fall inside a hole

Plarail Expo EF65 General Type (2001)

First written May 14, 2025

Starting in 2001 Tomy began selling event limited Plarail trains at Plarail Expo events in Japan. One of the first, available at events starting in 2001, was the EF65 General Type (EF65一般型) sold as an individual locomotive in a neat-looking blue box. The rear of the box says of the EF-65: A freight train on the Tokaido and Sanyo main lines in 1965. It was introduced with the purpose of making cars faster.

The EF-65 tooling was already long-standing in the Plarail range by this time, with the Blue Train still in production until 2003. This release depicts the EF-65 in Japanese National Railways blue.

Unlike other EF65s and trains that use the tooling, there are no sticker details, only painted ones. This example was produced in June 2001 - ahead of Plarail Expo in Nagoya in 2001. This locomotive follows Tomy's trend of releasing more accurate trains in the later 1990s and early 2000s ahead of the 2002-2003 "S" series range refresh.

Here is the box with the hag-tag showing. It is packaged like other individual locomotives with a long, thin piece of foam under the locomotive. A neat expo release for maniacs who want specific "general" freight locomotives...