Takadanobaba Station in Alameda

I'll catch you up, since my last post. I've been buried with a variety of issues.  I'm back from Japan. Most of those posts (and there are more to come) were published on an after-the-fact basis.  In December 2023 (just before Christmas), I developed a left inguinal hernia. Surgery fixed that on March 22, 2024. Just when it seemed that my health life should calm down, last week, I caught Covid. I'm still recovering from both. This spring, I sent myself back to college. I'm taking an architectural rendering class (using computers) and a Japanese tools and woodworking class. The architecture class is teaching me how to use Sketchup.  I'll use the skills from the rendering class to start designing custom structures for the B&OCT layout and Takadanobaba in Alameda.   I have historical pictures of four interlocking towers I want to represent on the B&OCT layout (Western Ave., Ash St. Jct., 49th St. and 75th St.)  Pictures of 75th St and Ash St....

 Just a few days before we leave for Japan. The travel plans are mostly set. We fly into Osaka. We will be met by a guide who will help us convert currency and buy train tickets. First stop is Kyoto.  The next day will be a light day to allow us to get our bearings in Japan and see a little of Kyoto. I discovered that there's a Kato store in the Kyoto train station. I'm hoping to go there. If I don't make it, I'll hit hobby stores in Tokyo. Then we go to Hiroshima. To see the site of the dropping of the first atomic bomb and Peace Garden. Then back to Kyoto. All transport will be on the Shinkansen. That's the bullet train. The next day to Nara on a Kyoto to Nara direct train. Nara is the location of lots of tame deer. I'm looking forward to seeing them. At the end of the week we will again take the bullet train -- this time to Yamagata (via Tokyo) to visit a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn). We will also go to the hot baths (onsen) and experience a Japanese T...

The flights have been booked. My wife and I are are still working on the hotel and in-country itinerary. We're headed on a two-week lifetime bucket-list trip to Japan. My interest in Japan goes back to the fall of 1969, when my parents travelled there. I was only six years old and not invited on the trip. I stayed at home with Granny. She's my father's mother and a significant influence in my love of trains. One of the souvenirs the parents brought back for me was a fold-out pamphlet for Japan National Railways' Shinkansen. I looked at that and at some point it fell apart from having been folded and unfolded. At that time, I didn't know much else about trains in Japan.  Well, I did know that Japan was a major source of brass locomotives imported into the U.S. (At least that's what I learned from the back pages of the model railroad magazines.) Fast forward to December 2021. At that time, I was recovering from rotator repair surgery (left side). With nothing else...

   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 t...

A series of medical issues have made it tough to make model railroading progress. In November 2021, my torn left shoulder rotator cuff was surgically repaired. Then I suffered two accidents in 2022 — a face plant in January, while out walking and I was hit by a car while biking on March 26. The latter got me a medic unit ride to the trauma center. I also discovered that I have repetitive stress injury in my right arm. And in early June I contracted Covid.  I’ve tried to put my Covid recuperation and rehab time to good use. I’m nearly current on Paramount+’s Star Trek offerings on AmazonPrime. More importantly, I found a new favorite contributor to YouTube — Cityscape Studio . Majiri, the creative force behind the channel, creates videos showing how he builds gritty Tokyo and Osaka dioramas. His projects include structures, alleys, city streets, freeways, traffic lights, canals and railroad  His content is a good fit and inspiration for the Takadanobaba project. He has a high l...

The N-scale Japanese commuter trains I'm modeling are 1:150 scale.  U.S. prototype N scale is 1:160. The Japanese commuter trains are a slightly larger scale because, with the exception of the Shinkansen (bullet train), most heavy rail Japanese trains run on narrow gauge (1067 mm, or 3-foot, 6-inch) track.  In the miniature world of Japanese commuter trains, 9 mm N scale track is used. As I found out at the Pacific Coast Region convention this weekend, the track is not exact. Oh, well. (Sigh!) The Takadanobaba in Alameda is envisioned as a shelf layout with roughly six square feet of scenic area. There will be a high ratio of railroad to other scenic features.  For that reason, the raised right of way will be the layout's dominant feature. It needs to be properly represented.  When I first cooked up this layout concept, Atlas Code 55 flex track was considered. That's what I have on hand. But, the prototype track needed to be studied. In the selected era, the second ...

Train operations on the Takadanobaba will be automated. Unlike the B&OCT , which will feature a hands on operator action, this is a display layout. My primary goal is to turn it on and watch the trains go back and forth. Hopefully, I'll have a decent scenic facade to make this realistic. (More on this in the future.) Takadanobaba track diagram. The blue rectangle is an overhead pedestrian bridge connecting the two active stations on the layout. Here's the concept: The scenic portion of the layout will have six through tracks -- grouped as three pairs of parallel commuter lines. These are the Yamanote Line, the Yamanote Freight Line and the Seibu-Shinjuku line. On the Yamanote and Seibu-Shinjuku Lines trains will stop at platforms in the scenic portion. After stopping at the station, the trains will exit off the layout onto a sector plate in staging. There, they will stop, the sector plate will shift to the other line, the train will reverse direction, head out of staging, s...

The Takadanobaba layout is taking shape -- in bytes, bits and pixels. Well, sort of. If you were to look at what I have the reality is there's a long way to go. The reason is that I'm learning how to use the 3rd Planit track planning software. They do have a tutorial and that's been helpful, but I've also been trying the old "trial and error" method of teaching myself.  The good news is that I have defined the room and the benchwork. The track board (also defined) will sit above the benchwork. That height is to be determined. I tried to draw track and then I ran into a hitch. I can pick out a track element and place it on the track board. I need to learn how to connect them and to properly space them. Lots to learn. Lots of fun. Cheers.

I was looking for a stretch project in modeling Japanese commuter trains.  I think I got more than I bargained for.  The first thing that I realized is that I'm modeling in a non-traditional scale.  Japanese commuter trains run on narrow gauge track. But, they are manufactured to run on 9mm n scale track. The off-the-shelf models from Kato and Tomix clock in at 1:150. That's just a smidgen larger than n scale at 1:160. I looked up a 1:150 scale ruler and found one on Amazon. I ordered it, super pronto.  Then . . . I discovered that the ruler is in meters. I'll have to access my faded 7th grade memories and remember how to use the metric system. Maybe there's a YouTube video.

I taking a break. I'm building a multi-deck layout in N scale based on Chicago belt line railroad operations ( The B&OCT in N Scale - read that blog here ). I still need to come up with a better name. It's a big project and has gotten overwhelming. On top of that, I had shoulder surgery in November. It has curbed my agility.  I'm looking to take on a small project -- something that could be achievable in a reasonable length of time and will stretch my modeling skills. I'm getting the idea that those skills will be really tested. This blog is about that project. The writing below was my first post on this topic -- on my other blog. It gives an introduction.  Come along for the ride. I think it will be an interesting journey. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I’ve been watching a lot of TV lately. That’s because I’m recovering from rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder. That has limited a lot o...