fall inside a hole

Plarail Oliver (1998)

First written June 17, 2024

Oliver is a green Great Western Railway tank engine that was saved from scrap and brought to the Island of Sodor in the Thomas the Tank Engine television show and the Railway Series books it is based on. The Plarail Oliver was first released in late 1998.

Plarail Oliver (1998)

Plarail Oliver (プラレールオリバー) was released on October 14, 1998 and was the third new engine for 1998 in the Thomas series of Plarail sets, trains, and accessories. The three-pack release includes Oliver with two red branchline coaches.

Oliver's toy is somewhat constrained by having to work with the Plarail system and fit the flat-type gearbox first used on Donald inside. This is definitely the best gearbox Tomy had available at the time but somewhat infamously this is not the nicest-looking toy representation of Oliver. Oliver in the show and books has what is referred to as a 0-4-2 wheel arrangement, meaning there are 0 wheels leading in the front, four large driving wheels (two on either side), and then a pair of trailing wheels. To work with the Plarail standard, what would normally be small rear wheels must be Oliver's real driving wheels while his unpowered front wheels have the pin of the coupling rods which loop around pegs sticking out of the fake center wheelset. The battery compartment and gearbox inside his boiler also makes it larger than it really should be.

The red branch line coaches use the same chassis as Annie and Clarabel but have slightly different roof details. Early examples use the wide-headed screw chassis with curvy Tomy logo.

As noted over the years, Oliver is featured alongside the brake van Toad and memorably was responsible for breaking the rotting truck S.C.Ruffy, both of which were included with Plarail Duck in 1997. Duck later runs a branch line which uses red coaches like those included with Oliver - It seems likely that Tomy wanted to produce Duck, Oliver, the branch line coaches, and S.C.Ruffy and Toad at some point, and Toad's tooling ended up being ready alongside Duck's while Oliver's odd wheel arrangement and cramped size meant he was not yet ready and, perhaps because it brought more variety to the range, Tomy decided to introduce Duck with S.C.Ruffy and Toad instead of waiting to use Toad's tooling until Oliver's release or putting red passenger cars into the range before other rolling stock. The passenger cars are also a fresh tool, although they are obviously similar to Annie and Clarabel, so it is possible they were not ready in 1997 as well.

7450 Oliver (Tomica World) (1999)

In 1999 Olivers were exported in yellow Thomas Tomica World packaging for the European market. Olivers were never exported for American sale, making them relatively uncommon in the United States compared to other Tomy trains with widespread American releases.

Plarail Oliver (New URL box) (2000)

New print runs of boxes from 1999 onwards included the new Tomy website URL. The two boxed 1990s Olivers I have owned have both been the 1998 box printing, but other new-for-1998 characters received new boxes around 2000 with this updated URL. During this period, the carriage chassis changed from using the wide-headed screws to the plastic rim insert.

7450 Oliver (second Tomica World box) (2000)

In 2000 European export Olivers began being sold in the new red and blue Tomica World Thomas packaging.

T-10 Plarail Oliver (Updated rerelease) (2003)

In 2003 the Thomas Plarail range was revamped and earlier characters were given updated detailing. Oliver, however, remained largely unchanged externally. These releases were packed in new T series boxes.

7450 Oliver (Thomas Motor Road & Rail) (2003)

In 2003 European Export Olivers were rereleased in new blue Thomas Motor Road & Rail packaging.