Review: Tomix 2709 Private Owner Tank Wagon (Tamu 6000)

Another cheap wagon purchased secondhand before I really knew anything about Japanese railways — or for that matter, where to find information about Japanese railways written in English! This Tomix wagon is attractive and functional, but what is it actually meant to represent? Turns out, nothing specific...

Background

Alongside all its high-end models, Tomix has also produced low-cost wagons (like the Komu wagons reviewed elsewhere on this blog) that are built to satisfy the casual modeller on a budget. While those Komu wagons were models of something real, Tomix 2709 is more freelance in its approach. There were two-axle tank wagons on the Japanese railway, such as the Tamu 5000, the Tomix model isn't one of them. Instead, it seems to use the same chassis and wheelset as the Komu wagons (Tomix 2718 and 2719) but with a small tank plonked on top of it instead of a couple of containers. Apparently, the Tomix 2712 Guard's Van is similar, but I don't own it.

Tomix 2709 Private Owner Tank Wagon (Tamu 6000)

What's in the box?

• Private owner tank wagon
• Wheels (not chemically blackened)
• Arnold couplings
• Sheet of rub-on transfers to add branding (Esso, Kyodo Oil, JOT, and Nippon Oil)

So, as is common with Tomix models, there's a little extra work to do before you can use the wagon. In this case, rather than fitting details, you'll be adding the transfers. Perhaps not 100% essential, but the wagon looks very dull without them. Apart from some white printed letters and numbers on the tank itself, the model lacks any other printing or paintwork.

Performance and detailing

Performance is excellent. The wagon rolls along nicely, even on curves as tight as R150 Unitrack. As such, it's a nice little wagon to put behind a small locomotive (like a C11 or DE10) working a branchline through mountainous scenery. While the Rapido coupler isn't subtle it works entirely as expected, coupling up happily to Kato as well as Tomix wagons, and I dare say any other rolling stock equipped with a Rapido coupler.

Detailing is minimal though. The basics are certainly there: ladders on each side, straps holding the tank in place, and a platform around the filler cap. But they're not made to high standard modellers expect from premium products. The ladders are chunky plastic and not, for example, separately fitted etched brass. Similarly, the platform around the filler cap should probably be some sort of metal grill, and while the grill effect is moulded onto the plastic platform, it doesn't perforate the platform as it should. Again, on a premium wagon you'd expect to see etched brass used to replicate that sort of detail.

Still, if you wanted to improve the wagon a bit, Tomix 0396 TN Coupler set and Tomix 0652 Blackened Wheels (5.6mm) are both available from the usual retailers. As 'vintage' model with pinpoint ends to the axles, the old wheels push out and the new ones pop in. I tarted mine up by weathering the wagon to give it more of an 'in use' feel, including using some gloss varnish to simulate oil leakage.

Conclusion

Sold new, the wagon cost about ¥600 (under £4). You can still find them online at vendors like RG-Rokko. For what they cost, they're absolutely fine if all you want is a wagon to add variety to a short mixed goods train.

However, as models they fall between two stools. On the one hand, if they're meant to replicate the Tamu5000 they fall short by lacking transfers appropriate to the chemical loads they'd normally carry: hydrochloric acid and amino acids — the latter used in food production. On the other hand, the transfers the models do come with, for oil companies, would be better used on much larger bogie tankers like the Taki 3000 ones used to transport gasoline, not little tank wagons like these.

Kato do produce twin-packs of Tamu500 tank wagons, such as #8069-1 in JOT livery. These wagons would be a better bet if you wanted a more realistic train of oil tankers on your layout. The twin-packs ¥2000 (about £9) mean they're slightly more expensive but being much more realistic models, unless your budget is really tight, they're probably the better investment.

Similarly, MicroAce produce models of the Tamu5000 wagons including the famous 'Aji Tam' ones carrying amino acids to the Ajinomoto factory near Kawasaki (MicroAce A3075). So, if you wanted to replicate that particular flow of traffic, that's the set to get. As with other MicroAce models, you pay quite a lot more (at ¥10,000, about £46) for a niche model, but they do look very nice and feature a lot more detailing, such as handrails, absent from the Tomix model.