Modemo - NT161 - Japanese Tram - Hakone Tozan Railway - 2005, 2006, 2203

Road Name History: The Hakone Tozan Line (箱根登山鉄道線 Hakone Tozan Tetsudō-sen, lit. Hakone Mountain-Climbing Railroad Line) is a mountain railway in Japan operated by the Hakone Tozan Railway. This company belongs to the Odakyu Group, and also owns the Hakone Tozan Cable Car.

The section of the line from Odawara Station to Hakone-Yumoto Station started operations in 1919, with current terminus Gōra reached in 1930. Since 2006, only Odakyū Odawara Line trains run on the section from Odawara Station to Hakone-Yumoto Station. From Gora, visitors can continue up the mountain on the Hakone Tozan Cable Car, as it was converted from dual-gauge(standard and narrow) to just narrow-gauge.

The railway is capable of climbing one meter vertically for every 12.5 meters of horizontal distance, a maximum gradient of 8%. The line traverses Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, so the line was carefully designed to limit the impact on scenery. Due to the difficult conditions, the line has three switchbacks used to ascend particularly steep sections.

Brand/Importer Information: Modemo is part of the Hasegawa group. Modemo specialises in tram (streetcar) models in both 1:80 and 1:150 scales and in both scales the trams can be motorised, although the N-scale trams are a bit 'high on the wheels'. New and very nice is the articulated Tokyu '300' class, used on the Setagaya tram route in Southwestern Tokyo.

Further Modemo products include some N-scale DMU's and a 313 class EMU in a variety of liveries, this model is also available in HO scale.