fall inside a hole
Let's Play With Parents and Children!! Shinkansen Set (1999)
Originally written December 22, 2023
The Let's Play With Parents and Children!! Shinkansen Set (親子で遊ぼう!! 新幹線セット) was released in 1999 in part to commemorate 40 years of Plarail. The set includes the 500 series Shinkansen which was the newest Shinkansen running on the original Tokaido shinkansen line when the set was designed as well as a new power version of the red and white 1960s Electric Super Express Hikari using the new power Hikari with Light tooling. The layout is a double track endless loop with station and crossover switch. As the name of the set implies, the throwback red and white Hikari is intended to represent the Plarails that a child's parents might have played with years prior and the double track layout and two powered trains let a parent and child easily play with the set together.
These sets were seemingly some of the earlier anniversary products conceived alongside the tinplate Plarail C53, with boxes printed and sets produced in 1998 ahead of the 1999 release. My copy of the set was opened but seemingly unused, with several components still wrapped up inside the internal packaging. The front of the box shows the 0 and 500 series Shinkansens as well as the old "Hikari-Go" Plarail logo. There is a nice expanded version of the layout shown on the back of the box, as well as instructions for how to install both batteries and the list of accessories the lighter 500 series may not work correctly with.
Set contents| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 3 pieces |
500
Series Shinkansen |
 |
| 3 pieces | Dream Super Express Hikari (Electric Super Express Hikari reprint) |
 |
| 1 | R-01 Straight Rail |
 |
| 2 | R-04 Double Track Straight Rail |
 |
| 8 |
R-05 Double
Track Curve Rail |
 |
| 1 | R-15 Double Track Point Rail ("lever" type only) |
 |
| 1 | J-16 City Station (set variant) |
 |
| 4 | Double Rail Catenary |
 |
The 500 series Shinkansen entered service in 1997 on the Tokaido Shinkansen line pulling 300km/h Nozomi services. With the introduction of N700 trains in 2007 the 500 series were phased out of higher-speed runs and trains were shortened. Some 500 series trains began pulling the Kodama trains on the Sanyo Shinkansen line in 2008.
The Plarail 500 series was introduced in late 1996 and was one of the earlier standard Plarail trains to use a AA battery instead of the C battery that almost every Plarail train had used up to that point. The battery compartment includes a plastic cover insert that stops the battery from moving around inside the chassis which is held in by a tab at the front of the chassis. Depressing the tab allows the insert to be slid forward and removed. The gearbox is a period two-speed new power gearbox with blue power switch. The 500 series in my copy of the set was manufactured in August 1998.
The 500 series intermediate and tail cars are constructed like other cars of the era. The train originally came in plastic bags and is stored under the 0 series train in the box.
The other train in this set is a throwback Dream Super Express Hikari 0 series Shinkansen. The red and white color is a callback to the 1960s and early 1970s Electric Super Express Hikaris which used this color scheme instead of the real-life blue and white. The tooling used is the same as the new power Hikari with Light but without the light installed.
The front contact strip has a white sticker over the front rivet, which is somewhat odd as it does nothing to cover the otherwise exposed contact strip running down the chassis. The Hikari in my set was also manufactured in August 1998. The chassis is the updated version that reads made in Thailand instead of just Thailand. The intermediate and power car use descendants of the tooling for the mid 1980s radio control Hikari like the other new power 0 series trains.
The track in this set is mostly double rail, with the curves being the updated Thailand version of an earlier set of Japanese molds and straight rails from the new-for-1998 tooling. The single normal straight rail is the Thailand update of the 1992 Japanese tooling.
The station in this set is a variant of the J-16 City Station and has the same integrated stopper and ability to be used next to additional city stations as well as on top of double track bridge piers. The station has some nice stickers showing vending machines and other station details and the molding includes benches and stairs down to a theoretical lower level of the station.
The set also includes the "dogbone" track clip as well as a sticker sheet to mark the two platforms (the open back of the station can be placed against a second line). I do not think I have any of these sticker sheets from any of my other City Stations.
The double track catenaries are marked with slot marks on one side and Thailand on the other, with some slots having the text on one base or the other depending on where the Japan text was on the original mold before it was covered in the Thailand version.
Having two complete three-car sets, one of which is a nice homage to the early days of Plarail, is pretty cool, and the endless loop double track layout is fun and has lots of useful double rail pieces. The single speed gearbox in my Hikari seems fairly quick and it about keeps pace with the two-speed 500 series at high speed.
The crossover switch makes it fun and easy to switch trains between the two tracks (as well as crash them together, if that is your thing). Running the trains in opposite directions makes it harder to switch without crashes.
While I had the set out, I took out my New Electric Super Express Hikari from the 1968 Electric Limited Express Hikarigo Set NO.1 which is one of the early red and white 0 series trains that the Dream Super Express Hikari emulates.
I am a big fan of the 0 series Shinkansen, the red and white Hikari, the Plarail double rail standard, and almost any set with two powered trains, so it is probably not surprising that I quite like this set. There are no smaller accessories other than the double track catenaries but they fit the idea of a two-track high speed line and the station and crossover switch are both nice.