About Us

The Japan Rail Modelers (JRM) of Washington DC are an informal group that focus on modeling Japanese rail systems. Our goal is to support and encourage modeling of Japanese rail systems. We have been showing portable N Scale layouts at model railroading shows and other public events since 2004. Our main goal is to stimulate more people to collect and model Japanese trains.

Since modeling Japanese railroading is fairly rare in the United States, our group is trying to show the model railroading public the uniqueness of the Japanese railroading and the fun that can be had in modeling it. The amazing variety, efficiency, and speed of the Japanese passenger bullet trains, or shinkansens, is another facet we also hope to show the public.

We also try to demonstrate how the sophisticated track systems like Kato Unitrack can be used to create very intricate and interesting layouts in a limited amount of space and time. Our original club layout was created as a group effort with several members loaning track pieces, buildings and trains to create our temporary layout in a very short overall amount of layout construction time and with a minimum of effort by our members. JRM has recently developed a new sectional layout that allow us to do very rapid setup and finer detailed scenery to allow us to display the layout at more shows and shorter length venues.

JRM also exploring participating in more Japanese cultural events. JRM was invited to show our layout at the 2009 Sakura Matsuri street festival at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC. This was our first non train event to show the layout at and it was extremely successful and enjoyable for the group. You can see the history of our show layout here.

In addition to the shows we participate in, JRM meets a few times a year to run trains, show off our current trains and modeling, and talk trains. We also meet about once a month for lunch (Japanese food of course!) to catch up, trade items, and talk trains. If you are interested in joining us for lunch or one of our meetings, please please contact us and sign up for our JRM Update emails.

Our group is currently looking for new members to join us in our endeavors. Please feel contact us if you are interesting in joining the group, coming to a show to see the layout, or just joining us for lunch!!

	Club founding members