All being well, this weekend we’re off to Alexandra Palace for the London Festival of Railway Modelling, which means the usual mix of planning, packing, second-guessing what to take, and trying not to forget anything important.
TrainTrax and The Model Tree Shop will both be there, and we’re looking forward to seeing plenty of familiar faces as well as, hopefully, meeting some new ones too. At the shows coming up I’ll also be starting to quietly spread the word about a bigger idea I’ve been working on, and looking for the right person to help bring it to life.
A few practical notes if you’re ordering from us this week.
First, do come and see us if you’re visiting the show. We’ll have a carefully chosen range of Kato, scenery, trees and other favourites with us. If there’s something specific you’d like us to bring, just let us know. We’ve already had requests for particular bridge colours so people can see them in real life before deciding, and that’s absolutely fine with us.
You can also place an order on the website for collection at the show, which saves the postage and means you know you’ll go home with something good.
Finally, any orders placed on the website during the show period may take a little longer to dispatch than usual while the team is away exhibiting. We’ll still be keeping an eye on things and will get orders moving again as quickly as possible afterwards.
Thanks for your patience, and we hope to see some of you at Ally Pally.
If you’re not coming to London, we’ll also be at the York show over the Easter weekend, so perhaps we’ll see you there instead.
Newly announced by KATO
Announcements usually come on a Friday around the turn of the month. It takes us a little while to confirm UK pricing and get everything onto the website, but the latest batch is now live.
For many of our customers, the standout item this time will be the new RhB Allegra Revival Livery set, and I’d expect that to attract plenty of attention. Close behind it is a strong batch of Taiwan Railway items, with the E500 electric locomotive and PP Tze-Chiang coaches now listed. Beyond those, there are also some nice Japanese additions, including KiHa 52 railcars in two liveries, the E657 in revival orange, the Izukyu Resort 21 and the Ogaki Night Train, plus a few new HO EF510 electrics for HO modellers.
You can browse the full pre-order list here:
https://traintrax.co.uk/preorders-reserve-them-here-c-51-html
New arrivals
Every week we unpack something interesting, and this week’s batch has a bit of everything.
Our headline this week is the Kato 10-2144 683 Series 2000 "Noto Kagari" 3-Car Set, a striking limited express with plenty of character. Only two were in stock at the time of writing.
Also just landed:
- Kato 10-2154 Aichi Loop Railway 2000 Series Blue Belt 2-Car Set and 10-2155 Green 2-Car Set
Compact, colourful two-car sets that can be paired to make a four-car consist. Very limited at the time of writing: two blue and one green.
- Kato 10-1837 321 Series JR Kyoto/Kobe/Tozai Line Basic Set (3 Cars) and 10-1838 Add-On Set (4 Cars)
A strong everyday JR West urban EMU, with the option to build from a three-car starter set to a full seven-car formation.
And one for the collectors:
- Kato 10-2100 Special Projects Nankai Electric Railway 6000 Series (Unpainted) 6-Car Set
A distinctive special edition in bare stainless steel, and only one was available at the time of writing.
Stock is tight across all of these, particularly the Aichi Loop sets and the Nankai Special Project, so they’re worth a look sooner rather than later.
You can see the latest arrivals here:
https://traintrax.co.uk/just-arrived-c-27-html
Rolling sale
We’ve also been adding extra items to the sale page. Everything is new and unused. We’re simply clearing space and keeping things moving, so it’s worth another look even if you checked it recently.
Sale page:
https://traintrax.co.uk/sale
You may also spot some new items on our eBay site for similar reasons.
As ever, thank you for your support. Good customers really do make a specialist business like ours possible, and we don’t take that for granted.
We’re looking forward to meeting plenty of you at Ally Pally this weekend and at York over Easter. If you’re coming along, do come and say hello, and take a read of our big red board.
All the best,
Ian
(on behalf of the team)
