Company Profile: Sony
History in a Nutshell
Sony really needs no introduction: we are
indeed talking about the Sony, a global leader in electronics technology.
N Scale Products
Under the brand name Microtrains (not to be confused with TfA:s Hobbytjänst HOO Micro Trains, Kadee Micro-Trains or Revell MicroTrains), Sony produced a train set around 1964. They'd only made a hundred or so samples, then abandoned the project. Although crude by today's standards, it was state of the art at the time. You can see it running here (warning: loud, obnoxious music).
The locomotive is a Japanese ED75.
The drive (below) is remarkably strange: the driven inner wheels of the two trucks are fixed to the frame, and the unpowered outer wheels
swivel with the trucks; also note the retro-looking couplers—both of which are a throwbacks to Rapido 200.
Apparently the tooling was sold to Kansui Metals, at which point the trail runs cold; it's very likely the tooling was never put to use again. These very rare beasts fetch many hundreds of dollars when they appear in auctions.
That round black thing at the middle right (below) is the power supply—so very Sony!
Images and information from the Japanese Railway Modelling Homepage.
Printed Matter
Haven't found any yet. But there's a very fancy exhibit in Japan.