To Commute or not to commute, that is the question.

Well you probably know that Im interested in putting together a commuter train, Im looking at the Series E231-500 Yamanote line that runs around Tokyo. Im pretty tired of Shinkasen's right now and think I have a varied collection of different kinds. The Yamanote E231-500 is a pretty recognizable train, its silver with a green stripe and a white face.

One thing that has prevented me from getting a commuter set is the price. The basic set is $104, the "A" set is $86 & the "B" set is another $76. so were looking at $262.00 not including shipping from Japan. I may take a look on Yahoo Japan and see what is on there, hopefully I can score a used E231-500 on the cheap.


I have another dellima, Im not sure I want the Series E231 or the Joban line E531 the E531 is the newest in design in the "E" series so Im conflicted as what I should do.In the end I think Im going to wind up getting the E231 Yamanote line commuter basic set then get the "A" & "B" sets.

A quick photo shoot

I wanted to put up a picture of my Japanese train collection. There is one set missing from the picture below which is the Kato Eizan Railway Type 900 "Kirara" Orange Tram.

Wow time travel is real!!!

According to EMS it is, my package started it's journey on Nov 16th and guess what showed up today. Yup thats right my used 100 Series Shinkansen "Grand Hikari" + 2 showed its pretty face. Thats some serious speed Japan to NYC in 3 freaking days I doubt Doc Brown & Marty could go any faster. I really dont need to post pics since it looks just like the pic in my other post.

A slow day in my Japanese railroad universe

Well there isn't much going on in my Japanese model railroad universe. My package from JAC has finally shipped out to me. It left Osaka International Branch on the 17th, I guess that means the Osaka branch of EMS. Ive tracked it from its last known location Osaka and that's it nothing else. Hmmmmmmmmm, I think its time to start looking at some commuter trains what do you think.

Japan Auction Center Proxy Fees

I thought Id post the fees that I was charged after winning my auction. Id rather a new user not be shocked by unknown fees. I didn't know there was a fee after you won an auction and local delivery fee what is that about lol.

Here are my proxy fees so far, I expect that to go up another $30 USD for shipping to me once the package shows up. So far so good and not bad for a rare item like the Kato Hikari + 2 car add on set that I won.


Bank charges for auction(s) - 300 ¥ 2009-11-10 10:14:24
Local delivery charges for auction(s) - 800 ¥ 2009-11-10 10:14:24
Fee for won auction[ The fee on won auction ] 1840 ¥ 2009-11-08 21:42:5
Actual ending auction - 13,000 ¥ = 144.00 USD 2009-11-08 21:42:5
Current Balance -2940 ¥ = $32.5416 USD

Kato Series 100 Grand Hikari part 2

Well I placed a reservation for a Series 100 at Hobby Search with the expectation that It would ship in November, but it got pushed back to January. So I decided that I really wanted a Series 100 and didnt want to wait until January. Ive been searching Yahoo Japan Auctions and found a Grand Hikari with a 2 car add on set for 13,000 yen. I used a proxy bidding company to place a bid for me and won the auction. So I have to wait for the seller to ship it to the company then wait for the company to ship it to me. This is a great service if youre impatient like I am but it does come with a fee of course.