Rarest TrackMaster Trains

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I personally think the international talking engines (particularly from countries with very small populations such as Latvia) should be higher than the blushing thomas.

While there may be more Latvian Engines (just continuing to use Latvian engines as the example even though I am not sure if they exist as I don't know if FP would find it profitable to make engines for such a small population) or the same amount as the blushing thomas, blushing thomas was released in JAPAN, a huge market for Thomas, whilst Latvia is a small country where no one knows the rarity of these engines and probably wouldn't keep hold of them after the kids grew up and stopped playing with them.
Train it, plane it, you name it!
[-] The following 1 user Likes GreatGordonFan's post:
  • MuddyPoppins
That would put us back to the Alfie/Monty scenario…
There are only 360 Blushing Thomas, and I’m sure that even the smallest country’s own international engines would have much higher production/distribution numbers than only 360, but the Japanese market is highly accessible to the western world, and the Foreign language models are scattered across continents in countries that seem to be unattainable.
Play nice & have fun!!Smile
[-] The following 1 user Likes MuddyPoppins's post:
  • GreatGordonFan
Another one to ponder is Clear brown Annie & Clarabel…
Annie is said to have had a production run of only 3000, and I believe Clarabel is 6000?
Even though they are in the thousands, a 3000-6000 piece production run is far less than ANY standard retail production run, which would make them rarer than a few of the mass produced entries currently in the top 10, and they were never sold at retail.
I am sure that more than 6000 T’nA James and Figure 8 sets were manufactured, as well a Yujin Candy dispensers and Monty’s.
Play nice & have fun!!Smile
Here’s my scenario for the existence of Black wheel rim Buster.
He’s is originally supposed to have the black rim.
Day one of production goes great.
Day two there is a problem with the specific machining portion that sprays the rim.
Production stops, it is investigated, assessed, and reported.
Numbers are crunched, and it is discussed as to how long and costly it will be to get the specific tooling repaired that paints the rim to get back up and running.
Days, maybe weeks pass, and then the executive decision is made to forgo the rim painting portion, and to proceed on without it.
So how many were made on day 1?
Play nice & have fun!!Smile
[-] The following 2 users Like MuddyPoppins's post:
  • GreatGordonFan, Tons of Trackmasters
@GGF I agree with Muddy, as 360 is an extremely small number and it is likely that there are more than that still surviving; it’s just a matter of being able to find them in their obscure locations. As for clear A&C (I believe there were 5000 clear Clarabels), I kind of base their ranking off of how commonly they seem to come up for sale compared to some of the others, though their placement is certainly still debatable.

For Buster, I think it’s likely one whole production batch was completed, and then they realized it was too costly to just paint such a trivial detail. If that’s the case, how many are typically produced in a batch? And could this same case be applied to the Slippy Sodor Thomas?

@gordonfan01 That would be a good idea but hard to execute. Wasn’t there a user who had an entire Plarail “research team” a couple years ago? Vio, I believe? Perhaps we could form something like that
plarail for life
[-] The following 1 user Likes TrainsRawesome's post:
  • MuddyPoppins
The rarity of an engine isn't just based on the quantity produced, but also on the accessibility of the product.

You can easily tell when a seller is selling the blushing Thomas as it's easily identifiable, but the international talking engines are almost impossible to determine since they look identical to their English counterparts and it would be difficult to determine what language they actually speak from just looking at the listing.

Also, quick question: what do you think is a sensible guess for the number of Latvian engines in existence? (The country's population is just under 2 million)
Train it, plane it, you name it!
[-] The following 1 user Likes GreatGordonFan's post:
  • MuddyPoppins
I don’t know if they would even produce Latvian, but maybe around 2-3000 if so? It’s really anyone’s guess

To me, rarity is based on how many are in existence; sure, it may be harder to find something in Latvia than Japan, but it is still possible to find them. The number of the item that can possibly be obtained at this moment anywhere in the world is how I would define “rarity”.
plarail for life
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  • GreatGordonFan, MuddyPoppins
I am not sure if FP would find it profitable to make Latvian engines.
I know rarity is mostly based on quantity, but obtainability is also a factor that determines rarity
Train it, plane it, you name it!
(This post was last modified: 05-30-2022, 08:40 AM by Super.)
[-] The following 1 user Likes GreatGordonFan's post:
  • MuddyPoppins
(05-29-2022, 12:42 AM)Muddy Poppins Wrote: Please delete
@ Muddy! a Great debate between Alfie and Monty!
It is a true debate!

Alfie? As you stated has a geographical nature.
Monty? On the opposing end? Has this also?

Alfie is battery operated. Monty is not.
Alfie has a side piece. Monty does not.

This is a true debate!
 Especially! Especially that so many doubted Monty's existence from out the gate!
I mean when was Monty? Deemed? Put into an actual tangible acquisition?
Alfie was tangible much earlier.

Do we agree?
This is a debate that requires all of us.
But before the debate starts?
We all have to set the guidelines.
This isn't about Monty vs Alfie.
There is a bigger picture here! This picture HAS to be assessed to all trains/vehicles/ everything!



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