Latest Purchase - Not Quite Advance :)

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Ok, this post possibly doesn't belong here, but the subject matter is in my opinion closer to PlaRail Advance than it is normal PlaRail. So what am I on about you are probably asking?

Well thanks to a tip-off from Mr Ripley I recently won an auction of a job lot of 'Takara' PlaRail trains/track/accessories from a guy in Hong Kong, they arrived yesterday and today I've been sorting through the win.

Before I go any further tho' just a little bit of explanation as to what 'Takara' PlaRail is as opposed to Tomy PlayRail. Basically Takara used to be an independent company who produced a PlaRail type range alongside that produced by Tomy, eventually the two companies merged and the Takara range appears to have been dropped at that point. Quite how long the Takara range was available I don't really know as there isn't much info out there on the net about them, but I really like them for quite a few reasons.

As to why I put this post here, one of the main differences between the Takara & Tomy ranges is the gauge/size of the trains and track, the Takara range is quite a bit smaller (I've included a couple of pics below that have a Takara Nankit Rapid in front of a Tomy train I picked up recently). However although smaller than Tomy PlaRail they are not as small as the Tomy PlaRail Advance and if anything look a little more 'squished' length-wise than even the Tomy PlaRail does. Confused yet? Well the pictures will help explain more so scroll down.

In total in the job-lot I got 6 trains (3 bullet, 1 nankit, 1 suburban, 1 steam), in the listing the seller stated only 4 worked after being in storage, well out of the box 5 work so bonus, the 6th may be either wiring or the motor, but disassembly is even easier than the Tomy PlaRail so should be fixable.

The trains themselves consist of 3 cars, the front car contains the motor and a small micro-switch above the rear wheels which is turned on/off by slightly depressing the rear of the car. The middle car contains the batteries (2 x AAA) and has a hard on/off switch on the underside. The rear car is a simple dummy car, although some do have trailing couplings so potentially could be extended, although this would be difficult with the bullet trains seeing as the central battery car is physically wired to the front motor car. However overall I like the idea of the on/off on the middle car combined with the on/off micro switch on the front car as it makes them very easy to start and stop. Maybe something Tomy should look at.

The motors themselves look to be standard motors (possibly slightly smaller as I've not measured them) with a screw gear on the spindle that connects straight onto a cog on the rear drive wheels, quite a simple arrangement, but one which is not likely to have reliability issues in normal use I would say.

One thing the Takara Plarail trains do have in common with the Tomy Advance is that they appear to be better detailed than the standard Tomy PlaRail range, with plenty of small detail and moulded windows etc... rather than just stickers.

Apart from the trains themselves I got the following;

31 x short curves (tighter radius)
8 x long curves
18 x straights
9 x half straights
7 x quarter straights
1 x long LH points
1 x long RH points
2 x short LH points
2 x short RH points
6 x 'V' type points
1 x 'X' type crossover
1 x Double track with cross-over function (i.e. switch from one to other track)
1 x Working road crossing
2 x Station platforms
1 x Bridge consisting of two base risers and two span type risers (possible to add straights curves between the two pairs of tracks)
7 x Yellow Supports (like the Tomy PlaRail ones but smaller)
6 x Over track Gantries
6 x Side track Gantries (may go with some of the special track pieces, not sure yet)
2 x spare traction tyres (much smaller than usual but thicker also)

So all in all this is a great addition to my already fairly good selection of Takara PlaRail - none of which I've run to date as it was all brand new in box when I got it lol!!

Anyway enough of my rambling, here's some pictures as they will probably convey way more than my words can!

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This is the one currently not working, however thanks (again) to Mr Ripley I already have one of these so not a disaster, although I do believe I'll be able to fix it.

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The 'Suburban' train

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Steam Loco

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The other two bullect trains

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Nankit Rapid

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Comparison shot of the Nankit with a Tomy PlaRail

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Station Platform

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Working Road Crossing (closes when train runs over)

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Two 'group' shots Smile

Phew...
Happily collecting things all my life... Big Grin
More like "N.5" Very interesting as I didn't know this series were this extensive. Ahh...now I know where those Stations came from. I have had many of these cross through my hands. I had originally picked up a couple as I thought that PlaKids might be able to stand on the platform but they were too tall to stand under the roof. Since then I have had a few more that came with bulk Lots but let them all go to Ebay. It would be a perfect fit in an HO layout with HO people I think. Thanks for sharing Nigels Smile
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Excellent Nigel. Glad to hear this one worked out for you. I know shipping seemed a bit high, but sounds like it was a pretty good lot.
(03-06-2016, 08:15 PM)Super Wrote: More like "N.5" Very interesting as I didn't know this series were this extensive. Ahh...now I know where those Stations came from. I have had many of these cross through my hands. I had originally picked up a couple as I thought that PlaKids might be able to stand on the platform but they were too tall to stand under the roof. Since then I have had a few more that came with bulk Lots but let them all go to Ebay. It would be a perfect fit in an HO layout with HO people I think. Thanks for sharing Nigels Smile

I have to admit I had/have no idea how extensive the range was, but it's looking very promising and potentially viable. The big problem is the lack of any real info on the net and the scarcity of the items. I even had a look on jaucce last night and only found two loco's and one batch of track. I'm tempted to go for the track for sure, the loco's not sure as they are in the £20 a pop range opening bids.

(03-06-2016, 11:05 PM)ripley802 Wrote: Excellent Nigel. Glad to hear this one worked out for you. I know shipping seemed a bit high, but sounds like it was a pretty good lot.

No problem as it had a low bin price it still worked out reasonable and added a couple of new trains to my collection - the Nankai Rapid, Suburban and the steam loco which is different to the one I already had Smile

Also plenty of different and clean track too Smile
Happily collecting things all my life... Big Grin
(This post was last modified: 03-07-2016, 09:23 AM by Nigels.)
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  • ripley802, Super
This might be a bit off topic, is the Tomica sets what came out of the merger of the two company's? There is a ollie's discount store near me that sells discontinued items of all kinds and they have alot of the Tomica sets, some only cars and some a combinations of both and they usually sell the basic blue track parts: Curves, and straight pieces. The train sets seem kind of cheesy because they use alot of cardboard in there scenarios.
I'm not really sure, the more I dig around the more I come to the conclusion that the Tomy Plarail and Takara Plarail systems ran side by side for some period, exactly how long is anyone's guess until I find out more lol!

But one thing for sure is that the more I look the wider the range of the Takara product becomes, it seems many of the bullet trains, suburban and even the EF series were available in the Takara range at some point.

Similarly a lot of what we consider to be standard track accessories such as stations, tunnels, bridges, etc... were also available. I can say this with some certainty after spending more time looking around on Jauce - oh what a pandora's box has been opened there Wink

I won my first auction on there this morning, a complete, boxed, unused set with quite a bit of track and other bits but of main interest for me an E4 type bullet train consisting of 5 cars rather than the more normal 3 - well chuffed with that as it was a reasonable price too!!! Big Grin
Happily collecting things all my life... Big Grin
(03-08-2016, 10:31 PM)Nigels Wrote: I won my first auction on there this morning,

No hope for you now my friend. See ya at the next Japan Auction Anonymous meeting! [Image: hats-off-salute-smiley-emoticon.gif]
[Image: super-smiley-emoticon.gif]
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  • Nigels, ripley802
Well things progress, aside from my first shipments from Japan being en-route (boy does the shipping hurt lol), but I also today dismantled and fixed the 1 defective of the 8 Takara locomotives I received from Hong Kong the other week! Big Grin

It was really weird, the battery terminals were pristine as was the general look of the train, however after some careful dissassembly (not knowing how these things go together) and then doing some continuity testing I found that the fault was the negative wire from the battery box.

That proved a bit of a pain as although the middle car was fixed together with screws, the top and bottom were also glued/welded presumably at manufacture - I guess they assume people would never really have a problem with that part. Anyway the fault turned out to be the negative wire had simply seemed to have rotted away, as when I got it open it was broken in several places although there was no pressure or stress points - very odd. Even more curiously the positive wire went through the single pole on/off switch then again through the micro on/off switch and had perfect continuity.

Anyway I rewired both just in case, checking for contuinity as I went, re-assembled it several times while trying to remember/figure out the wire routing, and finally got it all back together and working. It now runs like a new train, superb Big Grin

So my easter break starts in a good way!!!

On top of that I've also figured out how these all work now so if any of my other auction wins prove to be troublesome I have a good idea how to disassemble and repair them. The only component that worries me a bit at the moment is the surface mount on/off micro switch. I can find several similar ones, but they are all just momentary contact rather than on/off. But I'm sure I'll find a supplier eventually Smile

Have fun...
Happily collecting things all my life... Big Grin
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  • ripley802
Nice detective work Nigels. I had the same problem looking for push button micro switches and like you found exactly what I wanted but they were all momentary like you said. If you have any luck please let us know.
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Will do Super, however I got a sneaky feeling this could be another wild battery terminal hunt as being pursued by Mr Ripley Wink

But I don't give up easily, if they can be got I'll find them eventually.

Out of interest what did you need them for?
Happily collecting things all my life... Big Grin



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