Can anyone help date this Gordon please?

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Yes, but there were several changes along the way

The red rim was moved from inside the wheel arch to the rim, as has been discussed. I believe the 2005 estimate may be about right. The change happens at just about the same time as the blue plastic was changed - I have not seen a red rim Gordon with the terrible yellowing plastic mix, and nearly every inside rim Gordon I see is the old plastic mix. The "2004" Gordon shows off what happens to this poor plastic mix well. In the mid 2000s (I believe shortly before Tomy stopped selling in the US) the white coupling between tender and engine was changed to black. In the 2010s - I believe someone has figured around 2012 based on production stamps - the middle wheels went from loose on the capped axle to press fit. You can see that change in the last Gordon in Muddy's photo.
It is hard to tell without keeping a good record of incredably specific mold and wire and other component changes, and without opening something from a sealed box yourself it is hard to tell when specific revisions happened because you don't know exactly what life ir has had previously, as wheels and couplings and wires and really any component can be replaced over time from repairs.

To throw another Gordon in the ring, here is a puzzle still unsolved: a friend spotted a Gordon in a Japanese lot with different wire colors and a Made in Japan style coupling. We both assumed this was an early production Gordon reusing some parts left over from the Made in Japan era. I ended up finding another one with a possible original battery cover, and it claims to be from some time in 1998, not 1995.
[Image: IMG-20210414-180246.jpg]
[Image: IMG-20210414-180437.jpg]
So there are two possible timeframes, and without finding another one with more concrete evidence both are possible in my mind - either it is a 1995 Gordon which swapped its battery cover over the last 25 years, entirely possible, or it is a 1998 Gordon, because it is known that around the start of the Tomica World era engines were being given weird wire colors in some cases and Made in Japan style couplings in others. I have a James from 1997 built for the US market with different wire colors then usual, and have seen Tomica World stuff come from the factory with old style couplings, so I have no reason to rule out the possibility of it being from 1998.

I do have boxed Plarail Gordon examples from 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2001, but it is possible that my 1995 Gordon is too late to have these early features assuming it really is a very early production run with swapped battery cover, and I am missing a 1998 Gordon boxed to compare the other possibility.
I have a website where I have been writing about and photographing many of the sets and pieces that I find interesting.
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RE: Can anyone help date this Gordon please? - by DuckGWR - 04-20-2021, 06:10 PM



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