Christmas countdown 😁

This oughta be the part with some kind of epic introduction, especially since this is likely to be the last major shipment of Plarail i'll be receiving in the near future - I've pretty much got them all [all the ones I especially wanted], all the track I need, all the accessories, all that sort of thing.

Any further shipments are gonna be much smaller, mostly spares, or the occasional new train when one that's of special importance to me gets released [I'm lookin' at you, Shinkalion Eva Unit-02 ]

Tomica on the other hand, well hoo boy, I got a big list of saved items to balance out the number of trains with road vehicles & buildings too LOL

Oh well, here we go anyway

Let's go with the thing i've been keenest to see first; the car-loading set - My review is that it's probably the best Plarail set centred around an action feature that i've seen in a long time, for a lot of reasons.

Let's start with the heart of the set, the train itself. The 'Power Cargo' locomotive is nicely detailed, uses a newer and [in my opinion] much nicer version of the 'universal' chassis with a much smoother switch action & quieter motor, and runs really smoothly, easily one of the smoothest Plarail locomotives i've owned, and given I own over 60 now, that's certainly high praise.



I've already addressed it's visual similarities to the GE Evolution, or any number of similar locomotives, and honestly, it would be awesome if TOMY put this one out as an individual piece, as I could see the potential for a lot of custom US locomotives decorated in the colours of several US railroads - I'd wager it'd be a piece many would want on their layouts, and to be honest, it's worth buying the whole set for.

Now for the loading feature - And it's good, real good. So, you have two custom car container wagons, which open automatically when they enter the station, and a lever-operated forklift truck that pushes/pulls the cars in and out of the wagons on the platform. A button allows you to release the Tomica down the exit ramp once unloading is complete.



On the whole, i've found it works best with average sized Tomica or equivalent cars, smaller models won't engage correctly with the loading mechanism either on entry or exit, and larger ones may not fit in the wagons, or if they do, will hold the doors open such that the train won't pass obstacles like stations, tunnels or yellow girders.

On that subject, the train will fit practically any TOMY accessory or track with no issues, as the custom wagons are not that dissimilar in size to a passenger coach, again, provided loading is done correctly and the vehicle fits inside correctly, both of which are easy.


Now onto the rest of the new rolling stock





So I got the DX Shikishima and Twilight Express, no need to go into too much detail as they've been on BPT before thanks to others, but I am real glad to have them in my fleet, they're lovely models and I love the opening coaches and other action features they have, as well as how they look in general - There's two trains I would love to see and ride in real life if I ever had the chance.

Hiro and Kenji next; both nice models.



Hiro is exactly the same [from what I can tell] as the current 'fat-boiler' [my nickname for the large boiler of
steam models that run on C batteries, such as the older C12] D51, with the addition of a face and the relevant T&F decorations. He runs nice, speed-wise is about the same as my C62 [another fat-boiler design tender engine model], and came with a wagon full of removable green oil drums.

Kenji is exactly as discussed on BPT previously; The current 0 Series/Dr Yellow model, repainted and with a Thomas face added. He's a nice model, looks just like he did in the series, runs well.

Both are nice models, but probably fairly unremarkable to anyone who isn't a fan of the characters, or in need of a Railway Series version of the D51 or 0 Series for their collection, as they're both literally just another flavour of the current generation regular models, no more, no less.

Finally, the biggest surprise of the lot for it's hidden features, the Plarail double-deck car carrier with the EF65 locomotive in JNR yellow/blue 'tokkyu' livery with JR decals. I got this partly for the car carrier [a real nice wagon, Tomica compatible of course], but mainly for the EF65, a Japanese engine I particularly like for it's interesting history as a mixed-traffic type with several variants that is still in service despite dating back to the 1960's.

I'd say it's got a comparable history to several of Britain's most famous mixed-traffic locos, especially the Class 86 electrics, from the same era, which held a similar position to the EF65 as vintage mixed-traffics still in mainline use here in the UK up until last year when they got replaced with the newer [and similar mixed-use] Class 90's on the same duties - The EF65's on the other hand, as far as I know are still in service

This one is lovely though, it's a new design compared to the one I had already from the Tomica World Big Set [my first ever Plarail Japanese/non-Thomas model from when I was a kid ], longer and much more detailed than that too. This version is one that has frontal cab doors, compared to the original which did not; This isn't a mistake, but actually accurate, as some earlier EF65's did not have cab doors, while later ones did, and it makes it stand out from my earlier model nicely.





More important are the bonus features, one promoted on the box, and the other that was a total surprise. The promoted feature was a flip-away front coupler, which allows the unit to become part of a double-head train; The box suggests attaching an EH500, but of course, I couldn't resist double-heading my original EF65 with the new one for an awesome vintage pair hauling freight.



Now all I need is some JR Blue Train coaches, and I could have an awesome looking double-headed classic Japanese sleeper consist for my layout, which would be awesome - Maybe I should try and get the Hokutosei set, as I do like the DD51s that comes with, and of course I could easily switch in the EF65's for a classic Blue Train.

The second cool feature, which is entirely unadvertised, is that it has a Plakid driver's cab just ahead of the battery, so you can pop a Plakid into the loco's driver's position - It's mentioned nowhere on the box, and I only noticed it while I was inserting the battery and saw miniature driving controls moulded into the chassis. It was a welcome surprise to be sure



Worth noting though, the long car-carrier wagon is not entirely compatible with all accessories, as i've noted it has a tendency to get stuck on or derail on certain level crossings, but otherwise, it navigates bends easily with it's articulated trucks. Might be worth remembering for anyone planning to get the Jurassic World train as well as that has a similar long articulated wagon.

Also got the single-pack thin-boiler C12, a nice model that looks great with a pair of classic JNR brown coaches behind, several individual wagons including the track carrier, T&F Farmer McColl's cattle car & the breakdown crane [something i've been meaning to get for years, and only just got round to LOL]

That's it in terms of rolling stock, the rest was one each of every level crossing/railroad crossing that Plarail has in it's line, and a few other accessories.



My personal favourite of the crossings is the deluxe electronic crossing with the manual pedestrian crossing feature, where you can mount a Plakid to a little carriage that moves when you crank a handle, allowing them to 'cross' the crossing. It's also got flashing lights [on one side only], and electronic bells, which [in a nice touch] change tone depending on which direction the train is approaching from to mimic the 'doppler effect' you can experience with electronic bells at a real crossing - A tiny detail I know, but TOMY cared enough to include it, and that gets big plus points from me.



I also got the J-10 signal - Another accessory i've wanted for a while, and the version I've got is a newer one - Unlike the one I remember seeing, it now uses 2 LED bulbs [one per colour] as opposed to a single bulb and a moving shutter to change the signal aspects, making the entire unit smaller and more compact. It now uses 2 AAA batteries instead of AA's, and now has fittings on the bottom to allow it to be attached to yellow girders and fitted to a bridge; All in all, a fine update to a classic piece.

I also now have a small army of Plakids thanks to buying the DX trains, the current Plakids station, the Plakids crossing that came with 3 Plakids, the DX crossing that came with one, the ones I gained previously from the Demon Slayer set, the Fat Controller/Sir Topham Hatt, and a few others I had collected, which is great, as of course it's brilliant to have plenty of them to decorate stations as well as pavements in my town scenery too.