Plarail New Releases 2025 onwards (non-Thomas)

By popular demand, a new thread as per the title.

Please continue using the existing Plarail TOMY Thomas NEW RELEASES thread for Thomas-related news.

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There's nothing lined up for January 2025, but the February releases are listed here: https://www.takaratomy.co.jp/products/pl...w/2502.htm.

Tom and Jerry Wrapping Train, Feb 15th.

   

Kirby Star Wrapping Train, Feb 15th.

   

Real Class 485 Series Express Train (JR Kyushu Midori Express), Feb 22nd.

   

Meitetsu 130th Anniversary Reverse Paint Blue μ-Sky, Feb 22nd. The 'Blue MuSky' with a reversed white and blue paint scheme commemorating the 130th anniversary of the founding of Nagoya Railroad.

   

Thank you! Rapid Acty 211 Series, Feb 22nd. The Rapid Acty was a rapid train that connected Tokyo to Odawara and Atami, and was operated with various vehicles including the 113 Series and 211 Series. The Rapid Acty ceased operation on March 17, 2023, bringing an end to its 34-year history. The original S-31 211 series Commuter Train has not been available since 2015, so this variant is likely to be very popular

   

R-17 Bridge Straight Rail , Feb 22nd. First seen in the June 2024 Best Selection Set, now available individually. Replaces the R-17 3-way point rail.

   

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how in this cheap ES series the train's motor cars always "lean" backwards, as if the housing at the back end is somehow pressed down? 
This used to manifest itself in some older Plarail models, but now it seems to be happening again...

Is it just me ....

No it's not just you. Good spot. I just checked back through the Takara Tomy release pictures of all the ES wrapping trains, and they all show this. Furthermore, in some of the pictures it looks like the front wheels of the power car are actually raised slightly off the rails.  I suspect that the reason for this is that when they take the publicity photographs the trains are posed without batteries in them. When they do have batteries in them the weight will be more evenly balanced between the two axles. 

They seem fine in this video (running starts at about 13:40): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_L_yqlclRo

Not sure about that... I watched the video, and if you look at the trains on a straight section of track, you can clearly see that the rear end of the motor cars is 1 - 1.5 mm lower than the front of the cars following them.




That's a real shame. I wish they had released this Tom & Jerry commuter train in a "regular" series, because Tom & Jerry was one of my favorite comics/cartoons about fifty years ago! 😁

Meitetsu 130th Anniversary Reverse Paint Blue μ-Sky, Feb 22nd. The 'Blue MuSky' with a reversed white and blue paint scheme commemorating the 130th anniversary of the founding of Nagoya Railroad.



Thank you! Rapid Acty 211 Series, Feb 22nd. The Rapid Acty was a rapid train that connected Tokyo to Odawara and Atami, and was operated with various vehicles including the 113 Series and 211 Series. The Rapid Acty ceased operation on March 17, 2023, bringing an end to its 34-year history. The original S-31 211 series Commuter Train has not been available since 2015, so this variant is likely to be very popular

They still haven't convert everything to screw chassis eh? I guess they don't want to update the mould for such a limited use case.

They did this with the recently released JR Kyushu 885 Series "Splatrain" as well. Which isn't a problem to me, as the old C-Battery chassis run for much longer from my personal experience. I've had screw chassis locomotives (which use AA batteries) run out of power after an hour of total run time while some of my old clip-on trains which use C-Batteries have had the same battery for months without much speed difference. Maybe my AA batteries aren't any good?

Sometime in the late Spring of 2025 we'll be seeing the Chiba Urban Monorail, Urban Flyer 0-type, a limited release that will be sold at manned station ticket offices on the Chiba City Monorail, or there is also an online reservation process.

Chiba City is about 40km (25mi) east of the centre of Tokyo, on the shore of Tokyo Bay. The Chiba monorail is the longest suspended monorail in the world, and has been in operation since 1988. The Urban Flyer 0-type train came into service in 2012.

       

[Super]

Always love seeing something new released especially in the Monorail line but I wonder if this might be a repaint of an existing Plarail model (like the 5000) or something totally different?
Thanks Dr Chris for the heads-up 👍

Gotta say, I'm disappointed with the new R-17.

[Super]

What is the R-17 F-far and what don't you like about it?