fall inside a hole

Yonezawa My Rail Catalog (1975)

I believe this was the only catalogue printed for the relatively short-lived Yonezawa My Rail toy train system, released in 1975 and seemingly not receiving any further development. Click photos for full size

The cover shows the promotional layout also used on the common Mini Mini Rail sets of this early era. The cover has a nice promotional layout that shows virtually everything in the range.

The left panel talks about some of the features of My Rail - I suspect they were aware of Mini Mini Rail, and they point out that My Rail works on AAs and reverses, two things Mini Mini Rail did not do in 1975 but would be adapted to do in the later 1970s. All types of sets were planned to eventually be sold with each of the three trains - the catalogue notes that some combinations were still in the preparation stage. All trains appeared in the oval with siding No. 1 set but the EF-65 had not yet been released in the No. 2 passing loop set at the time of printing.

The accessory-focused No. 3 and larger No. 5 sets. The 5 set has parts to make an elevated or flat figure eight. An August 1975 advertisement includes the Nos. 1, 2, and 3 sets with D-51, number 1 and 2 Hikari sets, and No. 1 and 3 Electric Locomotive sets. The No. 5 set is also shown at the top of this advertisement, and a No. 6 set with a multi-story building and even a new double curve rail was later released.

Trains - the D-51, Hikari, and Electric Locomotive with tanker; and pairs of passenger and freight cars. Track included regular and half curves and straights, a manual left and automatic right turnout, and a crossover rail.

The accessories for the range - the trees and bridge sides originated from the previous and even shorter-lived Chibi Poppo Rail series. The graduated piers are similar to model railway trestles, and the railroad crossing looks pretty nice. The last few pages have several layout ideas, and show the full range of available rail.

Two more track layouts... I think it would be pretty hard to get all the parts to set these up nowadays.