A British domestic train from Kato? 800 series available from May 2021

[crewearpley40]

There on a winner kato

[acko22]

800 and 802 broadly similar appearance etc but 802 mainly gwr has higher engine power. Worth googling

You are indeed right, just to confuse people some what more, the engines are identical with the same power capacity the deviations been the fuel flow and gearing ratios between the two. The 800 units have a lower maximum fuel flow and the gearing is set for lower torques when compared to the 802 configurations. The reason for this this (again from people that work for Hitachi) is from an engineering perspective very logical.

The 800s are designed to run on the flatter higher speed sections where as the 802s are designed to run on the routes with more gradients such as Devon (beyond Exeter) and the Transpennine routes, as such the power output and torque settings on the 802s need to be higher to be able to contend with the gradients.
Add into that as the 800 units are for flatter routes and don't need as much power or torque reducing the stresses on the engines will reduce maintenance and service life (well that's the idea anyway).

But back to the models, @njee20  thoughts on Kato offering a 5 car with 4 car add on packs to make a 9 car would seem like the logical idea and something Kato are prepared to do if the eurostar is anything to go by, to make a 9 car from a 5 car you would need extra coaches:

TS-TS-MC-MF

So effectively you could extend either an 800 or 802 on a single add on pack!

Again this is some crystal ball gazing but does seem like the logical steps, but time will tell. Personally I would love to see the Transpennine and follow on EMT versions fro where I am modelling so hopefully they will be part of the plans, if not I am sure I can stretch LNER services to incorporate where my layout is been set.

[crewearpley40]

could be interesting if the project comes to fruition and we all see the products in the shops

[jpendle]

Hi Acko

I think you've got some typo's in your last post.
The 802's ARE meant for steeper routes, the 800's aren't.

Regards,

John P

[acko22]

Hi Acko

I think you've got some typo's in your last post.
The 802's ARE meant for steeper routes, the 800's aren't.

Regards,

John P

Shhhh I haven't altered the text at all 

[marco neri]

...and 802's are built in Italy

Cheers

Marco

[railsquid]

To fan the muddy waters of speculation, one of the Japanese business journals is reporting that Kato is building a large new factory (in addition to its existing two) north of Tokyo, with construction due to start in February 2020.

Article in Japanese: https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/297814

The Class 800 is specifically mentioned (along with the ICE 4) as part of what looks like increasing participation in overseas markets.

[Bealman]

Interesting.

But I don't want to think about what is in the yellow tube, though 

[railsquid]

 

[Littorio]

I'll be up for one of these but I wonder if it will come with a broken coupler?

Stuck at Plymouth earlier this year, HST had broken down so all the passengers were put on a 5 car Hitachi unit with those passengers already on board, a second 5 car unit was brought in at the front with more passengers already one board to make a 10 car. Then the crew couldn't get the two to couple, clamshell doors wouldn't open on the front unit, engineer arrives opens the doors but after 30 minutes still wouldn't couple (great to watch), so now everyone forced to cram into the front 5. Would not want the train mangers job taking everyone's complaints.

Best announcement though 'for those passengers going to Newton Abbott to board the replacement train (HST) don't worry it will not leave without you as the crew are aboard this train'

[Bealman]

The article I saw when I clicked on the link had a picture of stuff oozing out of a tube at the bottom of the page 

[woodbury22uk]

The article I saw when I clicked on the link had a picture of stuff oozing out of a tube at the bottom of the page 

I think the ads are tailored to match your browsing history - I got the dog flea collar. Not sure about yellow oozing stuff though.....

[njee20]

Seat cars here.

Be exciting if Kato do move more into new markets, purely because of their clout. Sounds like a reasonable statement of intent.

[railsquid]

The article I saw when I clicked on the link had a picture of stuff oozing out of a tube at the bottom of the page 

I think the ads are tailored to match your browsing history - I got the dog flea collar. Not sure about yellow oozing stuff though.....

I see. I thought it might be some weird automatic translation but couldn't for the life of me work out what.

Anyway all I see are ads for trains from my local auction site, for some unknown reason. 

[Ben A]

Hello all,

Railsquid - thanks for posting the link.  Very interesting and something most of us would never have found I suspect!

I followed some of the links to other articles, and one discusses Kato's move into European models, in particular the Swiss Raetische Bahn Glacier Express.

It goes into the thinking behind these products which, in effect, created a largely new market.  The attraction was the tight curves of the prototype and its metre-gauge, which Kato were familiar with as it's very close to the Japanese 3'6 gauge represented in N by 1:150 scale models.

I know some of the sets are sold on the Glacier Express trains themselves.

Cheers

Ben A.