Ok, this post possibly doesn't belong here, but the subject matter is in my opinion closer to PlaRail Advance than it is normal PlaRail. So what am I on about you are probably asking?

Well thanks to a tip-off from Mr Ripley I recently won an auction of a job lot of 'Takara' PlaRail trains/track/accessories from a guy in Hong Kong, they arrived yesterday and today I've been sorting through the win.

Before I go any further tho' just a little bit of explanation as to what 'Takara' PlaRail is as opposed to Tomy PlayRail. Basically Takara used to be an independent company who produced a PlaRail type range alongside that produced by Tomy, eventually the two companies merged and the Takara range appears to have been dropped at that point. Quite how long the Takara range was available I don't really know as there isn't much info out there on the net about them, but I really like them for quite a few reasons.

As to why I put this post here, one of the main differences between the Takara & Tomy ranges is the gauge/size of the trains and track, the Takara range is quite a bit smaller (I've included a couple of pics below that have a Takara Nankit Rapid in front of a Tomy train I picked up recently). However although smaller than Tomy PlaRail they are not as small as the Tomy PlaRail Advance and if anything look a little more 'squished' length-wise than even the Tomy PlaRail does. Confused yet? Well the pictures will help explain more so scroll down.

In total in the job-lot I got 6 trains (3 bullet, 1 nankit, 1 suburban, 1 steam), in the listing the seller stated only 4 worked after being in storage, well out of the box 5 work so bonus, the 6th may be either wiring or the motor, but disassembly is even easier than the Tomy PlaRail so should be fixable.

The trains themselves consist of 3 cars, the front car contains the motor and a small micro-switch above the rear wheels which is turned on/off by slightly depressing the rear of the car. The middle car contains the batteries (2 x AAA) and has a hard on/off switch on the underside. The rear car is a simple dummy car, although some do have trailing couplings so potentially could be extended, although this would be difficult with the bullet trains seeing as the central battery car is physically wired to the front motor car. However overall I like the idea of the on/off on the middle car combined with the on/off micro switch on the front car as it makes them very easy to start and stop. Maybe something Tomy should look at.

The motors themselves look to be standard motors (possibly slightly smaller as I've not measured them) with a screw gear on the spindle that connects straight onto a cog on the rear drive wheels, quite a simple arrangement, but one which is not likely to have reliability issues in normal use I would say.

One thing the Takara Plarail trains do have in common with the Tomy Advance is that they appear to be better detailed than the standard Tomy PlaRail range, with plenty of small detail and moulded windows etc... rather than just stickers.

Apart from the trains themselves I got the following;

31 x short curves (tighter radius)
8 x long curves
18 x straights
9 x half straights
7 x quarter straights
1 x long LH points
1 x long RH points
2 x short LH points
2 x short RH points
6 x 'V' type points
1 x 'X' type crossover
1 x Double track with cross-over function (i.e. switch from one to other track)
1 x Working road crossing
2 x Station platforms
1 x Bridge consisting of two base risers and two span type risers (possible to add straights curves between the two pairs of tracks)
7 x Yellow Supports (like the Tomy PlaRail ones but smaller)
6 x Over track Gantries
6 x Side track Gantries (may go with some of the special track pieces, not sure yet)
2 x spare traction tyres (much smaller than usual but thicker also)

So all in all this is a great addition to my already fairly good selection of Takara PlaRail - none of which I've run to date as it was all brand new in box when I got it lol!!

Anyway enough of my rambling, here's some pictures as they will probably convey way more than my words can!

This is the one currently not working, however thanks (again) to Mr Ripley I already have one of these so not a disaster, although I do believe I'll be able to fix it.