Aster Hobby Japan

Mr.Akio Inoue is one of the most famous Japanese live steamer.
These engines are modified from ASTER SR Schools and JNR 8550.

Aster C62 ( 2001 ) appears in the enormous hit Japanese movie " Always ".

TEST
Steam-up meeting in Kyoto
Steam-up meeting in Kyoto Day2

VIDEO

They picture (upper left-hand top) shows a portable track of R3 (aluminum base).
The picture (upper middle) shows a sub-track of R2 on wooden base, and the live steamers other than YLSC could enjoy live steam operations.
The picture in the middle shows a board to display the steamers' engines which are tied up on each display track. These engines are not only Aster's but also a fully scratch built big engine (on the right), and a scratch built engine in the middle line left) and Aster's pilot model (in the middle) to get your evaluation.
After operation it's an accepted practice for you to take a cup of cold beer to wet your whistle.

JAM is a place to communicate the rail fans with model builders. The model builders in Japan will display their new products at this Jam Convention.
We have announced the imported products, taking advantage of the recent evaluation of Yen, and our SNCF241P model (to be released towards the next JAM/2011).

A steam-up meeting Nagoya, where many of British prototype engines happened to get together on the day, which made you feel as if this layout were in England. It was a very hot day with many live steamers got together with their engines, and students in Nagoya helped the live steamers enjoy steaming up their engines. We thanked them.

A "messe" in Sizuoka, in January 2010 was a debutante day of our newly developed portable tracks. We, the live steamers were exceptionally allowed to operate gauge one live steam engines indoor on the newly made oval track with 3 meter radius tracks and 1.8 meter length straight tracks on each side.
With new cross-ties and new rails the layout allowed the engines to run quite safely without derailment. Aster has offered the live steamers in Sizuoka area with free repair service and offered to the new live steamers how to operate the live steam engines during this 3 days "messe" period.