RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted June 17, 2013 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 17, 2013 My N Gauge Society journal dropped through the letter box just before I went away, which contains a few jottings I put together about Kanjiyama; good to have something Japanese in it for once! A nice touch from the editor was a letter thanking me for the article, which turned up a week or so after the publication. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted August 18, 2013 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 18, 2013 It has been a whilst since I last posted on here, so took the opportunity the other day to go out to the shed and have a play! A few snaps of the Kanjiyama line's DF50 - complete with headboards(!) - as it makes its way from the yard to the platform to collect its short rake of hoppers. Once collected, we head out of the station towards our final destination. The wagons are some of the premium Kawai products. Kawai, who have recently had some financial troubles, produce a wide range of wagons and accessories...some of the wagons are rather basic, but they do have a small selection of pricier, but far better quality offerings. These coal hoppers are three such offerings. They were initially quite the divas - especially over the points - but some minor tinkering around has made them run beautifully. Coal is not hauled around Japan in the quantities or Europe or the US. These hoppers are actually owned by a cement company, and are pretty much the standard design of coal hopper in Japan. The signals are Greenmax kits, whilst the funny little orange things are trimmed down, modified and repainted platform cameras; intended to replicate the warning lights for passengers using the foot crossing. This is a view from the yard access siding, as the DF50 heads up the Kanjiyama line. The afternoon suns streams in on a KiHa40 resting at the fuelling point. The fuelling point has had to be hand made from the various bits and pieces I have, as nothing suitable was available commercially. You see? Even us Japanese modellers have to make our own stuff sometimes! The road tanker was a lucky find - managed to get it from an ebay shop in the UK - as this colour scheme is now long out of production. Only minor weathering was needed for this Tomytec model The DD51 in the foreground is resting in the loco spur having brought the hoppers from elsewhere on the JR network. Another view of the station, with a Micro Ace KiHaE131 on the JR Eastern lines, whilst a fellow MA model - a KiHa53 - rests in the Kanjiyama line platform. That fence is rather uneven...need to do something about that... Departing from Kanjiyama are a pair of Tomix KiHa120 railcars. These are fairly recent acquisitions - bought in time for the first exhibition of the layout's completed state. It consists of one powered and one trailer car, and runs beautifully... Now for some visitors... This DF200 spends most of its time hauling high-speed freights on Hokkaido. It was an early purchase and does not really fit with the area I am modelling. It is, however a lovely model. It is caught here waiting to leave the yard. This is a Kato C62 4-8-4 Express passenger loco. Some Japanese steam engines have suspect haulage capacity, but this one easily handles the 13 carriage set I bought along with this model. I need to fit those detailing parts! Had a bit of play with some electric locos as well... All this lot are Kato, and from left to right they are a DD51 in blue livery, an EF16, and EF210 (I would argue this model has the best motor of any Kato product) and finally the DF200... Finally, an overall view of the whole layout. The shed is actually less cluttered than this photo would suggest! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted February 3, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 3, 2014 The arrival of a new laptop has given me an opportunity to have a play - as well as browse RMWeb a little easier than on my ancient computer or my phone. I have tried my hand at creating a website for Kanjiyama, using one the many free website providers available. The one I went for has been used by a couple of others, and their websites looked pretty good, so I though I would give it a go. http://kanjiyama.moonfruit.com/ I found this website reasonably easy to create; although it is not immediately obvious how to populate some of the image windows and some trial and error went into sorting the text boxes out. That said, I am quite happy with the final result. Now all I have to do is keep it updated! As a further update, Kanjiyama is out and about over the next couple of months: N Gauge Forum Meet at Riddlesdown - 15th February Berkshire N Gauge Society Show - 5th April East Surrey N Gauge show - 12th April (provisional) Model Trains in the Valley (Liphook & District MRC Open Day) - 26th October Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted February 15, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 15, 2014 Kanjiyama had its first outing of 2014 today, to the N Gauge forum meet up at Riddlesdown. It had some pretty impressive company with a number of layouts including Banbury, Horseblock Lane and Crawley Yard. I managed to get a few pictures of the layout, but mostly angles published many times before. A couple are slightly different and I have included these below... A KiHa110 arrives at Kanjiyama... To be met by a local 'Fuji' bus. Well, it would if it had a driver! Yet, somehow it arrives to make its connection. Finally, connection made, the KiHa110 departs for Kofu. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted February 15, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 15, 2014 Some superb shots there. Good to see you again and a great day. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted March 16, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 16, 2014 I took advantage of the nice weather today to carry out some much needed maintenance work on Kanjiyama in preparation for some up-coming shows. Most of the activity involved tidying up the concrete and rock faces - recent photographs have shown up any number of missed bits and some rather awful brush marks! Also, I need to sort out the fencing along the front, which was rather crooked. Finally, I took the opportunity to take a couple of more pictures... JR Eastern Kanjiyama Town Kanjiyama Line Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted April 12, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted April 12, 2014 Over the last couple of weeks, Kanjiyama has been out to play; firstly at the Berkshire N gauge group's show at Wokingham and then at today's East Surrey N Gauge group's show at Redhill. One or two changes have taken place recently, especially around the platforms. Most of the trains on Kanjiyama only take up 1/3 of the platform, so an air of neglect has started to take over, with weeds growing at the end of the platforms. Also, growth is starting to appear between the tracks for platforms 1 and 2, whilst the Kanjiyama line really needs the attention of the weed-killing train! A Kato C11 JNR comes to Kanjiyama. The DD51 and DF50 take end of show passenger duties. A KiHa58 arrives in the stabling yard Kanjiyama fits very neatly into the back of the car. The legs can be seen behind the front seats, whilst the blue crate contains the stock, electrics, accessories and curtain. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve O. Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Hi, just reading this thread for the first time. It's a great layout, captures the flavour of the Japanese hill country very well. Cheers, Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted September 11, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted September 11, 2014 Kanjiyama has been out on the road again; this time just a couple of miles down the road to the Gaugemaster Open Weekend, last weekend. It was an enjoyable (but tiring) couple of days, with the layout performing very well; aside from one or two operator-induced errors! The biggest issue was with the new auto uncouplers, which did not fasten very well, resulting in the freight train uncoupling on the curve at the end of the platform. Also, the wagons are very light, with the front bogie lifting a little during coupling...resulting in frequent derailments during departure and the front wheel did not drop cleanly back onto the track. Still, lessons learned, and although one or two further adjustments may well take place, I may need to revert back to the original couplings. A couple of snaps taken from the day, including an end of show test run for my new E7 set; very tasty! In terms of future shows; next up is the Horsham MRC show on Saturday 25th October, with our club open day the following day...busy weekend! So far, Kanjiyama has two bookings for next year, Rotarail at Fareham on 25th April and TINGS on 12/13th September. I even have a 2016 booking for the Tonbridge show on 20th February. In addition, Kanjiyama is due to feature in the November edition of Continental Modeller. This month's edition (September) has it appearing in the 'Coming Next Month' section. Unfortunately space constraints resulted in it being shunted to October to November at the last minute. No matter...I am looking forward to seeing it in print! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted November 24, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 24, 2014 Well, show season is well and truly over, and Kanjiyama has gone into hibernation until April. The layout had two outings at the end of October; the Horsham MRC show on 25th October, with our club open day the following day. At the Horsham show I was able to give my Micro Ace KiHa183 unit an airing. It is a striking looking train, and attracted plenty of positive comments. The prototype was used to serve the Kyushu tourist attraction 'Holland Village'...the attractive livery of the unit being based on the Dutch flag. Also popular was the brightly coloured KiHa40 - carrying the image of 'Cat Girl' from Shigeru Mizuki's Manga creation 'GeGeGe no Kitarō'. To be honest, Manga is not something which particularly interests me; but the livery certainly makes this a popular train on Kanjiyama. I have been trying to get this image for a little while; the Holland Village Express heading into the tunnel from Kanjiyama. The following day was our club's open day...a good chance to have a relaxed day of playing trains and carrying out minor repairs; whilst gassing about trains! A couple of videos from our club's open day. The Holland Village Express - departs Kanjiyama... ...whilst a KiHa40 arrives at platform 3. I have had plenty of people asking me where Kanjiyama is set...so Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Looking good. I must get to an exhibition you're at some time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted November 29, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 29, 2014 Thanks...might see you at one some time in the future. Up-coming shows are listed on Kanjiyama's website (in my signature) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted February 2, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 2, 2015 Kanjiyama is out to play again this month; answering a last-minute SOS from the Solent MRC and appearing at Eurotrack on the 21st - 22nd. We showed Yamanouchi Oshika there back in 2012, and it was an excellent show, although unfortunately I went down with a stinking cold and had to cry off on the Sunday. More details here... http://solentmodelrailwaygroup.webs.com/modelrailwayexhibition.htm Anyone attending, do say hello! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted February 3, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 3, 2015 Kanjiyama is out to play again this month; answering a last-minute SOS from the Solent MRC and appearing at Eurotrack on the 21st - 22nd. We showed Yamanouchi Oshika there back in 2012, and it was an excellent show, although unfortunately I went down with a stinking cold and had to cry off on the Sunday. More details here... http://solentmodelrailwaygroup.webs.com/modelrailwayexhibition.htm Anyone attending, do say hello! Will be there with Dobris so see you there. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted February 16, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 16, 2015 Kanjiyama had a last-minute call (and I mean literally last-minute) to appear at the Midhurst show. I arrived to help out with other layouts at 08:00 on the morning of the show, and by 9:45 I had made the journey back home, collected the layout and set it up at the show. It was good practice for Eurotrack next weekend (another short-term invite!), as it gave the chance to check the layout was fully operational following its hibernation and allowed for some crew familiarisation with the controls. I'm relieved to say the layout behaved perfectly...fingers crossed it does the same next week. I also had the chance to test out some of my more recent acquisitions. A Kato KiHa110 'Tohoku Emotion' unit rests in Platform 2 at Kanjiyama whilst a Tarumi line railbus departs from platform 3. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted February 16, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2015 Wow that really is last minute! Haven't done the Midhurst show for quite some years now. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted September 15, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted September 15, 2015 It has been ages since I updated this thread, and to be honest not a huge amount of development has gone on since February, save a few more shows. Last weekend saw Kanjiyama's most high-profile visit - The International N Gauge Show (TINGS). Here are a couple of photos... A DF50 awaits departure from Kanjiyama. A little 'modeller's licence' as the Imperial train departs Kanjiyama. This stunning model was a new arrival obtained at the show. The yard plays host to a snow plough - despite being spring-time, we are in the mountains...clearly some inclement weather is anticipated! Finally, just to leave the viewer in no doubt! Next up, Kanjiyama is off to the Farnham show next month. May see one or two from here... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium NGT6 1315 Posted September 16, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 16, 2015 Imperial Train.jpg A little 'modeller's licence' as the Imperial train departs Kanjiyama. This stunning model was a new arrival obtained at the show. Well, you do have a variety of diesel locos to put in front of it, as they'd be doing in reality! The E655 is on my long-term list as well, I should add… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Sasquatch Posted September 23, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 23, 2015 What a cracking little layout. There's some super photography to boot! Regards Shaun. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flapland Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 Just found this lovely layout. I must say it really captures the feel of small town/rural Japan having visited myself a few times. Importing bits from Japan must be a headache with such a variable £ to yen exchange rate. Any shows planned for 2016. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted April 10, 2016 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted April 10, 2016 Thanks! Not too many shows this year. It is next due out on 22 May at the German Railway Society's 'Global Rail' at Didcot. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/109736-global-rail/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flapland Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 I would be tempted but I am up in Edinburgh that weekend. I will keep an eye out for future dates. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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