Japanese Auction Wins...

I'm not sure super, I've not yet got one in my posession, although one is in transit

Is it crank type or does it move through the power of the wheels?

I noticed one of those small images on the box that indicates the turntable is operated by a knob. There is no handle, though.

I'll let you all know once one arrives, shouldn't be too long if customs get their finger out lol

Ok, well before I begin this I have to apologise for the length of this post, but it seems the parcel fairies decided to stop off in Coventry for longer than usual and several shipments from the land of the rising sun decided to arrive together

Anyway on with the goodies, first up we have a whole bunch of new/sealed Takara PlaRail goodies;

The first one here is in response to the query above regarding the turn-table, I actually had two turn up, one boxed/sealed and the other 2nd hand, but apparently pristine when I opened it. As can be seen by the closeups its operated by a 'crank', but it does also have a 'stop' function for the trains on both ends and is large enough to hold the complete 'normal' 3 car trains;

Next up we have another new/unopened set, this one is particularly interesting and this is the only example I've seen to date. It is interesting in that it not only has a normal 3 car train, but also a single car 'tram' and some different dedicated track for it that fits inside the oval of train track. I've not opened it yet as it appears to be so rare, but I'll be keeping my eyes open for another example;

Next up is an engine shed come storage container, these are intended to work alongside the turntable or alone and it appears they can be 'stacked' for storage purposes;

Here's an elevated oval track, very similar to the current Tomy offering, complete with risers and overhead catenary (posts for electric wires);

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Now for some new loco's, some of these I already had as 'used' examples, but these are new/sealed ones for the 'future box' as Super would say ;

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This next one is a bit of an oddity, as it has a Shinkansen 500 in the box which looks pretty much mint condition, but the box is for a 'Sonic' train, if this was just a packing error or 2nd hand I don't know as I purchased it from Amazon but was received by From Japan as incorrect and they offered it to me for free - i.e. refunded the cost

Now some scenery items, up first one that has been seen before but thats in an old thread somewhere so no harm repeating it, a box containing a number of 'trees' and train signals - got 3 of these in a bundle of new goodies;

A girder bridge set (i.e. bridge, supports, etc...)

A tunnel

Finally for the new goodies we have a selection of track packs many of which there were multiple packs of;

Now we move onto the 'used' Takara PlaRail items, the first one is something I mentioned before, a fold up miniature train layout - well I say miniature, the folder is quite large about 14" x 14" x 6" this is quite an interesting set too as it has some unique track pieces. This one I know is not complete and I bought it as such, but it was only 850'ish yen so cheap enough. I've now got another better/cleaner and complete set coming which again only cost me about 1500 yen;

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A new to me loco (a D52 steamer);

Various bundles of tracks and other scenic items;

Now I did have a bunch of Tomy PlaRail as well as some N Gauge items, but those I'm going to save for another day as I've not photographed them yet and this post is darn long enough already! But I do have a couple I wanted to share as they are quite nice

First one is a translucent blue Nankia Rapit (ta da!);

Then the golden liveried Spacia express;

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Now a few PlaRail Advance loco's and sets, all new apart from the last one which is 2nd user (but complete and in good condition;

Lastly there are a couple of oddities which were included with one of the bundles of used Takara items, the first one is a 3 car train, powered, but very unusual/odd in that it uses a very small 1.5 cell in the front power car (I mean the battery is about half the length of an AAA). At the moment it appears non-functional and has some battery corrosion on one terminal, but the nice thing is it fits the Takara track perfectly as shown in the photo's. The only indication of make is 'Yodel Made In China' printed on the bottom of the power car.

These two I have absolutely no idea about, they seem about Takara scale, but non-powered and just well weird - probably something from a promo/candy type item I suspect;

[ripley802]

Holy Cow

You were not kidding when you said you had a lot coming. You need to put in for leave of absence from work and get the layout built. Can't wait to see it when it is ready. Keep them coming. So much fun getting the packages in the mail and 3 is way better..

[Super]

Holy Smokes...the Postman should set up a conveyor belt from the street to your door for all the stuff he is bringing you...wow.

That 1.5volt small, half the size of a AAA battery sounds like an "N" size battery. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-N-1-5V-Durace...SwcwhVNO-e
I had some of those trees and never knew where they came from, now I do. Strange as they are larger than the Plarail trees but are for smaller trains. They are very solid too.

I love that set with the bus/tram that runs around inside the layout. It looks like its rail can be expanded too. Great truck load Nigels.

Are you planning on moving to a bigger place to store all this?

me Jealous!
Wow
We need some setup video!

Holy Cow

You were not kidding when you said you had a lot coming. You need to put in for leave of absence from work and get the layout built. Can't wait to see it when it is ready. Keep them coming. So much fun getting the packages in the mail and 3 is way better..

I know it's going to take some time to get it all sorted fully, hence why I've not even shown you the job lots of used PlaRail or the N Gauge stuff I picked up in among all this (there's some seriously nice N Gauge there)

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Holy Smokes...the Postman should set up a conveyor belt from the street to your door for all the stuff he is bringing you...wow.

That 1.5volt small, half the size of a AAA battery sounds like an "N" size battery. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-N-1-5V-Durace...SwcwhVNO-e
I had some of those trees and never knew where they came from, now I do. Strange as they are larger than the Plarail trees but are for smaller trains. They are very solid too.

I love that set with the bus/tram that runs around inside the layout. It looks like its rail can be expanded too. Great truck load Nigels.

Are you planning on moving to a bigger place to store all this?

Thankfully I know this postie - well I should do he's been dropping off these sort of packages for a while now so he's ok with it. Although even he had a bit of sweat on his brow today lol!

You're dead right about the battery type Super, I've got some knocking about somewhere (bought them for the door bell lol) but not had chance to sort them out today.

A bigger place would be good, one of the things it's hampering is getting a full layout built, at the moment I've only really got room for 'test setups' lol! Maybe I need that 'man shed' now for my next birthday or something

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me Jealous!
Wow
We need some setup video!

I'm intending to get some videos up if for no other reason than to illustrate the differences in systems and gauges etc... but it may be a bit primitive with only test layouts laid out alongside/inside/outside each other

Then longer term I've got to decide which layout(s) to build in large scale, at the moment I'm leaning toward a Takara one and an N or Z gauge...

The shipping bill is always painful as is the customs charges, but at the end of the day if you can buy cheaply enough its still cheaper if you can even find the items on eBay or elsewhere over here

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Ok, carrying on from yesterday's unpacking now we have a batch of Tomy PlaRail, the pictures are not in any particular order and don't include the 4 Shinkansen's it also came with (a 500, 700N, 885? and a Chrome E4 Max )

Still to come in the next couple of days are the N Gauge and other bits and bobs

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[Super]

Precious!!!