As I build my fleet of cargo freight trains, there is one that caught my attention for its overall aesthetics.
It’s the M250 Series SUPER RAIL CARGO with its U50A Container Loaded and saw it was made by KATO and had to get it!
The M250 is a freight electric multiple unit (EMU) train operated by Japan Freight Railway (JR Freight) and began its service in 2004 with the objective to reduce emissions and carry general freight for small package forwarders (special delivery services).
The container train is the first for JR Freight with distributed traction and was manufactured by Nippon Sharyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Toshiba.
Image source: Wikipedia/ photo by Lover of Romance
Image courtesy of Wikipedia / Photo by Natural Gas
Back in the early 2000’s, JR Freight realized that while they carried 2.8 million tons of freight, their trains are not often competitive for transporting small amounts of goods over medium distances. And JR Freight has been looking into shifting freight transport from road to rail and so it began to consider specializing in small-lot freight transportation. And thus the M250 series was born from that.
The M250 series is a 16-car train consisting of four different types of vehicles. The “M” stands for multiple unit and the “2” is the induction motors for direct current lines and the “50” is for the vehicle which has a maximum speed of over 100km/h (68mph).
Now the KATO trains feature the “MC250” which meanst hat the driving power car is used at both ends of the train.
The other thing you will notice is the name “SAGAWA”. Sagawa Express is a major transportation company based in Minami-ku, Kyoto. It competes with Yamato Transport, Nippon Express and other major logistics companies.
Founded by Sagawa Kiyoshi back in 1957, it became registered as a company in 1965 and its major customers are Amazon, Softbank, Yamada Denki, Culture Convenience Club Keyence, Sony Style, Askul, Digital Media Mart and more. They also have a business alliance with Hitachi Transport System.
Compared to competitors Yamato Transport (Takkyubin) and Japan Post (Yu-Pack), which have their own sales offices (post offices) as well as tie-ups with convenience stores and distributors, Because there are few shipping counters for other distributors, Sagawa Express takes advantage of that due to their strong sales activities and flexible terms of shipping for mail-order companies.
Sagawa established a holding company “SG Holdings” through a stock transfer and became the second major transport company to transition to a holding company system following Yamato Holdings (affiliated with Yamato Transport).
Sagawa Express began operating one train as a reserved “Special high speed freight train” between Tokyo Freight Terminal and Ajikawaguchi Station (Osaka) on 13 March 2004. The containers are owned by Sagawa Galaxy Highways. Running with increasing frequency, it later became a regularly scheduled train (but with service suspended on Sundays and holidays).
The M250 series won the 2004 Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Eco-Products award for Eco-Service and the 2005 Japan Railfan Club Blue Ribbon Award, making it the first non-passenger vehicle to win since the JNR Class EF66 in 1969.
And so, here we are with the KATO M250 Series SUPER RAIL CARGO (U50A Container Loaded) Basic Set – 10-1721. A set which was released back in February 2022.
One of the things aside from the freight train aesthetics is the inclusion of six SAGAWA U50A containers. The detail on the containers are so cool that it was another reason why I wanted this basic set!
The U50A containers are shorter than the conventional U54A container, but this is the very first time the U50A container was offered by KATO.
Also, you get the two Type T260 series Cargo wagons (you get a T-261-7 and T-260-7) with the basic set.
For my personal setup, this basic set works great. For those with larger track setups can purchase an add-on set with more containers/wagon. Set A (10-566) offers a total of six Sagawa containers, two T260 wagons, but you get the M251 cars (with the blue), while Set B (10-228) offers eight T260 series wagons and 16 Sagawa containers.
The train itself works great on the tracks, both KATO and TOMIX tracks. I did find some situations of stalling with the motor car or turns in certain areas, while I have been able to run all four on a single track viaduct, I felt things ran much smoother on a double track setup.
The trains do offer warm white front lamps and reverse rear red light lamps.
The couplers are a bit different than what I am accustomed of using for freight. This train uses the KATO coupler close connection type (PAT.).
The train reproduces the roof equipment and lightning arresters and antennas of the original.
But overall, I was very pleased with the KATO M250 Series SUPER RAIL CARGO (U50A Container Loaded) Basic Set – 10-1721. Do note that many people are really charging double or triple the price for this. Don’t spend that much. When it was released in Japan it was only Y12,474 (which was like $91.50). Don’t spend over $175 (US) on this at this time. It may be hard to find at times, but don’t overspend on this. You can find it on eBay or Amazon Japan at reasonable prices.
Overall, this has top be one of the most awesome freight trains I have purchased from KATO. From design aesthetics, colors and overall detail and what you get included especially the U50A containers. That’s pretty awesome!
The KATO M250 Series SUPER RAIL CARGO (U50A Container Loaded) Basic Set – 10-1721 is highly recommended!
