Plarail TOMY Thomas NEW RELEASES

[Super]

Well it looks to me that because of maybe the Chinese Virus majorly affecting Plarail production of completely newly designed trains that they are either re-releasing old stock that has been in a warehouse or re-producing these previous trains with a minimal amount of employees and machines already or easily programed for production. This is probably a good thing if the lockdowns in Japan have stopped new productions because at least they are making an effort and getting something out to satisfy the interest of the target demographics.

The last thing item should be something of interest for the Plarail, Tomy, Trackmaster train lovers...the re-introduction of the four lane. Storage case, Garage that doubles as a track piece, a way to store your trains or when placed on end, a way to display your trains. This may be the 3rd color variation of this as the more plentiful ones were yellow, then red that came out with the Chuggington series and now this green one for the Shinkalions. Depending on if, it can be bought separately from buying a whole Shinkalion train and that the price is reasonable.

Thanks Mr No

pleased to see the minions released properly at last. caved and reserved a set, as i have been looking on jauce for ages, but always too expensive.

Huh, with all these re-releases, I wouldn’t mind seeing another run of the C58-239 SL Ginga!

Just sayin’….

[Super]

I think thats a great idea OTR...Plarail are you listening? Why not re-release some of those very Limited or hard to find trains? Just like Sunhuntins glee on finally being able to acquire a Minions set, many others would like a second chance at other trains. Although it would reduce the worth of so many hard to acquire trains I already have, I would support an effort to re-release some of these even if it was for another limited period.

I'm so glad you slightly modified your opinion on re-releases, Super... You once said that "it would be a bummer for me if after taking so long and expense in acquiring rare items they started to mass produce them." I understand and appreciate your stand (then and now), but I really think there should be some exceptions, and some great trains and/or accessories should be re-released. For one reason, some newer Plarail collectors weren't even alive when some items were sold. Many Plarail items were sold out in such short period of times many years ago.

If there is a reason for so many re-releases this year (the whole Covid-situation surely must be one of them), I do think they should have put some older models on the market again. And not just the trains, there is a good deal of great scenery and other accessories (double tunnel, station on curve, bridge on curve, to name just some of them) that would be greatly appreciated if re-released.

As for the trains, why so many re-releases of relatively recent models? And none (yet) of Thomas & Friends series? Do they keep the molds for only so many years, so they can't release 20 or more years old model again, or what? I don't know. If this is (for whatever reason) a time for re-releases, then why another Sonic train? or Aru Ressha? Previous editions of these trains could be still found in some shops. Why not listen to the customer wishes and release again (if possible) at least some trains (and other stuff) that people would buy like hot cakes? Or in short: Why let a crisis go to waste?

A good example was the re-release of the wrecker/ work crane (now KF-08) that was originally part of the Protect The Rails set. I really wanted the crane and amazingly enough, they released the crane as a stand-alone item.

Hey, the DE-10 is starting by get kinda expensive. Maybe they could bring that back!

[Super]

You are right Mr No....I revert back to my original opinion...no re-releases of anything I have ......I want them all to myself and no one else can have them.... Bwahahah  

they need to bring back the work trains to complete people's collections.

[Super]

The six new/re-releases mention by Mr No along with the new/re-release of the N700 Shinkansen Basic set have been listed at Hobby Search.

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/2557/0/1
https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/2560/0/1

[Super]

To further our earlier discussion, from Mr-No (go back two pages) on the new Odakyu 5000 series Plarail with light, here is a video showing the model and its first ever LED headlights. The LED does seem to be much brighter especially at the point of looking at it from the bare chassis inside which you can see the blue Daylight temperature of the light. Something that I have been disappointed in Plarail for on their lighted factory models still occurs with this release. The fact that I have to modify the engine body so the light does not shine on the track below and under the chassis seems like it could easily be remedied in the original design to give headlights a beam that shoots forward and not under like they normally are. But I digress...at least they are trying and added a new feature like LED lights is a good step in the right direction. Hmmm...I don't think I have ever seen 1.5volt LED's before....3.0 yes but not 1.5.