here is the Maglev car outside the pavilionMAGLEV PAGE
On Monday the 22nd August 2005, I visited EXPO2005 near Nagoya with my wife, her sister and her son. Queuing for hours to get in and the rest of the days hassles will be told at length on my travelogue page, but here I will cover the portion relating to the JR Central pavilion. Even getting tickets in advance for this exhibit was a trial, and the day we wanted them, they were sold out in advance within 1/2 hours, so we decided that we would go straight to this pavilion and queue first, before going anywhere else, as it was the only place I really wanted to see. Luckily it was not far from the entrance gate (to get to the EXPO site you used a 'mini' version of the Maglev, the 'Linimo' train.
The JR Central pavilion was split into 4 sections, each of which could be visited separately, and for each you had to queue up. There was the 3D theater, the Superconducting Technology Laboratory, the actual Maglev vehicle itself, and a souvenir shop (of course!!). We were lucky to be in the first group to get into the theatre. In the lobby, we were shown a short movie on the history of Japanese railways, and how they had evolved to this stage. They claimed that this was the 3rd evolution of railway history (the first was the steam engine, and the second was the Bullet train), and they also claimed that the rest of the world's railways have got to the stage they are at now thanks to Japan pioneering the Bullet train, and jumping ahead of the rest of the world !!!. Then we were given 3D glasses, and ushered in the huge theatre room itself. The screen was larger than you would get in most movie theatres.
The movie itself was about 15 minutes long, and was mind-blowing, with trains coming at you at over 500kph in 3D !!! They used actual footage of and from the trains, as well as graphics (like showing how a full 16 car Maglev Shinkansen would look going through Tokyo). After that, we went outside, and queued up for the laboratory - this took about 10-15 minutes to get in. By this stage, the queue was already very long for the theatre, otherwise I would have been tempted to go a second time !!!
Inside the laboratory section, they had displays showing how the maglev principle worked, as well as some small working models of the trains. You were ushered though this section quite quickly, so you could not stay and look as long as you like, and whilst some signs had a little English, all the demonstrations were in Japanese.
Then we queued up to go inside the actual Maglev car, and you just got to walk though the passenger section - only took less than a minute. After that it was off to the souvenir shop, where they had Tshirts, pens/pencils, postcards, and some models, both static toy diorama and N scale models. I bought one of the N scale sets, which cost 1,500yen. It contained a model that you clipped together of the lead cars of the MLX01-1 and MLX01-901 sets and two lengths of track (each about 20cm long). After looking at this, I thought that I should get another set, so I could have a longer amount of track, as well as 2 of the same type of car to make a 'train' - you can already see how I was thinking how I could put this on a layout !!!
Now I just put the models together, and they consist of a body top and bottom (pre-painted), two wheel assemblies and an end piece. The wheel pieces and not too good, but the vehicles do roll reasonably well. Now I would like to know how I can make them move by themselves !!!
Other than my experience at the Ghibli Museum the previous day, this would have to be one of THE highlights of my trip this time - and before anyone asks, no - I cannot get you a set, and no - I am not selling mine !!!
here is the Maglev car outside the pavilion
being ushered into the display
the working models inside the laboratory
inside the Maglev vehicle's passenger section
the side of the vehicle, showing the magnetic section that does the
pushing/pulling and clearance with the side walls
what a mean looking object !!!
the souvenir shop
the N scale models packaging
each side opens up - this is the parts for the MLX01-1
the other side has the parts for the MLX01-901
this is what the contents look like when you take them out of the box and lay
them out flat
this is what the complete models look like together with one piece of track - on
the left is the MLX01-1 and on the right is the MLX01-901
2x MLX01-1 making up a train 'running' in the tracks
2x MLX01-1 making up another train 'running' in the tracks
the MLX01-901 comin' at ya !!!
the MLX01-1 comin' at ya !!!
I must repeat what I said earlier - these items were sold as souvenirs only at the EXPO stand, and ARE NOT AVAILABLE NOW AND ARE NOT AVAILABLE ANYWHERE ELSE - SO PLEASE DO NOT WRITE TO ME ASKING ME TO GET YOU A SET !!!!
Details current at 27/10/2005