Exterior stairs finished at long last

Just over two weeks left before the Los Altos Train Days show.  I am making a final push to get some more scenery done and have been focusing on some buildings that have been left half done for quite some time.

Here is the prototype photo of the exterior stairs on the side of what I call the mister Donut building.  I built the model of the building back in 2011 and started the stairs at that time but never finished them until recently.

These types of stairs are common on commercial buildings in Japan and I wanted to have at least one example of this.

The stairs were built as a separate assembly which made them much easier to work on then.  I tried to match the paint color of the original building as best I could and air brushed the stair assembly before gluing it to the side of the building.

Here is the photo of the finished building.  It feels great to finally have this project done.

Finishing up some old scenes

There are a few areas on the Musashi-Koyama module set that have remained only partly finished for several years now.   The work to replace some problem turnouts and extend the track to ends of the modules is now done and there is a bit of time left before the next show so I am going back and finally finishing up a couple of those.

The scratch built mister Donut building now has tenants on every floor after I added some signs made from the stickers from various kits.  I am also working to finish the exterior stairway for this building.

The two story building next to the mister Donut building is also now fully occupied by a french restaurant and a deli on the first floor and a 24 hour Internet cafe and a real estate office upstairs.
 

I have also been adding a few more people and some motor bikes in various places.  I use a tweezers to hold these 2 wheeled vehicles in place while the adhesive sets as shown in this photo.

So, besides hopefully operating better with the new turnouts this module set will have at least some new scenery items in place.

Replacing some problem turnouts

With only a month to go before the next exhibit, both Paul and I have been working on the modifications to the track on our module ends to have the next layout "joiner-less" as explained in last April's post Joinerless joints for a quicker set up.

In past layouts we have had some problems with some equipment getting through the crossover at one end of my Musashi-Koyama module set so I decided to replace those turnouts with new Peco code 55 turnouts at the same time.

Because the Micro-Engineering and Peco turnouts have slightly different angles I had to remove some of the track back to the beginning of the platform to get everything to line up right.  This photo shows the new cross over and track to the edge of the module.

Paul had ordered several Peco double track spacing guides and gave me a couple.  This is what we are using for a standard on all the double track module ends that we are modifying.

The original Micro-Engineering turnouts will be rebuilt and reused on my American prototype home layout.

New trains on the JR Nambu line

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that we had used the JR Nambu line for part of our day trip to Ome in June of last year.  We rode between Musashi-Kosugi and Tachikawa but this line is actually part of an outer loop line around the Tokyo area.  We had used this line a few times before and have noticed newer and newer trains assigned to this line over the years.

I took this photo of a 205 series train when we rode the Nambu line in November of 2011.  At that time this line was one of only a few in the Tokyo area still running these and they were later replaced with the 209 series.

On this latest visit the 209's were gone and in their place were the the E233 series.  This was no surprise to me as I had already read about this change on the Tokyo Railway Labyrinth blog.

I had been wanting to buy a model of the E233 for some time but had not decided yet which line to buy.  After riding the Nambu line with this train type I decided to get this one.  I liked the extra graphics on the sides of the end cars and a 6 car train was just the right size.

So on the last day we were in Tokyo I visited a few of the shops in Akihabra.  Kato had recently released a model of this train and it was in stock in several shops so I was able to shop for the best price.

AsiaNrail at Train Days 2018

Train Days is an annual event held over a weekend in September at the Los Altos History Museum.  Either Peninsula Ntrak or AsiaNrail, or both have been part of this show almost every year.  We have been invited back this year and it is confirmed that we will have the AsiaNrail layout and we hope to have the Ntrak layout there as well.

This year's event will be on the weekend of September 15th and 16th.   Hours are 10:00am to 4:00pm both Saturday and Sunday.  Admission is $5.00 per family and parking is free.  The museum is located at 51 So. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, CA 94022

https://www.losaltoshistory.org/events/train-days-3/

This layout will be the debut for my new module.  I have been working on it on and off since April and am now placing the final touches on it.  Inspired by last years trip to Kyushu, this module will be viewed from both sides and the cloud back drop shown in this photo is only temporary.


This layout will also be the first on where we will not be using any rail joiners between the modules so it is hoped that setup will be easier.

The JR Ome line

Here is another post from our trip to Japan last year.  While in Tokyo we made a day trip to a sake brewery in Sawai which is about 40 miles west of central Tokyo.  To get there we took the Tokyu-Meguro line to Musashi-Kosugi, then the JR Nambu line to Tachikawa and then from there we took the JR Ome line.   We had been on the Ome line before but had always gotten off at either Fussa or Hamura to meet some of Nona's family who live in that area.  This time we would be going almost to the end of the line.

The current trains on the Ome line are the same as on the JR Chuo line, 10 car consists of E233 series with an orange stripe.   The train stops in Ome where the line goes from double track to single track with passing sidings at the stations.

At Ome station, 6 of the 10 cars are removed from the train with 4 cars continuing.  I had always noticed the Chuo trains were made up of a 4 car consist plus a 6 car consist and now I know why.

Now here is something you don't see in Japan very often.  Between Ome and Sawai we were the only passengers left in our car.  Nice break from the packed trains in Tokyo.

Looking west from the platform in Sawai.   The line continues for several more stations climbing into the mountains.  At the end of the line there are some quarries.

At Sawai we got off the train and walked about 1 km down hill to the Sake brewery.  After visiting the brewery we walked back up the hill with several bottles of sake.

The Ome station looked quite old and in fact Nona mentioned that it looked the same as it did in the 1960's when she was a kid visiting her uncle who lived in Ome at that time.

Another view of the old shelter on the platform at Ome station.  I am glad to have visited this line when we did because I recently read that some of the stations on the Ome line are going to be rebuilt soon.

This view is looking east from the Ome platform.  We returned the way we came but with a stop in Tachikawa and dinner with family who live there.  We arrived back in Musashi-Koyama around 10:00pm.  It was a long day but a lot of fun.

New wiring for the Kaigan module

I have not forgotten about the new module I started in April.  With the module frame modified I moved on to working on the track and electrical wiring.

All of the old wiring was replaced and the underside was repainted.  All of the new connectors and a gap switch were mounted on a section of aluminum channel.  Throttle and turnout power are carried through the module.



There is a gap in the rails in the middle of the module to allow for a boundary between two different throttle zones.  If it is not needed the gap switch can close the gap.