guess that is the standard scenery from the end of1980 to 1990 era of Japan. Even the apartments that were built in the1960~1970s, or after 1980, you would still see
the clothes line, washing, and then the air conditioning outside equipment and slowly the parabola antennae being equipped......and that was what the multi-unit apartments were
like.
So with this kit having 20 parabola antennas, its sure to blend in or recreate the scenes from back then. It probably will work quite well with other apartments too.
Anyway, looking forward to receiving reservations for the Hobby Show related Train models!
By Kapinozuka