fall inside a hole

1973 "Stubby" Freight Cars

First written November 15, 2023

In 1973 several new freight car molds using the same short chassis were released with the DD51 and some sets, as well as individually as a four-car set and beginning in 1976 individually in hanging bag packaging. These freight cars are a small log wagon with three logs, a "stubby" Esso tanker, a short box car, and a type 6000 JNR guard's van. These wagons were shorter than other Plarail wagons up to this point and were presumably cheaper than some of the larger freight cars from the early 1970s. They all have nicely molded details and fit the "chibi" style that Plarail had in the 1970s and 1980s.

Circa 1999, similar to some other older Plarail rolling stock, the shared chassis was updated to have axle boxes. Around 2002 the axles on these trucks moved from the older hammered axle style to the newer capped style, being some of the later rolling stock to do so. All of these freight cars were available for decades and are fairly common. The log wagon, box van, and guard's van were all used for the Thomas series and were later produced by both HiT Toys and Mattel for the TrackMaster range.

Log Wagon

The log car includes three logs in many (but not all) releases. I seem to see this car less often than some of the others, and usually it is missing its logs. As I have fewer of them, the revisions of chassis marks will be discussed further with cars that I have more varied examples of, as all the chassis are shared between these cars. Beginning in 1993 this car was included in the Fun Freight Wagons B three-pack.

This log car was produced in grey for the original Plarail Henry.

Tank car

The tank car is a short "stubby" yellow fuel tanker with an Esso sticker attached to the side. Earlier versions had all rounded sides while rather late releases had a raised flat platform for the sticker to be affixed to. This tanker was not released individually alongside the others in 1976 in favor of the larger 1970 tanker but appeared individually by 1990. In 1993 the tanker became available in the Fun Freight Wagons A set.

Trucks produced before the early 1990s were all produced in Japan. Very early examples from before the individual release in the later 70s used the previous more fragile coupling design. After moving to Thailand, the molding was changed to say Thailand. At some point it seems that Tomy found it necessary to update many old moldings to include the "made in" instead of just Thailand. One transitional tanker I have has a MADE IN THAILAND sticker applied under the Thailand molding, while a later revision around 1993 added the text into the plastic. I am not sure if this tanker was produced using the slightly more updated chassis seen below.

This molding was exported in blue in a set in the Palitoy Discovery Time series.

Box Van

The box car is a short brown van with molded doors and side details.

The box van was produced in a few different colors towards the end of its life in the 2001 Railway Yard Set with the 1999 updated axle box chassis as well as in grey with the original and later many export Plarail Henrys for more than a decade. Around 2002 the van and other stubby rolling stock moved from hammered axles to capped ones, being some of the last older rolling stock to transition, probably because of their small size.

Guard's Van

The Plarail guard's van is based on a JNR type 6000 brakevan. It is a pretty nice Plarail representation of the brakevan, with ladders that hang down over the chassis.

Like the box van, this molding was used in the early 2000s Yard set and used the 1999 updated chassis with axle boxes and additional ring around the screw that continued to be used on the Thomas version of the van until the end of export production. Beginning in 1993, the brake van became available in the three-car Fun Freight Wagons A set.

The Thomas version of the van is also molded in black but with grey wheels instead of red. It came with Plarail James and its later exports. A green brakevan was included in the early 2000s yard set.

These cars continued to be used in sets and sold individually into the 1990s, but were generally phased out with the push towards more accurate trains in the early 2000s. Although they were phased out of the Thomas Plarail range in 2003, they continued to be produced for overseas export Thomas Motor Road and Rail and were eventually adapted by HiT Toys and in turn later Mattel, with the break van, log wagon, and box van being recolored and rereleased many times under their TrackMaster range.