Interesting PlaRail Seen On TV

I was watching an episode of 'The Avengers' on TV this morning, this is the old 60's show with John Steed and Emma Peel for those who remember.

Anyway during the opening part of the show what do you see but a model train going round and round with a note in a wagon. On closer viewing it was obvious it was a Tomy 'Percy' with a couple of wagons, but of more interest to me was the track.

Although it was still 'blue plastic tracks' it was not the familiar track we know but rather more realistic. Imagine Hornby type track (rails and sleepers) but moulded in our familiar light blue plastic.

Now I've never seen Tomy track like this, but it was obviously a Tomy train as it was instantly recognisable, had the switch on the top of the cab, etc...

Anyone any idea where they got the track or do you think it was custom made for the show to make it look that little bit more realistic?!?

According to the Plarail history on Tomy's site, they didn't produce a locomotive modeled after a real engine until 1971. Even then, it was based on the D51. They certainly could've used a Tomy mechanism since they released their first motorized engine in 1961 but I would inclined to suspect they used a toy or model readily available from U.K. retailers in the 1960s.

Remember also that Tomy didn't produce Thomas engines until around 1992 while The Avengers ran from around 1961-1969.

[Super]

Plus, didn't Plarail Thomas just celebrate the 25th Anniversary? So did they even make Thomas and friends back then in the 60's...I don't know myself but if they did what is the Anniversary for?

Did you watch that episode on YouTube Nigels? If you did do you have a Link and minute mark as I am curious for sure.

I know exactly what you're talking about..

This is the rare and sought after Meccano Percy set that came out in 1965 in the UK, this is significantly larger than Plarail, about the same size as O-Gauge with wider track. Here are some referral links.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy2TxkU60ZU

http://thomastankcollectablesblog.blogsp...y-set.html



Cheers

StarSwitcher, thanks for that great piece of information! I remember that episode but it's been YEARS since I've seen it.

See I just knew someone on here would know what the model was, but that looks highly likely to be the one, it was only on screen for a few seconds and I know it had a switch on the top of the cab like plarail models. I'm guessing it must have been the clockwork version as it was definitely self powered.

Have to admit looking at that advert and the quality of detail I'd love one of those sets myself if I could find one in mint condition (highly unlikely I know)