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 オロネ25-901 (with body-mount TN coupler) and オハネ25-100 (with truck-mount TN coupler) Not every Tomix or Micro Ace train accepts the fancy-pants body-mount TN couplers. Sometimes you have to make do with compromises. Which is what Tomix’s truck-mount TN couplers are: A compromise. They work, but they’re not nearly as cool, and don’t look quite as good. And they’re harder to install. But, in the end, I think they are still worthwhile to bother with. Here’s how to install them.  It lives! Tomix EF81 with working DCC provided by a TCS CN-GP. [Update 7 July 2010: The decoder failed by February. TCS advised that the CN-GP is a very delicate decoder; consequently, I cannot recommend this installation method. Currently looking for a new method of installation. Watch for future posts.] Read Part 1. It’s done. Well, almost. [Update 10 Jan 2010: Yep, it's done.] Anyway, it works, and that’s what counts. Here then I recount the two hours I spent last night making it work, and the year of effort that culminated in those two glorious hours. (Yes, it takes me about one year to install one decoder. No, I’m not that slow: it’s just a function of how much free time I have, and how I choose to spend it.)  Rapido couplers couple loosely; the gap between carraiges is about 6mm. Most of your trains look like this: Big, bulky Rapido couplers and nearly a scale meter of space between the cars. Your passengers have to get a running start to leap to the next carriage! What to do? The obvious answer is to install TN couplers. But this is a Micro Ace model, and the info sheet doesn’t mention anything about them. Can TN couplers even be fitted?  Rapido coupler. Looks awful, but it is one of the most reliable couplers ever designed. The Rapido coupler is the standard for N-scale trains, and has been for some 30 years. Rapidos are easy to couple together (even if they take some fiddling to uncouple), and they hold together reliably over a wide range of conditions, pushing and pulling, up inclines and at funny angles. But they are ugly, and they are huge. Most modelers in North America opt for the Micro-Trains Magne-Matic coupler, which not only looks better, but offers semi-automatic uncoupling which uses track-mounted magnets instead of hand-held toothpicks to work. (The N-Scale Division has a great history of n-gauge couplers.) My Tomix 209-0 has long been a source of consternation for me: Although it ran fine when I first acquired it, its performance deteriorated rapidly with time, like some kind of model train version of Parkinson’s. By yesterday afternoon, it would at best jerk and oscillate rapidly, leading me to fear that the transmission would explode [...] This has been an awful week, for reasons I won’t dwell on. But as is often the case, I attempted to wrest control over my life by relaxing with my trains this weekend. And, as is increasingly the case, this attempt led me only to frustration. Before me are four models that have issues. (My weekend began [...] I’ve lost track of how many decoders have been fried in the name of getting my Tomix EF81 converted to DCC. I’m not at all sure what happened this time; I was very thorough in checking for shorts before I put it on the tracks. And, sure enough, when I power it up, it shorts and [...]  Both models are exceptionally detailed Here’s a comparative review: Kato’s E231-500 Yamanote Line (part nos. 10-261, 10-262 / repackaged as 10-578, 10-579, 10-580) vs. Tomix’s 209-0 Keihin-Tohoku Lie (part nos. 92329, 92330, 8917). The Kato has since been repackaged and given a new set of part numbers, but is otherwise unchanged from what I describe here. Tomix has just announced that they are re-tooling their E231-500: The differences between the models would be interesting to compare.  Tomix 6208 “Casket for Rolling Stock (6 pieces)” My wife and I both have this strange fascination with organizing our things; we joke that we like to buy things just so we can put other things into them. But it’s true. I just bought this Tomix spare bookshelf case to house an overflowing train. I can’t help it; it’s fun. |
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