Review: Kato 803 SuYu 44 Mail Car

I can't quite remember where I picked this wagon up! I remember it was cheap and evidently quite old, featuring the older style Kato packaging. Perhaps from the 70s or 80s, given the 3-digit code (803) compared with the 4-digit codes used nowadays?

While it looks like a freight car of some sort, it turns out that JNR built these to be run at passenger train speeds. A simple, plain wagon that actually turns out to be quite interesting...

Background

Before the SuYu 44 car, post and packages were transported in smaller packages that were unloaded at stations through carriage or wagon doors. This was very slow, and mixed trains (that is, trains carrying both passengers and cargo) would be delayed for 10 minutes or more while this happened.

What the SuYu 44 car (and its relatives like the more general purpose SuNi 41 car) did was allow for 4-wheeled steel box pallets of cargo to be quickly loaded and unloaded at stations and depots. This was because the side panels could slide, allowing access to the entire interior quickly. Up to 24 pre-sorted pallets could be unloaded in under two minutes! This allowed JNR to speed up trains by reducing delays.

Classic cargo for SuYu 44 cars was letters and parcels. Unlike the superficially similar SuNi 40 cars that could be found in mixed trains, SuYu 44 cars were only used in trains running at express speeds. These would be either passenger trains (including sleeper trains) or dedicated mail trains.

Introduced in 1971 these cars remained in service until the end of express baggage and postal service trains on JNR by 1987. Legally, they belonged to the post office and not the railway, so after mail stopped being carried on the railways, they became redundant. Like the SuNi 40 cars, the SuYu 44 cars were basically 'all doors' they couldn't easily be converted into anything else, so once their purpose was gone, they were soon scrapped. The problem was that the doors were not rigid enough to be cut into, so they couldn't have windows cut into them or racks attached to them.

Kato also produce SuNi 40 and 41 cars that could be used to create a realistic mail-baggage train of the sort that ran through the late 1960s into the early 1980s. The SuNi 41 with its conductor compartment would be marshalled at the end of the train, the cabin turned away from the rest of the train.

Kato 803 SuYu 44 Mail Car (now Kato 8026)

What's in the box?

• Just the wagon!

Note that this is a really old model. The number on the jewel box is 803, but Kato use 4-digit numbers now. To get this model now, you'd want Kato 8026 (the current Kato 803 is apparently an HO-scale hopper!).

The wagon is pretty plain. JNR passenger blue on top and down the end faces. The sides are unpainted aluminium. Nicely printed markings on the sides include the designation and wagon type in kanji characters. This spartan appearance in keeping with the real things which were quite plain to look at. No doubt this model would benefit from some weathering, but as it stands now, it's a simple but functional wagon.

Performance and detailing

Not much to say about performance beyond the fact the wagon runs well. It's a very smooth runner in fact, and even a small tank engine like the C11 can haul this wagon as part of a train of 15 wagons without showing any signs of trouble.

The most notable feature is that the bogies have built-in Rapido couplings. If you want knuckle couplings, you can add them using Kato Parts 28-187 Knuckle Coupler. Unfortunately, the side doors don't open, but that's offset by the crisp moulding and decent paint job. The printing, as far as I can tell, is just about readable, but rather limited.

Conclusion

While the car itself isn't particularly interesting, even brand new these only go for ¥900 (well under £5) which makes them an absolute bargain.

Suppose you were operating a branchline layout. Both the Kato 10-034 (older brown cars) and Kato 10-034-1 (later blue cars) have potential. You'd want to remove the SuYuNi 60 from the brown car pack or the OYu 10 from the blue car pack since those are mail/baggage cars already. The remaining three cars can now be used with the SuYu 44 (usually right behind the locomotive) to create a situation where mail was being carried to a regional sorting depot off the mainline. A C11 would be a good pick for the brown car era, while something like a DD51 or DE10 could be used for with the blue cars.

You could also run this car mixed in with vintage mail coaches (such as the Greenmax Oyu 12 ones), some SuNi 40 cars, and a SuNi 41 at the end. This would represent a typical mail train of the era, the older brown cars gradually being replaced by the later blue cars. On electrified railways, the EF58 would be a good engine to haul such a train; otherwise, the ever-popular DD51 will do the job nicely.

One last thing

Don't confuse the SuYu 44 for the very similar SuNi 40 cars. While the former were strictly used by the post office, the latter were used to transport a variety of things including luggage and newspapers. They were used on a wider variety of trains including freight trains, usually marshalled at the head-end just behind the locomotive.

Kato Mini Diorama

Built this for the Warners model railway exhibition at the Birmingham NEC last year. Can you guess what it is?

The model, by the way, is the Metal Earth 'Imperial Shuttle'. Fun to make, if fiddly, then painted with acrylics for a more realistic finish.

Review: Tomix KiHa 40-2000 Metropolitan Area Color

I'd been looking for a diesel railcar for a while, and this particular model caught my eye because of its very attractive colour and high level of detailing. Thus far, I hadn't purchased any Tomix multiple units though, just locomotives and rolling stock. So, how would it stack up against my various Kato trains?

Background

The KiHa 40 was one of a small family of diesel railcars (the 40-series) and multiple units (the 47- and 48-series) delivered to Japanese National Railways between 1977 and 1982. They were widely used across the network, across both 'cold' and 'warm' regions. Designed for use on suburban and rural lines, these units have enjoyed long lives with many still in service today. Seating is of a high density sort, a mix of upholstered longitudinal and cross benches. A few have been modified into 'Joyful Train' sets with much more fancy interiors.

This model shows one of the refurbished units used by JR West that feature, among other updates to the original railcars, bright white LED headlights and (on a plastic sprue) wireless antenna. As such, they represent the trains as used on lines around Okayama from 2017 onwards, also reflected in the 'nostalgic' vermillion or metropolitan livery.

Tomix KiHa 40-2000 (7442)

What's in the box?

• Powered driving car

• Lots of plastic sprues with detailing parts

• Transfer sheet with car numbers

• Detailed instruction sheet showing where the detailing parts go

Plonked onto the track, the bright colour certainly works nicely, catching the eye. There are some printed details -- such as the buttons for opening the doors -- but they're quite small. I do wonder if a little bit of weathering would help here, for example, some inky washes to show up the moulded details a bit. Still, the livery looks good, including some silver and grey applied to things like foot steps and window frames.

Performance and detailing

Running quality is good thanks to the coreless M-13 motor and flywheel used. The motor is completely hidden underneath the visible part of the interior. It drives the two bogies via worm gears. It's a little noisier than some of my models, but not annoying at all. With a bit of running in, I expect that it'll settle in nicely. Response is steady even at quite low speed, and there's no stalling over the Kato points. Minimum radius is said to be 192 mm, but in any event handles my 315- and 348-mm radius Unitrack curves just fine.

Worth mentioning for those that care, there is a single traction tyre on each bogie. The bogies can be pulled out for easier maintenance. There's quite thick lubricant on the worm gear and the gear at the top of the bogie, but as icky as this looks, it seems to work fine.

Functional buckeye couplings are fitted to the cab ends for coupling up to trailer cars.

Switches on the underside of the train, just behind the bogies, can be used to turn head and tail lights off -- useful if you're running the unit along with a trailer car (the lights on the cab ends facing each other would not normally come on in such a situation).

As delivered, the model includes a fair amount of detail including snowploughs and some of the multiple unit jumper cables. But there are a lot of additional sprues provided. These include some underframe detailing parts, some for the roof, and some for the cab ends. The instruction leaflet is, of course, in Japanese. So, while you do have the diagrams to help, deciding what to do with many of these detailing parts might be a little intimidating!

On the other hand, this isn't all that unusual with Japanese model trains. To some extent, costs are kept down by leaving the modeller to add the more fiddly detailing parts. Not necessarily a negative, but something to consider if you're coming to this part of the N scale railroading hobby from, say, British railway modelling where (admittedly much more expensive) models have lots of plastic or metal detailing parts pre-fitted.

Conclusion

Overall, this is characterful little train that I'm glad I purchased. At the time of writing, RRP is 9,460 Yen (around £45) which seems fair. The somewhat startling number of sprues with detailing parts might put some people off, but even in its basic condition, I think does the job very nicely. The body lifts off easily, so adding a crew and some passengers shouldn't be hard, which should bring the model to life.

Review: Kato 10-041 Local Sen (60th Anniversary Product)

Sekisui Kinzoku first produced N scale models of Japanese prototypes in 1965, starting with a C50 steam locomotive and Oha31 passenger coaches. The rest, as they say, is history!

To commemorate their 60th anniversary, Kato have re-released another very early model from their range, the KiHa 20 diesel multiple unit. The model is offered in two liveries, standard JNR orange-and-cream (10-040) and Tokyo metropolitan all-over orange (10-041). Apart from differences in livery, the two packs contain slightly different models. The JNR orange-and-cream one contains two of the basic KiHa 20 railcars, each with a cab at each end. If you wanted to, you could run just the motorised railcar on its own, like you might see on a quiet branchline somewhere. By contrast, the Tokyo metropolitan is a proper two-car set, including one KiHa 25 (the motorised model) and one KiHaYuNi 26 combination trailer with passenger, baggage, and mail compartments.

But in an age where models feature working lights (not just headlights, but interior lights as well) and separately fitted details, are reissued models from such a long time ago worth buying? 

Background

The KiHa 20 series dates back to the immediate postwar era when the Japanese state railway had the problem of marrying their largest available diesel engine (the DMH17, with about 160 horsepower) with passenger coaches of suitable size. A welded, stressed-steel construction was required to reduce the weight of the coaches while retaining the strength and durability needed. The result was a series of railcars produced between 1957 and 1966 that ultimately numbered well over a thousand vehicles.

They were used throughout Japan, including Hokkaido. KiHa 20 was the basic model and featured air cooling, a lavatory, and small cabs at each end. These railcars were used singly or in multiple across the warmer parts of Japan from 1957 until 1991. KiHa 21 was a cold-resistant version for use on Hokkaido that had double glazing and better heating, but wasn't satisfactory, and in 1958 the KiHa 22 series was produced that was even better suited to cold conditions. These would remain in service until 1995.

By sacrificing one of the cabs, the KiHa 25 design could carry more passengers (88 vs 82), making them better suited to suburban work than the KiHa 20 series. These remained in service until 1987.

What's in the box

As you'd expect for a commemorative reissue, there's a definite nostalgia feel to this model. The outer packaging uses the older Kato colour scheme and typography. The models are supplied inside the usual transparent boxes, but the cardboard inserts are like the ones used on older Kato models, and if you remove the plastic moulding that supports the model, you'll find a yellow inspection certificate -- apparently like the ones Kato used to include with their early models. All very neat!

Apart from that, though, there's nothing but the trains themselves. No sprue with detailing parts, no transfers to add to destination blinds, or anything like that.

Performance and detailing

Once you take the models out of their packaging, their strengths and weaknesses become obvious. Almost all the details are moulded: the only exception seems to be the interconnecting door frames at each end. Other than that, the models are very basic. The roof looks fine, but the air vents are moulded on. The headlamps at each end are painted silver.

The bodywork is nicely moulded and painted, but with no details (such as lights or window frames) picked out in their own colours. There is also relatively little printing on the sides, though the depot affiliation apparently says 'Sekisui', reminding us that these are commemorative models rather than line-specific replicas. The underframe detailing is basic, and while looks quite good on the trailer car, it is very shallowly moulded on the powered car, presumably to allow space for the motor (see below).

The bogies feature standard Rapido couplings, but apart from taking the hooks (and springs) out you can't modify them. You can't, for example, replace these couplings with more prototypical ones like you can with modern Kato multiple units.

Performance is fine, but I don't think a coreless motor is used here, and compared with some of my other Kato models, this model is a little bit noisy. Not enough to make me not want to run it, but definitely not silent in the way that the best of the best models are nowadays. Slow speed performance is good though, and the railcar will travel around 15 cm radius curves reliably, though with a little bit of extra 'grinding' noise from the gears! On more typical curves, the train runs flawlessly in both directions, whether the motorised car is pushing or pulling the unpowered car.

Anything else lacking compared with modern trains? Well, the bogies don't have electrical pick-ups and the trains can't have interior lighting installed (without modification, at least). The lack of headlights or taillights is another obvious deficiency when we compare these models to Kato's more recent multiple units.

Conclusion

While the model itself is basic, to say the least, its Japanese price, ¥5,500 (around £25) should be borne in mind. For about the price of a round of drinks at the pub or a couple of takeaway pizzas you're getting a smooth-running, quite attractive two-car train in quirky packaging.

Kato deliberately market this model as not just a nostalgic model for experienced modellers but also a cheap, entry-level model for beginners.  I think that's a really clever approach. If you're someone who expects high-end features in your models nowadays, you might happily buy this set just for its novelty value and to enjoy owning a bit of Kato history -- or at least, an imitation of an old Kato model!

But new modellers will find these models useful, too. Of the two paint schemes, I liked this one more because it has that classic anime feel, and you could easily imagine one of these railcars tootling down some rural branchline in Japan, with rice paddies on one side and a forested mountainside on the other.

Really, for the Japanese price it's hard to complain. By the time you add shipping and import taxes the deal might not be quite so sweet, though. Would I spend the UK RRP of £55 on one of these? I'm not quite so sure, especially when the much higher specification KiHa 52 railcar retails for about the same price. Admittedly, that's a single unit versus a twin-pack, but the KiHa 52 model has much nicer paintwork and working lights, plus the option to add interior lighting and replica buckeye couplings.

Solving the mystery of the derailing Yakumo

As mentioned in my review of Kato's 273-series 'Yakumo', one frustration was the tendency of the 8-car set (Kato 10-2000) to derail.

Snowplough?

This is definitely one possible source of problems. If you look at the photo below, it's obvious that the snowplough is very close to the track. Unitrack laid flat on a table won't be a problem, but on a scenic layout you will need to check for anything the snowploughs could catch on.

Removing the snowplough is easy enough, but do be careful to wiggle it free: it's a clip-on detailing part, and if you pull too hard, the clips will snap off. Ask me how I know!

Alternatively, you could file back the snowplough to reduce its depth. As you can see in the photo below, there's certainly enough plastic to make this possible without weakening the part too much. Only the leading cars have snowploughs. I found filing back less than 0.5 mm made enough of a difference to be worthwhile. Okay, the snowploughs are now a bit smaller than they should be, but they're still there, which is better than removing them completely!

Couplings?

The couplings do a lot of work in this set, and as the picture below shows, the set is able to turn around quite tight corners while also tilting (a feature of the real trains).

The couplings within the set, i.e., not the ones on the cab ends, work without problems. The ones at the cab ends are a bit different and need to be pulled forward before they will work. There's a black sliding cover underneath that needs to be pulled back to release the grey plastic coupler. Once that's done, the coupler will work reliably.

If you don't do that, the train will derail as soon as it hits a curve. That's because the coupler won't be able to move from side-to-side properly.

Bogies?

While doing the things listed above helped, they didn't 'fix' the train completely. It wasn't until I looked at the bogies until that happened. I noticed that the bogies aren't symmetrical front and back. On a whim, I wondered if turning them around would make any difference. Amazingly, it did! Suddenly, the train was mostly running around an oval of Unitrack without derailing.

So, I looked at the bogies to see if there was a reason why this should be. If you look at the photo below, you can see the a clip in the centre that holds onto the chassis. Towards the bottom of each bogie, a plastic rectangle that ends in a clip. This is the bit would hold the snowplough if the bogie was on a driving car.

You can also see on the bogie on the right a small light grey circle sitting inside a recess. This appears to be from the moulding process and doesn't do anything. I wondered if it was catching on something as the bogie moved. It certainly felt a bit rough. So, I took a needle file and got rid of it, as you can see on the bogie on the left. While I was at it, I used a round needle file to make sure the circular clip in the centre was nice and clean, and then a flat needle file to smooth off the top of the plastic rectangle.

I also checked that the underside of the chassis was right, too. In the next photo you can see the brass strips that press onto the electrical contacts on the top each bogie. These carry the current from the track into the passenger car. This will be used for the headlights (on the driving cars) and the internal lighting (if fitted). Curiously, the brass strips are bent on the passenger cars (left) but flat on the driving cars (right).

Anyway, once the bogies was tidied up as described above, the result was transformative! 

'Yakumo' fixed?

As I write this, my Kato 273-series 'Yakumo' has been running around my scenic layout for about an hour at half-speed without any sign of trouble. It hasn't derailed once. Compared with before, this counts as a fix, and brings this Kato train into line with all my other Kato trains.

Review: Kato 10-1999 and Kato 10-2000 Yakumo Limited Express

This isn't just a new release from Kato, but a new train on Japanese Railways. Released in March, 2025, Kato have produced two versions, a 4-car starter pack (20,350 Yen) and an 8-car special edition (38,500 Yen) in a slip case.

Background

The 273-series 'Yakumo' is one of JRWest's newest trains. Operating between Okayama (on the San'in Main Line) and Izumo (on the Hakubi Line) the route passes through numerous towns as well as famously beautiful scenery. However, earlier generations of rolling stock had a reputation for being a bit shaky and uncomfortable. So, the new 'Yakumo' trains were designed, therefore, to be much more smooth as well as fast. The big, comfy seats can be rotated so that they can either be airplane-style or face-to-face for groups traveling together, and the bathrooms are spacious enough for people in wheelchairs to use easily.

Mechanically, these are tilting trains (something the Kato model replicates) with a maximum speed of 120 km/h (about 75 mph) that operate on 1500V DC. Their livery is unique, a sort of coppery-brown with cream around the windows and a distinctive white cloud design on the sides and cab ends that represents the 'Yakumo' branding.

Kato Class 273-series 'Yakumo' (10-1999)

What's in the box?

• One powered car and three unpowered cars
• Accessory pack including replacement one pair of folding doors and a single gangway piece
• Sticker sheet including destination signs
• Class 273 information booklet
• Instruction leaflet

Described as the Starter Pack version of the train, at 20,350 Yen this is also the cheaper of the two 'Yakumo' trains produced by Kato. It is presented in the cardboard box and expanded polystyrene tray as their other budget offerings, such as the freight car starter pack and the old-style passenger train pack. So, it's easy to store this train pack alongside those on the same shelf.

The cars need to be pushed together on the rail for the couplers to engage with a 'click'. Once that's done off the train goes! Performance is excellent thanks to its slot-less motor, pretty much what you'd expect from any modern Kato train. Cab-end lights come on with minimal current and stay uniformly bright as the train accelerates smoothly.

Externally, the models match our expectations from Kato. The paintwork and printing is excellent, though there has been some discussion as to how effectively the paint on the model matches the glossy, even metallic, finish seen on the real trains. I'm on the fence on this one. When we're looking at model trains on a layout, every 30 cm we stand away from the model is 45 m in the real world, and colours look different as distance increases.

Otherwise, these are nice trains. As is often the case with Kato trains, there are a couple of upgrades available using optional parts available from the usual suppliers. For a start, there's the addition of interior lighting, for which Kato recommend the 'warm white' lighting kits. You'll need at least four of the single-piece pack (#11-213) for a four-car set, although the 6-piece pack (#11-214) is better value if you can use the two spare lighting kits on other trains.

The other upgrade uses #28-220 to replace the lighting boards for the headlights at the cab ends. On the real trains, when two units are coupled together, the headlights of the two cabs that face each other stay illuminated, regardless of speed or direction of travel. This is a safety feature apparently, lighting up the area around the platform where the streamlined cab ends create a gap where somebody could fall into. I've not tried out this upgrade, but there's a nice overview on another blog, here.

According to the instruction leaflet, the set can be made DCC-compatible using #29-351 for the motor, #29-352 for the head/tail lights, and #29-353 for the interior lighting (if installed). These are replacement circuit boards for the analogue boards already fitted.

Kato Class 273-series 'Yakumo' (10-2000)

What's in the box?

• One powered car and seven unpowered cars
• Accessory pack including replacement two pairs of folding doors and a two gangway piece
• Sticker sheet including destination signs
• Some sort of screwdriver-like tool, perhaps for switching on/off the headlights
• Class 273 information booklet
• Instruction leaflet

Although basically similar to the 4-car Starter Pack, I found the 8-car train a bit more problematic. Livery and performance are the same, but the lack of English-language instructions caused some initial frustration!

For a start, two of the cab units have non-working couplings. These look like small, grey, L-shaped pieces of plastic. They (and the grey pockets they clip into) can be removed and replaced with standard couplings and pockets, but since the 'Yakumo' only operates as 4-, 8-, and 12-car trains, there's no real point to doing so: just make sure these driving cars are at the ends of your train.

The other two cab units are the ones with working couplings seating in black pockets. However, as supplied the coupling is recessed slightly so its doesn't flop about when used as 'dummy' couplings at the end of a 4-car train. So, you need to slide the pocket forwards to release the coupling, which now becomes longer and much more flexible. If you don't do this, the trains will couple up just fine, but as soon as the train hits a curve it'll derail because the couplings don't move.

Apparently, this approach is not uncommon on Kato trains, but I'd not come across it before. Well, 'today I learned', as they say!

Once this hurdle had been overcome, I still found the train derailing, though this time only at one particular spot. It turned out that one of the snowploughs kept catching on a piece of rail. In fairness, this was at a joint between two boards, so the railhead might well have been fractionally out of line. But none of the snowploughs on the other 'Yakumo' units caught themselves here. Odd.

There may be an issue with the moulding of these pieces, as similar observations have been commented on, here and here. As it happens, the fix was easy. The bogie unclips and that allows the snowplough to be detached easily. A few strokes with a file reduced the thickness of the snowplough, and when it was put back into place and the train reassembled, it ran flawlessly.

The photo below shows the underside of one of these cars: the coupler can be seen as well as the wedge-shaped snowplough and the headlight switch.

Unlike the 4-car pack, the 8-car pack only includes two driving cars with through doors (or, at least, the open doors and gangways needed to replicate them). The other two driving cars cannot be adapted in this way, and furthermore, are fitted with non-functional (but more prototypical) couplings. This means that these two driving cars must always be at the ends of the train, whether it's being operated as a 4-, 8-, or 12-car unit. So, if you choose to combined this train pack with #10-1999 to create a 12-car unit, the four cars from #10-1999 need to be sandwiched in between the two 4-car units in #10-2000.

Fitting the gangways isn't too difficult but the replacement doors are very thin and easily snapped -- please don't ask me how I know! You start by removing the body shell from the chassis, then gently sliding out the cab detailing part. The piece of plastic that forms the sealed doors unclips and falls out the front, revealing a space into which the corridor connection clips. The whole process takes 5-10 minutes, and as you can see from the picture above, looks quite good despite the inevitable gap between the two cars.

 Conclusion

Despite one or two mishaps along the way, once the couplers were sorted and the snowplough fixed, the train ran beautifully.

Detailing is mostly moulded, as is typical with Kato, but there are some separately fitted details worth noting beyond the doors and gangways already mentioned, such as the pantographs. There are no fewer than four of these on each 4-car unit! All can be raised and lowered as needed. As far as I can tell, only two are normally used on the real things at any one time.

There's a Kato Sound Card for the 'Yakumo' train that includes a number of authentic sounds to add to your driving experience. The card has both controller priority mode and sound synchronisation modes. In controller priority mode, you drive the train as normal, and the Sound Box reacts to things like curves and gradients automatically, for example, by having the motors 'whine' more as they work harder. In sound synchronisation mode the train speeds up and slows down more realistically, and the Sound Box plays the appropriate sounds (such as brakes and motors) as it does so. There are three horns available, one of which has a nifty Doppler effect which works nicely when the train is zipping past you.

Review: Kato 10-1764 KuMoHa 52 Iida Line train

Kato currently produce two different versions of the KuMoHa 52 series: the first batch (#10-1764) and the second batch (#10-1765). While similar at first glance, the most obvious differences include the windows (smaller on the first batch) and the air vents on the roof (circular on the first batch and a mix of circular and rectangular ones on the second batch). This review looks at #10-1764, the first batch trains.

Background

Built in 1936 and 1937, the KuMoHa 52 series was initially used for fast passenger services around bit cities, particularly Osaka. The first two batches had streamlined front ends that very much reflected the sensibilities of the time. However, with a maximum speed of 95 km/h the streamlining didn't really offer any practical benefits, and a third batch of trains was built with conventional front ends. Inside the trains sported wooden panelling, electric lighting, limited overhead luggage storage, and nicely upholstered seats.

Kato are modelling the trains as they were seen on the Iida Line between 1957 and 1983. This 1500V DC line runs for about 121 miles, much of it single track, and is famous for its attractive scenery and seemingly deserted stations.

Kato KuMoHa 52 (10-1764)

What's in the box?

• Powered driving car and three non-powered cars
• Jumper cables on plastic sprues
• Iida Line booklet

The first thing that grabs your attention is the livery. The combination of blue and cream works really well. It is neatly applied with sharp edges where the two colours meet. Apart from the pantographs, there are no separately fitted details; handrails, etc., are all moulded. Each of the driving cars features one large headlight on the roof and two small red tail lights below the front windows. Removing the body reveals a switch that allows you to switch off the lights if you want to (useful for driving cars in the middle of 8- or 12-car formations).

All the cars are equipped with couplers based on the 'old national' type of coupling used on the Japanese multiple units. These are slightly fiddly to use: they click together just fine, but pulling them apart can require an alarming amount of force.

 is as expected for a modern Kato train. The slotless motor and brass flywheel ensure a smooth, steady response to the controller. Maximum speed is considerably above that seen on the real things, and a slightly lower gearing would have been better. But with that said, the trains move smoothly at low voltages, so this isn't a major problem.

As is usual with Kato coaches and multiple units, you can add internal lighting if you want to but it doesn't come supplied as standard. All the bogies have electrical pick-up, the wheels having pin-point axles that press onto copper contacts.

Like the coaches in the 4-car pack from Kato, this train comes with non-prototypical disc wheels rather than spoked wheels. If you want to replace them with authentic spoked wheels, the ones with 13.2 mm axles are the ones required for these older units. As far as I can tell, you can only replace the un-driven wheels on the trailing cars, not the driven wheels on the power car.

Also included in the box is a leaflet about the Iida Line and the Unitrack assortment produced to replicate it. If you have 210 x 110 cm available, it looks a lot of fun!

The train is presented in a foam-lined slip case for easy storage. A bit larger than a paperback book, this is easily stored on a bookshelf and should keep your train safe when out of use.

Conclusion

This a lovely 'old timer' sort of train that will surely grace many layouts. On the plus side, the paintwork is attractive and the moulded detail nice and sharp. Quibbles about maximum speed aside, the train moves quietly and smoothly across the power range thanks to a well-built mechanism.

The two main negatives are more about what's not included but available as upgrades: the spoked wheels and the internal lighting. I'm on the fence about the couplings. They seem to work well but don't look especially durable.

Definitely worth mentioning is the existence of a Sound Card for this type of train. This adds some excitement to driving the train, but doesn't, perhaps, offset the lack of a DCC slot or easy DCC upgrade.

RRP is 19,030 Yen, around £100, which feels like good value for a four-car train.