Bijomaru's YouTube videos

Hi Bijomaru, we've been here all the time, and we wondered where you'd disappeared to!

The Plarail Aerotrain has been distributed at Plarail Expo since about 2011, in a variety of different colours apart from your yellow ones. I believe they are given out as prizes. The black & yellow one below was a prize in something called 'Plarail Bingo'. Powered lead cars seem to be commoner at auction than intermediate cars and un-powered trailing cars.



It's very unusual in that it's a Plarail model of a non-Japanese train, the experimental General Motors EMD LWT12. This did not have a locomotive on both ends though!

There's another item that's more or less the same (there's some in one of the photos above) but they've put a different nose on it.

Welcome back! It really was down sometime around May this year, though it came back up a few weeks later.

Either way, I've missed quite a bit since my last comment. I don't think I've seen the automatic transfer station after Ucwepn's review (eight years back), nor did I know the signals could double as risers. Apart from the realism, they're a good way to delay a train until another one passes without having to reach for a stop/go. Well incorporated.

I knew Chrisjo would know about the Plarail Expo Aerotrain and/or its prototype. Like he showed, there are other variants and other trains with units that share the same numbers and they have no connection to the years the events took place.

P.S., I noticed you used both the old and new versions of each power unit to allow running in either direction. Better than simply keeping the unpowered ones that come with them, and I feel some more buyers should take notes if they have doubles.

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Thanks Dr Chris I have not seen that video before nor did I know (or just forgot) that some of those Plarail Expo Game prize engines were based on a real train.

Thanks Chris, I didn't know there were so many of those. Nor did I know of its origins! So thank you for that.

I wish we can one day build a comprehensive database of all the models out there. Like a wiki where we can easily find information and edit it. I know there are various websites but it's usually a case of finding it after hours of searching and then there's very little info. Perhaps a little project for me to get going when I'm bored.

laG, the first two cars are the 02 Aerotrain with a passenger car. But the 3rd car is numbered 03, and the rear car is actually not motor-driven, but t's a rear car with number 03. So again not sure what that is, but can post a better picture if it helps us finding out what train set it comes from

...But the 3rd car is numbered 03, and the rear car is actually not motor-driven, but t's a rear car with number 03. So again not sure what that is, but can post a better picture if it helps us finding out what train set it comes from

It's not from a set, it's another Plarail Event Vehicle (プラレールイベント車両) prize-handout nose-job variant of the Aerotrain.



Watch this video and you'll see a couple of the games where they can be won...

Hello Blue Plastic Tracks Friends!

We've struggled to build any layouts recently and then make a video, because of our busy family schedule. The good news is that our youngest is no getting to a stage where he can play with tracks without immediately destroying them So we may be able to do some smaller builds and have fun again more often.

We recorded a new video back in March, but only managed to get it done in the last few days.

Hope you will be able to spare some time to watch it and happy to listen to any feedback and interesting facts

Plarail - Shinkansen Loops - Tomica City and Villages, Elevated Komachi and Hayabusa Line

2 separate loops plus Tomica City built around the Mega Station

Loop 1 - Series 300 Shinkansen and Class 923 'Doctor Yellow'. With an automated junction after Ffarquhar station on the right side of the layout, the Series 300 is diverted to go through the Tomica Mega Station, while Dr. Yellow carries on straight under the back-side tracks. Due to the difference in speed of those trains, they will come out in roughly the same separation after those routes, and pass Discovery Time Station.

Loop 2 - E5 Hayabusa and E6 Komachi - running both separately and joined. 2 levels with the trains having a stop on each level, and a crossing that allows them to change levels and run independently.

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Fantastic Layout & video Bijo. A lot of action going on in this compact build. Love the incorporation of the Auto Switch Point. 😃

We wanted to keep this build's footprint small as I was testing how the youngest one will fare with avoiding stomping over the tracks. But then as I saw he was doing fine, we built it up

And with 5 stations/stops in total, there was plenty to do for our whole family

Hi everyone, long time no speak!

I thought the forum has as I wasn't able to log in, but managed to find it again. Glad the accounts were transferred over

We've been busy, but sadly not so much with trains, as in the past year we only managed to get some layouts built twice :O In short, family life, my business got really busy, we had some building work done. None of that helps with planning something bigger.

So we had one build week in November, where I started getting our younger son get involved more. He had his own smaller layouts to manage, whereas my older son and I managed a line running across the whole room and trying not to crash.




Then more recently in May, we had a go at building one layout, where all 3 of us get some stations to manage, and I control a 3-way junction to send traffic to the boys. It was one hell of a challenge, and it took us a few attempts on separate days to work out a flow that was sustainable. I think the best fun my boys had with trains yet, so a lesson for the future is to build layouts that keep them interacting with each other. Separate lines may be easy and convenient for constant runs, but they aren't as fun and don't help them develop planning skills.

(Link in the next post as it didn't let me add two)

Hopefully with all the building work now finished (at least for another year or two), my work-life balance being revised in the next 6 months, and the boys growing up and being more manageable, we can carry on and build something cool again this summer.

Glad to be back!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_DysqRkyTo

... and the Three Conductors link here