fall inside a hole
Rail-Road Level Crossing Set (1986)
Originally written March 8, 2024
The Rail Road Level Crossing Set (レール・ロード踏切 ーセット) is a Plaroad crossover set from the late old power era. The set includes an L Limited Express train and a double-decker Plaroad bus. The layout is relatively simple for both road and rail but the focus of the set is on the crossing and two vehicles. The front of the box shows one of the uncommon wider radius 45 degree 103 Large Curve Road downstream from the switch added into the set for the promotional photo. The Plaroad 90 degree curve roads were originally called "Small Curve Road" when released in 1985 but when the Plaroad range was condensed in 1987 and rereleased under the Plarail name they were just called Curve Road. It is possible at one point Tomy planned to produce this wider radius 8-to-a-circle road but when Plaroad was not a hit they did not bother.
Unlike the vast majority of Plarail sets, batteries were actually included, most likely because the N batteries for the Plaroad vehicle are somewhat uncommon. The box for my copy had been taped together with what looked and felt like red electrical tape, but I removed it in March 2024 when taking pictures for this page. The TT-36 mark on the box was only used in 1987 which is interesting as this set was replaced with a new power version in 1987 - perhaps some old power sets were produced early in this period before the new power version was ready for sale?
Set contents| Quantity | Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 3 pieces |
L Limited Express (plastic
gearbox) |
 |
| 3 | R-01 Straight Rail |
 |
| 8 | R-03 Curve Rail (roughtop with Japan markings) |
 |
| 1 |
Straight Plaroad |
 |
| 4 | Curve Plaroad |
 |
| 2 | Slope Plaroad |
 |
| 1 | J-20 Rail Road Crossing |
 |
| 4 | Block Girders |
 |
| 4 | Catenary |
 |
| 1 | Signal |
 |
| 4 | Road barrier |
 |
| 2 | Streetlight |
 |
| 1 |
Sign |
 |
| 1 | C Battery | |
| 2 | N Battery |
The L Limited Expresses were a series of popular express train lines in the 1970s and several of the routes were produced in Plarail form, including the "regular" L Limited Express portraying the Tsubame or Swallow line that linked up with the new Shinkansen when it opened in 1964.
Being from just before the start of the new power era in 1987, this set comes with a late example of the old power L Limited Express with the milky white friction-drive gearbox. The one in my set is in rather nice condition, and I did not even need to replace any of the rubber components for the videos shown here (although they certainly have hardened with age).
The other powered vehicle in this set is this rather cute little double decker bus. I particularly like the Tomy license plates and the Plaroad branding and the angled design on the side of the bus as well as the separately fitted and slightly translucent windows. This is the first (and thus far only) Plaroad vehicle I own.
The little bus runs on two N-size batteries, although they are wired in parallel for (I assume) capacity and current draw reasons and you can get away with one battery for a while I suspect. There are other Plaroad vehicles that have a small rechargeable battery (capacitor?) that is charged when it drives up to roadside destinations with a built in charger and two C batteries to recharge the car - I would like to find some of these some day.
The track in this set is late roughtop treaded rail with made in Japan marks.
As far as I know, there was only ever one set of Plaroad toolings, with all Plaroad items being produced in Japan. The different road sections are all marked Japan. I have had some random Plaroad pieces before including both a loose and sealed example of the crossing so I had some experience with the road before getting this set. The road fits together fairly loosely and only in one direction. They are made of hard plastic and are certainly more fragile than Plarail rail. The curves and straight rail are smooth and the slope rails have treaded sections for the vehicles tires to dig into.
The main "feature" of the set is the J-20 Rail Road Crossing that forms one of the crossovers of the road and rail lines. The J-20 has a clever albeit one-way operation that allows it to catch an incoming car and release it after the next train passes or when the buttons on either side of the crossing are pressed and released.
The Plarail side of the set has four catenaries and a signal for accessories but the Plaroad system has accessory mounting built into its road pieces so the curves can be outfitted with barriers and streetlights and an overhead highway-style navigation sign fits into the straight.
The original owner of this set applied one of the stickers for this sign to the L Limited's tail car. I tried to remove it by soaking it in isopropyl alcohol and then lifting one side, but this was clearly not going well, so I made a "backup" replica using photos I had taken beforehand and some photo paper just in case I completely wrecked the original sticker. I went through a few revisions but when I was satisfied I had an emergency backup I got out my mom's original Conair Vagabond 1250 hair dryer and got to work heating up the old sticker.
With some time I started to get a good lift. The left corner of the first character flaked off but a lot of the original adhesive layer was intact and even still sticky. I ended up cutting just the first character and over out of the backup and put it under where it matched the original sticker.
One side of the sign reads "Towards Tokyo" and the other "Towards Osaka."
The Plaroad system uses the Plarail Block Bridge Girder as its riser system as well, meaning it is somewhat cross compatible with Plarail on them. The rather loose Plaroad connections seem even looser on the piers, although they get somewhat more "locked in" with more piers stacked on top.
This is one of the last sets from one of Plarail's greatest eras and even though the train and bus only have small loops to traverse I think the combination automatic/manual crossing gives the set great play appeal as it offers both hands-on and off "realistic" operation as well as the option of letting the little bus get hit by the train by hitting the button at the right time, as some kids prefer to do. And, of course, being Plarail, it would have been easy to expand the road or rail or both into a sprawling empire.
In 1987 this set was updated for the new power era as the L Limited Express Rail Road Level Crossing Set with an updated new power L Limited Express but otherwise nearly identical components. An unused copy of this set can be seen in the Plarail Museum. In 1988 a few more Plaroad crossover sets were released but by 1989 it was largely phased out of the range, disappearing completely around 1990.