fall inside a hole
Tunnels
First written April 7, 2024Tunnels were first introduced to Plarail in the 1970s with a variety of mountainous and subway tunnels released in many different variations.
J-01 Tunnel (トンネル) (late 1960s)
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J-02 Block Tunnel --> J-02 Stretching Tunnel--> |
Around 1968 a curved mountainy tunnel (トンネル) was released that could be placed over straight or curved track. Seemingly due to the relatively large single-piece construction, this tunnel was not included in sets very often, and was seemingly primarily sold individually. In 1988 this tunnel was given the designation J-01.
In 2003 the tunnel was renewed with nicely detailed ivy-covered portal stickers and a two-tone green and brown body. The J-01 Tunnel remains in the range to this day.
Some sets also include variants of this tunnel like this snow-covered one from a Thomas-series snow set.
J-02 Block Tunnel (ブロックトンネル) (1982)
| <--- J-01 Tunnel | J-03 Iron Bridge --> |
In 1983 the expandable Block Tunnel (ブロックトンネル) was released. The individual and "full" version of the tunnel includes an entrance portal piece, an exit portal piece, and two intermediate middle pieces.
Additional intermediate sections from additional tunnels can all be connected to make as long a tunnel as desired (up to the limit of the number of middle sections you have). You can see there is some variance of shade with production period.
The entrance and exit pieces can be placed together to form a shorter tunnel, which was commonly done in many sets. The block tunnel entrance and exit pieces actually first appeared in some sets that were new for 1982, although the expanding "block" ability would not become a feature until the individual release with middle slices.
These tunnels were first produced in Japan throughout the 1980s. In the 1990s production moved to Thailand.
Some sets and promotional items have color and sticker variants of the block tunnel, usually without matching middle sections. A similar taller expandable tunnel system was implemented for Tomy Train with LEGO-style studs on top.
The individual release block tunnel went out of print around 1998 but the pieces continued to be used in sets into the 2010s. In 2007 the J-02 designation was given to the Stretching Tunnel.
7491 Long Tunnel (Tomica World) (1998)
Funnily enough, around 1998 the Block Tunnel was released in the Tomica World range as 7491 Long Tunnel around 1998. This version uses the same stickers and two intermediate sections as the Japanese release.
Stretching Tunnel (のびるトンネル) (2007)
| <--- J-01 Tunnel | J-03 Iron Bridge --> |
In 2007 the J-02 designation was brought back for the new "Stretching Tunnel" (のびるトンネル). This tunnel has a telescoping series of sections that can be expanded out to a variety of lengths.
The underside of the tunnel is marked Tomy 1959 and 2007 and each telescoping section is marked with a letter.
J-06 Double Track Tunnel (1999)
| <--- J-05 Drawbridge Rail | J-07 Car Wash --> |
In 1999 this very nice curved double track tunnel was released can also support a regular curve rail on top.
These tunnels were only in production for a few years (until around 2001) and are somewhat sought after. I do think two of them right after one another on a 90 degree curve would make it look even nicer than having the single elevated line transition off of and back onto the yellow double-wide J-22 Double Track Block Bridge Girders so quickly.