Japanese Freight Locos

[Davo Dentetsu]

I believe so?

[Rmsinsd]

Hey guys, a random question. How do Microace locomotives compare to Kato and Tomix? I'm staring lustily at their EF18-33!

[railsquid]

Pretty well for the most part, at least the ones I have. The only one I'd stay clear of is the DD16. The only significant difference to Kato/Tomix is that you don't get a choice of numberplates.

[Das Steinkopf]

I'm currently staying a few days in Oware Ichinomiya and have been travelling past the depot at Inazawa a number of times, a few DD51's still seem to be doing the rounds whilst DF200-223 hasn't moved an inch as it sits outside the shed looking nice and pretty, also of note is the EF64-1000 based in Okayama have been moved up north, I have spotted two of them in the yard as well as out on the mainline racing along with rakes of Koki's in tow.

[Rmsinsd]

eBay will be the death of me, but what a way to go! I ran across a new EF57 on private sale, at a good price. So now that I have one, what do I put behind it?

 

A web search doesn't yield much. What I read indicates it was used in passenger service. So, 1) any suggestions on where to search for more info? 2) was it used in freight service? 3) any recommendations on what passenger cars for sale now that would be appropriate?

 

Thanks in advance! You guys are the best.

[Davo Dentetsu]

eBay will be the death of me, but what a way to go! I ran across a new EF57 on private sale, at a good price. So now that I have one, what do I put behind it?

 

A web search doesn't yield much. What I read indicates it was used in passenger service. So, 1) any suggestions on where to search for more info? 2) was it used in freight service? 3) any recommendations on what passenger cars for sale now that would be appropriate?

 

Thanks in advance! You guys are the best.

As far as freight goes, looks like any 4 wheel wagon of that era will ook perfectly reasonable behind it. :)

 

https://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/tsubasa181_1/38813838.html

Edited May 12, 2017 by cteno4

[Fenway Park]

EF57s were normally passenger locos. It's your railway so you can run what you like.

[Rmsinsd]

Azumanga, Fenway, thanks. The photo of the freight consist is great, particularly since Wikipedia did not mention freight use.

[Suica]

Startersets are real!

[railsquid]

eBay will be the death of me, but what a way to go! I ran across a new EF57 on private sale, at a good price. So now that I have one, what do I put behind it?

 

A web search doesn't yield much. What I read indicates it was used in passenger service. So, 1) any suggestions on where to search for more info? 2) was it used in freight service? 3) any recommendations on what passenger cars for sale now that would be appropriate?

 

Thanks in advance! You guys are the best.

 

For passenger trains, anything from 44 series Tsubame coaches in the early post-war days to 12 series excursion coaches.

 

Google will have more images: https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=ef57+客車

[railsquid]

BTW a compromise between passenger and freight for the EF57 might be postal/parcels waggons/coaches.

[kvp]

BTW a compromise between passenger and freight for the EF57 might be postal/parcels waggons/coaches.

You mean the same black cars with the yellow line in the middle that were used with the EH10 or a different type?

[railsquid]

You mean the same black cars with the yellow line in the middle that were used with the EH10 or a different type?

 

I was thinking something along the lines of the cars (not sure of the exact designations off the top of my head) which are behind the EF58 in the first part of this video:

 

but some quick research doesn't reveal any EF57-hauled trains with similar kinds of parcels-only consists - apart from on model railway layouts - so that might not be prototypical. Further research needed. However EF57-hauled expresses would very likely have one or two postal/parcels cars.

[Rmsinsd]

Hi guys. First off, thanks for your comments about my earlier inquiries regarding the EF57 consists. I have a 4 car set of older brown OHA32000 passenger coaches enroute.

 

I ran across an issue with that locomotive and a track configuration. I had a 315/282mm banked curve, with the transition section connecting directly with a #4 turnout. The EF57 would derail occasionally in that area. I finally had to replace the banked curves with flat ones, and the problem went away. The complicated wheel array simply couldn't handle the "twist" of the transition.

 

Anyway, I told you that story to tell you this one! I'm now looking at an EF60 or 64, which also has a complicated wheel system, three sets of two-axle bogies. I'm now wondering how that locomotive might handle 315 & 282mm curves, and #4 turnouts. Are any of the bogies free floating, or do the axles slide side to side to negotiate the curves?

 

Appreciate anybody's insights!

[railsquid]

Is the EF57 from Kato? The newer versions do seem to suffer from derailments with the leading bogies as they're quite light and spring off the tracks easily. Somewhere I came across a link where someone had a fairly simple fix. The Microace EF57 doesn't suffer from the same problem as the leading bogies are mainly metal, not plastic

 

With the Bo-Bo-Bo locomotives the centre bogie is free-floating, much less problematic.

[Rmsinsd]

Railsquid, yep it's the Kato version. I did add a tiny bit of weight on the leading link truck, but not enough I guess. If you rediscover that fix link, I'd certainly be interested.

 

Thanks for the info on the Bo-Bo-Bo.

[kvp]

Banked curve into a #4 without a car length of straight would also derail many shinkansens.

 

These leading trucks are fairly stable through turnouts if you go slow enough in the diverging direction. The prototypes had the same problems with sharp turnouts. Single axle small wheel steam pilot trucks are more problematic, but even those could be run reliably if the axle and track gauge is good.

[Rmsinsd]

Kvp, youre right regarding steam pilot truck issues, and the EF57 undercarriage is essentially two 4-6-0's coupled back to back. What could go wrong, right? It took the longest time for me to realize that it wasn't the turnout alone, but the combination. The "twist" of the bank transition affected how the driver wheels met the rails, making one of the two units rise up just enough so the front truck rode up on the turnout point.

 

Ah well, it's a challenge getting a lot of track on a 2.5 by 5 foot table. Got it now, though.

[Rmsinsd]

New question, guys.

 

I'm looking at getting an EF60 locomotive. Any opinions on which brand might be better, Kato or Tomix? I have only one Tomix engine, and a bunch of Katos. Tomix seems to have a more powerful flywheel action, which is good, but I don't know if they're all like that.

[Kiha66]

I don't own an EF60, but my general rule of thumb when buying is to go kato if the models are of a similar levels of detail.  For me the fact that tomix locomotives are incompatible with all other brands if you plan to use knuckle couplers means that all my rolling stock would not work with them (I try to convert to knuckle couplers).   Plus the ease of converting to DCC with the kato loco's means that I can easily convert them when I get the chance to run them on club layouts or at shows.   That said I do have tomix for all my kiha units as they are much nicer than the kato offerings, and can all connect together with tomix's style of coupler.

[railsquid]

I've got the Tomix EF60 (it was going very cheap) and it's perfectly fine, but I don't have the Kato version to compare. I'd probably go for Kato if the price is similar and there was no compelling reason for Tomix.