Kato - 10-453 - Series O 2000 - JR Central/JR West - 2000 Series

Specific Item Information: Eight (8) cars set (Limited Edition and Collectible). Excellent quality, performance, and details. Comes with large Hard Case to store set. Sleek bullet train design with realistic features. Working head and tail lights (Car 1 & Car 8), lights change in direction of travel.

Model Information: Kato boxed sets for Japanese Prototypes come in various shapes and sizes. These may contain complete train sets with track and power pack or may be as simple as a pair of passenger coaches. Many of the sets use "bookshelf" boxes with cardboard sleeves and carefully cut foam inserts.

Road Name History: JR East was incorporated on 1 April 1987 after being spun off from the government-run Japanese National Railways (JNR). The spin-off was nominally "privatization", as the company was actually a wholly owned subsidiary of the government-owned JNR Settlement Corporation for several years, and was not completely sold to the public until 2002.

Following the breakup, JR East ran the operations on former JNR lines in the Greater Tokyo Area, the Tohoku region, and surrounding areas. Its railway lines primarily serve Kanto and Tohoku regions, along with adjacent areas in Koshin'etsu region (Niigata, Nagano, Yamanashi) and Shizuoka prefectures.

The Central Japan Railway Company (東海旅客鉄道株式会社 Tōkai Ryokaku Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha) is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and in Japanese as JR Tōkai (JR東海). Its headquarters are located in the JR Central Towers in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. The company's operational hub is Nagoya Station. The busiest railway line it operates is the Tōkaidō Main Line between Atami Station and Maibara Station. JR Central also operates the Tōkaidō Shinkansen between Tokyo Station and Shin-Ōsaka Station. Additionally it is responsible for the Chūō Shinkansen?a proposed maglev service between Tokyo Station (or Shinagawa Station) and Ōsaka Station (or Shin-Ōsaka Station), of which a short demonstration section has been built. Currently, the company is conducting demonstrations of its shinkansen to railway officials from different countries in the effort to market bullet train technology overseas.

Read more on Wikipedia

JR Central is Japan's most profitable and highest throughput high-speed-rail operator, carrying 138 million high-speed-rail passengers in 2009, considerably more than the world's largest airline. Japan recorded a total of 289 million high-speed-rail passengers in 2009.

Read more on Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: Kato Precision Railroad Models (関水金属株式会社 Sekisui Kinzoku Kabushikigaisha) is a Japanese manufacturer of model railroad equipment in N and HO scales. The Tokyo-based company manufactures models based on Japanese prototypes (such as the Shinkansen bullet train) for the Japanese market, North American prototypes for the North American market and European high-speed trains for European market.
The Kato (pronounced kah-toe) model railroad companies were founded by Yuji Kato, father of current president Hiroshi Kato, of the parent company Sekisui Kinzoku Co., Ltd.

The design and distribution of models for the North American market are handled by their U.S. subsidiary, Kato USA, located in Schaumburg, Illinois.
The design of special models for the European market is handled for some of them by their partner, Lemke, whereas the general distribution of Kato products in Europe is handled by NOCH; both companies are located in Germany.
As a result, some Kato European models are sold as Kato Lemke and others as Kato (alone).