In February 1999 the cool themed Plarail Donald and Plarail Douglas Snowplow Train Set (プラレールドナルド & プラレールダグラス 雪かき列車セット) was released for the Thomas Plarail series of toys. The set features two powered trains, the Scottish twins Donald and Douglas, a double-ended works coach, and a snowy station and tunnels. This is the only Japanese Plarail release of Douglas. This was the first Thomas Plarail set box to use a still from the television series instead of artwork from Owen Bell.
The metal-stylized disc says that this is a limited release set. The fact that the set comes with two trains is very cool, but it seems the set was not produced for very long and was also not very popular, leading to a funny situation where it is usually easier to find the set unused in the box than it is to find one loose. It is also notoriously expensive.
Set contentsQuantity |
Item |
Photo |
---|---|---|
5 pieces |
Donald and Douglas with works unit van | |
2 | Snowplows | |
2 | R-01 Straight Rail | |
2 | R-02 Half Straight Rail | |
16 | R-03 Curve Rail | |
2 | R-08 Stop Rail |
|
2 pieces | Ffarquhar Station (Snowy set variant) | |
2 (4 pieces each) | Tunnel (Snowy set variant) |
Not only does this set comes with two engines - neither of them are Thomas! Donald was released in a regular release with two troublesome trucks the year prior but this was the first and only Japanese-market Plarail release of Douglas. Douglas has a different face tooling but otherwise is identical to Donald other than the stickers. The double-ended works unit coach is very neat and nicely matches the coach seen in the episode of the television show where Donald and Douglas are plowing snow together.
Donald and Douglas both use the old logo chassis and were produced in January ahead of the set's February release. The works coach has two hooked connectors and two small weights to help the coach stay down on the track when one engine is pulling the other backwards.
Two clip-in snowplows are also included, which are very neat accessories that were never used again. The faces and slowplows set up to resemble the still photo from the show shown on the front of the box.
This set includes an exclusive snowy variant of Ffarquhar Station. The roof is produced in white plastic, the station is given a dusting of white paint, and the base has footprints in the "snow".
The two tunnels in this set are a set-exclusive variant - this tooling of tunnel was used in the Talking Thomas Holiday Set with a snowy paint application applied, but this was a noticeably heavier application.
This set originally included a survey card and parts form.
This set has a modified dog-bone style layout that dips inwards. The station and two tunnels as well as the two trains offer pretty much everything you need to make a small snowy area on a larger setup or start a winter area.
It would have been cool if the set had had white rails, but it is not a big deal - two powered trains, one exclusive, plus the cool station and work van... it is not at all worth what it costs now, but it is a pretty cool set.
Set name | Plarail Donald & Plarail Douglas
Snowplow Train Set プラレールドナルド & プラレールダグラス 雪かき列車セット |
Release period | 1999, Japan |
Train rating | Track rating | ||
Accessory rating | Overall | ||
Notes: |