Micro Ace - A2280 - Japanese National Railways - 42503, 42505

Specific Item Information: This is a 2 car set with 42503 being motorized and 42505 being not motorized. Both cars have directional lighting.

Road Name History: Japanese National Railways (日本国有鉄道 Nihon Kokuyū Tetsudō), abbreviated Kokutetsu (国鉄) or "JNR", was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987.
By 1987, JNR's debt was over ¥27 trillion ($280 billion at 2009 exchange rates) and the company was spending ¥147 for every ¥100 earned. By an act of the Diet of Japan, on April 1, 1987 JNR was privatized and divided into seven railway companies, six passenger and one freight, collectively called the Japan Railways Group or JR Group.

From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: Micro Ace Co., Ltd. is a railroad model / plastic model maker headquartered in Suzaki, Saitama Prefecture.
Founded in 1963 as Arii Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Arii), the company produced plastic models. In 1980 it entered the N-scale model train business and withdrew after a while. It reentered N-scale model train in 1996, with production in China.

On 10th June 2004, this business was transferred to the newly established subsidiary Micro Ace Co., Ltd., and "Micro Ace" became the new company name.

Read more (in Japanese) on Wikipedia.