My Tomica World - Introductions

Glad to see my expansions seem to have generated some excitement 

Well, I've actually decided on a 'theme', so to speak, for the switchback zone - It's going to be a Thomas & Freinds themed section, using the Elsbridge crossing station as a centerpiece; I'm actually planning on expanding my rolling stock collection to have more of the T&F Plarail engines, or at least the ones I distinctly remember from 'my' era of Thomas, that being Ringo Starr [on VHS] and Michael Angelis [TV]. At minimum, I want to add Gordon, Henry and Edward, so i've got the main set of steam engines from Series 1, plus a few of the diesels too, and probably Lady as well, since I got Diesel 10 and of course Magic Railroad, for everything that it is, is still a cherished childhood memory that defo needs recognition on my layout .

This is a bit of a break from my layout previously, as I had decided to stick firmly to Japanese stock and theming only, for the most part, but actually since building the layout, I've gained much more of an appreciation for the old T&F from back in the day, helped by both re-building my original Plarail Thomas from my childhood so he could run again after 15 years of dormancy, and seeing All Engines Go, which frankly made me glad I grew up with 'proper' Thomas - I don't actually know anybody who unironically thinks All Engines Go was a good thing, it's been especially badly recieved in Britain since many people see it as tarnishing the legacy of one of our oldest children's franchises, and considering [as noted in the main AEG thread] that I saw 'Race for The Sodor Cup' and came out wondering what the hell Mattel were thinking by creating it, yeah, give me 'real' Thomas any day .

But yeah, I feel like it's time I properly acknowledged the stuff that got me to this level of railway collecting in the first place, so it looks like a little slice of Sodor will be coming to my layout fairly soon  . Might also make a thread on here for some of the 'Thomas' music covers i've made, as i've been using a MIDI sequencer and the original Roland Synth sounds from S1 to create Thomas-style covers of everything from movie themes to anime music lol  .

[Super]

Thomas Music Covers sounds exciting, anxious to hear what you come up with P-Man

Are there any dates or other info anywhere on the 300 Series so we could get an idea what time it was from?

This? New in 1994 catalogue, this pic from 1995 catalogue. 未来特急のぞみ号コントロールセンタ. Future Limited Express Nozomi Control Center.
 

For the Plarail Pico device, google this: プラレール・ピコ

Plarail made a similar version a few years later but it's the JR 500 class Shinkansen

Yup, seen a few on the Japanese auctions; Personally, I kinda prefer the wedge shape of the 300 Series so hence my choice lol 

Well, it's been a while ^_^
I'd like to say I'd been working on the layout, but nope lol

No, I've been working in a chemical factory to fund a potential PhD course at University, so that's a thing.

Except of course, this is me, so of course I've ordered Plarail, what did you guys expect 😁

Building up a healthy Jauce shipment, with the crown jewels being the Evangelion trains for Plarail (Eva being one of my favourite anime)

Anyways, watch this space, a new update coming soon hehe