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Plarail BoCo (1998)

First written June 17, 2024

BoCo is a green mixed-traffic diesel engine on the Island of Sodor. The Plarail BoCo was first released in 1998 with a troublesome truck and tar tanker. BoCo is often spelled Boco on product packaging.


Still from the 1998 Let's play together with Tomica and Plarail! VHS

Like many other 1990s Thomas Plarail trains, the prototype appears in some promotional material and has a slightly different face and stickers.

Plarail Boco (1998)




Plarail BoCo (プラレールボコ) was released on May 22nd, 1998 and was the tenth engine in the Thomas series of Plarail sets, trains, and accessories. The three-pack release includes BoCo with troublesome truck and tar tanker. As BoCo uses a C battery and is similar to regular Plarail trains, he is largely compatible with the Plarail system and no notes on the back of the box are made about any accessories he does not work with.

BoCo has a nice large green body shell with a nice mix of molded and sticker detail. The tar tanker uses the same tooling as the milk and fuel tankers introduced with Diesel the year before. The troublesome truck uses the "shocked" face.

1998 print run boxes were also used in 1999 when the truck chassis transitioned from the original style to the shorter rimmed-screw type.

Plarail Boco (New URL box) (2000)




New print runs of boxes from 1999 onwards included the new Tomy website URL. Like several other later 1990s Thomas Plarail characters, Boco received a new run of boxes in 2000 that was seemingly used until the range was redesigned in 2003.

The truck chassis on this December 2000 example has the new 1996-dated tooling with more centered text and the larger screw surround but still the older rear coupling screw on the tanker.

4796 Boco (Tomica World) (2002)

In 2002 the first BoCos were exported in red and blue 2001-style Thomas Tomica World packaging for the European market. In 2003 Boco was rereleased for Europe in the Thomas Motor Road & Rail range but Tomy-made BoCos were never exported for American sale. In 2005 an updated Motor Road & Rail box entered use, and the Boco three-pack was produced by Tomy for the 2008 U.K. Tomy TrackMaster range as well.

T-12 Plarail Boco (Updated rerelease) (2003)

In 2003 the Thomas Plarail range was revamped and earlier characters were given updated detailing. BoCo, however, remained largely unchanged externally.