My Tomica World - Introductions

Just a quickie

This afternoons job, after a few bits of uni paperwork was to attempt a motor transplant on the Tomica World James that I had from an Ebay box of 'non-working' trains, to see if I could get him working.

This box had some 6 complete trains along with a bunch of parts and some chassis units, including a Hypercity E3 Series, a Tomica World 21000 Series (Hi-Speed Express), 3 Thomas engines and a Tomica World James. Of all the parts, everything except the James actually worked first go, although one of the Thomas engines had an awful sounding gearbox that barely got a train round the track.

Well, I used the awful sounding Thomas as a donor, as after exhaustive testing, I had concluded the motor in TW James was totally dead, so I dismantled the dodgy Thomas, and discovered (unsurprisingly) that several of the gears were completely shredded and missing several teeth, but that the motor itself was in fine working condition.

So, after de-soldering the old motor out of TW James and re-soldering the donor in, he came to life almost immediately, and after a good run on the layout, appears to now be in perfect mechanical order

So, as with Thomas, I now have a pair of working James engines, the model era version and the CG era version. Job well done I reckon, now to sit back and let the good times (and engines) roll

[Super]

Excellent job, its a good feeling when a repair turns out to be successful

Hey guys!

Don't worry, still alive, and the railway's in good health. Actually, for anyone interested, I'm on Instagram unde the handle @jrwhayward and I've been posting some pictures of railway stuff, both TOMY and real, among other things.

Quick update, the imported stuff from Japan, the Pico, 400 Series and 300 Series playset amongst other bits has now been shipped (cost over £100 for the cheapest method) and is now on its way via boat to the good ol' UK.

I doubt they'll arrive for some time yet, but of course, when they do, you can bet I'll be ready to report on them all right here!

Alright, peace out guys, see you soon.

Big update this time 

So my package from Japan finally arrived, quite out of the blue (Surface mail tracking, or a lack thereof, meant I had no idea where it was till Parcelforce came a knocking)...

Anyway, as promised, I'll have some pictures and hopefully a direct transfer of the Tomica World/Plarail promo tape ready for you all on BPT in the coming weeks - Got some exams for my MA degree to clear first though 

In addition, another package from JAuce Japan (this one a lot smaller) is on its way - I've managed to find and order the remaining trains that I wanted for my collection, meaning that as far as I know, I now have all the models that were exported into the UK Tomica World line (per the 2000 catalogue from my Tomica World 'City Set'.)

The ones I was missing were the 400 Series Shinkansen (Bullet Train), JNR D51 (think this was in the Tomica World bucket set?) Tobu Spacia, E255 Series (Inter Rail) and the Fresh Express (red, from the UK Super Spiral).

If I'm missing any others, let me know, think I got them all now anyway lol 

Also have a mod project on the cards - I ordered a different 400 Series with the first wave of JAuce orders, but upon arrival, aside from being very worn and scratched, the motor inside was totally dead.

As a replacement, I've ordered a Chinese clone of the Tamiya Plasma Dash motor (Mini4WD) which as I understand should make a really fast running model, and also some sticky-back vinyl to re-livery this scrappy 400 Series into the blue livery carried by the British class 395 'Javelin' trains, which aside from being partly derived from the 400 Series, were also the trains I used to work on during my time as a railway worker 

Finally, to cap it all off, I've also ordered a Mr Motorman 3 controller unit, and 4 additional M2 receivers, so I should be able to run several trains on the layout with RC capabilities now too 

In summary, the layout's looking pretty good, though an impending move is on the cards, so I'll probably have to pack up for a time ? Still, no time like the present, and once the work's done, I'm looking forward to a lot more tinkering on the railway and sharing it here to help pass the time till classes resume in September lol 

[Super]

Look forward to all the updates and seeing what you are getting. Good luck with the schooling. P-Man.

Well, this is a thing.

All my class work [for now] is finally done, and finally I have some quality time to myself...

Good old Royal Mail certainly delivered today, as the new motor for my modified 'Javelin' 400 series, created from a heavily scratched and electronically dead Tomica World 400 Series showed up, a Chinese clone of a Tamiya Plasma Dash [I think] motor; After 40 minutes or so soldering in the confines of a Tomy 2-speed gearbox, I've managed to bring it back to life with a speed way above any of my other engines [all of which use stock motors] so yeah   Even got some airtime when it hit the level crossings lol

Well, with that repair mission accomplished, there'll be pictures to follow when i've completed the re-livery into SouthEastern blue   As i'm now on my summer holidays [of a sort], I've got more time for BPT and pictures/video of the newest additions to the layout, and as promised, a transfer of my Japanese 'Tomica World' promo VHS, which I believe is the one that would have come with my Plarail 300 Series set originally [when I bought the set, it was missing the video] 

[Super]

 Even got some airtime when it hit the level crossings lol

Now, that would be something to see in video   Looking forward to seeing more this summer P-Man

As promised, the Tomica World VHS, and I gave it a thread all it's own!

https://blueplastictracks.com/showthread.php?tid=4591

There's some pretty good footage on there, and i've also opened an extra YouTube account for any Plarail videos I want to put here on BPT, so yeah 

Next update will probably be when Parcelforce drop my next Japanese order, which as it happens, will probably be in the next few days hehe 

Update again 

Well, the original version of my layout is gone, packed up prior to a house move due in the next few months, so any updates on the layout are going to be sparse, since I won't technically have a layout for a few months at least...

The good news is, where I'm moving to will have more than enough space in my new bedroom [approx 3x the size of my current room] for the layout to return eventually, so watch this space 

In the meantime, when I get a minute around all my work and life, I'm going to try and make a video or some posts [or even both] about the Sega Pico 'Plarail' add-on unit, probably once I find the box containing my Sega Mega Drive so I can use the AC power supply from that [the AC adapter with my Pico is for Japanese 110v, but it appears to be the same plug and output voltage as a Mega Drive, so hopefully my UK AC adapter will work  ]

Fortunately I have equipment that can also handle an NTSC signal over RCA connections, including video-capture software and hardware [hence how I was able to transfer my Tomy VHS, among others], so yeah, it's less a matter of hardware and more a matter of finding time 

Anyway, thanks for bearing with me guys, I also am pleased to note that I only now need the Plarail 100 Series Shinkansen and JNR C12 [black] in order to complete my collection of rolling stock, since those two are the only two released in the UK Tomica World range that I don't already have [and annoyingly seem to be the most rare ].

[Super]

Exciting times when one moves into a new place annnnd.....having more room for a layout......priceless