Plarail S-34 Autorack Train

As mentioned, I'll provide my thoughts with the S-34 train I've got a few days ago.



So, here's what we have:



Included with S-34 are: EF65 locomotive, the autorack that are twice as long as a middle car, the info card as usual and two fake cars. 

EF65 locomotive itself has been reviewed previously by another user, shown here: https://blueplastictracks.com/showthread...&pid=63879 
In short, it's fairly long, as long as a normal Shinkansen front car; the locomotive also has the hook in front, and the extra space was also made to be fitted with a Plakid, though one arm need to hold on the knob to firmly sit in place.



(Recently added note) Unlike normal chassis, this locomotive does not have a "wall" in between the powered axis, therefore this loco will ignore every rail type that uses a latch for functions, i.e. automated tracks. I think this is a byproduct of this loco having a front hook, you wouldn't want one train going two directions, wouldn't you?





Even though this train goes back to the classic snap-on lid, you are still required a screwdriver to put batteries in. I find the trend of toy companies putting screws on battery compartment interesting, Lego has to modify the PoweredUp battery hub to have screws due to regulations from some countries, don't know if Plarail also has to comply with such regulations or they just change by themselves?

On to the autorack, as said on the box, it can comfortably fit 5 tomicas, given that the bottom two has to be cars. Top three would stick out the front end of the autorack a bit, but the tomicas would not run free that way.



Given that the autorack is quite a special car in Plarail world, there are a few things to note:

1. The autorack is already as high as a standard Plarail car, so attempting to load any tomica on the top deck would prevent the train going through any girders or rails placed one-girder high.
 



2. Should you decided that you want the train to go under girders and left the top deck blank, be aware of railroad crossing in the layout. The spacing between the bogies of the autorack is so great the barrier-down mechanism could pop up before the entire car can go through, resulting, in the case of J-27, the bell rang and the train stalls. 



However, fully load the autorack with 5 tomicas will let the entire train goes through just fine. I've let the train goes through a few times, load-only-the-bottom-deck can only goes through the crossing once and kept stalling the following rounds; while fully loading the train only stuck once every 5-6 loops.

And that's all what I'd like to share about this rather unique train, Plarail-wise!

[Super]

Very nice review Hano, thanks for sharing 😃