fall inside a hole

EF15 Electric Locomotive (2001)

First written September 20, 2023

The EF15 was manufactured between 1947 and 1958. Over 200 were built and they remained in use until the mid 1980s on freight lines. The Plarail EF15 was first released in 1970 as simply Electric Locomotive in both a three-pack release and the Electric Locomotive Set. In the earlier days the EF15 came in bright colors like red and yellow but this more modern release comes in a realistic darker brown. This version of the EF15 is based on the molding from the 1980 Container Loading and Unloading set which featured an EF15 with a front headlight which was removed in subsequent rereleases but the remnants can still be seen in the body shell and chassis molding of this EF15. An old power EF-15 can be seen on the 1981 Electric Locomotive Level Crossing Set page.

In 2001 the EF15 was released as EF15 Electric Locomotive in the short-lived eighth generation packaging along with two of the container flatbeds with containers.

The EF15 is powered by the regular single-speed new power gearbox. I have two examples, the boxed 8th generation example primarily documented here was built in October 2001 while a second engine found separately was produced in December 2003 and would have come in 9th generation packaging as S-27 EF15 Electric Locomotive. It seems both earlier and later releases used the version of the new power gearbox with a clip covering the motor terminals which has been removed from my later example.

The EF15 chassis has been updated with the new squared-off Tomy logo. By 2003 the new power gearbox molding had been updated to include additional production codes. I thought that this locomotive would have used the longer coupler that the D51 and DD51 used, and installed a 3D printed replacement on my second unit which did not have any rear coupler when I bought it, but it actually uses the standard one. You can see where a little bit of the coupling ring does intersect with the body molding when to one side, but I don't think this would really effect running. I also had to replace one of the body clips on my later EF15 shell - the file for the 3D-printed clip I made can be found on the Plarail resources page (as well as the 3D printable long coupling).

I actually did end up fitting the loose newer EF15 I have with a functioning light. The details for how I decided to do it are chronicled here.

The original packaging includes styrofoam dividers between each of the cars and at either end. I am not sure if the EF15 originally came in a plastic bag but mine did not.

The two flatbeds are an identical brownish red and come with two pairs of basic but nice looking containers. These flatbeds originate in the late 1989s Play Wagons Set. These containers do not have the magnets installed underneath. The flatbed molding is the Thailand update of the original curvy Tomy logo original molding.

Being a rerelease of a 1970s mold the EF15 stands out somewhat next to other models released around the same time like the EH500 or EF210 which were all-new moldings, although the older molding does fit the older train (the EF15 had already been out of service for 15 years by 2001). This train also uses the less realistic yellow wheels instead of the grey wheels that many new engines were using around this time and does not have a realistic running number, just a new printing of the existing EF15 sticker.

The EF15 Electric Locomotive was rereleased in 2002 in 9th generation packaging as S-27 EF15 Electric Locomotive. S-27 was retired around 2006 and was the last time a Plarail EF15 was produced (as of early 2024).