What do I have here?

Hey, that's a neat little car! It reminds me of a White Pass & Yukon unit. Any provenance (history)? How does it run? Lots of room to upgrade  .  .  .

Yea, a what if the WP&Y had electrified.  I know nothing about the unit, therefore this thread.  I haven't run it yet, although Japanese trains of this period are not known for smooth running.

John

The prototype is an 80 class MU car of the Japanese National Railway;  I'd have to look up the year of introduction, but they were a top rank medium distance unit circa 1960 for 1500 vdc operation.

The model is probably by KTM [ or they furnished a kit ];  note it's a 'shorty tinplate' version.

Best rgds, SZ

Photo taken near Yokohama in '71

Thanks SZ, that is the prototype.  And you are probably right on it being KTM.  It's an interesting critter, I will see if I can get it to run.  I will have to do some mods if I want to use it on the layout though.  It would be fun to letter it for the WP&Y - what if the White Pass had electrified like the narrow gauge railroads in the Alps?

John

That's an interesting item. If the prototype is 42" gauge and it runs on O-gauge, what scale do you think it was made to?

Saw this photo of a KTM loco at http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/ktm/bobo2b.html

Trying to figure if it has some similarities in mechanism?

Actually, I think it is about 1:43.5 scale.  The body width is about the same as a 1:48 scale passenger car.  Since the real one was narrow gauge I would guess that their body width would be somewhat narrower than standard gauge. 

That mechanism looks identical to mine.  I think that confirms my unit as a KTM product.  I looked at the link, and it looks like they had made some nicely detailed O scale locos and cars, as well as the tinplate ones.

John