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Plarail Beginner's Set (1982)
First written June 27, 2025In 1982 Tomy released three Beginner's Set (入門セット) basic oval sets with two-car trains. The 0 series Hikari version is shown here, but there is also a Tohoku Joetsu Shinkansen and a D-51 version. All of these trains included light features at the time, but they are excluded from these cheaper releases. Apparently, the D-51 set is the hardest to find, and the Plarail Museum does not currently have a copy (the Tohoku Joetsu version can be seen).
Beginner's Set Hikari
The Beginner's Set Hikari (入門セット ひかり号) was released in 1982 along with the other sets in the series. The age rating has been expanded down to 1.5 years old. The picture of the large promotional layout is the same one used on the 1981 Electric Locomotive Overpass Set. These boxes were the first of the late old power era to have the then-new curvy Tomy logo instead of the "boy and girl" logo on the front of the box. Future boxes of this type had the Tomy text in white instead of red... I think I kind of prefer the red.
The MS-32 mark on the top of the box implies this is a 1983 production example, as does the inclusion of a November 1983 Plarail Catalogue. Actually, the whole panel with the battery information and date mark seems like it might have been added over top of the 1982 print run box, which is one of the reasons I wonder if there may be two slightly different toolings for the train included, as noted below.
Set contents| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 2 pieces | Hikari (two cars, no light) |
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| 2 | R-01 Straight Rail |
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| 8 | R-03 Curve Rail |
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| 4 | Catenary |
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| 1 | Standing Tree |
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| 1 | Signal |
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The Hikari is based on the Hikari with Light of the era, although it lacks the light feature and has no intermediate car. Individual Hikari intermediate cars were on sale during this time, so it could be expanded out later.
This 1983 set uses the newer revised Hikari with Light chassis where the bulb would be mounted in the bottom, so there is a regular lens in the body shell (as opposed to the 1979-early 1980s spring-loaded-contact chassis with bulb in a larger nose section in the body). I am not sure if this tooling had been updated in 1982 when this set first came out, but redesigning it in this way made it cheaper to produce both with and without a light. An original 1982 set would have to be examined...
Rail is roughtop, of course, with Japan-made catenaries, tree, and signal. A previous 1970s series of two-car basic sets came with only a circle...
It is truly a beginner's set... at the time, the lack of intermediate car and light certainly made this train less desirable, but nowadays the novelty of the Hikari with Light without a light is probably the only reason to really care about this set. Really, I think old power trains are not that well suited to very young children, although new power trains that free-wheel when turned off can be pushed along the floor or rail by hand are better suited. Indeed, after the introduction of new power the First Set included a similar unlit Hikari but with intermediate car and rail ramps to let the player run or pull by hand the train onto the floor.
| Set name | Beginner's Set Hikari 入門セット ひかり号 |
Release period | 1982-1983 |
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