Japan Invades Grand Central Terminal

March 6-8, 2014 – Grand Central Terminal hosts various events in Vanderbilt Hall and these three days were no exception. The annual Japan Week exhibit made its way into the grand hall with food (you need to pay for) airline and railroad exhibits.

JR East with their high-speed train models had a booth to show off their latest wares. The Series E-7 high speed train model was on display in advance of its Spring 2014 debut. A video detailing the design – inside and out – made for interesting viewing.

An N-scale model railroad club that specializes in Japan scenery came prepared with a running layout that featured Godzilla at its core. The Japan Rail Modelers of Washington DC certainly made a good accounting of themselves with this varied layout showing hillside and urban areas completely in scale. As an experienced HO-scale scratch-building modeler, it was cause for me to take a long look at this one.

It was interesting not only to see trains this small whizzing around, but these models of Japanese equipment was certainly unique for something on display within the U.S.

Other vendors were also there including Delta Airlines that offered a prize if your entry was chosen out of the many entries. In case you’re interested, I didn’t win and would have to pay for my own flight there should I choose to go there.

All things considered, it was an interestingly-spent lunch hour in one of the grandest railroad structures in the world – Grand Central Terminal.