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

[Newportnobby]

You wicked, wicked man.
Ordered

[railsquid]

Neither fit in my area/period of interest, but am terribly tempted by the LNER version on a Rule 1 basis. If this works its way into the local trade at the usual 30% discount on RRP, at the current exchange rate it would set me back about 135 GBP

[Newportnobby]

It will be my first ever Kato purchase (apart from some track) so it will be interesting to see how it stacks up against my UK locos from the usual suspects.
At £169.50 it compares very favourably against a Dapol HST 4 car bookset at around £176 and, say, a Farish 4 car class 319 at £254.95!!

[Invicta Alec]

As a fan of Kato Unitrack, I am looking forward to getting one of these Kato trains. I've read many times people praising their quality.
They are to be sold as "DCC ready". I've heard upgrading them is not the same as just taking out a blanking plate and popping a decoder in like we do with Farish or Dapols but that a complete circuit board has to be changed. Can anyone confirm that please?

Alec.

[woodbury22uk]

As a fan of Kato Unitrack, I am looking forward to getting one of these Kato trains. I've read many times people praising their quality.
They are to be sold as "DCC ready". I've heard upgrading them is not the same as just taking out a blanking plate and popping a decoder in like we do with Farish or Dapols but that a complete circuit board has to be changed. Can anyone confirm that please?

Alec.

The most recently released TGVs have had 6pin DCC interfaces, so no problem to convert if they follow that pattern for the Class 800 series. Will they be Next18, I wonder?

[railsquid]

As a fan of Kato Unitrack, I am looking forward to getting one of these Kato trains. I've read many times people praising their quality.
They are to be sold as "DCC ready". I've heard upgrading them is not the same as just taking out a blanking plate and popping a decoder in like we do with Farish or Dapols but that a complete circuit board has to be changed. Can anyone confirm that please?

"DCC friendly" is the term Kato uses. I don't do DCC but if it's constructed on the same lines as the "DCC friendly" Japanese stock I have, you'll need an EM13 decoder for the power car and FL12 decoders for the end cars.

The end cars have little panels underneath which can be removed to put the decoder in, and it looks like installation on the power is just a case of popping the underframe cover off (which is easy to do).

I think it's the North American locomotives where you need to change out the entire circuit board.

However if the main target market is the UK, I'd assume they'll go for a more "normal" DCC solution like they've done with other European models.

[Trainfish]

Rails at £169.50. Hattons at £178... The prices for these models will be a race to the bottom between retailer, as the RRP is £209.95. Anyone else selling it will not stand a chance, until Rails and Hattons sell out.

Promises to be a great model, I can't wait to get my hands on it. The GWR livery has so much more class than the rest of the UK network. 

I got the email from Hattons earlier and ordered one, in GWR green of course. I went back to my inbox and saw the email from Rails. So, back to Hattons website, cancelled that one and ordered from Rails. I'm surprised theres so much difference in price between the 2 to be honest.

[Invicta Alec]

As a fan of Kato Unitrack, I am looking forward to getting one of these Kato trains. I've read many times people praising their quality.
They are to be sold as "DCC ready". I've heard upgrading them is not the same as just taking out a blanking plate and popping a decoder in like we do with Farish or Dapols but that a complete circuit board has to be changed. Can anyone confirm that please?

"DCC friendly" is the term Kato uses. I don't do DCC but if it's constructed on the same lines as the "DCC friendly" Japanese stock I have, you'll need an EM13 decoder for the power car and FL12 decoders for the end cars.

The end cars have little panels underneath which can be removed to put the decoder in, and it looks like installation on the power is just a case of popping the underframe cover off (which is easy to do).

Thank you @railsquid  for this information. If it follows the pattern you describe fitting the decoders looks easy. Not having to take the whole body off (like most of the Farish/Dapol range require) will certainly help! Using the pricing on the links you gave would mean a total of roughly £40 for the 3 decoders, although tax and import duty will probably make it more like £60 here in the UK (I'm guessing).

Alec.

[Buffin]

Now £178 at Rails too ... "-15%".

Competition, eh? 

[Snowwolflair]

Now £178 at Rails too ... "-15%".

Competition, eh? 

Got my two at £169.50 and I have a screen shot of the order confirming the price 

[njee20]

Not that that is any way binding of course.

As a fan of Kato Unitrack, I am looking forward to getting one of these Kato trains. I've read many times people praising their quality.
They are to be sold as "DCC ready". I've heard upgrading them is not the same as just taking out a blanking plate and popping a decoder in like we do with Farish or Dapols but that a complete circuit board has to be changed. Can anyone confirm that please?

"DCC friendly" is the term Kato uses. I don't do DCC but if it's constructed on the same lines as the "DCC friendly" Japanese stock I have, you'll need an EM13 decoder for the power car and FL12 decoders for the end cars.

The end cars have little panels underneath which can be removed to put the decoder in, and it looks like installation on the power is just a case of popping the underframe cover off (which is easy to do).

Thank you @railsquid  for this information. If it follows the pattern you describe fitting the decoders looks easy. Not having to take the whole body off (like most of the Farish/Dapol range require) will certainly help! Using the pricing on the links you gave would mean a total of roughly £40 for the 3 decoders, although tax and import duty will probably make it more like £60 here in the UK (I'm guessing).

It'll be interesting to see, certainly. Given they have form for putting proper NEM sockets in European models I'd hope for that, rather than any sort of proprietary solution.

[Adam1701D]

I've got my Azuma pre-ordered. I can feel some vinyl projects coming on...

[martyn]

Anyone noticed that these appear to be being offered as a complete 'train set' with track and controller?

Martyn

[Railwaygun]

Rails price £169.50

https://railsofsheffield.com/products/42168/kato-10-1671-n-gauge-class-800-0-gwr-iet-800-021-5-car-emu

for Hattons enthusiasts

https://www.hattons.co.uk/607660/kato_k10_1671_class_800_0_5_car_bimu_iet_800021_in_gwr_green/stockdetail.aspx?utm_campaign=mar-300-katoclass800update&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Klaviyo&_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJucm9iaW5zb25AY2l4LmNvLnVrIiwgImtsX2NvbXBhbnlfaWQiOiAiSkdRZVhoIn0%3D

[Trainfish]

Now £178 at Rails too ... "-15%".

Competition, eh? 

Got my two at £169.50 and I have a screen shot of the order confirming the price 

From Rails site:

Previously advertised incorrectly at £169.50. Correct price is £178.00 which still represents a great discount off the RRP of £209.95. Sorry for the error

Does this mean they will be charging us £178?