fall inside a hole

Plarail 60th Anniversary Plastic Steam Train (2019)

First written April 10, 2024

In 2019 in celebration of Plarail's 60th anniversary a reissue of the 1959 Plastic Train was released with a powered box car that allows the train to easily be rolled by hand. The Japanese text プラレール60周年記念 復刻版 プラスチック汽車 on the box translates to Plarail 60th Anniversary Reprint Edition Plastic Train but the English text on the box reads Plarail 60th Anniversary Plastic Steam train. The box has a wood grain effect on the front but is honestly sort of plain, it seems like they could have done more with the yellow stripe on the left. The cardboard seems a little thinner than older boxes, but I think it is pretty normal for the time.

The back of the box shows a timeline of some different Plarail products.

The pack includes a reissue of the original five-car Plastic Train with locomotive, black box car, blue well wagon and tanker, and log car with logs. Each part of the train comes wrapped in its own plastic bag. I purchased this lightly used example for very cheap in 2021. The Plastic Train was previously reissued as part of the 40th Anniversary Plarail Limited Edition pack.

This reissue Plastic Steam Train is an unpowered push train like the original, with a hollow cab and bulkier rear coupling for the powered box car. Some of the box panels compare this modern reissue with an early metal-coupling type Plastic Train. One cool feature of this reissue is the front coupling like the original Plastic Trains had, something that the 1999 reissue did not feature.

The black box car uses the flat-type drive unit and a single AA battery. Like other Plarail at the time, it was made in Vietnam.

Because the power car is a separate car, you can play with this plastic train like the original hand-powered one (or you could just turn off the box car ore remove the battery). The well wagon and tanker cars are simplistic but obviously representative of the late 1950s and 1960s freight cars.

This version of the Plastic Train offers a nice alternative to the powered 1999 version. The rolling stock is similar, but should be as they both represent the same older rolling stock.

The log cars are the most different, with the newer one (right) having thicker round pegs that are now part of the chassis mold and painted instead of separately fitted like the 1999 (and 1959) versions. The stoppers on the end of the log car to prevent the logs from falling are now taller. The chassis are a new closed-off design now made in Vietnam.

Inside is also a modern replacement parts form and an online survey card.

There is also a 1000 pieces limited edition version of this pack given out as part of a gift campaign. The box for this set has not for sale text and a white silhouette of the train on the front, and the box car has a gold stamp of the Plarail 60th Anniversary logo on each side.