Tomix - 2783 - Container Flatcar, Japan, Koki 50000 - Japanese National Railways - 2-Pack

Specific Item Information: Container Load Not Included - Road Numbers 50916 & 51084

Prototype History: The KOKI 50000 was introduced in 1971, with the ability to carry 20-foot containers for rail/truck use. Similarly to the KOKI 10000, this was based on the open-deck side-frame design used in the KOKI 5500. The standard top speed was 95 kph, but some variants for 100 kph (series 250000) and 110 kph (series 350000) use were created. When JR Freight adopted these, the standard red color was changed to green on the 250000 series cars, as they were no longer always used in dedicated express trains. Some 350000 series trains with “electromagnetic brakes” were created, and painted “Shonan Orange” to distinguish them from other cars. The general 50000-series trains are apparently still in use, but are being replaced by the KOKI 107. Some were also converted to TIKI 100 and TIKI 900 series flatcars.

The KOKIFU 50000 is a variant incorporating the conductor’s room on the end, as the YO caboose cannot be used at the operating speed of the KOKI 10000 and 50000.

Read more of Japanese freight cars on Sumida Crossing website.

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: 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.