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Stelco Junior Express Set 4570 (~1979)
First written December 17, 2023
The Stelco Junior Express set 4570 is a larger West German-market set that combines a Tomy-made C-12 steam locomotive with rails, freight, and accessories produced locally by Stelco. The layout of the set is similar to the classic Plarail "overpass" layout. This set appears in the 1979/1980 Stelco catalogue. Stelco Junior Express boxes have a lightweight cardboard outer box and an internal vacuformed tray to hold components.
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The box shows photos of a set similar to the 4570 but with original Plarail track and accessories instead of the Stelco-produced accessories these sets came with. The sides and rear show the train having a passenger carriage instead of the auto carrier, although it is shown in a box next to the set. The back of the box also shows how to expand the set using some of the track expansion packs that were on sale at the same time. The top and bottom sides show battery information for the C12. The right side of my box has the original price tag with the original price of 34.95 deutsche marks.
Set contents
| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 5 pieces |
C12 steam locomotive (Hong
Kong made) with auto carrier and Shell tanker (Stelco made) |
 |
| 1 | Straight Rail (Stelco produced) |
 |
| 14 | Curve Rail (Stelco produced) |
 |
| 2 pieces | Bridge Rail (one each up and down) (Stelco produced) |
 |
| 2 pieces | Turnout Rail (one pair) (Stelco produced) |
 |
| 1 | Railroad Crossing (Stelco produced) |
 |
| 5 | Bridge Girder (Stelco produced) |
 |
| 4 | Catenary
(Stelco produced) |
 |
| 4 | Standing
Tree (Stelco produced) |
 |
| 1 | Signal
(Stelco produced) |
 |
The C12 in this set looks similar to the old power Plarail C12 but it uses a different plastic old power gearbox discussed in more detail on this page. Other than this engine, which was made in Hong Kong by Tomy, the components of the set were produced in West Germany by Stelco.
When I originally bought this set in the summer of 2021 it did not have the original engine but I believe it probably would have been sold with the version seen here which has the activation tab underneath. Earlier Hong Kong production C12s for Stelco and Palitoy export sets did not have this activation tab but later it seems the Stelco version was changed to have the cutout as sets that used the activation tab began to appear by the time this set was available in 1979.
One of the coolest Junior Express pieces is this auto carrier which can carry two of Stelco's soft vinyl cars. The car carrier is a somewhat garish color but has operating ramps that slide out to allow cars to drive up. Although Plarail had produced a few auto carriers before this point, the design of this car is completely original to Stelco.
The ramps on the auto carrier overhang the couplings and may be part of the reason the electrical catenaries have been widened. The cars are nicely molded from a single shot of soft vinyl with metal axles and were produced separately for other Stelco toys.
The cars are marked with the Stelco logo and made in W. Germany on the bottom. The inclusion of toy cars in a set with a railroad crossing is a great choice and is something that Tomy did not do in a lot of their sets with railroad crossings.
The Shell tanker is also an original Stelco tooling. Stelco may have had an agreement with Shell to use their name and logo as it also appears on some of their parking garages and other transportation toys (some of which were also manufactured by Tomy). The tanker car and auto carrier share the same chassis.
All of the track in this set is made by Stelco in West Germany based on the Plarail standard. The rails are marked with molding slot letters as well as seemingly a product code. The straight rail is the only one marked with the country of manufacture, and this text is not present on all Stelco straight rails. Rails are roughtop as Plarail would have been at the time and are a lighter blue than the Mickey Mouse Plarail or Tomy Express/Tomy Train dark blue rails but are darker than normal Plarail rails.
The railroad crossing is similar in design to the 1970s Plarail railroad crossing but is produced by Stelco and uses a rubber band system to return the boom arms to the upward position. The rubber bands in this example are stretched out and I replaced them with some smaller ones which are probably a little too powerful. The railroad crossing signs are separately fitted. The "reverse" color of the crossing with green base and yellow track which is somewhat closer to the original Plarail version was also produced.
The standing tree, signal, and catenaries are all Stelco-made local specifications based on the Plarail originals. Standing trees do not have a separate white stem and instead have the trunks molded directly into the red bases. Signals are a completely local design and are rather cool looking in my opinion. Catenaries are orange instead of red and stretch out slightly wider, perhaps because they were worried the longer Stelco rolling stock would sideswipe them on a curve?
The bridge piers are similar to the 1970s clipless Plarail bridge piers (right) with a similar track locating system on top. The rounded portions fit into the rails molded into the "bottom" of the track and the raised tabs fit on either side of the track connection. Although clearly inspired by the Plarail design, they are also an original Stelco tooling. Like the Plarail originals, the piers raise the track approximately 61mm.
Like the track, the bottoms of trees, signals, catenaries, and other components of the set are also marked with product numbers.
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The overpass layout is a classic Plarail layout for a reason, offering the play appeal of switches as well as elevation.
The switches produce a nice S-bend to send the train around and the crossing with cars is also fun. The smaller accessories are nice although I think it would look nicer with two more catenaries for the elevated section of the layout.
The engine currently has its original degraded friction-drive tires and fresh wheel traction tires. It can just about manage to get up the slopes in the set. The cars stay secure in the auto carrier.