fall inside a hole
Round-Trip Plarail 3D Loading and Unloading Set (1975)
Originally written August 3, 2025
The Round-Trip Plarail 3D Loading and Unloading Set (おうふくプラレールりったいつみおろしセット) was the first Round-Trip Plarail set, featuring a yellow or green ED-70 locomotive on a thin, long small shuttle train-style layout with automatic crossover points and tipper car to load and unload balls.
The top of the box has battery installation instructions as well as the track layout and hopper loading assembly. It seems that the original run of this set, which had a "New" sticker instead of the Hikari mark on the vacuformed tray (as well as a slight difference in how the plastic was formed around the train holding era), had yellow ED70s, while the later run had green. Both have yellow locomotives on the cover and have G-24 marks and M2160017 ST marks implying 1975 printing periods.
Set contents| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 2 pieces | ED-70 Electric Locomotive (yellow or green) with tipper car |
 |
| 8 | Balls |
 |
| 2 | R-01 Straight Rail |
 |
| 1 | R-06 Slope Rail |
 |
| 1 | R-15 Double Track Point Rail (automatic type) |
 |
| 4 | Static Return Rail |
 |
| 2 pieces | Loading Hopper |
 |
| 2 | Bridge Girder (orange clipless type) |
 |
| 4 | Buffers |
 |
| 2 | Double-Track Catenary |
 |
| 2 | Signal |
 |
The ED-70 in this later copy of the set is green, with the same red ED 70 stickers as the yellow and red versions of the train. The chassis and Round-Trip system was new for this engine in 1975 but the body shell is the same one as the EF-15, which entered production in 1970.
The ED-70 has an orange tipper that it pulls around - the ED-70 is situated such that its bar coupling is on the opposite side from the powered wheels, which are typically the rear wheels on Plarail vehicles, so it can be said that the coupling is really on the front, and the power switch is a sliding plastic lever that sticks out the side and connects to the metal power switch underneath the plastic front coupling insert. The hanging metal pin that engages the reversing feature also hangs below the driven wheels.
The tipper wagon only has a hooked coupling, as the idea is that the ED-70 just shuttles this car back and forth. The wagon has a hanging bar that will tip the wagon's body up when it reaches the unloading hopper as well as two round weights underneath. Eight balls, of which six are intended to be used at any time with two spare (although I didn't have any problems using the seven that remain with my set at once), are included. This set was the first use of ball cargo accessory pieces, which reappeared occasionally up through the 2000s.
The only preexisting rails in this set were the standard straight rails - the automatic crossover point rail, the unsupported slope rail, and the static return rails for the Round-Trip function were all new for this set!
The crossover points send a train across the junction when entering from the end with convex connectors, otherwise sending the train straight across, which interacts perfectly with the reversing Round-Trip mechanism to make the train cycle back and forth between the two lengths of track.
The Loading Hopper is also new for this set, of course, and the slope rail brings the train up to the upper dumping level, which is supported by two of the orange bridge girders of the era.
Two double catenaries and four buffer stops are also included, as well as two of the then-new stickered signals (the box, like other 1975 boxes, still shows the old lens type).
When I bought this set used 50 years after it was originally sold, a copy of the 1975 catalogue was included.
The set is a very unique layout for a Plarail set, and the future Round-Trip sets all included curved loops of some kind, but it is an obvious reference to old cycling "shuttle" train toys like Tomy's own Shuttle Train.
The entire layout conforms to the double rail standard, and could be expanded outwards fairly easily in all directions while still retaining the loading and unloading action. Click the GIFs for larger videos with sound.
The loading and unloading operations are very cool, and are a highlight of many of the Round-Trip sets from the decade or so they were available. On a flat surface, the ED-70 really throws its weight around and will push the layout from side to side.
| Set name | Round-Trip Plarail 3D Loading and
Unloading Set おうふくプラレールりったいつみおろしセット |
Release period | 1975 |
| Train rating |
  
| Track rating |
|
| Accessory rating |
| Overall |
|
| Notes: |