fall inside a hole

J-28 Thomas the Tank Engine Plarail Boulder & Plarail Thumper (1999)

First written July 14, 2024


On July 24th, 1999 the J-28 Thomas the Tank Engine Plarail Boulder & Plarail Thumper (きかんしゃトーマス ボルダー&サンパー) was released for the Thomas Plarail series of train toys. The small accessory set was released as part of the regular Plarail numbering scheme and includes a single-straight-long base "mountain" with Boulder and Thumper that move when a train is stopped at the destination. The J-28 designation was previously used for the J-28 Ticket Pretend Station.

This accessory does not seem to have been produced for very long - the example shown here is in a 1999 print box, and I suspect there may have only ever been one initial run of boxes that were then used through 1999 and into 2000 before going out of production - it is only listed in the 1999-2000 catalogue, and is dropped from the 2000-2001 catalogue.

The main accessory base has a stopper and roller pickups that rock Boulder back and forth while making Thumper swing from side to side like he is "hitting" the rock formation. The box photo actually shows a prototype of the mountain where Boulder is mounted on a white support - presumably the red plastic components on the final toy all ended up coming from one mold, so they were all produced together at the same time in the same color.

The Boulder is pretty nice looking, although it seems like many of them develop blonde spots on top - all three of the Boulders I have had have had lighter yellowish areas on top. Thumper is small and looks more cute than accurate to the television show but he fits in with the Plarail style and other smaller characters like the Terence or Caroline from other Thomas-series accessory sets. Slightly lighter and darker face variations of Thumper exist - I have only had examples of the darker style.

Boulder is somewhat free to float around on his mount which is pushed from side to side from below, giving his movement some random jerkiness compared to the more consistent back-and-forth of Thumper below. This is a neat little scene, although it is a little funny that Tomy produced it in 1999, several years before they would produce any of the narrow-gauge characters that feature in the Thomas television show episode that Boulder and Thumper appear in.