Brand record
Katsumi
Katsumi (KTM) is a Japanese railway-model maker whose range includes rolling stock, rails and control equipment. The company began as Katsumi Model Shop in the immediate postwar period, initially producing railway models for export to the United States. Its work has centered on metal railway models, and it later expanded to custom museum models, dioramas and architectural models. Katsumi's present catalogue includes Japanese railway vehicles and solder-assembly projects.
- Founded
- 1947
- Countries
- Japan
- Locations
- Japan · 1947
- Founders
- Katsumi Miki
The story of Katsumi
Katsumi began in 1947 as Katsumi Model Shop in Shirokane, Tokyo. Its official company profile gives 30 August 1947 as the company's founding date and says the business initially made railway models for export to the United States. Metal railway models remained its central activity.
A specialist account describes the company as beginning with rubber-powered model aeroplanes before focusing on railway models. It reports that Katsumi first specialized in O gauge and began making and exporting HO-gauge models in the late 1950s. During the 1960s and 1970s, its 16.5 mm-gauge steam locomotives included the Superbe Line and the lower-priced Diamond Series. After the Plaza Accord, the company greatly reduced its US exports. It shifted toward higher-grade O-gauge products from 1986 and updated earlier products through about 1996. The company profile also records later work on museum railway models, dioramas and architectural models.
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