fall inside a hole

Plarail Revival! Electric Plastic Train Trio (1999)

First written August 26, 2024




In April 1999 as part of the celebration of Plarail's 40th anniversary a trio of Electric Train reissues was released as the Revival! Electric Plastic Train Trio (復活!電動プラ電車トリオ). This pack includes three 103 series commuter trains which serviced the Tokyo commuter area. The official names of the three included trains are the 103 Series (bush warbler) 103系(ウグイス), 103 Series (sky blue) 103系(スカイブルー), and 103 Series (orange vermillion) 103系(オレンジバーミリオン).

The box says of the 103 series commuter trains: The 103 series was introduced to the Yamanote Line in 1963 (Showa 38) in a greenish-brown color as the second generation of new-performance commuter trains, succeeding the 101 series, which was produced to replace the old brown-painted electric trains. It has high acceleration and deceleration performance for use on the Yamanote Line, where the distance between stations is short, but is more economical than the 101 series. The 103 series basically adopts the same unit control method as the 101 series, and the first group produced has a low driver's cab height. The 103 series that initially appeared on the Yamanote Line were painted in the line colors of each line section, such as sky blue on the Keihin-Tohoku Line, orange on the Chuo Line, canary yellow on the Sobu and Chuo Local Lines, and emerald green on the Joban Line, and expanded their field of activity not only in the Tokyo area but also in the Osaka area. Later, a group produced for use on the subway also appeared, and at its peak the total number of cars exceeded 3,500, and it still occupies the top position in terms of number of electric cars. In 1999 2,231 103 series train cars were still in service.

The pack includes the three three-piece trains. They all use the same new-power tooling descended from the older new power Electric Trains, themselves related to the older old power Electric Trains.

Each train has a power car with picked out headlights and markings, and the two identical cars have picked out rear ends. There are no line or route stickers, but this is still the most decoration these toolings were usually produced with, and it looks nice. All three trains in my pack were produced in March 1999. The box says of the 103 series on the Yamanote Line: The Yamanote Line, where the 103 series first ran, was painted in the color of a Japanese warbler, and later changed to a new color. Later, ATC equipment was added to the 103 series, and the front transport window of the 103 series became smaller, and the Yamanote Line was completely serviced by the new 103 series.

The blue version of this train was the most recent to be in regular production, surviving both the transition to new power in the late 1980s and the move to Thailand production in the early 1990s before going out of print around 1993. These late Train (Blue) releases had single-color grey roofs, with yellow and green trains also being produced into the late 1980s new power era. The blue line is the Keihin Tohoku Line, of which the box says: The 103 series used on the Keihin-Tohoku Line was painted sky blue and was in good condition. It currently runs on the Keiyo Line. It is also used on the Hanwa Line in the Osaka area.

The original Plastic Train (Red) had been retired and replaced by trains like the Door Opening and Closing Commuter Train in Chuo line orange by the 1980s but this was the first time that the 103 series Electric Train tooling properly represented the orange color used on the service. The red train was later reissued in the Plarail 45th Anniversary Set with an all-green Yamanote style train. The box says of the 103 series in vermillion orange: The 103 series that appeared on the Chuo Line was painted orange and was in service until it was replaced by the 201 series. Currently, it runs on the Musashino Line in the Tokyo area. The orange 103 series also runs on the Osaka Loop Line.

This pack is certainly one for collectors, with three of the same tooling of an old train, but I do like it that it reissues classic toolings with slightly updated details and, in the case of the Chuo line, in the correct color for the service for the first time. 1999 and the 40th anniversary was the anniversary that seems to have had the most special products released for it, with the Tinplate Plarail and 40th Anniversary Plarail Limited Edition packs (as well as the larger Plarail club version), Let's Play With Parents and Children!! Shinkansen Set, and several other commemorative Plarail items releasing that year, including two more color variations of 103 series to reproduce the range of Tokyo commuter 103 series trains.

All three trains use the period old-logo Thailand-production rectangular commuter train type chassis with single-speed new power gearboxes. As noted above, a couple thousand of these cars were still trundling through Tokyo and some of the surrounding routes every day when this pack was released... As of 2023, 55 103 series cars were still in service.