Christmas countdown 😁 - Printable Version

Christmas countdown 😁 - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Christmas countdown 😁 (/thread-5270.html)

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Christmas countdown 😁 - Plarail Man UK - 12-04-2022

Welp, my latest Plarail shipment is actually in the UK, having taken less than a week to arrive from Osaka Kansai airport - Considering EMS has only just restarted, I'm well pleased with that result.

Or at least I would be if the UK Customs/ParcelForce (UK EMS) actually got my parcel moving, as it's been stuck in customs for nearly a week now 😑

I get that there's a combo of Christmas postal volumes and strikes presently, but no offence, I ordered stuff that was delivered by EMS during the height of the 'rona which was supposed to be the worst disruption to post ever, and they'd be in and out of customs in 2 days tops.

Anyway, as long as the stuff shows up, who cares, guess the stuff in that parcel that's for me can be a self-gift for my birthday or Christmas (my birthday's 22nd December LOL)

The main reason for this post, is what I've been doing while waiting 😜

So, we used to have a train that went around the Christmas tree that we got from a discount store; around G Scale, and never really worked all that great. Got rid of it a couple years back, and so this year (now I've got a lot of spare track), the tree railway is back and better than ever 😁

Works out anyway, as it's going to be a good test loop for the new trains when they arrive Wink

RE: Christmas countdown 😁 - Super - 12-04-2022

Very nice P-Man

RE: Christmas countdown 😁 - HanoibusGamer - 12-05-2022

Great Shinkansen 300 Series there, I'll be getting the newest version of 300 next year.

RE: Christmas countdown 😁 - Plarail Man UK - 12-05-2022

@HanoibusGamer

Yeah, she's a beauty really given that it's not yellowed at all, came in a boxed 1990's (I think about 1998, my birth year lol) Plarail set (an actual Japanese one no less) that I found on eBay UK for around £30 early into my crusade for collecting the complete exported Plarail range.

I know the original Plarail 300 Series was exported in both it's regular (3rd Avenue Set) and remote controlled (RC Train Set) configurations in the Tomica World export line, so I'm saying this one counts for both lol (try getting the RC one over here, it's so rare, what a pain lol 😂)

Only shame about it is that the battery contacts were somewhat corroded when I got the model making it a fairly intermittent runner at times, I've fixed them temporarily with tinfoil but I plan on replacing them if I ever find a donor engine with the right contact ^_^

RE: Christmas countdown 😁 - chrisjo - 12-05-2022

(12-05-2022, 02:50 PM)Plarail Man UK Wrote: I know the original Plarail 300 Series was exported in both it's regular (3rd Avenue Set) and remote controlled (RC Train Set) configurations in the Tomica World export line....

And not forgetting the US Patrol Set #7414, (BTW it's 1st Ave., not 3rd!)

RE: Christmas countdown 😁 - Plarail Man UK - 12-05-2022

@chrisjo

D'oh, I typed 1st Avenue at first as well xD

And yes, you're quite right about the US Patrol set, although it never fails to puzzle me why it's the US Patrol set (yep, I do see the US styled police cruiser) headlined by a Japanese train, and not a US one.

This especially given Tomy had already gone for recolouring a Japanese model to represent a foreign train (Kintetsu 20000 Series/Virgin Train), one wonders why they didn't include a plain coloured version of the F-Unit model they had in their inventory that they used for the Amtrak set, and the one-shot 'Tomy Trains' US set released between Tomica World and Tomica Hypercity (and recorded in a thread here on BPT no less ^_^

RE: Christmas countdown 😁 - chrisjo - 12-05-2022

(12-05-2022, 04:01 PM)Plarail Man UK Wrote: ... Tomy had already gone for recolouring a Japanese model to represent a foreign train (Kintetsu 20000 Series/Virgin Train), one wonders why they didn't include a plain coloured version of the F-Unit model they had in their inventory that they used for the Amtrak set....

The US Patrol set was the first non-Thomas Tomica World set. The Virgin Train and the F-units came later.

RE: Christmas countdown 😁 - Super - 12-05-2022

I always thought this set that was titled "US Patrol Set" and had that exclusive US Patrol Car in it was very unusual, to the best of my knowledge, never released in the US. 😒

RE: Christmas countdown 😁 - Plarail Man UK - 12-06-2022

The US Patrol was one of the first sets? Interesting 🤓

On the subject of F-units, I'm super hyped to get my hands on the new Car Carrier, not sure of the Japanese name so here's the promotional video lol (https://youtu.be/CJ25R5y9Lcg)

It was a tough call to either get this and the Jurassic Park variant, or just this, but in the end I've gone for just this one, given it's likely to get more use in my layout, and I'm not a huge J.Park fan either, although they are good movies Smile

Now I guess this technically isn't an F-Unit as much as it appears to be a composite of several modern American hood unit designs, but I've kinda decided (for me anyway) that this is probably close enough to a Conrail GE Evolution locomotive in looks.

This is despite my previous assertion of it being a later F-Unit or possibly an SD-40, mainly because I've recently seen a picture of a GE Evolution and realised it's got a lot more similarities with the Plarail 'Power Cargo' than the former 2 types I identified it as lol 😂

I've come to this conclusion mainly because of the sloping cab window that both share, and of course the overall profile being very similar (although I admit, US diesels in many cases do share that similar 'hood' profile, and being a UK enthusiast they mostly look the same to me lol)

Now, I can hear any of you based in the US right now furiously typing that Conrail couldn't have possibly had GE Evolutions as they had become defunct by the time the Evolution came into use, right?

Well, my suspicion is that Tomy saw a picture of Norfolk Southern 8098, a unit painted into a heritage livery, in this case Conrail, and based at least the visual appearance on that, given the loco seems to resemble a GE Evolution in profile (see pictures)

It would make sense in some regards, as the livery (blue with white bodyside stripes and black detailing) does echo the Conrail paint of all-over blue, and the 'stripes' of the Conrail logo extending along the bodyside of locomotives that it was applied to, or at least, I think it does, so much so I've nicknamed the loco 'Conrail' simply because that sounds way cooler than the generic 'Power Cargo'

[Image: Screenshot-2022-10-21-13-32-43-57-f9ee05...ccb329.jpg]

RE: Christmas countdown 😁 - Super - 12-06-2022

I believe that we have discussed this engine before...I am guessing the discussion may have been in the New Release Thread but I am not sure.