A list of all non-japanese Plarail rolling stock

[/url]i believe taiwan has a couple of sets.  one features its bullet train system, one featuers the subway system with 2 set of train with different colour

on ebay, i found a bunch of listing for plarail taiwan trains.


[url=https://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw=plarail+taiwan&_sacat=0]plarail taiwan for sale | eBay

Hello Leyland,

I mentioned this in my first post already, but I'm not including Taiwanese items on this list, as there already is a thread about those on this forum.
Link: https://www.blueplastictracks.org/thread-5143.html

With kind regards
Tyler

or...is it just that I am old or senile or both?

Hang in there Super, we've both got a few more posts in us yet.

Hi Leyland 😃

hi,

Yes, it has been awhile.  i had been busy with work.

The so-called Virgin Train (the diesel-powered Intercity 125)  is curious in that it's just a repaint of a Japanese train (the overhead electric-powered Kintetsu 21000 Urban Liner), and bears almost no resemblance to the real thing, apart from its colour and logo.

I mean, on a strictly accuracy basis then yeah, I have to agree the two trains are pretty different, although when explaining it to people I know who aren't as familiar with Japanese railways [that is to say, most people LOL], I refer to the Urban Liner as the 'Japanese HST' since to them it at the very least does somewhat resemble the HST [probably due to the front shape and streamlining] making explaining easier.

More curiously, the number on the 'HST' is actually one in the '82xxx' series, this one numbered 82100 - This is the number series used by 'DVT' unpowered cab-cars which share their appearance with the Class 90/91 locomotive series, and of course Virgin had a large fleet of ex-BR examples used on their West Coast operations upon taking over from BR in the late 1990's, many of which actually ended their working lives on my home turf with Abellio Greater Anglia as the core of their InterCity fleet until 2020, arriving in our region after Virgin disposed of their loco-hauled West Coast fleet in favour of Pendolinos in the early-mid 2000's.



This has always led me to believe that TOMY were just issued with a file of images of various then-current Virgin West Coast/CrossCountry rolling stock, and that they picked the Urban Liner to use as a model basis since of all the Plarail models that were on general release at the time [both on export and in Japan], it bore the closest resemblance to the HST or the DVT/Class 90 locos with it's pointed nose-cone's shaping, and meant they would not need to make a new mould for a model that was only likely to ever see a release in the UK, and possibly Europe.

Incidentally, in real life there was never an 82100 DVT in service with Virgin Trains, as the numbering series began with 82101, as seen here in it's VT livery. This one's since been scrapped.





[NOTE - I'm even more convinced this was the actual design model for the Virgin Train - Look closely at the front & rear cars of the TOMY model and you'll see it has the mid and rear doors of a DVT painted on! If so, that means this is a model of a train that has 2 unpowered DVTs as 'power cars', in other words, if this was in the real world, it wouldn't be able to move LOL  ]

Interestingly, the Virgin Train was part of a publicity-blitz I noted Virgin took on when they began railway operations, in typical Virgin fashion they went for unconventional promotional strategies including marketing the Virgin Trains brand to children, something no other private railway operation attempted; I recall throughout their lifespan as a franchise that several wooden railway models of Virgin Trains were made [especially around the debut of the Pendolino]. 

They even part-sponsored the 2000's British railway-safety staple 'A Bad Day for Thomas' which was allegedly issued in colouring-book form aboard Virgin services, a book which I remember being fairly common in places I used to go like doctors surgeries, school, and even in the Boy Scouts where scans of pages were used as an activity once.

[EDIT - I also remember, the Virgin Train model for Tomica World wasn't their only foray into Tomica World - the British edition of the 'Tomica World Show' VHS that was issued with selected sets here in the UK proudly announces that it was made with the support of Virgin Trains in the credits; What they contributed to the making of the video will always be a mystery, and honestly it amuses me no end that a big company like Virgin were that invested in Plarail at one point that they sunk cash into the making of what was basically a half-hour long Plarail commercial.

Ironically, it seems to have been their only lasting railway legacy, as their IRL railway operations are now all defunct thanks to the collapse of a partnership with the 'Stagecoach' bus group which was key to the operation of their franchises which led to them being barred from bidding on any further operations in the UK. CrossCountry is now a division of Deutsche Bahn [German State Railways], and West Coast is a joint-venture of FirstGroup and Trenitalia [Italian State Railways]]