fall inside a hole
Palitoy Junior Train Set (~1977)
First written November 30, 2023
The Palitoy Discovery Time Junior Train Set is one of a few sets put together by Tomy for Palitoy for the British market. In addition to Merry-Go-Train and Merry-Go-Copter, Tomy also produced the components to some small Plarail-style sets that were all manufactured in Hong Kong and used some odd and old toolings and colors. It seems that the molds used to produce these sets in Hong Kong were used toolings from the earlier 1970s, as the rails are all smooth despite Plarail gaining roughtop treading in 1974, the older style of flatter couplings is used despite being updated to the almost-modern type around 1977, and other odd molding details.
The cover and sides of the box show a square layout but the set is actually an oval, with no straight rails appearing on the contents list. The styrofoam tray includes a space that fits a C battery. although one was apparently not included. Interestingly, the cutout in the foam for the country station includes a void for the flat tree usually installed on other versions of the station, but it appears none of the Palitoy Discovery Time Stations included it.
Set contents
| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 3 pieces |
Rim-drive C12 with log wagon and guard's van |
 |
| 8 | Curve Rail (Hong Kong produced) |
 |
| 1 | Stop
Rail (Hong Kong produced) |
 |
| 1 |
Railroad Crossing (Hong Kong produced) |
 |
| 1 |
Country
Station
(Hong Kong produced) |
 |
The train in this set is comprised of a rim-drive C12 with grey side rods and blue stickers with the British Rail "arrows" logo. Like other older C12s, the power switch is linked to the right lamp on the running board. I do not know if Palitoy actually had any formal agreement to use the British Rail design but I think the stickers and grey side rods look rather nice and the C12, while a bit odd, fits in roughly okay as a British tank engine. The trucks are an orange log car without logs and a reddish-brown guard's van which I think looks rather nice, and both moldings work okay as British rolling stock.
Like the rest of the components of this set, the train in entirely manufactured in Hong Kong and uses a different type of rim-drive gearbox than regular Plarail old power C-12s. The chassis has no activation tab catch in the molding and the couplings are all the flatter earlier 1970s style. As discussed on the Hong Kong C12 gearbox page, this C12 tooling was seemingly originally developed to be a reversing Round-Trip Plarail C12, but Tomy seemingly moved the toolings to Hong Kong to use for export sets and never produced the reversing version. The C12 also has metal crank pins, although they are hollow and not the same as the earlier Plarail D51 and C12 crank pins.
The log wagon and guard's van are both early chassis designs marked as made in Hong Kong. Instead of being flared outwards from being hammered down flat, one end of the non-driven axles has been flared outward by hitting it in the center with a center punch or similar, leaving a depressed dimple in the middle.
The track in this set is all the smooth type which would have been replaced by roughtop-treaded rails around 1974 in Japan. The track moldings appear to be reused Japanese toolings with added Hong Kong text. The molding slot marks on the curve rails match one of the curve rail toolings previously used in Japan.
The railroad crossing is the same design as the 1970's Plarail version but is made in Hong Kong. It is of the earlier style that uses plastic pegs to hold the boom arms in place instead of screws. By this time the Japanese railroad crossings would have been updated to use screws, and it is possible one of the old toolings with the plastic peg design was moved to Hong Kong to produce these pieces.
When the train passes the crossing, the weight of the cars press down on the blue section of the track and pull the gates down. The counterweights in the end of the boom arms lift them back up when the train passes.
The station in this set is a slight variation on the Plarail Country Station. The sign reads "Discovery Time Station" and the "W.C." water closet sticker is left off. Interestingly, the station does not include the thin green tree between the sign and station building that virtually all other Country Stations have - the tree does not appear on the box or in other stations I have seen online. Perhaps the tree tooling was not moved to Hong Kong? I believe the set would have originally included the tablet for the tablet catcher hook as it is pictured on the box and from my understanding was part of the same tooling as the hook and pole, but it has been lost from my set (as I imagine most were).
Click for video with sound
The set is obviously very basic, being the "Junior" set in the range. The odd plastic gearbox includes a similar "chuffing" noisemaker to Japan-made C12s and D51s. The stop track adds some playability and I like just about any automatic level crossing. I think this set would benefit from the inclusion of some standing trees or a signal - there are no trackside accessories in any of the Palitoy sets, perhaps because there were not tree or signal molds in Hong Kong to produce them from.
One way to have a little more fun with this set is by using the front coupling of the C12 and inserting the battery backwards, which can still just about be done with the plastic gearbox it uses, although using a AA battery instead of a C battery makes this easier.