Tomica World 7465 Virgin Train

Some comments in another recent thread have prompted me to write this post regarding the origins and identity of the Tomica World 'Virgin Train', item number 7465.  This is NOT entirely original research, there are clues elsewhere here on BPT, and I've also seen some related material on a Japanese Plarail website, though I can't remember where at the moment.

7465 first appeared in the Tomica World catalogue for 1999-2000, in which it is labelled 'NEW'. The same catalogue page lists the Eurostar and the TGV as due for release in June 1999, so it seems reasonable to assume that the Virgin Train was released before then, either late 1998 or early 1999.



The original 'red TOMY' box looked like this:



...and the later 'blue TOMY' box. Note that nowhere in the catalogue or on either box is the product called anything other than just 'Virgin Train'.



Here it is un-boxed:



Virgin Trains themselves started operating the UK's Intercity West Coast franchise in March 1997, using ex British Rail Intercity 125 High Speed Trains (HST, class 43), so these were operating at the time the model came out, and being the Virgin Train most familiar to the general public, the widespread assumption seems to have been made, not unreasonably, that the Tomica World Virgin Train was meant to represent a Virgin-branded Intercity 125 HST, looking like this:



And maybe it was, but there are problems, the first being that the colours around the cab on the model are not much like real thing, and more tellingly, the model carries the number 82100 when every class 43 HST carried a number with the format 43xxx.  There never was a British class 82 multiple unit, so what's going on?

I give you this:



There can be no doubt that this is the basis of the Tomica World Virgin Train. The first thing to say is that it's an unpowered vehicle, not a motive unit in any sense.  What it is, is a Mk.3 DVT, or Driving Van Trailer.  The DVT is a purpose-built railway car with a driver's cab and controls that allows the driver to operate a locomotive on the other end of the train in push-pull formation. Historically it was believed that a train would be unstable at high speeds unless pulled from the front, but extensive testing and experience of high speed trains with central power cars altered this view. A key benefit of operating trains with DVTs is the requirement for fewer locomotives; a second locomotive would otherwise have to join at the other end of the train after arrival at a terminal station to lead the train's return journey, or the locomotive would need to run around to the other end of the train.  Virgin themselves operated trains with Mk.3 DVTs numbered 82101 to 82152 on one end and class 86, 87 or 90 electric locomotives on the other from 1997 until 2005.

So how did Tomy manage to produce a 3-car Virgin Train model with a representation of an unpowered vehicle on each end?  Virgin were one of the first British train operators to actively encourage the production of toys and models bearing their brand and colours for advertising purposes, and would certainly have been pushing Tomy UK to produce something appropriate. We can only speculate that photographs of various Virgin trains were sent to Japan, with an image or two of the DVT mixed in.  The decision was made to repaint an existing Plarail model in Virgin livery and the mould for the 1994 Kintetsu Urban Liner EMU (with pantograph) was selected. They then copied the colours around the cab, the placement of painted doors and windows, and the number sequence from a picture of a DVT rather than from an Intercity 125 HST. The rest is history.



I would also draw your attention to Hornby's model of the DVT, #R4397...



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

This gives me an opportunity to squeeze in one of my own photos. Trafnidiaeth Cymru (Transport For Wales) are still operating trains with Mk.4 DVTs and class 67 diesel locomotives from Cardiff to Manchester and Holyhead, though they're getting a bit ancient now. This is 82226 leading, and 67014 pushing, on a train from Holyhead at Newport (South Wales) in September this year.

[Super]

Thanks Dr Chris for this detailed research as I had no idea about the real history...I just liked the look of the Plarail/Tomy/Tomica World model and the fact that it seemed different to me. So the Silver TGV Plarail was not a representation of a real trail?

 So the Silver TGV Plarail was not a representation of a real train?

It's real alright:

Definitely, I traveled on one to Amsterdam from Brussels and back again a month later lol!

[Super]

Thanks fellas 👍

In a bizarre twist to what they used, the Tomy Trains line did have a much closer copy of a HST with a Class 43 on either end. I had some of this range when I was younger but never sadly got this one.

https://api.flickr.com/photos/165579059@...067790268/