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Henry Train Set (1993)

First written November 6, 2023

The Henry Train Set (きかんしゃ プラレール ヘンリー セット, literally "Locomotive Henry Plarail Set") was released on February 25, 1993 and was the third set in the Thomas series of Plarail sets, trains, and accessories. It features Henry with the log car and van he was also released with individually, the classic Basic No.2 Set layout, block tunnel, and Wellsworth station.

Although most of the components are easy to find and virtually none are exclusive, even in molding variation, boxed copies of this set are hard to come by. I have seen it for sale in the box only a handful of times over the years. The box features the same Owen Bell artwork on the box as both 1992 Thomas sets. There was one print run of boxes for this set in late 1992 and the set was only produced during 1993, being discontinued by the end of the year. This set only appears in the 1993 catalogue.

Set contents

Quantity	Item	Photo
6 pieces	Henry with log wagon and van
1	R-01 Straight Rail
10	R-03 Curve Rail
1	R-08 Stop Rail
2 pieces	R-11 Turnout Rail (one pair)
1	J-02 Block Tunnel (entrance and exit pieces only)
1	Wellsworth Station (made in Japan version with token and exchange hook)
2	Standing Tree
1	Signal

After running into problems when trying to develop the Plarail Percy, the original intended second character in the Plarail Thomas range, development instead shifted to Henry, who was both a different size and color to Thomas. Like other early made in Japan Thomas-series engines Henry has brass battery contacts and a non-flexible tender drawbar.

The Henry in my copy of this set was produced in March of 1993 shortly after the set went on sale in February. The production stamp used is large and stamped directly to the plastic, not onto a sticker like most other Plarail trains.

While Henry was a new tooling for 1993, his log car and salt van were both existing pieces of Plarail rolling stock in a new grey color with matching grey wheels instead of the black with red wheels. The moldings for these cars had already moved to Thailand by 1993 and had the "MADE IN" text added above Thailand. Rear couplings at this time still had only the single split in them.

The Wellsworth Station included in the set is a recolor of the classic Plarail Country Station. The molding is the same as the Japanese country station molding at the time. The water closet on the original appears to now be a shed of some kind and a thin tree is melted into the base.

The station includes the tablet exchange hook and tablet of the period country station and is marked with the Tomy boy and girl logo and "MADE IN JAPAN."

The rails in my copy of the set were clearly mixed between other sets in the previous owner's collection and thus I am not sure of the exact moldings used. It may have used the then-still-fresh 1992 Japan moldings for the basic selection of rails included in the set.

The block tunnel and smaller accessories like the signals and trees are marked Thailand.

 The layout is the classic oval with passing loop used in many other sets. The Country Station does not look very similar to Wellsworth station in the Thomas the Tank Engine books or television series, although it does fit the aesthetic of both Plarail and Thomas at the time. Like the other made in Japan Thomas sets which feature Wellsworth, the country station includes a tablet pole and tablet that were used on some railroads to give a train exclusive right of way on a section of track. This set would have originally had a paper manual, but my copy does not have it.

Although this set is somewhat plain and simple, I do think that the idea of a smaller set that includes the a newly introduced character would have been a cool way to keep releasing new sets throughout the 1990s. Unfortunately, almost every Plarail Thomas set for the rest of the decade would include only Thomas. It would have been cool to see even another basic set with James, a smaller oval set with Percy, or a larger set like the 1992 Thomas the Tank Engine Set with Gordon.