fall inside a hole

Percy (1995)

First written November 21, 2023

Percy the Small 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. Percy was brought to the fictional Island of Sodor when the larger engines went on strike and worked as a station pilot and later goods engine at the Knapford Harbor.

As the Plarail Thomas 25th Anniversary Book reveals, Percy was actually the second character that Tomy tried to develop for the Plarail Thomas range, but they ran into some problems getting him to work properly and look how the Thomas merchandisers wanted. The blurb under the 1993 Henry Train Set reads, approximately: "Development Secret Story. Development was progressing with the aim of commercializing a locomotive with a different color than Thomas. It was difficult to develop Percy, who was smaller than Thomas, and Henry, a larger vehicle, was commercialized."

Similar to other 90s Plarail Thomas trains, a late stage prototype with a slightly different face sculpt appears on some boxes and other material. This prototype actually has the front axles only otherwise seen on the original made in Japan Thomases. On the final Percy, the left side of the front axle has the permanently attached flat head and the right side has the thinner retaining cap installed around the end of the axle. Indeed, most of Percy's chassis is very similarly molded to Thomases except for the front portion where Thomas's dips down and Percy's instead remains flat with his outside cylinders molded below. My suspicion is that Tomy would have wanted to use a C battery inside Percy to better adhere to their ideal weight distribution standard but after being in development since at the latest early 1992 they decided to adapt the Thomas chassis and use a AA battery. The prototype Percy's fuel car uses the older all-rounded tanker molding that was updated with a flat platform for the left sticker by 1994, before Percy went on sale. All final Percys use the 1994 tanker molding.

Plarail Percy (initial release) (1995)

 

Plarail Percy (プラレールパーシー) was released on April 14, 1995 and was the fourth engine in the Thomas series of Plarail sets, trains, and accessories. The three-pack release includes Percy with a yellow fuel tanker recolor of the 1970 Shell tanker and a brown Sodor Mail recolor of the 1979 mail car with black doors (and no packages or mail inside). 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.

The 1970s tanker molding is roughly similar to the tankers seen on the Thomas T.V. show, although the later 90s Thomas-specific molding is obviously closer. The stickers are a bit of an odd choice. Mail cars in the early television series are longer vans with two sets of doors, but the Sodor Mail van is not a bad alternative.

1995 print run boxes were used for 1995 and 1996 produced Percys. Never produced in Japan, Percy's chassis has 1995 licensing information and a 1995 made in Thailand mark. The truck chassis are the same as their regular counterparts were at the time, being marked both Thailand and made in Thailand. Like other 90s engines, Percy's face is molded into the smokebox and painted over in grey. I have early Percys dating from April, November, and December 1995 as well as February 1996 that would have been sold in 1995 print run boxes.

Mail cars at this time correctly said "SODOR MAIL." In late 1997 or early 1998 the incorrect "MAIL SODOR" began appearing on the right side of the van.

 

I have two 1995 print run boxes. The first one shown at the top of the page contains an earlier November 1995 Percy while this one (above) has a February 1996 Percy inside. After the lists of incompatible accessories were updated in late 1996 Percy got a new box printing in 1997 with some updated information (below).

Plarail Percy (updated compatibility list) (1997)

My 1997 print run box is shabby and somewhat odd. The entire back panel has a yellow tinge to it that may or may not be original to the printing. The text is oddly thin throughout the safety and battery installation sections. The box has an ST 7 sticker placed over the original ST mark which appears to actually read ST 9. I have occasionally seen boxes that were printed earlier being "forward-dated" if the contents change between the boxes original printing and actually used, but this backward-dating appears to have been a mistake when originally printing the boxes that had to be corrected with a sticker instead. This box does not match the actual 1999 print boxes shown below and also contains a 1998 dated Percy. I believe I have seen an ST 7 print version of this box with more "normal" features.

By this point, Tomy had moved their Plarail production fully to Thailand and, having always been produced there, Percy saw few changes throughout the 1990s. I have Percys from this era dating to February and September 1998. The mail car, for some reason, started to have the stickers on the right side applied in the incorrect order, reading "MAIL SODOR" instead of "SODOR MAIL." This change was never corrected and remained wrong until the end of export production of the mail van in the mid 2000s.

When Percys of this era were exported in 1997 they did not include the mail van or tanker and by the time they were released for Tomica World in 1998 the error had already been made.

1373 Percy Accessory Set (Thomas Battery Operated Rail System) (1997)

The first overseas exporting of Thomas-series Plarail began with the Battery Operated Rail System replacements for the Tomy Train Thomas series in the United States. These accessory packs are fairly uncommon and were the only way to buy characters other than Thomas until the expanded Tomica World range in 1998. The box shows how to expand the Standard set.

The Percy Accessory Set includes Percy and an empty log wagon as well as one of each style of Single/Double Point Rail. The Percy was produced in June 1997.

Plarail Percy (updated box) (1999)

In 1999 the box was updated to contain the URL of the Tomy website in the bottom right hand corner of the rear side.

This printing is almost identical to the 1997 print box but with the Tomy website address added in the bottom right corner of the rear of the box. Interestingly, other older engines with new 1999 boxes had the Tomy phone number enlarged but did not gain the URL text. The Tomy website was first put on new-for-1998 boxes where it had a different URL. Also shown is the hang tag.

These Percys are mostly unchanged from the previous incarnation. In 2000 the area where the gearbox is inserted into the front battery contact was covered with a paper sticker and in 2001 a plastic plate was glued in over the interface. Later, the molding would be changed to accommodate a screw holding the plastic cover in place. All of these styles of covers can become lost, especially if the engine has had its gearbox removed for repair.

Similar to other 1999 rereleases, the axles on the trucks were changed over to the "capped" style instead of the earlier hammered style. Circa 2002 or so the screw retaining the tanker's rear coupling was replaced with one with a standard screw head and plastic ring

Percy (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 and the tender stickers were replaced with painted graphics. The fuel tanker and mail car were replaced with the updated fuel tanker and troublesome truck. At this point, the Plarail and international releases split ways, with international releases remaining nearly unchanged. Percy did not immediately receive a separately molded face like the other characters with faces molded into their smokebox, receiving the update around 2006 or 2007 instead.