Ladies and Gentlemen, today is a special day: it's the 15th Anniversary of this very "Japan" thread, wich began exactly 15 Years ago, on the 10th of January 2007.
Hello
Here two shots from me , I have make it with the wonderfull stuff from Kenichiro , big compliments Kenichiro , I hope you make more wonderfull objects from Japan. I missing the famous shinkansen JR 0 , the Kodama from 1967 , an chance you build this Train? OK , here my shots....
best regards
Conny
We originally started out as a quite small group - Japanese content was nearly non-existant - but over the course of fifteen years, 456 thread pages and trought the collective effort of all the participants in this thread, wheter active or inactive, i can say with some degree of certainty that we've evolved into one of Trainz's most active communites.
2007 was only 15 years ago, but looks like the remote past. 15 Years is the famous "Half-the-Lifespan of JR East's Shin-Keiretsu Densha "Half the Weight, Half the Cost, Half the Lifespan" concept.
Back in January 2007, in the Tokyo Area the 209, 205 and 201 Serieses were still a common sight, the newest "widespread" commuter trains were the E231 Series, with the E233 Series having only tinidly started full service on the Chuo Line a month earlier - the iconic 103 and 113 Series had disappeared from the Tokyo Area the year earlier, but the 115, 211 and 415 Series still remained in widespread, depsite the introduction of new stock.
On the Shinkansen, many JNR-designed trains were still in full service - the bulk of the Tohoku and Joetsu and Shinkansen lines was still formed of 200 Series trains, all of wich had been just refurbished. The San'yo Shinkansen was still using the 100 and 300 Series, and the 500 Series on Nozomi services. It had been only a few months since the last 0 Series Shinkansen had been retired, in an event broadcasted on national television and wich many people attended dressed as for a funeral or a wedding.
The Kyushu Shinkansen was also still in a peculiar "truncated" situation, with the southern section between Kumamoto and Kagoshima-Chuo, while the norther one was still construction, nearing completion.
There was no Hokkaido nor Hokuriku Shinkansen - countless of the iconic "Blue Train" sleeper services still ran up and down Japan, including the famous Cassiopeia, Twilight Express, Akatsuki and Hokutosei.
The newest subway line in the country was the Osaka Municipal Subway Imazatosuji Line - the Fukutoshin Line in Tokyo was still under construction, as was the Sendai Subway Tozai Line.
Tokyo Metro itself had existed only for a little more than a couple of years, and the JR Group had existed for around 20 years.
Hybrid, Battery and dual-system trains were still in an experimental phase - the majority of non-electrified services was still operated by JNR-era KiHa 40 DMUs and derivatives.
Tourist trains were seen as an oddball novelty, and were very few, as were foreign tourists in Japan overall.
Needless to say, the panorama of Japanese railways has radically changed. Except for freight, locomotive-hauled trains are nearly extinct, and most of the trains mentioned above have been retired from service in the last decade-and-a-half, being replaced by newer ones, something that has been reflected into our trainz.
I cheer to the past 15 years, and look forward to the next ones!
Of course, modelling-wise i couldn't ignore this special occasion, so as a little commemorative thing, i've made togheter with @DuskeyDuskey what is probably the most special out of all the Japanese trains:
The iconic "Imperial Train" - JR East's E655 Series "Nagomi"!
The standard version is currently avaible
here and will soon be avaible on my website as well.
However, i've also prepared a special version (pictured above) for this thread's anniversary, with a dedicated headmark:
This one will be my first and (probably, for a long time) last "limited edition" model: it will be
avaible only for the next 15 days - until the 25th of January!
(Time Elapsed!)
Happy anniversary Japan Thread!