Vio'Plarail Past Research

4 Replies, 3205 Views

5 years ago, I was out on a business trip with other colleagues. One of them was a Plarailer, and informal introductions began. We agreed to travel around places to look for material for our website. And so, the research team of only 2 Plarailers was born.

As a rookie team, we first decided to visit expos and toy museums. It was 2015 Plarail Expo, the first destination. There were artifacts that were never auctioned before during that time. The first artifact was the C-62こうかセット, which was only manufactured for 5 months in 1978. It was a miracle that one has survived over the years of careful storage.

[Image: EUR6-R-TU8-AAx-py.jpg]

There was lack of information of railway toys. Books published at that time lacked information on discontinuation years of the artifacts. Due to stagnation of information collecting and failure to publish information that defied the current information in 2015, we disbanded the team and stopped hosting the website. Around late 2019, that was when I got an invite to my current team after they saw my earlier progress from 2015 from the wayback machine. So I am back to Plarail business again.

Our team tried to defy the information in books only with enough evidence. So we took a trip to warehouses and set up a junkyard inside an abandoned ワム8000. We turned a small office room into the research laboratory. One of the warehouses visited was this. It had the New International Airport Set that was manufactured for only 1 year in 1978, and the most advanced gimmick Plarail, the Container Loading and Unloading Set where a forklift turn 90 degrees, moves in front, takes a container, moves backward, turn 90 degrees again and unloads the container all by the friction drive of the EF-15 with lights. We took down the MS-nn and G-nn numbers. I remember fondly that G-27 (1978) is airport set and MS-30 (1981) is container set.

[Image: EQp-Aa6-HUUAA-J-X.jpg]

We knew we had to add on to current information to existing information first so we try to decode G-nn and MS-nn numbers. We eventually found out that the numbers were according to the fiscal year and the research evolved using the cancelation method. We knew we had to decode the numbers because this gave information when the products are manufactured, leading us to figure out the year that each product was discontinued. We knew that warehouses and auctions don't have all the information we need, so we visited the houses of every collector. We collected the addresses of every possible collector who came to our driving parties. By the time the driving parties ended, we had around 230 house addresses. We knew that we can't visit every house, so we cancelled out visits that have duplicate information compared to our database. Each time a visit was done, at least more than 4 G-nn numbers, 6 or more MS-nn numbers and 9 or more ST numbers were recorded. Thanks to Mr. Nayuho, Mr. Ai and Mr. Vio, we activated the initial ideas and discussion of these numbers. It all started in 2019 until now! ^^

[Image: Untitled.png]

5 months later, we found something that defied the entire history of Plarail. The true history of Plarail that existed before 1959, this incident is known as the Chabudai Incident. I discussed the history in here before. Thanks to overseas products and the work of many collectors and researchers, existing books had to be rewritten and were planned to be distributed in the upcoming Comiket. The 1958 Highway Set, which was thought to be the roots of Tomiyama Shoji's plastic rails was 6 foot deep in the grave. All the events happened in 3 days, and history was completely overturned. On the first day, our team gathered in Discord and discussed the prototype list of release dates of each of the sets before 1959. We kept our research confidential, but we released them all on the final day. Thanks to Mr. Honorary Chairman, Mr. Kuten and Mr. Nayuho, and all the other collectors who contributed and complied to the research.

[Image: Untitled.png]

After the Chabudai Incident, I was the founder of the JAN numbering conundrum. As JAN was standardised and Japan joined EAN in 1978, we can determine if the product is still available after 1978. Mr. Nayuho, who gave the roots of ideas about the G-nn code, Mr. Chronowaal, who provided the JAN numbering proof, and Mr. Vio who figured out how the G-nn and JAN numbers correlate. Our research provided a more solid base for researching products after 1978. 

[Image: Untitled.png] 

After all above, Mr. Nayuho initiated the New Plarail Musuem site. This was the biggest contribution to the Plarail universe. The old Plarail Musuem was outdated, and somebody has to keep the information alive. As a long dream has been finally initiated, we all decided to help him for the good of research. Mr. Cha, Mr. Fujiyama, Mr. Vio, and all other collectors volunteered to join the museum contribution. You can see the list of contributors in the website as proof. Lastly, thank you Tharazero1 for providing three 10th generation boxes to me.

Not long ago, Mr. Fujiyama and I finally met face to face thanks to introduction of contributors from Plarail Museum's credits page. We had a good friendship ever since and invited each other to house visits. As usual, we recorded down the G-nn codes, JAN codes, and other codes from the boxes. Thank to his Rotary Snowplough Set and Disney Yuuenchi Set, it is possible for me to confirm the G-nn codes. He also introduces the one of a kind phantom gem Sotetsu Line 300 Series Shinkansen Set to everyone silently, and until now we can't confirm how to obtain one!

[Image: Untitled.png]

Around this present time, I have most of the sets' manufacturing and discontinuation dates. However, a new challenge comes recently where Highway Terminal Station Set and Highway Fully Automatic Railroad Crossing Set is N-22 instead of G-22. New theories by me say that N alphabet during this time is used for Plastic Highway Sets. Others say that it could be a single item or a set numbering difference only in 1974. But most people found my theory viable.

That is all for now. It is crazy how this journey proceeded. The G-nn, MS-nn, N-nn and TT-nn numbers, JAN standardisation, Plarail Museum and all contributor's support means too much to me. My main purpose now to collect Plarail is to record these numbers and most miscellaneously, screw open each cover underneath the parts to reveal the interiors, and have fun.
[-] The following 4 users Like violater's post:
  • bijomaru78, chrisjo, DuckGWR, Super
Amazing history and dedication! What's the address of the museum website?
[-] The following 1 user Likes bijomaru78's post:
  • Super
This is the Introduction page, you are supposed to start from this page:
http://parlorfleur-pm.com/hajimeni.html

This is the Home page, you will end up here if you click on the Back link in the previous page:
http://parlorfleur-pm.com/

There is a thread for the fiscal year codes:
https://blueplastictracks.com/showthread.php?tid=4007
[-] The following 2 users Like violater's post:
  • bijomaru78, Super
That’s quite an amazing journey!
[-] The following 1 user Likes Off The Rails's post:
  • Super
Now thats dedication. Thanks Vio for the real story of how the whole team came about, it is very interesting. The team has provided fantastic research into this hobby of ours and I appreciate you and your team for sharing all this information. Smile
[Image: super-smiley-emoticon.gif]
[-] The following 2 users Like Super's post:
  • MuddyPoppins, violater



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)