Review: Kato 2021 C11 steam locomotive

The C11 steam locomotive has been part of the Kato range for a long time, the first model produced in 1971. It remained part of the Kato range for more than 40 years, incrementally improved in minor ways but notably over-scale. In 2021, Kato released a completely new model that was properly to scale and also featured a coreless motor and much more fine detailing. It appears to represent the third tranche of C11s built between 1940 and 1941, but as they ran during the 1960s -- most obviously, with the addition of the electric LP42 headlight on the front.

Background

These JNR locomotives have a two-cylinder, 2-6-4T wheel arrangement and Walschaerts valve gear. No fewer than 381 examples of the class were produced between 1932 and 1947, albeit across four different generations. They were designed for use on suburban and branch lines, but were eventually seen all over Japan. Typical jobs included local passenger trains and short distance freight trains, but they occasionally worked limited express and even sleeper trains. As time passed and passenger work was taken over by railcars of various sorts, the C11s took on more freight work and even operated as shunting locomotives. By the 1960s even this sort of work was being handled by diesel and electric locomotives and mass withdrawals began, but some remained in service until 1975. Six have been preserved in working order, and more than 50 can be found as static exhibits around the country.

Kato ED75-1000 (3075-4)

What's in the box?

• C11 locomotive with working head and tail lamps
• Metallic-effect number plates (four different locos)
• Dummy couplers
• Rapido couplers
• Kato knuckle couplers

With the exception of their recent foray into 00-9 narrow gauge models, Kato's steam locomotives are not much seen outside Japan and the US. That's a bit of shame if this model is anything to go by, because it's really nice. It runs very well, apparently down to 216-mm radius curves, and mine certainly handles 282-mm radius curves without any fuss at all. It's a decent hauler too, pulling at least four carriages without any sign of slipping.

Detailing is good. There's a mix of moulded and separately fitted details including handrails and pipes of all sorts. The cab includes glazed windows and even details on the outside that can be seen when the model is held up to the light. Headlamps are fitted to both ends of the loco, and these light up in the direction of travel. 

While the model features a lot of attractive detail, this comes as a mix of plastic and brass separately fitted parts. The brass parts look excellent, but the plastic parts, like the upright poles on the front platform, are easily bent out of shape. Similarly, while having the option of different numbers makes it easy to have multiple examples of the class on your layout without duplication, the brass-effect plastic pieces are fiddly to apply and the paint seems to chip off easily. Installing them is a little bit of a faff, since you need to cut them off a sprue and then push them into a moulded recess on the model. Masking tape is one way to hold the pieces without then flying off onto the carpet, but there's a risk the tape will pull off some of the paint.

The valve gear works well, but again, the mix of metal with plastic parts isn't ideal. The colours don't quite match. From normal viewing distances the differences in colour aren't obvious, and a bit of weathering might help. But still, it's a bit annoying.

Performance is as you'd expect from any modern Kato locomotive: smooth and quiet, albeit with an unrealistically high top speed (the real locos were limited to 85 km/h). On clean track the loco will crawl along fairly well but of course the short wheelbase does make them sensitive to 'dead spots' on the track.

Conclusion

Although this is one of the smallest steam locomotives that Kato produce, at 12,100 Yen (just over £60) it still represents quite good value. The model runs as well as it looks, and even if the livery is a bit dull, the type had a very long working life and could be found doing all sorts of work almost anywhere in the country. Some remain in use even today, working special services (called SL trains) such as the SL Fuyu no Shitsugengo (Steam Locomotive Winter Wetlands) service in Hokkaido.

Incidentally, the C11 is one of the locomotives for which Kato produce a Sound Card. It's a lot of fun!

Review: Kato Diorama Mini Circus wagons

Late in November, I was at the Warners model railway exhibition at the Birmingham NEC helping out on the Kato stand. That was fun, if exhausting! As well as showcasing the Mini Diorama Circus, the new EC-1 controller was on the stand for visitors to try out. Based on the real controls of a Japanese multiple unit, this is an expensive but very fun piece of kit that works nicely with the Sound Box to deliver a more immersive driving experience.

Commemorating the Mini Diorama Circus were these wagons, sold as pre-coloured kits for £10 a piece. Using a Japanese insulated goods van as their basis, the colourful liveries (designed by Akiko Takasaki) are, of course, fictitious.

Background

These appear to be based on the RE 12000 insulated wagon that were in use on JNR between 1954 and 1986. Ice was placed in compartments on the roof, and the cold air produced would keep the contents of the van nice and fresh.

Maximum speed was 75 km/h.

Kato 'Mini Diorama Circus' versions

The Kato model is normally supplied ready-to-run. One version is supplied in the Kato 10-033 freight car pack, described elsewhere. On the roof, the hatches for placing ice can be seen, while a ladder is moulded on one end of the body that presumably gave access to these hatches when fresh ice needed to be added. But the three models reviewed here are supplied as kits, and as far as I know, only at Kato Mini Diorama Circus events.

There are three versions, which for the sake of simplicity I will call the 'red', 'green', and 'yellow' wagons. All are assembled in the same way. First, the wheels are clipped into the chassis, and then the metal weight placed onto a slot on the top of the chassis. The chassis includes built-in Rapido couplings. The painted body work is actually a sort of sleeve that slides onto a rectangular core that includes the roof. Once these two pieces are pushed together, they are clipped onto the chassis which secures the metal weight in place.

As should be clear, the wagons are essentially identical except for the coloured sleeve that features the bodyside details as well as the paintwork. Needless to say, there are no separately fitted details of any sort.

The 'red' wagon sports different affirmations on each side, encouraging modellers to enjoy their dioramas. Foxes are a bit of theme in the publications that go with the Mini Diorama Circus, in part because in Japanese mythology they are able to do magic, including being able to turn into humans. In the Kato literature, some of these foxes (and badgers) enjoy making Mini Dioramas!

The 'green' wagon has the Kato branding on one side, and an 'art is love' affirmation on the other. Finally, the 'yellow' van is the most eye-catching of the three, I think, with a simple statement on one side and a picture of a ticket on the other. If you look closely, you can see that the ticket is 'priceless' and dated to 2025.

Performance is up to the usual Kato standards, but relevant to modellers building Mini Circus Dioramas, these wagons handle 15-cm radius curves just fine. A nice touch is that all three sport Re 12xxx numbers, as befitting JNR wagons: 12001 is the green van, 12002 the yellow one, and 12003 the red van.

Conclusion

These models sold well on the day, with a lot of people clearly buying them as fun mementoes of their day trip to Birmingham. For sure, if you were buying plain vanilla Re 12000 vans from Japan, they'd cost half as much as these -- but these Mini Circus Diorama models are much more attractive models.

But what strikes me about these models is how easily they could be used to make a 'real' circus train. Weathered a bit, and then run alongside cattle trucks for the livestock and a couple of coaches for the performers, they'd be as useful on a British or American layout as a Japanese one. Sure, for a British layout you'd want to add some turned brass buffers, but that's about it.

I'm not sure how widely available these models will be. But definitely worth looking out for if you visit an event where Kato are exhibiting their Mini Circus Diorama.

Review: Kato 10-1345 KuMoHa 11 200 Nambu Branch Line 2-Car Set

This model was bought with a specific project in mind. Not having the space for anything serious, I thought about creating a Japanese-style layout on a circular piece of wood I'd come across in a charity shop. What I needed was a quaint railcar or EMU to run on it, something happy to go around a circle of track just 30 cm in diameter. Although not the most colourful train that Kato produce, this unit does the job and has some nice details and an old-fashioned look that make it a charming addition to the fleet.

Background

Built at various points during the late 1920s, these sets were ordered by the Ministry of Railways to replace older wooden-bodied units (the DeHa 63100 series). Although those units had worked well, building wooden bodies had become expensive after an earthquake increased demand for timber, and on top of that, wooden bodied cars didn't provide much protection for passengers during collisions.

The new railcars used standardised underframes and bogies. Steel plates were attached to the frame of the body using rivets, while additional strips of steel reinforced the plating around the windows. Additional ventilation was added to the roof, while curtains were added to the windows instead of shutters.

Maximum speed was 95 km/h. Seating was third-class throughout.

Kato 10-1345 KuMoHa 11 200-series

What's in the box?

• One powered car with pantograph and one unpowered trailer car
• Working headlights and taillights
• Sprue with assorted plastic parts such as cables and ATS gear
• Sticker sheet including train numbers and destination headcodes suitable for the Nambu branch and main lines, the Tsurumi line and the Ome line

On the one hand, the colour scheme isn't the most exciting. The seating inside the cars is plain off-white plastic looks very plain. As per the prototype, the seating runs longitudinally along the car, and other than these 'benches' there's really not much to see inside the cars. On the real things, the upholstery is blue, so painting them is certainly one possible upgrade. Adding some seated passengers, and a driver in the cab, would also make a big difference.

But on the other hand, the models themselves are cleverly designed and include some excellent features. Starting with the underframe detailing, there's a lot to see here, including all sorts of pipes and rods. The wheels are spoked and look very nice indeed.

The couplings are used are not Rapido couplings but adaptations of the classic Japanese Shibata coupler. These work well, but you can't easily join them together on very tight curves (such as 15 cm radius Unitrack). I ended up replacing them with home-made neodymium magnet couplers that do the job nicely on circular layouts. That aside, what's really impressive about the couplers is the 'kinematic' hinge they're attached to on the body, rather than the bogies. This clever device allows the couplings to swing freely, while being gently centring, keeping the cars quite close together even on tight bends.

Inside the power car there's a motor with two flywheels, connected via cardan shafts to both bogies. Electrical pick-up is via the pin-point bearings on all eight wheels of the power car. There are no traction tyres, but haulage is more than adequate for the two cars in the unit and a couple more unpowered cars if you wanted to add them (Kato #10-1347, Tsurumi Line 2-Car Extension Set).

On both cars, the body unclips to reveal a couple of extra goodies. One is a small switch for turning on and off the headlights and taillights. This is useful when coupling together two sets to make a four-car train: the lights on the inward-facing cabs would not normally be in use, so shouldn't really light up when the train is running.

The other useful fixture are the standard Kato lighting kit attachment slots. As always with installing these kits, the instructions are somewhat generalised so a certain amount of fettling may be required, but once installed, the results are worthwhile.

Conclusion

As the video above hopefully shows, this is a decent model that works astonishingly well even on ridiculously tight curves. The motor isn't quite as silent as some of the more recent ones used by Kato, but the noise it makes isn't obtrusive by any means.

 While the styling and livery might best be described as workmanlike, as an 'old time' model this is a useful little train for suburban branchlines set anywhere between the 1920s and 1970s.

Review: Kato Roundhouse 10-913 485-Series 'Kirishima - Hyuga Type'

Bit of a labour of love this one. While picked up inexpensively as a secondhand model, the sellers description that it 'ran' was only true in the loosest sense of the word. With only a single bogie working, and even that one growling and offering insufficient traction, the train just about crawled along, and needed occasional nudges to keep going. But after a few false starts, the model was fixed and now runs quite well.

Background

For me, this is an example of one of the most characteristic Japanese electric trains. Built between 1964 and 1979 across several different series, the type lasted in regular service until 2017. A few soldiered on on special services until 2022. They were intended to work on both AC and DC routes at up to 120 km/h, though the type could apparently reach speeds of up to 160 km/h safely.

The design was based on the earlier 151-series, and the earlier 485-series trains had similar front ends including the long, streamlined nose. From 1972 onwards, they were instead built with more flattened front ends that made it easier to couple two units together to form a single train. One distinctive feature of the type is the illuminated headboard panel at the nose, which in typical Japanese style has both the name of the train and some sort of colourful artistic flourish.

Inside, the trains were equipped to provide a comfortable environment in both hot and cold weather. The standard train comprised 11 cars including two first class cars and a dining car.

This particular model, however, is of a three-car variant as it operated between 2000 and 2011 on as the Kirishima & Hyuga limited express between Miyazaki and Kagoshima in the Miyazaki Prefecture on the southern tip of Kyushu.

Kato 10-913 485-Series 'Kirishima - Hyuga Type'

 What's in the box?

• Two Kuha cab cars with working headlights, taillights, and illuminated headcode
• One powered Moha car with pantograph

The model didn't come with any extra parts. The instructions are printed on the back of the box. One cool feature though is that the illuminated headboard can be rotated using a very small flat-head screwdriver inserted into a small hole under the nose. The model can also be upgraded for internal lighting using the Kato 11-201 kits. 

Although the model is equipped with headlights, taillights, and the backlit headboard, these are barely visible until the train is running at close to full speed. That's a bit disappointing since they add a lot of character to this sort of train.

Getting the thing running properly again!

As it came, the model barely ran and one of the couplings was broken.

Replacing the broken coupling, at least, was easy. A set of Kato 11-705 Type B Black Couplers was bought from TrainTrax and arrived within a couple of days. The broken one was pulled out, and after assembly, a new one pushed into the receptacle. So far, so good!

Getting the model running properly was more of a problem. One problem was a missing cardan shaft between the motor and one of the bogies. The motorised unit drives both bogies, and each bogie is connected to the motor via a green cardan shaft that has a similar sort of fitting at each end. The bogies pop out easily if pulled and twisted slightly, and presumably at some point in its life, the owner of this model had done that and lost one of the cardan shafts.

So, after rooting about the Kato website, I managed to find the cardan shafts used on the current 485-series models. I ordered a pack, and again, TrainTrax delivered them in a couple of days. But alas, they were not the right sort, as you can see in the picture above.

After a couple of emails to Kato, one of their engineers offered a solution! This particular model has been out of production for a while, and spare parts aren't available. But a different sort of bogie, ASSY #41912ZD1, would fit the model and had the right sort of cardan shaft. The engineer was absolutely right, and after receiving these from Kato, I popped them into the train and put it on the tracks. Off it went!

The story isn't over yet, though. While the motorised car now ran beautifully, the replacement bogies were designed for a different sort of train. The couplings were set back so far that it couldn't connect up to the two unpowered cars. Or rather, they'd connect on a straight, but as soon as the train hit a curve, it would derail.

With the couplings pulled out from their clip fitting, and then pushed in only a little bit, they could be glued to about the right length. Superglue did the job, and once dried, the bogies were put back into the train and tested. All went well! 

While the bogies aren't the same colour as the originals, that can be easily fixed with some black paint. The main thing is that the model runs and brings a delightful splash of colour to the layout.

Conclusion

Operation is pretty good. Overall, the model runs smoothly, if not quite as quietly as the latest Kato trains. The motorised car seems to have no problems hauling the two unpowered cars. As mentioned above, the lighting is lacklustre, but otherwise this is an attractive train well worth the effort it took to get up and running.

 

Review: Kato Koki 10000 and Kokifu 10000

Like the six-car freight pack with its basic container flat, these two models lack the finer details seen on Kato's higher-end models. On the other hand, they are definitely priced to sell, and with a bit of weathering, make good models for running behind a wide range of electric and diesel locomotives.

Background

The 10000-series container wagons were built between 1966 and 1969. They were designed to run at higher speeds (up to 100 km/h) than earlier designs. At one end is a small platform for an operator to stand on when using the hand brake.

Like other container wagons of the era, they were designed for the JNR standard 10' container. Some were modified to carry two 20' containers (the 11000 and 12000 series) instead of the 10' containers. These modified wagons could not carry 10' wagons. There were some other variants produced over the years, including one series (the 18000 series) built in 1968 for use in the cold climate of Hokkaido.

Perhaps the most unusual variant was the Kokifu wagons. With freight trains being accelerated to 100 km/h, suitable accommodation for the guard, or conductor, became an issue. Existing brake vans (cabooses) could not run at that speed, so instead a number of container wagons were built with a small conductors compartment. These wagons could now only carry four 10' wagons rather than five.

Both the Koki and Kokifu wagons were in widespread use across the network through the 1970s and 80s. The last were removed from service in 1996.

Kato 8002 Container Wagon

 What's in the box?

• Koki 10000 container wagon
• Non-removable containers

The wagon is nicely moulded and presented in JNR freight blue. The lettering is simple but effective. The wagon itself is solid, with only basic detail represented underneath the solebar and nothing much on the top. There is a metal weight on the top of the wagon, with all five containers represented by a single-piece that clips into the place. The metal weight seems a bit loose, so I used a drop of glue to fix it into position.

As supplied, the container moulding works, just about, but the gap between each container isn't completely convincing. Weathering makes a huge difference, giving you a reason to run some dark, watered-down paint into those gaps. This makes the gaps look more like shadows. It's also worth painting the metal weight while you have the container removed for weathering. The weigh is easily visible from the side, and if you paint it black, it won't be nearly as intrusive.

Kato 8003 Container Wagon with guard's compartment

What's in the box?

• Kokifu 10000 container wagon
• Non-removable containers

Basic specification much like the Koki 10000 wagon, but with the distinctive caboose, or conductor's compartment, at one end. Again, judicious weathering will really help make the single-piece container moulding more realistic.

On the plus side, this is a quirky prototype that adds interest to any container train. But on the other hand, the low-end specification mean the model isn't as good as it might be. There are no working taillights at the back of caboose, and neither is it possible to add the Kato lighting kit to illuminate the inside of the guards compartment.

Summary 

The Koki container wagon has an RRP of 770 Yen (about £4.25 at the time of writing) while the Kokifu one with the caboose is slightly more expensive at 825 Yen (about £4.50). In either case, that's pretty impressive value as the models run well, look nice, and represent a useful, long-lived prototype.

Of course, they're compromised in significant ways. The container loads aren't removable, so you can't swap the supplied containers with different ones to add variety to your trains. Equally, as you can't remove the containers, you can't run an 'empty' train, and even if you could, the wagon frame isn't open and lacks the details such as pipes you'd expect to see on a modern-spec model.

Review: Kato 10-034 passenger car set

There's a review of the freight car starter pack elsewhere on this blog. It's the passenger car pack that's being looked at now, one of two in fact. One contains four coaches in the old (post-war) brown livery of JNR, while the other contains four coaches in the JNR blue livery introduced in 1964 and consequently more typical of trains after the steam era. While the contents of the two packs appear similar (apart from the colours, of course) they do not include exactly the same four types of coach.

Background

Nowadays, multiple unit trains, particularly electric multiple units, carry most of the passengers on Japanese railways. But in the past, coaches (or passenger cars) of various kinds were common. The ones included in this Kato pack represent postwar (JNR) designs that would be hauled by locomotives such as the D51 for long distances or C11 and C12 tank engines on branch lines. They were built between 1951 and 1955, though modernised and modified in later years, for example by having air conditioning installed and the wooden-framed windows replaced with ones with aluminium frames.

Most of these old coaches were phased out of use during the early 1980s, but a few remain in service even today for special trains such as excursions behind steam locomotives. This makes this sort of pack useful even for modellers setting their layouts in the present day. There was also a long period of time during the 1960s and 70s where the original brown coaches and the refurbished blue coaches might be marshalled into the same train. So, again, while this pack is ideal for the steam-era modeller, it will also have use on layouts featuring diesel and electric locomotives.

The basic design of these coaches will be familiar to modellers from all around the world: steel frames with wooden bodies, two-axle bogies, corridor connections, and air vents (rather than air conditioning) on the roof to provide ventilation in summer. Although built to mainline standards, and frequently used on named express trains, these coaches were not designed to run at speeds above 95 km/h.

Kato Freight Car Park (10-033)

What's in the box?

• Suyuni 60 baggage/mail car with working taillights
• Oha 46 third class open car
• Suha 43 third class open car
• Ohafu 45 third class (brake) with working taillights
• Tool for moving the light switches on and off

The four coaches are pretty similar in specification, with Rapido couplings, all-wheel axle-point electrical pick-up, chemically-blackened disk wheels, and removable roofs that allow for quick installation of the Kato lighting kit.

At first glance they all look pretty similar, but the shade of grey used for the roof varies between the light grey of the Ohafu 45 and the dark grey used on the other three cars. The livery is simple but nicely applied, with a satin finish and very neat lettering. The inside details are all moulded in the the one colour.

There are essentially no fitted details beyond the corridor connection frames. Handrails, footsteps, lamps, etc., are all moulded onto the body. While this works well enough, it doesn't quite match the standards seen on the state of the art passenger cars (like the Farish-Bachmann 'blue riband' series in the UK).

Two of the cars come with red taillights at one end. These can be switched on or off using a sliding switch underneath. Turning the coaches over also reveals the underframe detailing that includes brake piping, water tanks, etc. You can also see how the Rapido couplings are fitted onto the bogies with the usual copper spring behind them to keep them centred. These can be upgraded to knuckle couplers (Kato #11-702) or magnetic couplers (Kato #11-711) if preferred, but these alternate couplings are not included in the set.

 

Conclusion

As with the freight car pack, there's a lot of value in this set. The RRP in Japan is 8,250 Yen (about £43 at the time of writing) which compares very favourably with the RRP of coaching stock in the UK. Basically, for what you're getting here, you'd be lucky to get one, maybe two British outline coaches. But with that said, the specification here is a bit mixed. Interior lighting is always nice, but the lack of separately fitted detailing results in a rather 'flat' appearance when examined closely.

So, while you are getting a good set of coaches, serious modellers might want to make a few upgrades to bring things up to modern standards. One other obvious upgrade worth doing is the replacement of the disc wheels with more authentic spoked wheels. Presumably, these were not included as standard to keep costs down. Similarly, if you install the lighting kit, the lack of passengers will become more obvious, so you might want to do is add some passenger figures. Needless to say, Kato do their own, but since figures inside models aren't easily seen, you could just as easily use the economical (if garishly painted) figures sold in eBay and the like.

Overall though, this is a good way to get some passenger trains up and running on your layout, whether you're modelling the steam era or early diesels and electrics.

Review: Kato Koki Container Wagons

Whereas the six-car freight pack contains Kato's basic container flat, the model shown here is built to a much higher specification. As well as much finer detailing and an proper open frame, the wagon is supplied with individual containers that can be removed or swapped for other ones in different colours. This makes the wagon much more versatile and interesting to own, particularly if you want to model a train with a mix of containers.

Background

Japan is unusual in that a lot of containerised freight is moved around the country by sea rather than by rail. Nonetheless, containerised freight was first carried on the railways as early as the 1930s. The first containers were relatively small and carried on two-axle wagons, but in 1962 the first generation of proper container trains entered service. These used bogie wagons capable of carrying five 5-ton containers at speeds of up to 85 km/h.

The Koki 5500 series was the first generation of bogie container wagon. These were built between 1962 and 1975. Over three thousand of them were built, so needless to say these were common wagons that could be seen across the network. They were also quite long lived, the last ones withdrawn during the early 2000s. On the current railway they have been replaced by more advanced types such as the Koki 100 series.

One quirk of the Japanese railway system is that the containers used for internal traffic are not the standard ISO types seen elsewhere in the world but their own set of sizes. The most common container is the Type 1 (12') rail container, five of which fit on a 60' Koki flat. Type 2 (20') and Type 3 (30') containers are also common, with either three or two of these fitting on the container wagon.

Kato 8059-1 Container Wagon (two-pack)

What's in the box?

• Two Koki 5500 bogie container flats
• Ten removable containers

These are typical Kato wagons with a mix of moulded and separately fitted details. The handrails and brake wheel are a single piece that clips onto the wagon body, while the brake pipes and rods (visible when the wagons are removed) form another piece that clips into place. The bogies are held on with screws, while the Rapido couplings are the traditional sort with a spring behind them that keeps them centred. If you want, you can replace these with either buckeye couplings (Kato #11-702) or magnetic couplings (Kato #11-711) as you prefer. 

The clips that secure the containers are visible along the top of the wagon. While somewhat comprised in shape to act as springy clips, similar structures are present on the real wagons to secure the containers. Overall, the detail does the job, even if the colours aren't consistent between the different plastic components. Etched brass might have allowed the handrails and handbrake wheel to be more delicate, but as it is they look fine from normal viewing distances.

Ventilated containers (6000-type) are included, but the 5000-type containers will fit as well. These ventilated containers were primarily used to transport fruits and vegetables. The containers are painted in the standard JNR green that was used all the way through to privatisation, while the wagon itself is painted in the standard reddish-brown of JNR freight vehicles. So, the wagons would look most authentic running in trains between the 1960s and 1980s, though doubtless some wagons (and containers) stayed in their JNR colours well after privatisation.

Summary 

At the time of writing, the RRP for this twin-pack is 3,520 Yen (about £18-19). That puts them towards the more expensive end of the scale compared with other Kato freight cars. Compared to the basic Koki container flat like the one that came in the six-car set, the key differences are the open chassis with visible pipework, the separately fitted handrail and handbrake wheel, and of course the removable containers.