Plarail TOMY Thomas NEW RELEASES

My guess would be that this rail functions like the bend side of current R-15, but only 1 standard rail long instead of 1+1/4 rail long (Does that make sense?)

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But why the flared rails. The only other time I have see this is the vintage original Benkei release with the U-Turn. They did this because of the sharp turn and the tendency for a long train to derail on the curves. This pictured rail sure doesn't seem like a long train would have a problem with that mild of a turn....unless this rail is going to be part of some other configuration I am very curious about it.



Hmmm...now as I sit here pondering...I wonder if this is meant to be for Monorails....put two together for a nice ramp and the wide part of the rails might be for the over rail Monorails to be able to use them where most of the newer ones can not go up the slopes that come with Monorail tracks. I have only had one Monorail (30th Anniversary Disney) that could navigate the slopes where most all the modern ones don't.

February 22nd 2024:

Plarail Real Class 185 series Limited Express (Hokuetsu / Kaminutari colour)
&
S-56 Mickey Mouse Speed Express

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I still wonder what other locomotives Tomy are gonna make in the real class series. Personally, I'd love to see a steam engine with realistic moving side rods. Basically something like this Galaxy Express custom I found in this video

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Those are some of the best working side rods on any Plarail Steamer. Wonder if he has a video on just that?

I believe he mentioned making a video on creating the side rods, but it seems like he hasn't uploaded it yet. They have a lot of other cool customs on their channel, so I recommend checking their other videos out.

I looked through their Twitter/X and found some posts on it.

https://twitter.com/shimotan53/status/17...8902395188


https://twitter.com/shimotan53/status/17...00/photo/1


Here's a video of the side rods being taken apart.
https://twitter.com/shimotan53/status/17...5238388819

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Wow...looks very complicated. Kudos to the maker for sure. I would expect they have an engineering degree to design such a thing but also have the ability to construct all the parts is amazing. I would pay good money for them to create one or more of these for me 😁
Thanks JT

March 2024:
 

Thank you! 381 series limited express Yakumo
Thank you! SL Hitoyoshi
E8 series Tsubasa & Tomica arch railroad crossing set
JR Kyushu WAKU WAKU SMILE Shinkansen
GOGO Thomas Animal Exploration Thomas
R-29 S-shaped rail

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What happened to those swirly tracks? As soon as you shown us these I went to Amazon and they were there and now they disappeared. I wanted to know how they described them...what they called them and what for.

Thanks Dr Chris for the heads up on all the next releases. 👍

Personally, I think those new tracks will be quite the useful piece and I'll definitely consider buying them. 
That E8 set also looks real nice.