KATO
KATO is a brand of the Japanese model railway manufacturer KK Sekisui Kinzoku ( Japanese 株式会社 関 水 金属 , kabushiki-gaisha sekisui kinzoku , Engl. Sekisui Kinzoku Co. Ltd. ), which was founded in August 1957 in Shinjuku , Tokyo . 1986 followed as subsidiaries KK Katō (English. KATO Co. Ltd. ) in Tokyo and KATO USA, Inc. in Schaumburg , Illinois , near Chicago . The current president of the parent company is Hiroshi Katō; Over the years, the company has developed into the largest Japanese model railroad manufacturer whose products are sold worldwide, including in Germany .
The manufacturer became internationally known for excellent replicas of railcars in the nominal sizes N and H0 , etc. a. also based on German models (DB BR 515) , and its models of the Shinkansen high-speed train . In the home country Japan, the N-gauge steam locomotives from Kato are particularly popular, such as the JNR class C62 , because despite large-scale production and relatively low prices they achieve a level of detail and implementation quality that is in no way inferior to some H0 models from German manufacturers.
The vehicle models based on the Japanese model in nominal size N are manufactured by KATO in the somewhat larger scale of 1: 150 instead of 1: 160, which is usual for Japan. This is also because in Japan, apart from the high-speed Shinkansen trains, the railways run on Cape Gauge. The high-speed trains also run on standard gauge in Japan . The vehicles of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), which have been in production since 2013, are also manufactured on a 1: 150 scale for N gauge. However, vehicle models based on European and American models are manufactured for their markets on a scale of 1: 160.
From the 1970s to the turn of the millennium, the focus of the Japanese Kato range was clearly on N gauge, but for some years now the first models in nominal size H0 have also been launched, true to the original, on tracks with a model gauge of 12 mm, which in Germany is an H0m - Corresponds to meter gauge railway . The reason for this is the internationally noticeable trend towards larger scales and gauges in the model railroad sector, especially in the area of higher quality products. As a result, the Japanese models from Kato, both in terms of model implementation and sales price, are almost in the small series area , it is only produced on pre-order and so far these models are only available in Japan itself.
Kato also successfully entered the model railway market in the USA in the 1980s , where they are now one of the largest and leading providers. Standard gauge models are produced in H0 and N based on typical US models.
Kato also manufactures its own track system, patented under the name Unitrack, with bedding for N gauge, the specialty of which is flat underfloor drives in the turnouts (which are switched with directed current, similar to LGB ) and a sophisticated plug-in system. which makes the otherwise common rail connectors superfluous. Standard track spacing is 33 mm.
There was a similar system for the H0 gauge, however, due to the strong market penetration of the European and American manufacturers in their home regions, it was sold almost only in Japan and the USA and was also comparatively expensive, so that it disappeared from the market in Europe. Today, the UNITRACK track is imported and sold in Germany and Switzerland by the company NOCH .
Since 1981 the company has been working with the Austrian company Hobbytrain , under whose brand names some of the KATO products destined for Europe were sold. Since 1990 Wolfgang Lemke GmbH has acted as general importer for most European countries. In 2002 Lemke took over Hobbytrain.
Web links
- Official website (Japanese, English)
- Website of KATO USA (English)
- German Kato website
- Lemke Collection website with Kato catalogs