fall inside a hole

Gordon (1995)

First written November 22, 2023

Gordon the Big Engine is one of the main characters of the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends T.V. show as well as the Railway Series books it is based on. Gordon pulls the mainline express train that connects Sodor with Britian.

Similar to other 90s Plarail Thomas trains, a late stage prototype with a slightly different face sculpt appears on some boxes and other material.

Plarail Gordon (1995)

 

Plarail Gordon (プラレールゴードン) was released on October 26, 1995 and was the fifth engine in the Thomas series of Plarail sets, trains, and accessories. The three-pack release includes Gordon and a green express coach, the first new rolling stock molding for the Thomas series since Annie and Clarabel in 1992. The Thomas series engines continued to use the sixth generation style Plarail boxes even after regular releases transitioned to three-windows seventh generation packaging in 1994. The rear of the box has battery installation information and new safety warning added to boxes beginning in 1995 as well as a promo shot of the late prototype and a list of incompatible accessories. Original ST-5 1995 print run boxes were used up into early 1997. This box contains an original 1995 production run Gordon and also has a white UPC sticker over where the original barcode is on the box - even though the original and correct printed barcode appears to be intact underneath.

Originally, Gordons were packaged with styrofoam blocks between the engine and tender, tender and coach, and coach and the back of box, as well as a longer strip at the top of the box by Gordon's face. Without the blocks inside the box, the engine and coach rolling back and forth can cause the coach to be hit by the front coupling and crack, as this one has.

Gordon's chassis has 1995 licensing information and a 1995 made in Thailand mark. Like other 90s engines, Gordon's face is molded into the smokebox and painted over in grey. The wires connecting the battery compartment to the motor are green and blue, an uncommon color combination. Gordons were seemingly produced with the modern strain-reliefed coupling from their introduction. The Gordon in this box dates to November 1995, and I have a second older Gordon with green and blue wires but without the original coal battery cover.

The green express coach is the first Thomas-specific car molding since Annie and Clarabel in 1992. The chassis is marked Thailand as is the wheel insert. The coach is a nice molding that fits both the Plarail and Thomas aesthetics.

 

I also have two 1996 Gordons in 1995 print run boxes. 1996 production run Gordons are the only individual release Thomas-series engine I have ever seen that included a pamphlet catalogue, in this case the 1996 Catalogue. The 1996 boxes do not have the UPC barcode sticker on the rear.

1996 Gordons are nearly identical to 1995 ones other than the wire color changing to the regular red and blue. Both the 1996 Gordons I own date from September. I used to have a third Gordon of this type in the box, complete with catalogue, but I sold it as I did not particularly need three 1996 production run Gordons.

The worse condition 1996 Gordon has some of the common cosmetic damage you see on Plarail Gordons, namely a cracked (and reglued) cab roof and biffed driving cylinders. Cracked buffers are also pretty common damage, and poor sticker condition is not that uncommon on any Plarail with stickers.

Early 1997 production run Gordons were also sold in 1995 print run boxes. On the back of these boxes, a small translucent sticker is applied with text amending the incompatible products list. Towards the end of 1996 all the existing Thomas characters had these incompatibility lists updated for 1997 print run boxes, but there were seemingly so many 1995 print run Gordon boxes that it was decided to add a sticker to existing stock than have to throw the rest of them out and print all-new ones (presumably  for other characters they had finished using the previous print run's boxes and just printed the new corrections with fresh boxes). Even more interestingly, later in 1997 there were new Gordon boxes printed with ST-7 safety codes, but the amended incompatibility list was not included and the back of those boxes contained only the original 1995 printed list and not the contents from the updated sticker nor the note about the list being accurate as of late 1996 like other character's 1997 boxes had.

The Gordon in my stickered box dates to March of 1997 and is suffering from a failed power switch.  Similar to Henry and James, the power switches used in these gearboxes are contracting around the attached contact and splitting apart.

Interestingly, circa 1998 there was an odd production run of Gordons with black and white wires as well as the old single-split couplings. I have seen at least three examples of this Gordon in auctions, but only own this one dating to September 1998. This Gordon would have come in an ST-7 1997 print box. There was an odd trend around the time Tomica World production began to pick up where some characters seemingly randomly were fitted with older single-split couplings, presumably to use up leftover stock.

Gordon (Capped axles) (1999)

The last new print run of boxes before the 2003 brand refresh was in 1999. This printing is almost identical to the 1997 print box and indeed the original 1995 print box but with larger Tomy phone number text. Gordons in these boxes use the then-new style of capped axles instead of the earlier hammered end.

Other than the capped axles, these Gordons are pretty much unchanged from the previous iterations, and were produced into the early 2000s. Circa 2002 or so the screw holding the coach together was replaced with one with a standard screw head and plastic ring

Gordon (Updated rerelease) (2003)

In 2003 the Thomas Plarail range was revamped and the main cast of characters received updated detailing. Running boards were painted in white, faces became separately molded, and the tender stickers were replaced with painted graphics. At this point, the Plarail and international releases split ways, with international releases gaining only the separately molded face. Gordon's car remained the green express coach.