CHINESE MODEL RAILWAYS

[fulton]

Just completed a trip on the Swiss Glacier Express, very impressive but thats another story, sitting next to us, having a table and four seats to himself, was a Chinese journalist, the staff made an extra efford to look after him, with constant updates and information, we got talking, he presents a radio travel programme, said the Chinese love to travel, has been to the UK and was very impressed with Beamish, also turned out he has a big interest in model railways, sayes it is a popular hobby in China, we had a good time exchanging layout photos, he was more of a collector than modeller, a very enlighting chance meeting. He got off at Chur while we continued to St Moritz

Edited August 23, 2023 by fulton
Correction

[jjb1970]

There's now quite an active RTR segment in both HO and N for Chinese model railways, and standards are exceptionally high. In fact, I think they may be too high, some of the manufacturers got themselves into a sort of arms race mentality on detail and go to bonkers extremes, the result is some truly exquisite models which inflict trauma on those trying to remove them from the box and endless looking for bits that drop off. Perhaps counter-intuitively, it's not a cheap hobby as prices reflect the very high standards of detail and trick features. There is a factory finished brass segment and diecast metal is popular among Chinese enthusiasts. If people think UK OO is expensive it may be best not to look at some of the Chinese models. Unfortunately availability outside China is patchy but there are some good HK dealers with EBay shop fronts or conventional websites who ship globally. And despite a lot of negativity about the platforms I've never had any issues ordering through Aliexpress or Tabao when Ive used it.

[ColinK]

I know of two Chineese model railways in the UK, one is regularly on RMweb.

[fulton]

7 hours ago, ColinK said:

I know of two Chineese model railways in the UK, one is regularly on RMweb.

I was thinking more of the hobby in China itself, know one of the UK ones well, and very good it is to.

Edited August 24, 2023 by fulton

[DavidB-AU]

I was told about a decade ago that modelling Chinese railways is seen as a "politically acceptable" hobby for the growing middle class.

[jjb1970]

For those interested, Peter Haworth's English language website is an invaluable resource, pretty much in a class of its own for those of us who can't speak or read Manadarin:

 

https://www.chinesemodeltrains.com/

[mjenderby]

My impression is that Chinese modelling is more about collecting and running rather than layouts and scenery. Hence the "arms race" on detail and DCC functions. I guess most don't have the space and there's plenty of videos of trains being exercised on club/public running lines. 

 

Unfortunately this has meant it's now much more difficult and expensive for us UK modellers 😔

 

Mark

 

https://Nihao87.wordpress.com

 

 

[jjb1970]

Chinese N gauge is a bit more operator friendly, the models are very nicely detailed and make use of separately fitted parts but are nothing like the HO models. And given that Chinese people (at least urban people, who tend to be the ones with disposable income for indulgences like expensive hobbies) tend to live in apartments N is probably a much more sensible scale for China (similar to Japan). N is still a niche in China but it does seem to be growing and producers like Kunter and Changming are making some lovely stuff in N.

[Parkender101]

I'm currently modelling in HO the Trans Siberian Railway (Trans Manchurian Route) Moscow - Beijing. First time doing a model railway (I'm 62) so starting big. I started because my kids (now left home) bought me a small novelty Hornby Railway Set last Christmas. Before they were born the girlfriend (now wife) and I gave up our jobs in 1989 and travelled around the world for 18 months working in Australia for a while. We travelled overland from UK via Budapest - Moscow - Beijing - Hong Kong by train. So I realised I'm never going to be able to do this journey again due to Putin so decided to model it instead. Started at the Beijing end so with a rebrand of the steam train I was given and some Chinese Rolling Stock from Hattons and a Chinese Loco from Hong Kong I'm under way. Migrated to Peco Stream Line Code 100 Track. Plenty of Chinese stuff available but I'm really struggling for Russian stuff. The Beijao Model Railway has been an inspiration as very little available in the UK for non UK stuff - check out the Youtube Video from That Model Railway Guy. I agree with above - the Chinese Loco and Rolling Stock I have (all Bachmann China) are absolutely superb in their detail. Next step is Chinese / Russia Border, Siberia and Moscow........wish me luck.

Edited April 3 by Parkender101

[jjb1970]

For people interested in Chinese (and Japanese) outline it's worth looking at Aliexpress,  Tabao and Yahoo Japan auctions.

 

Aliexpress is weird for trains as some are crazily expensive  ( European models can be double or more price of European shops) but Chinese outline can be very good and you can find stuff like N27, MTC and Changming which is hard to find outside China. Tabao and Yahoo auctions aren't foreigner friendly but there are buying services which act as intermediaries. I use one called Buyee quite a lot for Yahoo auctions and have never had a bad experience. 

[Colin_McLeod]

Today's acquisition purchased locally on Facebook Marketplace.

 

[jjb1970]

A DF4, one of my favourite locomotives, pretty much the Chinese class 47 (I.e. they were ubiquitous and everywhere).