fall inside a hole

J-27 Chatting Station (1987)

First written April 21, 2024

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The J-27 Chatting or Talking Station (Stationmaster Announcer) (おしゃべりステーション (駅長アナウンス)) first went on sale in summer 1987 and was numbered J-27 under the new 1988 numbering scheme the following year. The station building incorporates an acoustic motor-driven phonograph with a multi-track record, a common way for both "random phrase" and multi-phrase talking toys like talking dolls or the See 'n Say before microchips became cost-effective enough to store digitized sound for a toy like this. The ST0 mark on the back of the box indicate that this is a 1990 print run, so after both the initial 1987 box run, the revised 1988 J-27 box run, and a presently unknown to the author number of runs between 1987 and 1990 (potentially zero, probably not many more).

Indeed, because the sound comes off a little record, you can hear the crackles and pops during some of the announcements.

The station is technically part of the "Plarail Town" series which it ended up outliving, with cardboard sides depicting characters in the style (I particularly like the little doggy) and blue railing pieces and studs also present in Plarail Town. It also fits in with the panel station standard - my example is missing its window, roof, and sign (although somehow it has retained both its little blue railings) but additional levels of panel station could be built on top.

The front of the building has a little train information board, and the rear has a guidance sign. Both of these can be rotated through using yellow dials sticking out of the station building.

The station takes one AA battery that is usually hidden under the roof section when present. A little lever inside the compartment controls the speed of playback. The top left button with the X over the hand holding a cigarette says ただ今当駅は 「禁煙タイムです or approximately right now, it's no smoking time at this station. The top middle button with the questioning arrow says お忘れ物の無いよう お降りください or please make sure you don't leave anything behind. Please get off the train. The top right button with a person getting off a train says 降りる方がすんでから の お乗りください or please wait for others to get off before you get on. The bottom left START button drops the track stopper and plays the sound of a departure bell and says the train is leaving. The STOP button raises the track stopper and says the train is arriving before playing the sound of an electric train stopping. The final button with two shoes standing behind a line says 白線の内側にさがって お待ちください or roughly please move back and stand behind the white line.

In 1990 a red and yellow version of the station was released for the Tomy Train range. I am not sure if it was ever localized for any regions other than the U.K. The English station can be heard on the Tomy Trains Accessories page.

In 1995 the J-27 Talking Station was discontinued and replaced with a new electronic talking version in later 1996. The silvery railings included with this version are actually the larger Tomy Train railing pieces.