Railway model prices also rising!? KATO also announces new products (additional products?)

Good evening!

It rained heavily on the last day of the week, but the trains didn't stop and we made it to the weekend lol

In the midst of all this...

KATO announced the above releases, which I guess are additional announcements for their October releases.

However, there was nothing new in any of them, only "slotless motors", "variations", and "renewal resales" of existing products.

Of these, JR East's "TRAIN SUITE Shiki-Shima" in the top right was released as a special product in 2017 (it's been over five years already...), but it has basically been split into an add-on set and has been renewed and resold with a slotless motor. It has been a bit pricey on Yahoo! Auctions recently, but this may be good news for those who missed out on it.

I also have KATO's JR Kyushu "Seven Stars" (more info here) and JR West's "Twilight Mizukaze" (more info here), so I want the Shiki-Shima that I missed out on, but I wish they'd re-released it in the special edition package... It's a bit of a disappointment for those who want to collect the luxury cases... However, if the special edition drops in price on Yahoo! Auctions with this renewed re-release, I might buy it lol

I don't particularly mind, but I have a faint hope that the driver's seat lower window of the renewed re-released product will be improved... lol

Next up is TOMIX, which has a price increase.

Last year, the price of individual rails and accessories increased by 10 to 30%, but this time the price of other rail sets, structures, control devices, etc. has increased by 20 to 30%, and the reason is as stated, the rising cost of materials and logistics.

There's nothing we can do about this lol

I don't know how many people are into model railroads, but I imagine that the situation is pretty tough, and the number of people buying them will continue to decrease and the hobby will die out.

Well, Japan's population will decrease dramatically in the future, so this is "unavoidable"...

As long as I'm alive, I don't mind if the model railroads become a little more expensive, so please keep selling "Kiha" models!!!

I'll buy anything, especially if it's a Kiha 40 series lol

See you lol

It was raining today, so I took the train both to and from work.

Recently, I've found that I can make it in time if I leave home at the usual time and walk, so I haven't taken the train for about two weeks lol

It's been a while since I've been on the Gakuen Toshi Line, and there was a "rail-road car" parked in the ballast yard near the siding at the station where I got off.

It's a little hard to see, but it's equipped with railroad wheels between the front and rear wheels and behind the rear wheels, so it's a truck that can run on railroad tracks.

There are many different vehicles parked on this storage line, but this was my first time seeing a road-rail vehicle. However, at first glance it looks like an ordinary truck, so I would really like to see it running on the tracks...

On my way home, I couldn't help but snap a photo of this little discovery lol

See you soon

Rakuten has already started taking pre-orders for the renewed and re-released Shiki-Shima.

At the same time, there is a special product from five years ago, but... the price... is unbelievable lol