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Thomas the Tank Engine and Harold Flying in the Sky Set
First written June 29, 2024
On October 31st, 1998 the Thomas the Tank Engine and Harold Flying in the Sky Set (きかんしゃトーマスと 空飛ぶ ハロルドセット) was released for the Thomas Plarail series of toys. This set introduced the six-wheel Plarail Thomas, the "chuffing" Annie, the Harold flying station, and a new Thomas-version of the Plarail pedestrian crossing.
Some of the concepts and contents of this set such as the chuffing Annie and flying Harold station were used in the export Thomas Adventure Set.
Set contents| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 5 pieces | Thomas the Tank Engine (six-wheel variant) with "Chuffing" Annie and Clarabel |
 |
| 2 | R-01 Straight Rail |
 |
| 2 | R-02 Half Straight Rail |
 |
| 16 | R-03 Curve Rail |
 |
| 1 pair | R-12 Figure Eight Point Rail |
 |
| 5 pieces | Harold station |
 |
| 3 pieces | Pedestrian Overpass (Tidmouth Hault variant) |
 |
| 1 | Signal | |
| 2 | Tree |
 |
This set is the first release of the six-wheel Plarail Thomas. This is also the first and only Plarail set to come with the "chuffing" Annie based on the Plarail chuffing mail car from the Shuppo D-51.
A second Thomas-series variant of the Plarail J-12 Pedestrian Overpass was introduced with this set, which resembles a pedestrian bridge seen in the television series. Brand new for this set is the station with Harold flying mechanism.
This station is made up of five parts - the main station base, a green fence and light, and Harold and a metal rod to let him orbit around the station. The station takes a C battery and has two modes - mode "1" makes Harold spin around when the track stopper is set to off and a train is triggering the blue lever hanging out the front while mode "2" makes Harold spin continuously until switched off
The track layout is more interesting than some other sets but it does end up being mostly curves... the new accessories are nice and it was actually uncommon for Thomas series sets to include signals and trees so it is nice to see some of them here. The Harold station and pedestrian crossing are both nice, with Harold having a cool gimmick, and both were used in later export sets.
| Set name | Thomas the Tank Engine and Harold
Flying in the Sky Set きかんしゃトーマスと 空飛ぶ ハロルドセット |
Release period | 1998-1999, Japan |
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