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Product Review – Kato’s N Scale Orient Express by Blaine Bachman

The award for best kept model railroading secret of 2008 might go to Kato for its release of two sets of vintage Orient Express-type (CIWL) passenger cars in N scale. More curious too is the fact that these sets were distributed only within the Japanese market.

Background

In 1988 a special running of the Nostalgie Istanbul Orient Express was commissioned by Fuji Television, a large Japanese media company, to celebrate its 30th anniversary. The train left Zurich in early September of that year and passed through Paris, Aachen, Helmstedt, Marienborn, Potsdam, Berlin Lichtenberg, Frankfurt an der Oder, Kunowice, Poznan, Warsaw, Brest, Minsk, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Ulan Bator, and Beijing. At Kowloon (Hong Kong), the train was loaded aboard a Japan-bound ship and spent the next two months traveling on Japanese 3’6” lines between Hiroshima, Sapporo, Tokyo, and Kobe. At the completion of its service it was reportedly returned to Antwerp by ship.

Successful completion of this epic journey required the vehicles’ trucks (bogies) to be exchanged three times: from 1435 mm (standard gauge) to 1524 mm at the Soviet border, back to 1435 mm entering China and then to 1067 mm upon arrival in Japan. Three complete sets of trucks were provided for this purpose, each set fitted with the appropriately-gauged wheelsets.

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During their Japan sojourn, the CIWL set was bracketed by a pair of Japanese cars fitted at one end with buffers and link couplings to match the European standard and at the other with the usual Japanese couplers. This enabled the train to be moved by Japanese equipment.

Two photographs included in the brochure that accompanies set 10-561 show the thirteen-car train exactly as Kato has modeled it. But other sources indicate that Service-Shower car 4013, a seventh Lx Sleeper (3475), a second Pullman (4149), and a second YT Sleeper (3851) were in the consist at least as far as Berlin. I have not been able to determine if these four additional cars did make the entire journey.

Packaging

Kato’s commemorative offering is divided into two sets, one (10-561) containing the two Japanese cars and five Orient Express cars. The second set (10-562) contains six additional Orient Express cars needed to complete Kato’s consist. Each set is packed in the familiar Kato snap case with custom cut foam insert. Both the case and the protective cardboard sleeve are dark blue and display the distinctive NIOE logo.

Appearance and Features

First, the answer to the question most worrisome to a European modeler: Kato did indeed model the European cars in 1:160 scale. I verified this by taking outside measurements using digital calipers, multiplying by 160, and comparing to published prototype dimensions. This bodes well for us because it suggests that Kato plans to market the pieces outside Japan (likely in a different assortment). Hopefully, this will come to pass with minimal ‘Orient Express’ licensing issues. The cars also compare favorably in size to Rivarossi’s now decades-old models.

The set is everything you would expect from Kato: superbly finished, flush windows, fine detail, completeness of markings, and pre-fitted for the installation of lighting kits. The CIWL cars are blue overall, with silver-grey roof, the sole exception being the Pullman which has the typical white sides above the beltline. Interiors are modeled (though peering through the widows of the YT sleeper, it seems a stretch that the upper berths should be in the down position while the window shades are open).

As further evidence of Kato's attention to detail, the Pullman and the Bar car are of Cote d'Azur design (and appear to share the same body casting), yet Kato has provided distinctive roof castings and window glass for each car. On the down side, the trucks (bogies) are of a Japanese design and there is no close-coupling mechanism or standard socket for the fitting of an NEM coupler. The trucks are fitted with standard Rapido couplers; set 10-561 also contains two Kato knuckle couplers, presumably as substitutes for the couplers on the ‘Japanese end’ of the adapter cars.

Kato's usual LED or incandescent lighting kits can be installed to light the cars (apparently you must first snap off one of the light bar segments to shorten it). One car, the Pullman, does come partly fitted with lighting; in this case, it is not the interior that is lighted but the lampshade of each table-mounted lamp. Though perhaps a tiny bit silly, this feature is eye catching and will certainly prove to be a crowd pleaser at public events.

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Set 10-561:

CIWL Number Type UIC Number

3487A Lx-16 Sleeper 51 80 06 41 103-8

3551A Lx-20 Sleeper 51 80 06 41 111-1

4158DE Pullman (Cóte d’Azur) 51 85 09 30 000-1

3354 Voiture-Restaurant Présidentielle 51 85 08 40 006-7

1286M Baggage 51 85 09 30 011-8

Set 10-561 also contains the two Japanese end cars

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Set 10-562:

CIWL Number Type UIC Number

3472A Lx-16 Sleeper 51 80 06 41 104-6

3537A Lx-16 Sleeper 51 80 06 41 101-2

3480A Lx-16 Sleeper 51 80 06 41 106-1

3542A Lx-16 Sleeper 51 80 06 41 102-0

4164E Salon Bar (Cóte d’Azur) 51 85 08 30 002-8

3909A YT Sleeper 51 80 06 41 107-9

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Operating Characteristics

Borrowing a phrase from John Deere, “Nothing runs like a…Kato!” Passenger cars carrying the Kato name are well known among N-scalers for their excellent operating characteristics, and these latest offerings are no exception. I tested a sample five-car train on an oval of Kato’s own track (the old ‘K1’ set) and it performed flawlessly around the 282 mm (12-3/8”) curves. I even ran the train in reverse for a while with no problems whatsoever.

Notwithstanding the absence of a close coupling mechanism, the ‘air gap’ between cars is not too noticeable. There’s no buffer or diaphragm interference even when the train is being pushed in reverse. Kato’s wheelsets remain properly gauged thanks to a nine-piece construction that is the zenith of simplicity: each metal wheel comprises an outboard needle bearing and inboard stub axle; one wheel assembly is pressed into each end of a plastic tube cut precisely to the length needed to keep the wheelset at the proper gauge. The needle bearings ride in conical bronze truck sideframe inserts thereby ensuring slick rolling characteristics and a perfect power pick-up for the optional interior lighting.

Epilogue

Intraflug went bankrupt in the early Nineties, but from a web page that is a few years old, I found former NIOE Baggage 1286M, and Cóte d’Azur Pullman 4158DE and Salon Bar 4164E on a list of private cars owned by Reisebüro Mittelthurgau and registered with the SBB. Voiture-Restaurant Présidentielle 3354 is also on this list, albeit with the slightly modified UIC registration number of 51 85 08-30 006-9. A couple of more recent web sites indicate that the NIOE fleet has since been purchased by Austrian interests and registration with the ÖBB is expected.

A significant amount of contention has recently engulfed the ‘Orient Express’ name. Suits and countersuits involving the heir-apparent company CIWLT and ‘upstarts’ Venice Simplon Orient Express, Nostalgie Istanbul Orient Express, and the now-defunct American Orient Express have been filed but not all decisions have been rendered. In the meanwhile, some of the companies have suspended operations until the matter is settled. How this will play out and what effect it will have on the nostalgic luxury railcar industry (and on the production and marketing of models of those cars) can only be guessed.

Finally, in August 2007 Service-Shower car 4013 (not included in Kato’s sets but part of the 1988 train as it passed through Berlin) was at the ZOS Ceske Velenice CZ shops in the Czech Republic undergoing a complete rebuild during which it is to be converted back to its original Cóte d’Azur Pullman with kitchen configuration (WPC). Completion is expected for some time in 2009.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Böhmer, Gerd. Nostalgie-Istanbul Orient-Express im September 1988. http://www.gerdboehmer-berlinereisenbahnarchiv.de/Bildergalerien/19880907-nioe/19880907-t.html. (2009).

The Railfaneurope.net Picture Gallery. http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/CIWL/pix.html. (2009).

Sölch, Werner. Tourist Specials. http://trains-worldexpresses.com/500/516.htm. (2009).

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http://www.swissrails.ch/portrait/sbb/rollmaterial/privpwagen/privpwagen.htm. (2009)

Voiture CIER No 4013 – Reisezugwagen. http://www.rail.lu/materiel/cierpullman4013.html, (2009).