Plarail μSky 20th Anniversary

The Plarail S-55 Meitetsu 2000 series μSky was released on January 27th 2005, to co-incide with its service-entry date. This was before the brand changed from Tomy to TakaraTomy, and it has been in continuous production in the same pre-2014 style 'type 9' box and with the same C-cell chassis ever since.

Here is the new releases page for January 2005.

This is a longer production span than for any other Plarail train. It's a mystery how this one has remained in the line-up for so long when so many other popular trains have fallen by the wayside, although the fact that it's still in service and will be the first Japanese train encountered by visitors arriving at Chubu Centrair International Airport may have something to do with it.

Does anyone have any other ideas why this might be?

The next contender for a longevity award is the S-60 EF66 electric locomotive, released September 29th 2005. Nothing else comes close, the next ones after that being released in 2009.

[Super]

This is a longer production span than for any other Plarail train.

Now that sounds like an interesting topic...listing the top 10 longest running, continuous production, Plarail/Tomy Trains ☺️

I would have thought a more interesting 'top 10' would be the non-limited ones released and available for the shortest time.  This would make them far more collectible and potentially valuable to collectors...

On the subject of hard to get models and apologies in advance if I have this wrong.  But, I seem to recall seeing people saying that the new PlaRail Real trains are difficult to get as they go out of stock very quickly?  Well if so I found these today on AliExpress if anyone needs them, although they only seem to have a couple of each at best, priced between £58 & £66 depending on model;

Plarail Real Class Odakyu Romance Car 3100

Class 201 Series Commuter Train ( JR West Japan ・Uguisui)

Real Class Twilight Express

Various (4 different types)

Also found some more 'normal' PlaRail trains at what seem like reasonable prices, around £16-17;

Loads to choose from...

Here's my personal theory: I think the μSky hits essentially a sweet spot, being both iconic enough/a good enough seller to continue production, while also not being replaced in real life with another type of rolling stock. Let's take for example the JR Yamanote Line in Tokyo, arguably one of the most iconic non-Shinkansen routes in Japan. Since 2002, Plarail has been continuously producing official Yamanote Line trains under designation S-32. Before that, going all the way back to the 1970s, Plarail had been continuously manufacturing green JNR commuter stock that mirrored what ran on the Yamanote Line at that point without being officially designated on their packaging as Yamanote Line trains.

However, the Yamanote Line is a very important route for JR East, and as such the real rolling stock gets replaced with new sets pretty frequently, To keep their lineup accurate, Plarail also releases new trains replacing the former ones. This happened in 2002 when the S-32 green 205 Series was replaced by the S-32 E231-500, and again in 2020 when the S-32 E235 was introduced, which is still made to this day. So even though Plarail has made Yamanote Line trains for longer than the μSky, since they've had to produce different types of trains to match the real line no one single train has been made for longer.

The next contender for a longevity award is the S-60 EF66 electric locomotive, released September 29th 2005. Nothing else comes close, the next ones after that being released in 2009.

the μSky hasn't changed at all right? because they've changed the deco of the EF66's container cars a couple of times