fall inside a hole
Electric Locomotive Set (1970)
Originally written July 30, 2025Expanded October 2025
The 1970 Electric Locomotive Set (でんききかんしゃセット) included the then-new EF-15 Electric Locomotive, freight cars, and the first Plarail automatic Railway Crossing.
As the front of the box shows, the very early production copies of this set had the original and short-lived grey chassis EF-15 with red-chassised freight cars. This set stayed in production up into 1974, and apparently even got a short-lived new style of box in the next era... an ST mark was added to the box starting with 1972-production sets.
I have also come across this 1972 example with the more common black chassis EF15 and freight cars. The ST mark in the corner is printed, and a G-20 mark has been added which suggests it was printed between October 1971 and September 1972. A sticker celebrating 100 years of Japan's railways in 1972 is also present. The Plarail Museum shows a copy of the set with a T-22 1973-1974 mark.
Set contents
| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 3 pieces | EF-15 Electric Locomotive with tank car and container car (early colors, 1970-1971) |
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| 3 pieces | EF-15 Electric Locomotive with tank car and container car (1972-1974) |
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| 3 | R-01 Straight Rail |
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| 8 | R-03 Curve Rail |
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| 1 | Railway Crossing |
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| 6 | Catenary |
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| 4 | Standing Tree |
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| 2 | Signal |
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The EF-15, sold as the Electric Locomotive as it was the only one in the range at its introduction in 1970, headlines this set hauling two also-new freight cars. The power switch is bent up at the end, as was the style at the time. The original 1970 runs of this set had the early grey chassis EF-15 with alternate-color early freight cars.
The freight cars are the early type with red chassis and yellow wheels, with the more fragile style of axle holders and plastic plugs holding the rear coupling in.
Around 1972 the EF-15 chassis was changed to black and the freight cars changed chassis and wheel colors to the more iconic combination that stayed in production for decades. I think in part this was to differentiate the color of the chassis from the locomotive body, but yellow EF-15s were also sold in the later 1970s...
Regardless, I think I like the yellow chassis with red wheels more.
Certainly by the time of these black EF15s the ST marks would have been being added to the new boxes. The tooling was updated in a few ways - the original grey chassis does not have the Tomy logo below the rear wheels, and the rear window had a rounded cutout added to avoid the motor shaft - the window was made an even larger rectangle later on.
The rail in this set is the original all-smooth type. The curve rails have either a number on one side near the convex connector or a letter on the other.
New in 1970 was the original weighted railway crossing that automatically drops its gates as the train passes. Actually, the box for this set shows a prototype for the crossing with white crossing signs and red plastic around the weights instead of yellow.
There is a nice and generous selection of smaller accessories including two of the nice old lens-type signals that let light shine through, four standing trees, and six catenary, which fill out the oval nicely.
Both of the signals in this set were missing one of their colored lenses, with one also missing its arm and with one of its pegs broken off and stuck in the supporting pole. I popped the red lens out of the more broken signal and carefully pulled the other signal front off and put the red lens in its housing. Then I borrowed another signal for the pictures and videos shown here...
Actually, the second copy of the set from 1972 had both of its signals intact, especially surprising considering the box is quite tattered and all four of the trees were absent.
The track layout is a longer oval than the No.1-style oval sets, another element of the luxury of this early era of Plarail, and it can thus be reconfigured a few different ways... The set stayed in the range for several years.
| Set name | Electric Locomotive Set でんききかんしゃセット |
Release period | 1970-1974 |
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| Notes: | The early grey EF-15 looks a little cooler than the black version, I think |