Plarail TOMY Thomas NEW RELEASES

I like that elevated set with the all gray rails. ¥4800 doesn’t sound like a bad price but I’ll probably have to sell a vital organ to afford the shipping! The N700 passenger coach set is really nice too!

Thanks Jukio
Have you seen or heard about this circled item in a Catalog first reported by Mod Thana back on 10/24/19 which shows some blue rails with open centers?

@super
In Japan Fans say these blue rails, not attach Set...
Maybe, this design blue rail are very soft and weak...
So, out blue rails from Kokakyo Layout Set ....

[Super]

@drew5195
I didn't even notice them. Those new type yellow risers are odd looking especially when placed under the Sloped A & B Curved Rails. Thanks for the video Link.

@chrisjo
Darn, I was hoping they had come up with a new rail which they haven't done in a while. There is what looks to be a new/different Stop & Go Rail in this set though. A shorter version.

Thats what I saw too Dr Chris about the different type wheels and they look slimmer than the normal ones. I do recall have a couple wheel and axles like these before but I threw them away thinking they were from knockoff trains. On another observation...is this the longest train that Plarail has ever released together in a set or by itself? I have seen 6 car releases but this one has 8.

@OffTheRails
I agree with you OTR about the gray set. Yes its nice to know those who would like gray tracks can start acquiring them easier which certainly wasn't my case after years of assembling all mine that were hard to come by. They also include the hard to find Elevated Rail Risers that took me quite a while and expense to get. These risers were meant to be used with the gray Elevated Rails and look quite weird with the normal sized gray rails. They also don't work as well at the track joints of the non-Elevated Rails, either.

@Jukiodaisuki
Thank you very much for coming by and letting us know.

On another observation...is this the longest train that Plarail has ever released together in a set or by itself? I have seen 6 car releases but this one has 8.

My understanding is that the 3-car N700S (with car #5) comes with the rail set (6000¥), with the additional 5 cars (#2,4,12,13,14) & 2 plakids being released as a separate item (3200¥). However the whole 8-car ensemble is VERY TEMPTING!  I do wonder if the 3-car will come out by itself in due course, i.e. not as part of a set.

It's a little annoying that the grey rail set has so many curves (12) and so few straights (4).

This set is interesting for the grey rails and the elevated risers, both of which I have very little and has been hard to find.

I agree with Super though, the elevated risers look better with the elevated track with side walls.

[Super]

@Chrisjo

So the extra 5 Coaches are an Add-On...well then that is probably the largest set of 'Add-On' Coaches Plarail has offered.

Did anyone notice that the 'see inside' coaches have a new method of opening so the bulky side clips are gone?

@Super: Yep, I acquired some of those risers last year and they haven’t gotten much use. My plan was to get some elevated rail but that’s still on the “to-do” list.

The difficulty of obtaining gray rail is why I’m always interested when a set like this comes out. I’ve pretty much resigned myself to not having a large collection or using it for most of our layouts here at Chez OTR. It’ll work fine for my planned “live scenery” table layout, which needs a more realistic look and doesn’t require much track.

The difficulty of obtaining gray rail is why I’m always interested when a set like this comes out. 

I'm in the same boat when it comes to gray track. Adding another level of complexity to the dilemma, there are at least two grays that I know of.

There is the gray in the set above which I believe matches this 'light gray' in the rail yard tracks:
https://ttdb.info/entry.php?id=155

Then there is a 'dark gray' track that you get with the three way switching yard track. I have a few of these darker full length and half length straight rails. Not sure if there are any curves in the darker track.
https://ttdb.info/entry.php?id=47

[Super]

The Dark track with curves and some switch is available. Early in my quest for Light Gray's I had made the mistake of buying many from the Japan Auctions that looked like they were light in the pictures but it was just a lighting thing as when they finally arrived they were dark. One set with the darks that immediately comes to mind is the large Sound Steam D51 Set.

Man, if they’d just offer some of the common track sizes in light gray as separate packs, that would be a huge help! Normally, I don’t really care because blue plastic tracks are a hallmark of Plarail. But for situations like the layout I’m planning to replace my Christmas layout, the gray tracks would fit better.