Tomica World - A trainspotter's guide to every model.

Hello everyone!

I had been considering doing something like this for a while, either in video or blog form, and in the end, decided to use a BPT thread for this - I am, over the coming weeks, going to create a detailed 'guidebook' of sorts for all the trains that were released in the UK/European Tomica World line of trains and sets. 

By this, I don't mean just listing all the trains that were in the line, as BPT has many posts/lists like that, but rather creating posts that have information and facts about the different trains from within the line - As a rail enthusiast, it has been fascinating to learn all about the many different trains that I have purchased and collected in building my Tomica World/Plarail layout, and if anything, I have been really keen to share what I have discovered with others  .

[Note - Not all of the pictures used are mine, but i've labelled the ones that are]


So, without further ado, I'm going to start with what might have been one of my favourite research subjects, the Tomica World 7465 Virgin Train, and it's sister unit, the 'Hi-Speed Express', actually the Kintetsu 21000 Series, from the Tomica World 7421 'Large Set'.


 



[pictures from my layout]


It's fairly obvious to anyone looking at these models side-by-side that they are exactly the same model, but in reality, the two trains they represent are very different indeed, from opposite sides of the world no less.


Of the two models, the original was the Kintetsu 21000 series, released originally under that name in the Plarail line. 




Kinki Nippon Railroad, known as 'Kintetsu', and operating services in the Kinki and Tokai regions of Japan, ordered the 21000 series units as the next generation of their 'Urban Liner' series of limited-express* railway units, under the name 'Urban Liner Plus'. These electric multiple units, built by Kintetsu subsidiary Kinki Sharyo, would first appear on the route between Kintetsu's stations in Osaka and Nagoya in the year 1988 [Showa Era 63]. One notable feature included their streamlined front end, something which will come into play with the model's later use.

[*Limited-express trains are similar to the UK Inter-City or express train, in that they are trains that do not stop at all stations, instead calling mostly at major stations only]

These units carried a white livery with orange stripes from the outset, with the original version of the livery having orange lines around the windows, and a later version omitting the window lines. The version seen in the Tomica World Large Set was re-named to the 'Hi-Speed Express' on the box, however the model was simply a re-packaging of the Plarail 21000 series with no paint or visual changes for it's international release, arriving here in it's first-generation colour scheme with orange markings at the windows.


However, for the international line, predominantly the UK release of the line, the model would receive a unique re-tool. This was the Tomica World 7465 'Virgin Train', which was heavily promoted as one of the exclusive trains avaliable in Tomica World, having never been released as part of a set, and never being released in Japan, despite the model's origins.


 

The High Speed Train, also known as the HST, or Inter-City 125, is arguably the most famous modern railway unit in the UK. Developed in the 1970's as state-owned British Rail's answer to the TGV and Shinkansen, the HST is argued as a modern engineering masterpiece, both for it's design and it's versatile capabilites, becoming the flagship train for British Rail and it's privatised successors.

The HST is a diesel-powered unit, consisting of two Class 43 locomotives/power cars, and a variable number of British Rail Mk3 coaches. Typically, the units ran at a maximum speed of 125mph, making them the fastest scheduled services on the UK network. For reference, it is widely agreed amongst UK rail experts that 125mph is more or less the maximum speed that can be attained on the existing, unmodified network, much of which was built in the Victorian era. The HST was built as a versatile unit that could achieve TGV/Shinkansen style speed and comfort, without the need to build a brand-new network of lines to accommodate them like in France and Japan, something that was deemed impractical to build within the UK at the time.

Indeed, to this day, the only domestic trains that are faster are the Shinkansen-derived Class 395 'Javelin' trains that operate on parts of the dedicated 'High Speed One'/HS1 rail network in London and the South-East, which operate at 140mph, but 125mph is still the absolute fastest any train is allowed to operate on the normal network, without the presence of in-cab signalling.

Curiously, the HS1 network is a fusion of Japanese and French technology, with the line being built to French standards as it is shared with the Eurostar and leads to the Channel Tunnel, while also having Japanese trains use the line too, bringing the high-speed system of Britain full-circle; We created our own compromise high-speed unit because we didn't think we could make something like what France and Japan had, only to then build a high-speed network using the very technologies that we couldn't emulate at the time.

The HST is easily Britain's most venerable high-speed unit, having only just recently been replaced in front-line Inter-City service after almost 50 years of service by a mix of different new stock, predominantly the Hitachi 'IET' series, derived from both the Class 395 and Shinkansen platforms. Even so, many units are still in service on secondary long-distance routes in Scotland and the West of England, as the ScotRail 'Inter7City' and GWR 'Castle' series, as well as several units being in preservation.

At the time of Tomica World's existence however, the UK railways were undergoing their biggest change since the Second World War, with the demise of British Rail, the state company responsible for operating all aspects of the railways since 1948. The result was the division of B.R into many smaller operating companies on a franchise basis, Railtrack to maintain and own the track and network, and several freight companies.




In this case, the UK conglomerate Virgin Group, headed by Richard Branson, decided to move into railway operations with successful bids for the Inter-City West Coast and Inter-City CrossCountry operations, which meant they inherited a large fleet of HST's, and other assorted rolling-stock from British Rail. Virgin themselves had started in the 1970's as a record and music buisness, expanding into a diverse number of fields by the time Virgin Trains came into existence in 1997. Where transportation was concerned, they had experience as an airline operator, running a series of airlines including Virgin Atlantic, the first majorly successful competitor to the monolithic British Airways on transatlantic flights. 

At the time, the HST's under Virgin were common-pool, so CrossCountry [marked as XC originally] or West Coast units were used on whatever routes they were needed on.  


https://twitter.com/boconoducko/status/1...37?lang=en




1997 was also a significant year, as this was the year that Tomica World [also referred to as 'Tomica City' in a 1997 Tomy USA catalogue, see picture] would release for the first time, and for the UK release, an agreement was reached with the brand-new Virgin Trains to release a train to promote their new privatised operations in the UK.

Owing to the fact that their model of the Kintetsu 21000 series shared at least a passing similarity to the HST, especially with it's streamlined front and rear coaches, the resulting model was a re-paint of the 21000 series shell into the original Virgin Trains red and black livery. However, the use of the 21000 series shell did throw up a couple of errors; Firstly was the shaping, as the 21000 series has a much more rounded front end than the HST, and secondly was the inclusion of the pantographs moulded onto the roof of the front and rear coaches - As the HST was a diesel unit, this was a pretty glaring error.

While I understand that these errors were simply the result of re-using a mould, it is interesting to note that the earlier Tomy Trains line actually had the same error, but reversed, with a diesel standing in for an electric train!




 

In the Tomy Trains line, a model existed of the HST, in it's original B.R colours [albeit with Tomy logos on the power cars], and later a special set containing the Eurotunnel 'Le Shuttle' was released - The 'Le Shuttle' model was a re-painted HST, complete with diesel chimney detailing, despite the fact that in reality, the 'Le Shuttle' operation is fully electrified, using custom 0009 class electric locomotives.

In the end, the Virgin Train would be sold as part of the Tomica World line right up to it's discontinuation, which almost coincided with the gradual retirement of the HST's from the Virgin West Coast fleet. This was due to the desire to completely modernise the West Coast operation with entirely new trains, as many of the units used on that line were old and unreliable, so the newer Class 390 Pendolino electrics, and Class 220/221 Voyager diesels took over.

The HST allocation transferred to several areas where more HST's were required, including to Virgin CrossCountry [now Arriva CrossCountry], First Great Western [now GWR], Midland Mainline [later East Midlands Trains and now E.M.R], GNER [later East Coast, Virgin Trains East Coast and now LNER], and Grand Central. 

Virgin themselves would leave the UK rail buisness altogether in 2019, after their West Coast franchise was replaced by the current operator, Avanti West Coast. Attempts have been made by Virgin to invest in Brightline, a new U.S passenger railroad operation to compete with national operator Amtrak, with the announcement that the operation would be named 'Virgin Trains USA', however it appears that they are going to stick with the Brightline name, as Virgin appear to have revoked their investment in the plan.




The current franchise arrangement in the UK that led to all this is not set to last much longer either, however, as the UK Government recently announced that the entire UK rail network is to be semi-renationalised under a state owned organisation that is set to be called Great British Railways, or G.B.R.

This new system will work on the basis that the Government will control most aspects of passenger rail operation through G.B.R, contracting the day-to-day passenger operations and staffing out to the private operators currently managing the passenger operations side of the system.

The state had taken control of the network and infrastructure under the name 'Network Rail' after the privatised company Railtrack collapsed in the early 2000's. In practice, this means that the passenger operations and planning will be merged with the network and infrastructure controlled by Network Rail, with the whole package being branded as 'G.B.R', and the operations of both areas being divided between the state, and private companies.

As a result, all privatised branding from the individual companies is to be stripped from the network, to be replaced by a modernised version of the old British Rail branding, including the restoration of the traditional 'Double-Arrow' symbol that has been used throughout the private era as a generic symbol for railway stations on maps and signage as the main logo for the entire system. This re- brand is expected to have either begun, or completed by 2025.

Assuming that the remaining HST's are still in service by then, this means that they may return to carrying the logo they were built with originally, bringing a complicated yet fascinating story of Britain's most iconic modern train full-circle. My hope is that the proposed 'modernised' branding may see the return of the original HST blue/yellow, or black/white/red 'Executive' colours, but we will see .

In any case, model number 7465 might just appear to be another train in the Tomica World or Plarail pantheon, but thanks to recent events, now acts as a unique model in the Tomica World line, being a reminder of a unique and unlikely to be repeated experiment in British railway history, as well as an unusual derivative of a relatively standard and ordinary Japanese limited-express that had a cool and futuristic streamlined look, and for that, I believe both models deserve to be recognized.


Next time, I'll take a look at the JR-East 400 Series, or the Tomica World 7464 'Bullet Train' which itself has an interesting connection to today's story, and a very interesting personal connection for me... Look forward to it  .

[Super]

Wow, very extensive research P-Man. I learned a lot especially about the Virgin.

Heh, thanks 

Yeah, the Virgin Train is a rather remarkable model considering it's real-world history as Britain's answer to the high-speed networks of the time, being only the third dedicated high-speed rail system to debut in the world after the Shinkansen and TGV, and in many ways a distinctly 1970's British answer to the question of high speed, using what already existed in terms of parts and infrastructure and pushing that to it's limits for the sake of cost savings, since the HST was designed as a means to avoid constructing expensive and politically unfavorable dedicated lines, as well as being a more cost-effective and practical alternative to the experimental APT train that was being developed around the same period.

Actually, the APT, despite being a very advanced tilting train unit for the time, is probably the key reason the HST existed, as the APT project was spiralling out of control in terms of cost and technology, and was an embarrassment to the government of the day who had ploughed millions into the project and got an unreliable unit that couldn't regularly reach the planned speeds and had many mechanical issues, whereas the HST was somewhat more versatile, cheaper to build, and used existing technologies that were already proven and reliable in service, which given many units are still in service after nearly 50 years, really shows.

Interestingly however, the APT's tilting technology would then be sold to Fiat [the rolling-stock division of the car company], who incorporated it into their Pendolino designs of train, which after a later acquisition by French manufacturer Alstom led to the Class 390 Pendolino, which would replace some of the HST's in service with Virgin West Coast [as noted in the OP], so yeah, the APT did eventually get the last laugh, in a roundabout way .

So yeah, Britain's answer to the bullet train was the result of cost-cutting and the lack of political will to build anything along the lines of what Japan or France had, but in the end, turned out to be one of the greatest things to happen to the modern British railway, and I was fortunate enough to ride on one of the last few while they were still in front line squadron service with LNER on the UK's London-Scotland East Coast Mainline back in 2019, as well as seeing them from a distance [while also smelling the heady diesel aroma, and hearing the gorgeous scream of throttling Paxman VP185 engines] in their last London base at St Pancras, in service with East Midlands Railway [E.M.R] when I worked with SouthEastern on the High Speed 1 express trains back in late 2020. That job certainly had it's perks for me, aside from being the funding source to build my expanded layout lol .

They're now all gone, so London no longer has any HST units going to any of it's stations on passenger work, disappearing in less than a year as the new Hitachi IET 800 series trains come online, amongst other units. As noted, their only main services now are either as heritage units, or in several regional long-distance formations in Scotland and the West Country, so yeah. One's in the UK National Railway Museum too, alongside, believe it or not, the only carriage of a Shinkansen on display outside of Japan, as yeah, we've got the driving car of a JR-West 0 Series up there alongside all the famous stuff like Flying Scotsman, Mallard and the like, so yeah, Tomica World isn't the only place you'll see bullet trains and HST's side by side lol, we made that concept a reality .

Glad you enjoyed it though, I'm looking forward to gradually going through all the models one by one, as especially with a couple of the models, there's some interesting backstory that, depending on where you are in the world, is either common knowledge, or a complete surprise; I've had both reactions when i've told people .