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Plarail Dating and Identification

There have been so, so many releases, rereleases, reprints, reissues, tooling changes and set variants that identifying any given Plarail and where it came from can be a large task, especially if you are only looking at a few auction photos online. There are a number of indicators and trends that can help to identify the time period a Plarail train or component comes from, but many are best-observed in-hand. Note that not all of these are hard rules, and if you hunt hard enough you will always find exceptions on one technicality or another - finding all of these is half the fun of exploring new Plarail.

Basic identification

The easiest way to figure out what type of train you have if you have no idea what its name is or what service or railway it runs on is to get an approximate idea of the age (generally, the amount of detail, look and condition, and the "feeling" of the plastic will give you a good idea if it is "old" or "new") and then look on the Plarail Museum for a train that looks right. If your train looks older the sixth generation page has a mix of updated old power and new new power trains while the "modern" look of Plarail was established in the eighth generation. Figure out if you have found the exact release you have or if yours is older or newer, and use the name of the train provided to look up more about it or search it in conjunction with "Plarail" (プラレール) and see if you can find other auction photos that reveal more information about other releases and which one you may have. This section of the Plarail Museum offers a handy reference for when most individual release trains were released and discontinued in different packaging types. If the train has a page on my site it may also contain either a documented example of the revision you are looking at or a description of it.

There are many Plarail pieces that have dates molded into them, but generally they either signify when a tooling was very originally produced or when a license was renewed. Some new toolings from the 2000s were dated with both the year they were new and 1959, the first year of true Plarail production.

Production region

For the first 30 years of Plarail production manufacturing was entirely handled in Japan. Tomy opened their new Thailand factory in 1987 and began producing Plarail there in 1989, with Plarail production split between Thailand and Japan in the early 90s with Plarail production finally moving there completely in 1995 when Tomy closed two of their Japanese factories. Before this point, some export Plarail was produced in different regions (discussed on their respective pages), but any traditional Plarail that is made in Thailand is no older than 1989 at the earliest.

Production features

Although almost all Plarail from every era is largely cross-compatible, some "standards" like the coupling system and undercarriage designs have been improved over time and new gearboxes have been introduced. Based on what kind of drive system, design of wheels, or other features a train has, a range of probable production can be found.

Early Plarail rail is all smooth with no intentional surface inside the rail troughs. As the vast majority of trains became motorized in the 1970s most rails were updated to a roughtop surface. With the move to direct drive "new power" gearboxes in the late 1980s most track was updated again to have a consistent treaded pattern, sometimes over existing roughtop treaded toolings and sometimes fresh. More details can be seen on the pages for particular rails in the rail section.

Early Plarail gearboxes are all metal. The very original gearbox used in the Electric Plastic Train, Highway Bus, and the version in the original Electric Super Express Hikari and the export Child Guidance version shown here has the power switch mounted to the chassis and coming out of a slot in the body shell and is direct-drive. Drive wheel traction tires were black and thinner with thinner wheels overall in this era.

"Second generation" gearboxes are also all metal and use a roof power switch design, although they are friction drive and the switches do not disengage any portion of the gearbox like the later direct-drive new power gearboxes. They also use plastic gears to transmit power to the drive wheels.

The next gearbox, introduced in 1969 and put into great use starting in 1970, would power the majority of Plarail trains throughout the 1970s. Very early examples still use plastic gears, but most earlier 1970s versions use a darker rubber drive drum compared with the later 70s and 1980s rubber tires.

A larger version with clicking "chuffing" noisemaker was used for steam locomotives and was even be put into Thailand-made engines before the last D-51 and C-12s to use them were finally converted to new power in the mid 1990s.

Traction tires changed to the more modern type with the move to the matching friction-drive tires.

In the later 1970s a plastic friction-drive gearbox was developed. Many 70s metal-gearbox trains were updated and converted to use the plastic gearboxes if they fit. These gearboxes powered most pre-1987 1980s Plarail trains.

In 1987 Plarail tractive power was forever changed with the introduction of the "new power" gearbox. The new power gearbox was direct-drive and produced in both single and two-speed versions. Like other gearboxes, earlier Japanese production types had brass contacts while Thailand ones had silver. Different color switches were used for the two-speed version at various points - briefly black on original 2-Speed Shinkansens, then a greyish-blue for most Japanese production, then lighter blue in Thailand into the 2000s. Single-speed gearboxes also used a bluish-grey switch during Japanese production but were all white starting with Thailand production.

The Plarail coupling system has also changed several times, particularly in the earlier days. Here are some notes about dating by coupling styles - keep in mind that couplers are sometimes broken and replaced so a used train may or may not have its original set of couplers (it probably does, but if one coupling on a train is different from the others this may be a sign of a parent (or some other collector) replacing it at some point). Occasionally, it is found that for whatever reason an out-of-season coupling style has been used later in production - some trains and even Tomica World exports used the single-split rear couplings. An intact three-piece train with matching couplers from the same source probably has its originals and, combined with the other traits noted here, can be a factor in dating a train.

Coupling style	Era	Notes
Metal hooks	1959-1966	Early push trains as well as electric trains used metal hook style couplings that could interlock
Plastic "straight through" style	later 1960s (push trains)	Later push trains changed to using a single-piece coupler that ran the length of the car and had a loop on one end and a hook on the other
	1966-1969	Used on later 1960s electric trains, plastic bars molded into the rear of cars and a hook coupler that is similar to the modern type but with a thin flexible section. A similar style of coupling was used on Freerail, also by Tomy. Fragile, and the cars they are included in are often glued shut and hard to open without further damage
	1968-1969	Amusement Park series couplings
	1969-1975	Chunky squared-off earlier 1970s couplings, the rear loop style has no slit and the "hook" is more open
	1975-1977 1978-1979* 1980-1990s	These couplings already resemble the modern type that truly clip together. The rear coupler has a single split in coupling hole with no added strain relief. Began being replaced in the early 1990s but then used with seemingly little rhyme or reason on later 1990s Japanese releases, Tomica World exports, and seemingly occasionally into the 2000s *For whatever reason, couplers from around this period yellow more intensely and more often than the period before or after
	1992-	The "modern" style of hook and loop couplings

Production stickers/marks

Very early examples of accessories from the 1960s to the mid 70s were sometimes not marked with Japan text in the tooling but most track, accessory, and train components were marked with JAPAN marks by the later 1970s.

As production moved to Thailand in the 1990s, many older toolings were updated. Many older trains have old power Japanese production, new power Japanese production, and new power Thailand production variations that are overall fairly similar.

Since 1990 Plarail power cars and some battery-powered accessories have been marked with a period of manufacture, originally with a sticker and later sometimes stamped into part of the plastic molding. The original sticker types included a letter A to L corresponding to the month of the year January to December and a number signifying the last digit(s) of the year. Later, plastic-stamped codes also included a day of the month before the last two digits of the year.

Sticker date codes can fall off (or are sometimes located on battery compartment covers which are lost). Any Thailand-made locomotive after 1991 or so should have originally had a production sticker of some kind, but many lose them over time. Nearly all Japan-made trains will not have a sticker, but late-to-move old and new power trains like the DD51 and 485-series L Limited tooling in the Kamome Express livery were still produced in Japan into the early-mid 1990s.

Since the later 1990s many battery-powered accessories have also been marked with similar stickers in their battery compartments. Beginning in the early 2000s, many individual and larger accessories were marked with their production period, first with stickers like trains of the era and later with production marks in the plastic itself. Like trains, later on this code expanded to include the day of the month it was produced between the letter representing the month and the last digits that signify the year.

Stickers and date codes were also added to the rear or bottom of many boxes in the 2000s. This date signifies when the set was placed in its box and sealed, and components inside will date to around or a little bit before this time. If you are concerned about having track or trains that were produced at the appropriate time for a boxed set, this mark (which includes the exact day of the month since 2006 or so) is the most accurate "cutoff" for the production period of your particular copy.

Mark	Interpretation	Notes
	H = 8th letter = August 0 = 1990	Earliest mark in my collection
	K = 11th letter = November 0 = 1990	Early Japanese-production-style sticker that is wider and stamped instead of printed
	L = 12th letter = December 1 = 1991	Thailand-style smaller printed sticker
	G = 7th letter = July H = 8th letter = August 5 = 1995	Stamps were used directly on plastic on some Thomas-series vehicles made in Japan. In this example, the body shell and chassis were produced in different months
	D = 4th letter = April 9 = 1999	Like with the example above, when trains' body shells were produced in one month and the chassis the next, sometimes a second sticker is affixed over the previous. In this case, a C9 sticker is under the D9 one
	G = 7th letter = July 05 = 5th day 07 = 2007 V = Export	Mark on an export Thomas-series set box. V was included on many stickers and date codes on export Thomas-series items
	B = 2nd letter = February 17 = 17th day 14 = 2014

Box marks

Since at least 1970 Tomy has marked pretty much all boxes they print with a year of printing in one way or another, typically with a letter and number code. If you encounter one of these marks outside of these ranges, extrapolate the ranges out and if it seems to reasonably line up with when you believe the toy was released, there's a good chance that that is indeed the year of the box's printing. Before 1970 boxes were marked with a TP code, but there is not a clear pattern of the numbering. The Plarail Museum has the most complete list of TP numbers to cross-reference. Some Toy Town toys use TC codes.

Numbering series	Known box marks...	Equates to...	Notes	Example
G series	G-19 to G-23 G-24 G-25 to G-27	October 1970 to September 1975 October 1975-February 1976 March 1976-February 1979	Numbering seems to increment around October until 1976
M series	M-20 to M-22 M-28	October 1971-September 1974 March 1979-February 1980	Seen on export Freerail, Dead Heat and other Tomy games
MS series	MS-28 to MS-32	March 1979-February 1984	I.E. MS-30 is from March 1981 to February 1982
N series	N-21 to N-23 N-24 N-25 to N-36	October 1972-to September 1975 October 1975-February 1976 March 1976-February 1988	Plarail begins using this schema in the 80s after the MS series, some other Tomy toys used it in the 70s
T series	T-34	March 1985-February 1986	Used on Potch
TT series	TT-36	March 1987-February 1988	Seems to only be used in 1987

Nearby these marks on many older boxes was an ST toy safety mark. Beginning in 1987 and more widespread in 1988, the ST mark printed on boxes included the last digit(s) of the year in the ST box.

Mark	Interpretation	Notes
	7=1987	New print box for 1987 with new style of ST mark
	8=1988	Earlier 80s-style ST mark box with added 8 for Thailand reprint of earlier Japan-made set
	7=1997	Context of the TOMY website URL (as well as the rest of the design of box) can be used to differentiate a late 1990s from a late 1980s print box
	02=2002	In 2002 the ST mark began using two digits. Boxes from 2000 and 2001 are still marked 0 and 1 but can be differentiated from earlier sets by their style and contents