fall inside a hole

EL06 Family Ryoko Salon Car (1984)

First written May 3, 2024

In 1984 Plarail was in the midst of what Japanese Plarail collectors term the "winter era," a period of low production numbers and relatively few new products. Tomy spent time and money developing complicated radio control and melody trains from 1983 through to 1985 that were expensive and did not sell well, with few new trains in 1986 as Tomy prepared production of new power trains for 1987. One of the few new train toolings from this era were a set of two large observation cars representing the cars on the 1983 Salon Express Tokyo made up of remodeled 14 series passenger cars in a European style that established the category of "Joyful Trains" in Japan. The locomotive chosen to haul the train in Plarail form was the EF64, and the EL06 Family Ryoko Salon Car (ファミリーりょこう サロンカー) was released in fifth generation packaging in early 1984.

The Plarail Family Ryoko Salon Car includes two beautiful slanted coaches with open windows and translucent, removable roofs. The locomotive in the pack is an EF64 with the running number 24, which was uncommon for any Plarail train to have at the time - most were platonic ideas of their prototypes and only wore their classification number until the early 2000s when Tomy started to move to more realistic toys and gave many engines realistic running numbers.

The EF64 tooling is the same as period old power EF65s from the Blue Train but does not have any stickers other than the EF6424 stickers on the front and rear. The rear of the tail car has a サロンエクスプレス 東京 or Salon Express Tokyo tail mark sticker.

Ryoko relates to a "good child," and part of the gimmick of the set was the inclusion of Family Dolls and places for them to sit in the cars. The name can also be translated as Family Travel Salon Car - the idea being a family taking a scenic train trip with nice views and service on the train. The roofs of the cars come off and reveal nicely detailed interiors with pegs for Family Dolls to sit on. Three family dolls were included with the original release, and I have seen it shown with a few different configurations - in particular one boxed example with the regular "father" figure with green body, "mother" torso with the open-eyed lashed face and a 1987 example with the regular mother, daughter, and son. The train was also included in the Family Travel Salon Car Set in 1984, which I have seen with a blue-torso'ed father, regular mother, and green torso'ed son but in another case a regular set of four. This was the first time Plarail coaches had detailed interiors like this and similar features would not really be seen again until the 2000s when some coaches were designed to seat PlaKids and were given interiors. This is one of a few trains with Family Doll compatibility alongside the older Mickey Poppos.

This is a fairly popular and sought-after older Plarail, so I was very surprised when I was able to find one for a reasonable price. I saw it in the auctions and other than the fact that it was missing the figures and it appeared there was a crack in one of the roof pieces it seemed otherwise reasonable and was a good price. I expected it to be bid up but it ended with no bids and got relisted. I bid on it this time and won it for the beginning price, which was only something like 30 dollars. Indeed, there is a crack on one of the roof sections, but I am surprised they were there at all - they are just a fairly-loose friction fit and are certainly known for being lost.

The Family Travel Salon Car went out of production towards the end of 1987 with the introduction of new power trains. Unlike many other trains that were converted to new power, the Salon Car was not rereleased and the EF64 variant of the EF65 tooling was never used on the new power version. To date (2025) Plarail has not made another EF64. The Salon Cars also went out of print until they were reissued in 1999 with a matching brown EF58 in the Plarail 40th Anniversary Edition train pack. These versions have opaque, screwed-down roofs and different side detailing. The tooling was later used for the white Euro Car Train, another train based on European-style excursion coaches.