Gold Plated 0 Series Shinkansen

Recently came across an auction for this, a gold-plated version of the ライト付きひかり号 (“Hikari go with light”). Never seen one of these before but the seller (who seems reputable as they have a large collection of Plarail rarities) claims that there were only 10 made and given out as a prize by Neko Publishing

(according to the seller it was also originally distributed by TOMY in a Thomas box??)

It’s worth nothing that there’s another, more common gold-plated 0 Series, but that uses the newer-style mold without the light and is completely plated, unlike this one which has open windows. After doing some digging the only place I could find it was on display at a 2019 Plarail event


Even the Plarail Museum has no info on it. I think it’s safe to say this is the first time this gem has popped up online... but has anyone here seen this before or know anything about it?

[Super]

Wow...great find T-Raw. I am not sure I have seen this one before especially with red lights in front and red wheels. Strange how they deemed it to be a very limited release (10) and stuffed it into a Thomas box. I think it would have been better to just stuff it into a plain white box with no clear window like they have with several other limited releases. Please let us know if you discover any other details.

Maybe I forgot to mention I won the auction 




Here it is in all its glory! The Thomas box is a little strange but it looks as though that’s what Tomy originally put it in... maybe since there were so few they just put it in whatever box they had lying around?

One end wasn’t sealed so I was able to pull out the rear car. The red accents go very well with the gold!


The Series 0 has always been one of my favorites, so that coupled with the beauty of this model makes it all the more worth it. So excited to have this in my collection!

[Super]

Beautiful T-Raw...those red nose and side lights would look fantastic lit up 😃

Is there a manufacturing lot number sticker inside the shell of the motorised car?  e.g. C9 or whatever?

I haven’t opened it up at the risk of possibly damaging the finish and/or losing value. I too would like to find out more about it but given how much I paid for it, I’m not sure how comfortable I’d be with trying to get it open

Maybe you could peer in as the windows are open

How do you get a battery into it? Is it a C-cell clip chassis? Or something different?

Maybe you could peer in as the windows are open

I’ve tried looking in through the windows but I can’t see any sticker; the motor could be obscuring it

How do you get a battery into it? Is it a C-cell clip chassis? Or something different?

Yes, it’s the usual C-cell with the clips, just like the standard ライト付きひかり号 of the 90s