Its funny - I generally feel like I know a decent bit about Plarail, but every time I come back on here I lament just how much I have learned in just the months since last updating this thread... always more to discover.
I have, fortunately or unfortunately, become more interested in an even wider range of related toys... Lots of information about a lot of this stuff is either already up or will eventually be coming to my website.
Back in December I got another nice package of old Plarail, a 70s EF15 set (the first to use the "overpass" layout), the only old-power Plaroad crossover set, and some anniversary stuff as well as some harder to find Thomas sets, the Korean-sticker version of the Australian Tomica World release of the freight car set and the hard to find Toys R Us set with the light-rocked Sodor quarry loader.
I also saw these on eBay a while back, company gift Sleeper Expresses from the early 2000s. It seems these were not very popular in the states and ended up getting imported back to Japan where they were sold as limited special items without any of the company stickers or branding.
I've also expanded my Big Loader collection, I think I ended up with six new variants I did not have? I really like Big Loader, I haven't chronicled quite all the versions I have yet but most of them can be seen here.
I got these two in the mail the same day (different purchases) along with a boxed UK copy of the Calling All Engines set, a Thomas Adventure Set, and some other miscellaneous stuff.
Large box of Japanese stuff including a few B/O/Motor Tomica sets as well as an 80s Plaroad one, some cool sets from the later 90s and early 2000s, and a bunch of trains from three different lots, two entirely old power and a third that was mixed... Before this I owned one Tokai type train, now I have eight plus several extra intermediate cars! Big Big Loader from ShopGoodwill... I've also fallen down the Tomy/Toy Town/Toy Box rabbithole, the Flippity Flyer is a Toy Town toy that got exported for Sears, as several others were.
That's the earlier (c. 1971) Japanese version of Flippity Flyer, that one was also sold at Sears and the more advanced one was also sold in Japan. Cool R/C Super Hikari set, some other Plarail, a 90s Toy Box Mickey Mouse set of what was once Oyama Shuppo/Mountain Train, originally from Toy Town circa 1969, Super Rail (whoops, got more into that too - bought a boxed D51 set since), and the Japanese version of Merlin
There was probably some more things I forgot, and I have some more coming... the collection grows ever larger.
