Honest and for true -- Oakland, California may see a new Japanese rail-themed ramen restaurant. The exact opening date is not yet known. I spotted "JR Ramen Station" (pboto above) while driving home the other night. The lit green "JR" grabbed my eye. That's the logo used by JR East - the operator of many of the commuter trains in Tokyo as well as regional trains and Shinkansens in Eastern Japan. As some readers may recall, this blog is about building a model railroad representing a vignette of Japanese trains. I have not updated in a while. Part of the reason is that I was distracted preparing for the PCR SIG meet held at the beginning of February. In preparation for that I put aside the Takadanobaba in Alameda, the B&OCT and dragged out an old logging layout. It was dusted off and got a basic coat of scenery and was running. See my recent post in the BOCT in N Scale. Currently, the Japanese layout remains idle as I need to figure out how to wade thr