5 years ago, I was out on a business trip with other colleagues. One of them was a Plarailer, and informal introductions began. We agreed to travel around places to look for material for our website. And so, the research team of only 2 Plarailers was born.

As a rookie team, we first decided to visit expos and toy museums. It was 2015 Plarail Expo, the first destination. There were artifacts that were never auctioned before during that time. The first artifact was the C-62こうかセット, which was only manufactured for 5 months in 1978. It was a miracle that one has survived over the years of careful storage.



There was lack of information of railway toys. Books published at that time lacked information on discontinuation years of the artifacts. Due to stagnation of information collecting and failure to publish information that defied the current information in 2015, we disbanded the team and stopped hosting the website. Around late 2019, that was when I got an invite to my current team after they saw my earlier progress from 2015 from the wayback machine. So I am back to Plarail business again.

Our team tried to defy the information in books only with enough evidence. So we took a trip to warehouses and set up a junkyard inside an abandoned ワム8000. We turned a small office room into the research laboratory. One of the warehouses visited was this. It had the New International Airport Set that was manufactured for only 1 year in 1978, and the most advanced gimmick Plarail, the Container Loading and Unloading Set where a forklift turn 90 degrees, moves in front, takes a container, moves backward, turn 90 degrees again and unloads the container all by the friction drive of the EF-15 with lights. We took down the MS-nn and G-nn numbers. I remember fondly that G-27 (1978) is airport set and MS-30 (1981) is container set.



We knew we had to add on to current information to existing information first so we try to decode G-nn and MS-nn numbers. We eventually found out that the numbers were according to the fiscal year and the research evolved using the cancelation method. We knew we had to decode the numbers because this gave information when the products are manufactured, leading us to figure out the year that each product was discontinued. We knew that warehouses and auctions don't have all the information we need, so we visited the houses of every collector. We collected the addresses of every possible collector who came to our driving parties. By the time the driving parties ended, we had around 230 house addresses. We knew that we can't visit every house, so we cancelled out visits that have duplicate information compared to our database. Each time a visit was done, at least more than 4 G-nn numbers, 6 or more MS-nn numbers and 9 or more ST numbers were recorded. Thanks to Mr. Nayuho, Mr. Ai and Mr. Vio, we activated the initial ideas and discussion of these numbers. It all started in 2019 until now! ^^



5 months later, we found something that defied the entire history of Plarail. The true history of Plarail that existed before 1959, this incident is known as the Chabudai Incident. I discussed the history in here before. Thanks to overseas products and the work of many collectors and researchers, existing books had to be rewritten and were planned to be distributed in the upcoming Comiket. The 1958 Highway Set, which was thought to be the roots of Tomiyama Shoji's plastic rails was 6 foot deep in the grave. All the events happened in 3 days, and history was completely overturned. On the first day, our team gathered in Discord and discussed the prototype list of release dates of each of the sets before 1959. We kept our research confidential, but we released them all on the final day. Thanks to Mr. Honorary Chairman, Mr. Kuten and Mr. Nayuho, and all the other collectors who contributed and complied to the research.



After the Chabudai Incident, I was the founder of the JAN numbering conundrum. As JAN was standardised and Japan joined EAN in 1978, we can determine if the product is still available after 1978. Mr. Nayuho, who gave the roots of ideas about the G-nn code, Mr. Chronowaal, who provided the JAN numbering proof, and Mr. Vio who figured out how the G-nn and JAN numbers correlate. Our research provided a more solid base for researching products after 1978. 

 

After all above, Mr. Nayuho initiated the New Plarail Musuem site. This was the biggest contribution to the Plarail universe. The old Plarail Musuem was outdated, and somebody has to keep the information alive. As a long dream has been finally initiated, we all decided to help him for the good of research. Mr. Cha, Mr. Fujiyama, Mr. Vio, and all other collectors volunteered to join the museum contribution. You can see the list of contributors in the website as proof. Lastly, thank you Tharazero1 for providing three 10th generation boxes to me.

Not long ago, Mr. Fujiyama and I finally met face to face thanks to introduction of contributors from Plarail Museum's credits page. We had a good friendship ever since and invited each other to house visits. As usual, we recorded down the G-nn codes, JAN codes, and other codes from the boxes. Thank to his Rotary Snowplough Set and Disney Yuuenchi Set, it is possible for me to confirm the G-nn codes. He also introduces the one of a kind phantom gem Sotetsu Line 300 Series Shinkansen Set to everyone silently, and until now we can't confirm how to obtain one!



Around this present time, I have most of the sets' manufacturing and discontinuation dates. However, a new challenge comes recently where Highway Terminal Station Set and Highway Fully Automatic Railroad Crossing Set is N-22 instead of G-22. New theories by me say that N alphabet during this time is used for Plastic Highway Sets. Others say that it could be a single item or a set numbering difference only in 1974. But most people found my theory viable.

That is all for now. It is crazy how this journey proceeded. The G-nn, MS-nn, N-nn and TT-nn numbers, JAN standardisation, Plarail Museum and all contributor's support means too much to me. My main purpose now to collect Plarail is to record these numbers and most miscellaneously, screw open each cover underneath the parts to reveal the interiors, and have fun.

It has been some time since a new thread is opened by me. This time I will introduce all the errors in TOMY layouts by verifying them hands on.

パノラマ３(Panorama 3)

This layout was found in the February 1982 catalogue. The updated layout has been published in the February 1988 catalogue.
As you build the layout, there is a very obvious error. If you look at the finished layout in the catalogue, it is suspicious how they managed to make a full circuit.



でんききかんしゃセット (EF-15 Freight Train Set, box layout)

A pretty obvious error where there is a rail on top of another rail. In this case, the こうかレール (white viaduct) is already a rail and there is a blue straight rail on it.
Additionally, red pivots & white cross signs on the railroad crossing is a prototype product.



ちょうとっきゅうひかりごう ニューセット (Super Express Hikari New Set, box layout)

As pointed out by Super, the curved rail is underneath a white pier. The pier is too small to let the train go under it. Also, one of the trees are mysteriously taller than the other.



The earliest layout sample from the Early Hikari-Go Mark Era



No real building errors here, but the train will definitely hit the yellow block pier when switching over to the left lane. It is still considered an error.

More to come in the future...

Is this the rarest Tomica World set?  Based solely on the fact that I've never ever seen one before, it has to be a strong contender. Added to that, I've never seen a Tobu Spacia on eBay UK unless it's clearly been a Plarail one, whereas all the other trains from TW sets are fairly common, or at least they come up occasionally. (I know Duck's seen it before, because he put it on Twitter a month ago).
 

Following on from the discussion in the Mister No's Plarail Pics & Vids thread, starting about here, this picture shows another example very clearly. The seller specifically says that the discoloured bits had been in the sun for a long time.

Hey guys; I'm new here, although i've been lurking for advice over the last few weeks prior to making an account, so consider this an introduction lol 

Well, with the current situation as-is, I've not been going out much, and while working on the railways for a time [unfortunately no longer] recently, I decided to construct a new model railway layout, to help pass the time.

In short, for as long as I can remember I have had 2 key model rail systems, my Hornby 00 scale system, and the Tomy Plarail system [in it's many guises], amongst others - I've been into trains since a young age, thanks to Thomas and Freinds, which was where Plarail entered for me.

As a hobby model collector now, as well as being interested in Japanese culture [I would love to travel there some day], it seemed to be a logical step to expand into making a Japanese themed model layout; The issue I had was that I had a lack of funds, and I was not hot on the idea of dropping £300+ on Kato trains, and possibly more on scenery to achieve my layout .

Fortunately, my prayers were answered by a chance encounter back in 2014; I discovered my old copy of Thomas and the Magic Railroad on VHS, and decided to give it a watch for the nostalgia; Anyone who has/had this tape knows where this is going now, but the first trailer on the tape was for none other than Tomica World [This one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWM7c9IlZRI ]; that was the eureka moment when I realised all my old Thomas track could be augmented with Japanese trains, making my Japanese layout a bit closer to realisation!

That said, until this year, I had little in the way of funds to properly expand the layout exactly as I wanted it to be - That's all changed, and as I type, I have 2 consignments of Plarail and Tomica gear underway to my address here in sunny London, including the biggest expansion to my fleet ever; To note, I began this year with 3 Japanese trains, presently I now have almost the complete Tomica World train lineup as of the 2000 catalogue [not including the Thomas gear], as well as a couple of Plarail imports; some 15 trains, and this is to be expanded with another 25 or so currently in the safe hands of FedEx.  The other consignment [EMS] includes stations and other accessories to expand the layout .

Here's a picture, although please note this is still incomplete; the raised outer loop is going to be a Shinkansen line built with the Plarail Shinkansen style tracks [in with the EMS consignment], the ground-level tracks are unfinished, I'm planning on a longer section of the Tomica World road and the scenery is incomplete, but it's coming together.



One more thing to note is that I've since added a lot more buildings [Tomica Hypercity type], and plan on 3D printing further buildings in the new year when I have a new 3D printer - I've been working on a CAD template for a basic Hypercity standard building model, with the idea being I'll use that to create all sorts of buildings. I've got a tower-block model in the pipeline as the first test print. Fortunately, the only thing I need for those that I can't easily print is the pavement sections, but those seem to be readily avaliable as new-old stock on Ebay UK  .

Anyway; that's my layout introduced, now for me   .

I'm a MA student, currently preparing to study an MA degree in Creative Writing at the University of Westminster in London, and aside from my interest in railways, I have a passion for film, Japanese culture, anime, manga, travel, electronics, model-making, writing, home-brewing, video games and cosplay, among other things. For those of you who are curious, Futaba Sakura, my account's namesake and profile picture is my favourite character from the video game Persona 5, who is my current cosplay project, to debut as soon as the next London Comic-Con takes place.

As implied earlier, I've been connected to Plarail from a young age, starting with the very tail-end of the Tomica World line's Thomas selection, graduating to the Thomas Motor Road & Rail line; I never upgraded to Trackmaster as it never appealed to me as much as the TOMY gear. When Tomica Hypercity first dropped in the UK around 2010/11 I collected several of the trains and the Mega Station set [blissfully unaware they were repackaged Plarail units and actually real-world JR models], and then when I became interested in Japan a few years later, I got back into Plarail all over again with the few Japanese bits I had, leading us to now, and the genesis of this new, dedicated layout with more Japanese gear than ever before.

For those of you who are interested, I'll be posting updates about the layout in this thread here on Blue Plastic Tracks [if that's allowed?] but also to my personal blog, 'Making Tracks' [not a dedicated Plarail blog, but a project suggested by my uni] which can be found at [url]https://makingtracks.weebly.com/[/url]  .

Well, with that, I'll finish up, and hopefully I'll see more of you around here on Blue Plastic Tracks - This site is amazing by the way, truly a fantastic resource for all of us in the Plarail/Tomica World community, especially with all the information on obscure and unusual TOMY and Plarail products; Sometimes I'll just sit on here for hours reading up on all the awesome and obscure stuff   .

Anyway, that's all for now.
Later!

Myojo Charmera x Tomica 50th Anniversary Kuroneko Car Cleanup Set" Present Campaign (Started from November 27th)
https://www.myojofoods.co.jp/news/9052

Another collaboration Tomy/Tomica/Plarail and the Myojo Food Co. The last one was a cool Black Cat train. Only 3000 can be won with proof of purchase. With this on I really like the Plakid with cart and the PlaKid size black cat.

I am curious as the article mentions that this will be the 4th collaboration with Myojo Foods but I only know of these last 2. Anyone know what the first 2 collabs were?
 

Quote: TAKARATOMY's popular toys and Suona have collaborated three times in the past, and all of them have been well received. This is the fourth collaboration with "Tomica", following "Licca-chan", "Koeda-chan" and "Plarail". "Tomica" is a palm-sized miniature car, a long-selling series that celebrated its 50th anniversary this year since its launch in 1970. In addition to high quality and a wide variety of lineups, it is a minicar brand that boasts an overwhelming share in Japan with a world view that includes related toys such as Tomica World.
The campaign set "Charmera x Tomica 50th Anniversary Kuroneko Car Cleanup Set" is a dream Tomica "Charmera Kuroneko" that imitates the character Kuroneko of "Myojo Charmera", a plastic kids "Uncle Charmera", and a large car body that stores them. It is a set of "big black cat". This original set "Charmera x Tomica 50th Anniversary Kuroneko Car Cleanup Set" will be presented to 3,000 people by lottery.

We talked earlier about the Tomica World TGV Station.

Here's another Tomica World set with the same station in it, but with the 300X instead of the silver TGV, and text in French and Dutch only. I've certainly never seen this box before.
 

Does anyone know anything about these tankers?  They weren't a catalogue item (Edit: yes they were, see below!). The green one is described as a 'Toyama Oil Transport Co.' wagon.

  

I know there was a thread made about this about a year ago, but I’m not entirely sure if it’s right to reply to such an old thread, and as such I’ll be making a new one. My June 2002 Tomica World Henry is rather interesting. As I was opening him up to give him a clean, the first thing that jumped out at me was...



A small TNA styled fuse inside the tender! Already that was an oddity and I was excited, but then when I took apart the engine...



A small capacitor. I had heard of the fuse before, but never a capacitor. From what I’ve gathered this was a very short lived revision, before all the trains were retooled slightly in 2003. If anyone knows better than me, I would love to hear it.