fall inside a hole

Car Train (1999)

First written April 9, 2024

Car Trains are train services wherein trains haul passengers as well as their cars to a destination with the idea being that passengers would then have their cars when reaching their destination. In 1999 Tomy released their first Car Train (カートレイン) with an EF81 hauling a passenger car and a Waki 10000 series box car that can haul a Tomica vehicle, originally included. This was the most expensive standard three-pack release atthe time, with the 1999-2000 Catalogue listing it as the only 2000 yen three-pack, with the next most expensive two-speed or lit trains costing 1600 yen. In 2000 the EF81 was changed to a pink type and the Tomica car changed as well.

The Car Train was first released in 1999 in the seventh generation box shown here. By the end of its production run in later 1999 the locomotive and car chassis toolings were updated with axleboxes. The rear of the box says of car trains, approximately: "In addition to the passenger car, a freight car is connected so that the customer can travel with his or her own car. The EF81-300 electric locomotive is a real locomotive that works in the Kanmon Tunnel. The real one is not just for car trains."

The EF81 depicts a 300 type, some of which were left with their stainless steel bodies bare. I do quite like the look, it isn't fully reflective but it is certainly shiny. Tomy produced a few different EF81 liveries, all based on the same tooling as the EF65.

The locomotive in my example was produced in May 1999. It uses the same tooling as other late 1990s EF65 derivatives, with remnants of its old power origins left in the mold.

 The passenger car depicts a 20 series sleeper car while the box car represents a Waki 10000 type box car, both used on the car train Kyushu.

Most of the top structure of the boxcar can be unclipped and slid off to allow a Tomica or other small car to fit inside. The Car Train originally included a red Tomica car, but my used copy is missing it. This car carrier was used many times in subsequent years both with and without its top piece.

The front of the car has a spot for a head mark, but none is installed. The rear of the box car does have a Car Train tail mark similar to that used on real car trains.

In 2000 the updated Car Train 2000 was released with a pink EF81 hauling similar passenger and flatbed cars. In 2001 the Euro Car Train representing one of the Euroliner DD51s which ran the Car Train Euro Nagoya was released in eighth generation packaging.