Super Rails?

Hey chaps, I'm back 😀

Well, after taking a long and bumpy detour into the world of Beyblades, you'll all be pleased to know I never stopped hunting for rare TOMY goodies, and I think I might just have one here 😉






So this appears to be a TOMY 'Super Rails' or whatever the larger scale models than ran on the 'black' track were (yes, it's got a circuit with it) of a D51 and tender with 2 JNR standard coaches, except as you'll have probably noticed by now, they've decided that this is going to be a British train 😂

Now as a British rail enthusiast I should really be pointing out the fact that double-arrows don't belong on steam engines, that we never had D51s running on our standard gauge network, and of course by the time BR Blue was commonplace on coaches in the configuration seen here, steam had already been mostly phased out 😅




However, someone pointed out the Ffestiniog Railway would beg to differ regarding double arrows on steam equipment, so let's just pretend this was a D51 intended for the Ffestiniog so it's somehow real-world accurate lol


Anyway, this was £10, and I absolutely was not going to pass this up just for the sheer novelty/hilarity of a Japanese train trying to disguise itself as a British one.



Cosmetically, aside from some sticker peeling it's in absolutely superb condition, but internally is going to be another story - But, I'm looking forward to getting her running again, it'll definitely be a project but since I'm a bit dry on Plarail restorations right now, this'll make up for it nicely 👍

Incidentally, if this helps to identify it, there are no TOMY or other markings on the engine, but the coaches carry a 'Made in Hong Kong' stamp, so presumably the engine was made there too. 

If I recall correctly some older TOMY products were made in Hong Kong but I could be mistaken. Either way, I'm pretty well convinced this has some sort of Japanese connection because of the design, it's all Japanese pattern stuff so yeah 👍

Anyways, would be great to hear your thoughts, and I'll be sure to update when I have a bit more time to get her out and have a proper look at things 😀

Looking forward to seeing it properly when you have it unpacked.

[Super]

Hi P-Man...

Well, since I'm away from home (mum took my train home for investigation on my return), I decided to do some internet searching by the campfire 🔥




And so, on my travels, I've discovered at least a bit more about what I've bought...

And it's left me with more questions than answers 😆


So, my first deduction, it may not be a TOMY product after all, or is possibly a somewhat modified or altered clone or bootleg of Super Rails - Not sure as I've not seen anything other than photos of Super Rails.



Enter Exhibit A - Kamco 'Continental Train', with a very familiar looking loco, and the same of track that came with mine. This one has freight wagons though, which leads nicely to...



Exhibit B - Oh look, there's the coaches 😁

So, from that it's clear that this 'Kamco' company from Hong Kong was selling a version or versions of what I've bought, although that leads me no closer to finding out the origins of the design - because...




Exhibit C - 'Apple' train set. Made by 'Apple' in Hong Kong (does that make this an iTrain?), this thing has a very similar loco, same tracks, but now inexplicably has a mix of Japanese, American and British rolling stock; Japanese engine, B&O wagon, and a B.R wagon too!

So, while I'm no closer to confirming if this is a Japanese design, or a TOMY one for that matter, it's clear for now what I have is a rare variant of one of these sets with BR paint coaches.


Incidentally I'm now also not sure of what engine it is supposed to be - I looked at a Super Rails D51 and realised this looks nothing like a D51 (no deflectors for a start), but may be a C12 or possibly even an American design, but given the Japanese styled coaches it pulls I still strongly suspect a Japanese design.

Will be fun to eventually solve this mystery lol 😜

Incidentally, if this is like the 'Continental Train' then I may find it has a 'steam' unit and a chugging mechanism too which would be awesome, although I'll be curious how the steam unit works (oil, or deionised water?)

[Super]

Excellent Detective work P-Man 👍

OK, so here we go, I'm back from camp [i'm a Scout leader, so basically supervising kids all weekend lol], and finally got to perform an autopsy on my brand new purchase

But first, a few interesting updates - I'm no closer to solving the manufacturer mystery conclusively, but I think I'm a little closer lol

The biggest find was that in the US, these sets were distributed by a company known variously as 'Durham Industries', 'Scientific Toys' and later 'EZ-TEC'. The one thing known for sure is, the tooling for the engine is known to have been in circulation since the 1960's, and is a generic tooling from Hong Kong possibly based on a Japanese mechanical design, and an American visual appearance [but more on this later].

http://www.trainweb.org/batterytrainstat...urham.html

This site's where I got my information on Durham, and indeed, there's pictures of my engine and coaches [albeit not the B.R repaint], making a definite link between mine and the Durham sets.

As it stands currently, the earliest Durham models and track were actually made in Japan and carry 'Made in Japan' stamps, but don't indicate who in Japan made them.

So, the question is, was it TOMY?

My answer; Maybe?

So, I'm not certain, but the problem is, although the track is definitely Super Rails, and the supposed origin date of the 'Durham' model tooling [1960's] lines up with when Super Rails were introduced by TOMY, none of the rolling stock actually matches anything TOMY has made for Super Rails.

The coaches, although based on a Japanese JNR design, are considerably shorter than the TOMY equivalents, and the locomotive appears more like an American design [I think it sorta resembles Strasburg 475, any Magic Railroad fans in the house?], although some variants sold as 'Continental Train' by Kamco et al. came badged as D51101.

Searching this brings up a picture of a famous preserved JNR D51 which is what I originally thought this might be, and interestingly one of the more common Super Rails locos is, you guessed it, the D51. My suspicion is that this model might be a significant re-tooling of the D51 model, as although it appears to be a US-styled engine, there are also elements that look strikingly like a Japanese engine to me.

Therefore, I'm kind of suspicious, if not convinced that TOMY may have had a hand in the earliest versions of these sets? It would be odd that they would basically hand off a design of theirs to a generic Hong Kong manufacturer after production, but my best guess is that Durham initially ordered production of the sets from TOMY in Japan to a semi-bespoke design created by themselves but based on the TOMY blueprints for Super Rails [hence the notable differences between these and legitimate Super Rails].



They then shopped the design out to a Hong Kong subcontractor to make more cheaply later on, as it appears only the first iterations of the Durham sets were made in Japan with later ones being made in Hong Kong [see picture].

So, my current conclusion is that what I have is basically a big mixture of various parts of different systems, some unique, and some directly copied from TOMY Super Rails, made in Hong Kong by a generic manufacturer and not TOMY themselves, but which was possibly created from a design manufactured by, or in some way affiliated with TOMY, as the dates indicate that the design of track and trains I have debuted through Durham via an 'unknown' Japanese manufacturer in the late 1960's at some point, almost concurrent with Super Rails debuting in Japan.


The direct copying from Super Rails is the track. It's described as and appears to be roughly 'O' gauge, and features an identical joining mechanism to Super Rails.

SUPER RAILS




DURHAM




Now, for the bit I imagine you've all been waiting for - more detailed pictures, and whether I got it working!

















So, what we have here is the full 'Continental Train' passenger configuration [Engine, tender, 2 coaches], with chuffing sounds, working headlight and steam - Yep, this one's a live-steam model, no joke

The standout feature of course, is that this one has been decorated to be a British Rail engine and coach set; I have found literally no pictures of this BR variation of the 'Continental Train' in any of the searches i've done, so this is evidently a very rare variant indeed, but as an admitted BR fanboy, this makes me all the more happy to own it lol

The useful thing here is that thanks to the coach livery, it is actually possible to date when this set was made - BR's c oach livery of blue and white was debuted in 1965 with the introduction of the then-new corporate image for BR and the birth of the now universal 'Double-Arrow' symbol, and was progressively withdrawn from primary use throughout the 1980's, although it remained a near-constant sight in some form or another until Privatisation saw most older BR liveries removed from frontline service.

In the context of this set, given that the Durham sets appeared from the 1960's, but appear to have hit their stride in the 1970's, and the fact that BR Blue would have become more or less universal by the mid 1970's too leads me to believe this set dates from the 1970's, as it would have made the most sense for it to have come from that era given the context of both it's design, and the manufacturing history.

I can however, prove conclusively that this is from the 70's, and the reason why is because someone clearly forgot to change the batteries :O



So, as you can see, after getting the boiler off this engine, I discovered what no model collector wants to really see - Fossilised batteries!



So, I'm willing to bet this takes the record for the oldest batteries removed from a train here on BPT, as these are [according to what I've found] a design of Zinc-Carbon battery [R20, which was the old name for 'D' batteries] sold by BEREC [British Ever Ready Company] throughout the 1970's - The shell design and formulation changed after the end of the decade to account for the emergence of Duracell alkalines, which incidentally all but drove BEREC out of buisness as they stopped selling consumer batteries made in the UK in 1996.

Ever Ready is now owned by Energizer, and the current generation of 'Ever Ready' batteries are basically cheaper Energizers sold at discount stores here in the UK, as well as the brand name being licenced to discount stores to attach to cheap Chinese electronic tat [similar to names like Hyundai, Daewoo and others here in the UK].

But, and you'll be shocked to hear this, despite the condition of the batteries, the engine itself was completely fine! Some parts were corroded but this seems to have been more to do with the storage conditions than anything, and the battery terminals were actually almost spotless!

After rubbing the battery contacts and some of the more heavily corroded sections of the on-off switch with contact cleaner and some fine-grit sandpaper to remove the rust, then popping in some Energizer D cells [how fitting lol], it fired up, and absolutely shot off around the track! The small headlight bulb is still brilliantly bright, and the smoke-generator was working fairly well as-is, but I added a couple of drops of plain vape base [I find it makes a very clean-burning and effective smoke fluid], and now it puffs out impressive little smoke clouds from the funnel too

It's not a perfect runner by any means, as it needs some gear replacements - The motor and it's main drive gear are identical to the types used in Plarail, so that'll make replacement easy. It runs very noisily, which I suspect is a combination of the motor, and the 'chuffing' sound achieved by the smoke-pump mechanism. The smoke pump is a sliding bar connected mechanically into the gearbox, which pumps a small rubber bulb connected to the bottom of the smoke generator, blowing air through to puff the smoke out the top. The pump itself is surprisingly still fairly flexible despite probably being 40+ years old, but a bit of model-tape around the neck has made a better seal so the pump can run a little more efficiently until I can source a sutiable replacement.

So, in conclusion, it's an unusual, unique-looking and incredibly fun little Super Rails clone that's left me with a lot to work on in terms of repairs, but is so satisfying to watch especially with the live-steam function, and for £10 worth of unusual model railway, i'm more than satisfied

[Super]

Wow...you sure are into investigating P-Man...I am impressed 😃

Heh, thanks 🙏

To be honest this was one I really wanted to (and will keep trying to) crack as to be honest, I knew straight away when I saw it that it was unusual, mainly because you don't often see larger-scale model railways at charity shop/thrift store places in the UK, and when I realised the coaches were the JNR type I'd seen with Plarail, I was sure it had some sort of interesting Japanese connection despite it's 'British' appearance 😁

It's interesting actually as the switch and electronic systems on board are amazingly similar to early Plarail (furthers my suspicion of a TOMY connection), with similar motor and gear arrangements, and the use of a metal plate 'slide' switch like those seen on the front of early Plarail models (although this one's at the back).

Not just that, but the wholly mechanical design to me just absolutely screams 'TOMY', how everything inside is either all or mostly mechanical, and thus repairable with simple replacement parts, so yeah.

That said, the loco design I think is an unusual puzzle, as there's evidence that later on they made a US style 'F-Unit' diesel model for the same track system if I recall from my research, but unlike this model, I think that may have been a unique tooling made for Durham Inc. rather than being something modified from a Japanese design as I think happened here.




In fact, here's the F-Unit, in 'Chessie System' livery

Well chaps, another 'update' of a fashion.

So I found a link to another Japanese designed train set, this one by Yonezawa Toys [now part of SEGA]




To me, the loco looks at least somewhat like my one, with slightly different detailing, and from what information there is, this was a later plastic-molded edition that was based on toolings for a metal litho-printed set that came before it. Both were called the 'Continental Flyer' [which echoes the 'Continental Train' name of my set], and both are battery-operated models, at roughly 0-scale with chugging sounds and smoke generators....




Here's a photo of the tinplate version of the Yonezawa loco, and from what I can tell, it at least looks possible that the mechanism and it's positioning is very similar to my locomotive, but without being able to see inside or handle one, it would be impossible to know for sure.

Conclusion? Again, hard to say, but I'd maybe wager my earlier thinking that TOMY were somehow involved in the loco design might have been slightly off, and that my loco is maybe based on, or derived from the Yonezawa Continental Flyer, but was packed with track derived from Super Rails - It's not impossible that the two designs could work together since they are the same gauge and work on the same principles [battery operated train on plain plastic track].


As a final bonus for you guys, while digging through Yonezawa's admittedly extensive catalogue of model trains, I found a picture of this, what I believe to be Child Guidance railway track, which includes an odd extra-wide 'donut' section along with the regular parts - Any of you ever seen this before?

Reviving a dormant thread, but yeah 😅

The BR Continental Train has finally hit it's big time, it's going to be the second Christmas tree train in our house (we have 2 trees so one tree will get the Plarail treatment 😁), so it'll soon be running again lol

The real thing of interest is this commercial that I found 🤪

https://youtu.be/r8uAGkQXqJI?feature=shared

So, here we have a commercial for Ever Ready batteries (y'know, the fossilised relics I found inside the Continental Train when I bought it), with an interesting train-related story that relates to one of the biggest pieces of railway media ever made.

This ad was made by the then-small animation firm 'Clearwater Films', who counted ex-AP Films special-effects technician David Mitton amongst their staff.

Mitton had worked with Gerry Anderson (owner of AP Films) on such legendary titles as Thunderbirds in the 1960's but was at Clearwater in the 1980's producing commercials while working towards hopefully entering TV animation.

The ad itself, from around 1980, was entirely made using models of Ever Ready batteries, culminating in a scene of a city with a flying UFO made entirely of Ever Ready batteries.

This particular ad that he directed, so it is believed, caught the eye of another person in the TV world, who had been in talks with someone very important in the railway world about adapting a series of popular books for TV.

This client was no ordinary one.

They had a bad previous TV experience with their books made by the BBC, where a model derailed and had to be put back on the tracks by a visible human hand, an error they deemed to be an amateur mistake, and which led to the cancellation of further episodes.

Yet, this plucky TV executive who had met our reluctant author was able to convince him to give it another go, with models no less.

But they would need a studio capable of high-level modelmaking, with someone who had experience working on large scale model productions, perhaps those like Thunderbirds?

But she knew who to call, the man who made the Ever Ready advert. If he could make a city of animated batteries, and had the experience of working on Thunderbirds with moving vehicle models, he probably would be able to work something out.

And so in 1984, the creative minds of Britt Allcroft, The Rev. Awdry and David Mitton came together, and the very first episode of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends came to life on the screens of the UK, kick-starting almost 40 years of now semi-legendary television in the process.

And to think, all that perhaps because  one advert for batteries which I found inside a train impressed Britt enough to hire Clearwater for Thomas - Not bad eh?

(Full disclosure, this story may or may not be 100% accurate but it's one I've seen floating around on the internet several times and the dates check out since T&F began production around 1982, with the ad coming out possibly between 80/'82 so yeah 😅   I'd like to believe it's partially true as it would be quite interesting lol)