fall inside a hole
Railway Yard Set Full of Freight Cars (2001)
Originally written March 23, 2024
The Railway Yard Set Full of Freight Cars (貨車がいっぱい操車場セット) from 2001 features an EF 66 in freight livery and a large assortment of freight cars to shunt in the three-siding yard. This was the last set to use the yellow band with red stripe packing style used since 1995. My boxed copy, which is a September 2002 reprint, is somewhat sunfaded - note the band of color on the left of the R-17 callout box on the rear and the difference between the yellow callout box to the left and the one to the right for the R-11 Turnout Rails.
This box is a two-layer affair with all of the rolling stock visible out the front of the box. The sublayer below contains the track. The pictured track layout approximately matches that which I have seen in a fresh copy of the set on Yahoo Auctions which still had the rubber bands around the track bundles.
The sides of the box show the freight car selection as well as a real EF66 in freight livery hauling a freight train. I kind of like the text style on the box mockup more than the final production sticker.
Set contents| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
EF 66 (round logo chassis
with freight colors) |
 |
| 2 | Tankers (set variants) |
 |
| 6 pieces | Flatbeds with containers (set variants) |
 |
| 1 | Container car (set variant) |
 |
| 4 pieces | Open wagon with pipes (set variant) |
 |
| 1 | Mail Van (black set variant) |
 |
| 1 | Brakevan ("Takara green" set variant) |
 |
| 8 | R-01 Straight Rail | |
| 3 | R-02 Half Straight Rail | |
| 8 | R-03 Curve Rail | |
| 2 pieces | R-11 Turnout Rail (one pair) | |
| 1 | R-17 Point Machine | |
| 4 | Buffers |
The EF 66 in this set is in light blue and white with yellow door freight livery. This was the first Plarail EF66 to depict this freight livery.
I have two partial copies of this set (actually, I also have the tankers to a third). The set on the left was purchased in the box as shown above without track in late 2023. It was slightly cheaper without track and I already have all the track to this set several times over (although I would eventually run out of buffers). The set on the right was bought in 2020 and was missing some rolling stock (although the two grey pipes of the original three per set that I have are both from this copy of the set).
It was midway through documenting this set that I realized the chassis on the EF66 in the newer boxed set is actually incorrect - I had noticed that the logo had been updated on the chassis, and I thought this was just the difference in production between the 2001 and 2002 runs of this set, but I did not realize the grey coloration was different and that the wheels were supposed to be yellow until I had both copies of the set out at the same time. This all-grey new logo chassis comes from the late 2003 K-08 EF66 type 12 which is also in freight light blue and white but with "JR" lettering and the full running number EF66 12. If I ever see an example of this EF66 with the incorrect lighter grey chassis with yellow wheels I will have to pick it up to swap the chassis around to make two proper EF66s. For now, I have put the nicer September 2002 body shell on the February 2001 chassis and stored that with the boxed set, with the mismatched EF66 going in my regular runners box.
The set includes a great mix of different freight cars including two nice designs of tanker, a silver one based off the early 2000s updated form of the 1970 tanker and a green and grey one based off of the newer Thomas-series tanker. Both of these tankers are branded "PR". Three stubby box vans are included, one in a brighter brown than the original 70s version (top right) and two others in brighter colors. The Toki 2500 is a deeper red than the 1989 original and comes with more realistic grey pipes, of which I only have two.
The two container cars, also originating in design in the Play Wagons Set, come with Tomy-branded containers. One of the few differences between the older and newer copies of this set is that the newer containers (left) have a production code of some sort inside. I also found that the blue "PL" variant of the 1970 container car was yellowed somewhat in the later copy, and I have substituted the brighter, earlier one into the boxed copy.
Possibly my favorite piece of rolling stock in the whole set is the black mail van. Its really too bad my second copy of the set was missing the van - I just think it looks so cool. The set also includes a type 6000 brakevan in "Takara green" - despite not being affiliated at the time (Tomy and Takara would later merge in 2006), early print runs of this set included a Takara tail mark sticker on the rear of the brakevan. Neither of my print runs are of this initial type. Unlike the rest of the yellow-wheeled rolling stock in this set, the van has red wheels.
When I was still under the impression that the set had been updated around 2002 I picked out a set of early squared Tomy logo rails and three-way switch, but I think it is probably more likely that both copies of this set originally came with late 90s-style refined treaded rails with no large Tomy logo. Before putting the boxed copy of this set into storage I will try to swap out the rails inside for what I now believe is correct.
Although there are no paper instructions for this set, my copy did include a late 90s style old logo coupler replacement leaflet.
The layout for the set is centered around a three-lane yard with an R-17 Point Machine for the freight cars to be stored in and also includes a rectangular outer loop for your assembled train to drive around. A short siding in one corner opens the set up to easy expansion or can hold a single freight car.
As mentioned above, when I first started photographing this set I did not realize that one of my EF66's chassis was incorrect - if you see an EF66 with grey wheels in these photographs, that is not correct for this set! I will have to reshoot some of these photos at a later date. I freely admit that I absolutely love yards in train sets and in Plarail, and this set and its similar Thomas-series counterpart are both great sets. What is not to love about a nice set with a full yard and turnouts and a bunch of set-exclusive variants of engines and freight cars?
I really like how you can assemble whatever train you want, take only the tankers or container cars or set up small scenes in the yard, or just make the powerful EF66 haul it all. I think the cargo selection is a nice mix, with multiple cars with loading and unloading features, although I must admit that I think it would have been awesome if this set had included a breakdown crane-type toy like the Thomas equivalent because I think it adds so much play appeal - especially if it could interact with the containers and pipes. I am not exactly sure which rolling stock I would replace with a crane though.
When I got the proper older chassis running on this set I found it to be significantly faster even under heavy loads. I guess that's the difference between the late 90s/early 2000s gearboxes and the mid 2000s ones, it just seems like they all ended up slower and not performing as well as time goes on. I really like this set and its Thomas-series equivalent, just about the only thing that would have made it better if the EF-66 had been Round-Trip and the sidings all had reversers.