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Kato Tram & Unitram - Preorder


to2leo

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from earlier post...

 

this was just posted over on the tram group. the train shop Top Hobby Trains has portram and unitram prices a bit below the current japanese street price and you can use domestic shipping (big savings on the unitram as that set costs about $50 to ship, to heavy for SAL cheaper shipping). They have these as Pre-Order prices for a March 2010 release so im thinking this is KatoUSA releasing these in the us!

 

http://www.tophobbytrains.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWSERIES&ManfID=3&SeriesID=383

 

the prices here are $87.50 for the portram and $133 for the untram track set! cheaper than hw! thats only for preorder. others have reported their hobby dealers giving about the same preorder prices.

 

cheers

 

jeff

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Hobby Dreamer

Jeff, it must be my insomnia but the prices at Top Hobby seem to be $125/$190, and $102/$155 on pre-order.

 

(If Canadians buy from the US  we seem to pay customs despite the fact that the US price reflects customs to the US and that we are supposed to live in a free-trade zone. I guess the governments need to rob from the poor to pay off some banker..)

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No you are not dreaming, the prices has gone up since i posted it earlier this week! bummer. I had looked at my cart when i reposted last night but i guess that did not update with the new prices. oh well.

 

tophobbytrains got a good plug from the guy that posted it and another poster (for what thats worth), and i have had good experiences with wigwag in the past getting odder stuff. they did get swamped in 2009 as they took over another business from a guy who left the biz, but i think they are settled down now.

 

at $102 thats about what it is to order from japan including sal shipping, so the savings is not there. probably still a savings on unitram track set as its more line $180 HS and $160 HW, but the $54 EMS shipping (its $50 sal i think) really makes getting it from the us a much better deal.

 

those prices really were great on the initial pre-order. wonder if it was a booboo or just a first round get attention thing. if it was a booboo then maybe a kato's end as it was reported a few other dealers had similar preorder prices earlier this week.

 

Will be interesting to see how much interest these get in North America and what that means to KATOUSA with the mother ship. they have such an odd relationship.

 

cheers

 

jeff

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Yeah, I am quite surprise too!  I thought it will be a small thing since a lot of the members did not grow up with trams, streetcars, LRT or LRV.  At least in N. America or Australia.

 

I think there'd be a number of Australian members who grew up with trams. Melbourne has always had them, Adelaide retained the Glenelg line after the rest of the system closed, and Brisbane didn't close until 1969. As for Sydney, closure was in 1961, but the Sydney Tramway Museum opened in 1964, so even I've managed to grow up with them. And that explains a lot!   :grin

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

I was only nine years old when the Brisbane trams stopped running but I remember whenever we went to Brisbane we would usually go for a tram ride, I recall the Salisbury-Clayfield route most probably because it was the longest, and the conductor's foreign legion style caps. I often imagine how things would have been if Brisbane's mayor at the time hadn't been so anti-tram and pro-bus and car and they had lasted long enough for all the busways now being built in Brisbane to have become light rail lines. It's a bit ironic that they are naming a multi-million dollar road tunnel under the city to reduce traffic congestion after him.

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Thanks for sharing!

I guess trams offered a very memorable experience for many people whether it was years ago or your daily commute.

 

Hey not sure if anyone is going to try but apparently RMM has figured out how to incorporate the Unitram set with the Overhead train station.

 

Using my limited knowledge in Chinese character, it stated the future Tayama station idea.  For those who knows Japanese, feel free to elaborate!

post-60-13569923908794_thumb.jpg

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Thanks for sharing!

I guess trams offered a very memorable experience for many people whenever it was years ago or your daily commute.

 

Hey not sure if anyone is going to try but apparently RMM has figured out how to incorporate the Unitram set with the Overhead train station.

 

Using my limited knowledge in Chinese character, it stated the future Tayama station idea.  For those who knows Japanese, feel free to elaborate!

 

 

 

I said it on Trainboard, but I'll say it again.

 

I like the that. It takes away the going round in circles look of the Kato Unitram set.

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It looks really great. I planned something similar, but with more straight track in the front of the railway station.

We definitely need extra straight track, I'd like to see that before crossings or other track special pieces. It should be easy enough for Kato to package straight sections 2 or 4 to a pack to sell separately.

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Thanks for sharing!

I guess trams offered a very memorable experience for many people whether it was years ago or your daily commute.

 

Hey not sure if anyone is going to try but apparently RMM has figured out how to incorporate the Unitram set with the Overhead train station.

 

Using my limited knowledge in Chinese character, it stated the future Tayama station idea.  For those who knows Japanese, feel free to elaborate!

 

 

This was an idea i had for dealing with one end of the oval ttrak street car layout im working on. was going to have the U curve in a plaza with a shinkansen station crossing the end of it. now looking towards more point to point to get away from the loop de loop feeling.

 

cheers

 

jeff

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I've been thinking about something similar--a triple- or quadruple-wide T-Trak board with a tram line, and a similar-sized rail station layout that sits on top of that at an acute angle. The space under the station could be a train/tram transfer scene, with street or interurban scenes at the ends of the T-Trak board.

 

The acute angle for the upper station would keep the whole thing from taking up a huge amount of space, but would still put the upper lines at an interesting angle to the lower. The upper could even lift off for easier transport.

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More trams on its way from Europe...

Kato Lemke just released the latest European models for 2010/2011

 

I won't model European trams or not now, but those will be appear on some layout in the future I think.

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Mudkip Orange

Covering the entire US with trams would be a snap.

 

Over half of North American cities use some variant of the Siemens SD100/SD160 LRV. And the SD100/160 bears enough resemblance to other high-floor LRVs of the same era that you could probably get away with selling it in other liveries as well. For instance Athearn has been selling an F59PHI painted and lettered for New Mexico Rail Runner, even though NMDOT exclusively uses the MPIxpress. But no one makes an HO Scale MPIxpress, and the locos are similar enough in design that Albuquerquians buy them anyway.

 

I figure when Tomytec releases the Momo trams, half my friends will think they're Houston Metro trains.

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I really hope these European trams will sell well enough so that Kato-Lemke will be releasing Bombardier Flexity or Siemens Combino in the not too distance future.

 

2 immediate positives I hope or can think of are the Duwag trams will cost less than what is currently available and Kato will be installing the new mini Portram motors in them!

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I really hope these European trams will sell well enough so that Kato-Lemke will be releasing Bombardier bombardier Flexity or Siemens Combino in the not too distance future.

 

2 immediate positives I hope or can think of are the Duwag trams will cost less than what is currently available and Kato will be installing the new mini Portram motors in them!

 

Those are older DuWags, probably from the 80s and not low floor.  Kato has always had limited European tram line.

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I really hope these European trams will sell well enough so that Kato-Lemke will be releasing Bombardier bombardier Flexity or Siemens Combino in the not too distance future.

 

OK, you won, I can imagine the loooong Combino Supra on a layout. And of course with the Portram motor.

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My blue and green Portrams arrived this morning. I hope Kato soon make extra track available, it's starting to get crowded on my starter set circle. ???

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I really hope these European trams will sell well enough so that Kato-Lemke will be releasing Bombardier bombardier Flexity or Siemens Combino in the not too distance future.

 

 

What?! Nobody wants a Citadis? As for myself, I'd like to see a Tatra in the Berliner yellow.

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I love the Citadis too!  I rode them in Paris and Bordeaux and find them quiet, comfortable and sleek looking.

 

Has anyone tried putting DCC into Kato Portram BTW?

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Further pictures release from Nurnberg Toy Fair 2010 about the Duwag trams.

 

Pictures are from 1zu160 website.

 

 

H14901 Straßenbahnm.Düwag M/N Typ M6 ""Bogestra"" grau/rot/gelb, Ep4/5

 

H14902 Straßenbahnm.Düwag M/N Typ M6 ""Mülheim/Ruhr"" grau/gelb, Ep4/5

 

H14903 Straßenbahnm.Düwag M/N Typ M6 Nürnberger Verkehrsbetriebe, Ep4/5

post-60-13569924000325_thumb.jpg

post-60-13569924000555_thumb.jpg

post-60-13569924000808_thumb.jpg

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