fall inside a hole

Plarail Drawbridges

There have been a number of different spring-loaded drawbridges for the Plarail system. Some are primarily scenery while others actually offer road or rail crossings.

J-05 Drawbridge (J-05 はねばし) (1971/1972)

<-- J-04 Big Iron Bridge (1981) <-- J-04 Big Iron Bridge (1997)

J-06 Cross Drawbridge --> J-06 Double Track Tunnel -->

The classic Plarail red drawbridge was first released in the New Train Set in 1971 and was released in blue Hiari-go mark hanging bags in 1972 as はねばし Drawbridge with the old product number 16. Early bagged examples can be seen in the Plarail Museum.

The drawbridge is the length of a normal straight rail and is spring-loaded in such a way that a train entering one side weighs the platforms down enough for the train to cross. These drawbridges are fairly fragile and are very, very prone to being broken from rough play, being stepped on, or being stored carelessly. Older examples with intact sides are somewhat hard to find, although some parts sharing is possible between drawbridges with complimentary damage of similar eras.

Examples made in Japan as late as the early 1990s have no markings on the bottom.

Circa 1994 production moved to Thailand and the toolings and mechanism were updated slightly (note the different screw configurations).

In the early 2000s when many Plarail toolings were updated with the new Tomy logo the drawbridge deck and bottom were both updated with new logos as well as a treaded surface on the bridge itself. These 2000s drawbridges are also marked with the month and later even date of production - the last numbers represent the year of production, the letter corresponds to the month, and the middle two numbers on later production accessories are the day of the month.

In 2010 the regular J-05 was retired but the drawbridge is still included in the "A" Rail Set. The R-05 Drawbridge was included in several sets over the years including both Plarail and export Thomas the Tank Engine sets.

7486 Rail Drawbridge (Tomica World) (1998)

The Rail Drawbridge was released for the Tomica World range in 1998. It was also included in some sets such as the Super Mega Set. Other than the packaging, it is identical to other late 90s Thailand-produced drawbridges.

In 2006 the Thomas Ultimate Set included a darker color variant of the bridge.

Cross Drawbridge (クロスはねばし)/J-06 Cross Drawbridge (J-06 クロスはね橋) (1976)

<-- J-05 Drawbridge

J-07 Car Wash -->

In 1976 this drawbridge was released that includes places to attach a perpendicular set of tracks to make a rail-rail crossing.

The two track pieces are removable and can be swapped around to fit the desired orientation. If you have two bridges, you can make the lower section double concave or double convex. Like other Plarail drawbridges, the sides of the bridge are often broken.

 This bridge was produced until 1994, after which point it was redesigned to work with the B/O Tomica system as the J-13 Cross Drawbridge.

J-13 Cross Drawbridge (クロスはね橋) (1995)

<-- J-12 Pedestrian Overpass

J-14 Block Bridge Girder --> J-14 "New" Block Bridge Girder -->

In 1995 the rail-rail cross drawbridge was redesigned to work with the relatively recent Motor Tomica system.

The bridge is now yellow and red and the connection points are now concave to accept the little road stopper pieces. These pieces are identical and accept a standard Motor Tomica road connection on one side with a spring-loaded platform that stops an incoming vehicle. The button to the left of the regular road connection releases the stopped vehicle and allows them to cross under the drawbridge. A hole that fits standard Tomica accessories like the flat trees that were adapted and included in the J-13 Cross Drawbridge is also located in each stopper.

7540 Bridge Crossing (Tomica World) (1999)

In 1999 the road and rail drawbridge was exported for the Tomica World range. Other than the packaging, they are not any different from late 1990s and early 2000s cross drawbridges.

In the 2000s a darker color variant was also produced.