Tomix - 98980 - Passenger Train, Diesel, KIHA 58 - Japan Railways Shikoku - 3-Pack

Specific Item Information: The Kiha 58 series is an express diesel car manufactured by the Japanese National Railways and was active nationwide. The vehicles assigned to Shikoku were painted in light blue, which is the corporate color of JR Shikoku, based on ivory, and were operated in various parts of Shikoku. The modified Kiha 28-5200, a former green car, was connected to the express "Tosa" as a reserved seat car, and a round head mark was posted on the front. Many Kiha 57s for the former Usui Pass section have been transferred to Shikoku, and they were active in cooling remodeling and some in JR Shikoku color.

Road Name History: Shikoku Railway Company (四国旅客鉄道株式会社? Shikoku Ryokaku Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha), commonly known as JR Shikoku (JR四国? Jei-āru Shikoku), is one of the constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services in the four prefectures on the island of Shikoku in Japan. The company is headquartered in Takamatsu, Kagawa.

Brand/Importer Information: Tomix is a brand of Takara Tomy, a large Japanese conglomerate of companies that makes toys and games for the international marketplace. The Tomix brand (along with the Tomytec brand) are both managed by the Tomytec subsidiary/division of Takara Tomy. Prior to 1976 Tomy produced model trains using the "Tomy" brand name of the products. In 1976, they launched the new brand "Tomix" to segregate their model trains from their childrens toy lines.

Generally it can be difficult to understand why Tomytec releases some items using the Tomix brand and others using the Tomytec brand. There are some generalizations we have observed. Thomas the Tank Engine falls under Tomix, as do the JNR steam engines as well as bullet trains (Shinkansen) and track cleaning cars. Maybe another curator can step in and elaborate on this section.

Manufacturer Information: Largely a Japanese manufacturer of children's toys and baby products, Takara Tomy has established a number of different subsidiary companies, with sales offices and factories located in various locations around the world. The firm is the product of a 2006 merger-of-equals between Tomy and Takara.

Takara Tomy produces N Scale model trains under their Tomytec division (we use the term loosely because it is actually a more complex relationship) using two different brand names "Tomytec" and "Tomix". Technically speaking these are not brands in the Western sense but rather they more closely resemble subsidiaries -of-subsidiaries, and where they fit in the corporate org chart may be the matter for a Master's thesis, but for our purposes we can think of them as simply two different brands with one manufacturer. In the past (prior to 1976) some model train products were branded simply "Tomy". To further confuse things, since 2000, outside of Japan, the company goes by the simple name, "Tomy" for their international subsidiaries.

If you consider both brand names as a single company, then the Tomytec/Tomix product line is the largest of its kind in Japan; with Kato following in second place (as of 2017). While Takara Tomy products are popular around the world, the firm's focus on children's toys has limited the international acceptance and distribution of its Tomytec model railroad products. Furthermore, unlike Kato, their focus tends to be heavily skewed towards Japanes prototypes.