October 🚄 news from Train Trax UK - More Announcements from Kato USA and Japan.

It's not long since I sent you an email about the September announcements from Kato. This month I'm a bit better organised, so the October announcements are following swiftly behind.

There's a bumper crop of interesting items in the announcements, with most due to arrive over the next six months. Pricing on some items is still to be confirmed so I'm not including all pre-order links this time. You'll find all items on our pre-order page when we have prices for them. Here's my summary:

• Of most interest to UK modellers will be the 9 car GWR Class 800/3 train. This has been widely expected after the other versions, but now we know it will be with us by the summer of next year. It will be available in DC/Analogue, DCC Fitted and DCC Sound versions. Which will you go for?
• For North American modellers there's a re-run of the iconic #4014 Big Boy, plus associated tenders, excursion train and diesel support loco SD70M diesel #4015 will be updated to match the current livery details. There's a few other liveries and road numbers of the SD70M too so make sure you check out the options.
• Japanese N gauge fans get the EF510 310 and new sets of container wagons for it to pull, as well as some more figures and a new re-railing device which looks useful. The Christmas set previously announced for US customers is also coming out in Japan and elsewhere. I'm looking forward to that one arriving!
• There's some changes afoot for controllers - the standard 'blue' controller and point switches are getting costume changes and will now be dressed in a sleek black to match the Sound Box. Technical gubbins stay the same so you'll still get silky smooth PWM DC control. There's also a baby controller being introduced suitable for Pocket Line locos which will run off a 5V USB-C power supply (i.e. a phone charger). Perfect for seasonal layouts around a tree perhaps?
• In BIG news there's a HO version of the powerful Japanese D51 steam loco. This looks to be quite a beast! It's coming with various freight wagons, figure sets and realistic scenic coal. I'd love to see a train like this as part of a UK exhibition layout one day!

As promised in my last email, we have had lots of North American locos arrive this week. We've also had our first batch of GWR Class 800 'Paddington' Starter Sets come in. A few other long awaited items such as Unitram points have also arrived. Check the 'Just Arrived' pages.

As the weather changes and we think about the modelling months to come many of us will be wondering about our personal finances. This is your regular reminder that we try to have the best pricing for Kato items in the UK. We'll price match any UK retailer who has the item in stock - just get in touch to let us know what you found and where. In addition to that; we offer 60 day no hassle returns and friendly service.

It's been a bit of a strange month so far here at HQ as we juggle various projects and admin tasks. I hope to send you another email next week with a one-off special announcement as one of the projects comes to fruition.

Happy modelling

Ian Miller
on behalf of Model Railway Magic/Train Trax UK

PS.
From time to time our second hand brand Model Railway Magic get requests for 'clean' used Kato Unitrack, sometimes in bulk. At the moment we don't have any in stock. If you have reasonable quantities of track pieces which you're not using, then we might be able to offer you something for them and find it a good home. Email us with details.