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Plarail Poppo Vol.9

From 1998 to 2001 several volumes of Plarail Poppo were released each year to members of the Plarail Fan Club. Click photos for full size

Plarail Poppo is a thinner, taller booklet. The cover of this volume shows the Railway Yard Full of Freight Cars Set.

The headliner set is the April 2001 Doctor Yellow Train Depot Set, with the new 923 series Doctor Yellow. Some previews of the Time Station D-51 and Egypt Adventure Set are shown.

The next page shows the 2001 revamp of the Big Tsubasa following its livery change around the same time as well as an advertisement for the Doctor Yellow set with camera-equipped infrared-control train. Some of the First Try Set trains are also shown on the expanded rail layout around the Tsubasa.

An expanded version of the Railway Yard Full of Freight Cars Set is shown with a nice selection of accessories and a few other trains. What a good Plarail set... Although the range had not yet been fully revamped and a few different styles of boxes were used in the very early 2000s, Tomy's focus on more realistic trains was evident by this time already.

The News Box showing upcoming and current releases, the already-mentioned sets appear again as well as the first three First Try Sets, the Fun Circus Train, the Talking Thomas Set and the Talking Toby and Diesel 10.

Some pictures of footage captured on the Doctor Yellow with camera sent in by fan club members, as well as how some members decorated the giveaway white Plarail train from 2000.

An advertisement for the 2001 Tokyo Toy Show and a section about how some Plarail fans have stored their Plarail. I have seen a few different Plarail shelf designs on old fan websites from around this era. On the right is the Doctor's q&a corner - the first question asks about the train in the Plarail 40th Anniversary Edition pack, the second asks about the bumps in the track for the Talking Thomas series. The third talks about Super Rail! The question references the old saying that "when you graduate from Plarail, its Super Rail" and the blurb mentions that it is no longer on sale...

Photographs of layouts, trains, and drawings from fan club members. I think it is neat that they attach the fan club number of submitters.

The rear cover has information about renewing membership and a note about Vol.10 coming in June 2001.