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Thomas and Elizabeth Railroad Crossing Station Set (2003)
First written June 29, 2024
The Thomas and Elizabeth Railroad Crossing Station Set (トーマス＆エリザベスフミキリ駅セット) was released for the Thomas Plarail series of toys on September 25th, 2003. This set includes the new-for-2003 updated Thomas with Annie and Clarabel as well as the first release of the motorized Elizabeth.
Set contents
| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 3 pieces |
Thomas the Tank Engine with Annie and Clarabel |
 |
| 1 | Elizabeth |
 |
| 2 | R-01 Straight Rail |
 |
| 1 | R-02 Half Straight Rail | |
| 2 | R-03 Curve Rail |
 |
| 6 pieces | R-18 Slope Curve Rail (three each "A" and "B") |
|
| 3 | Straight Road |
 |
| 3 | 1/2 Straight Road |
 |
| 2 | Curve Road |
 |
| 2 | Sloped Road |
 |
| 1 | Elevated Curve |
 |
| 1 | Grooved 1/2 Straight Road |
 |
| 1 | Grooved Curve Road |
 |
| 14 | J-15 Mini Bridge Pier (grey) |
 |
| 5 pieces | Wellsworth Station Crossing (set variant of the J-25 Thomas the Tank Engine Railroad Crossing Station) |
 |
| 4 pieces | Arched Bridge |
 |
| 1 | Bridge Support (grey) |
 |
| 8 | Tree |
 |
The Thomas in this set is a standard early 2000s Plarail issue Thomas with Annie and Clarabel. This set was the first release of a Motor Tomica/Plaroad Elizabeth, with a regular Plaroad release coming in 2005.
At this point in later 2003 the Japanese Motor Tomica range had finished regular production, with the new Plaroad version of the system coming out with new toolings and shades of road in 2004. Some pieces of road in this set come from the same tooling as the Thomas and Terence Loading and Unloading Set, meaning one of the curves and half straights are grooved when they are not really necessary. The use of the little slope and elevated curve is neat and brings a dimension to the road system that otherwise requires the double-length full-size sloping road pieces.
The station crossing was first released as Elsbridge Station as the J-25 Thomas the Tank Engine Railroad Crossing Station. This version has different stickers applied and some additional detail like the white line at the platform's edge.
The arched trus bridge used in this and other sets was originally developed for Super Rail. This was the first use of this bridge in green for the Thomas series. Supporting the rail and bridge are some nice grey variants of the bridge supports and mini piers. In the 1990s Thomas sets often did not include the small signals and trees of regular Plarail sets but this set comes with an astounding eight brown-stemmed trees.
Even though the rail and road layouts are really just basic loops, the different elevated road sections as well as the rail bridge and elevated rail keep the set from being too basic, with a cool set variant of the station crossing which was no longer on sale in Japan as well as a small forest's worth of trees to fill the layout out with.
| Set name | Thomas and Elizabeth Railroad
Crossing Station Set トーマス＆エリザベスフミキリ駅セット |
Release period | 2003-2004, Japan |
| Train rating |
 
| Track rating |
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| Accessory rating |
| Overall |
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| Notes: | Price | 6980 yen (2003) |