fall inside a hole
Blue Train (1979)
First written November 3, 2023
The Blue Train (ブルートレイン) is a standard three-car Plarail release that includes an EF65 electric locomotive and two 24-series sleeper passenger cars. Just over 300 EF65 locomotives were built between 1965 and 1979, the same year the first Plarail Blue Train was released. 24 series cars began replacing older 14 and eventually 20 series cars. Both the EF65 and 24 series cars were used on the "blue train" sleeper trains that ran from 1958 until 2015 as the expansion of the Shinkansen, air travel, and business hotels reduced the need for sleeper trains in Japan. The Plarail blue train bears the head and tail marks of the "Fuji" line.
EL-05 Blue Train (1979) (1982 logo update)
The original 1979 Blue Train (ブルートレーン) was given the designation EL05 and included an old power EF65 with two 24 series passenger cars. It was released in a fifth generation "EC" (or EL for Electric Locomotive in this case) box. Original 1979 and early 80s boxes would have used the "boy and girl" Tomy logo but the fifth generation boxes were updated to have the new curvy Tomy logo starting around 1982. My printing is marked N-33 meaning it was printed in 1984.
The EF65 is a nice blue color with yellow cab surrounds. Stickers on the front and rear of the locomotive include the Fuji headmark and the EF65 designation is also on the side stickers. Coaches have a nice shiny lining and the sticker on the tail car also has the Fuji mark. The yellow on my engine seems somewhat faded, although it may just be that the later new-power EF58s had darker paint applications.
The EF65 chassis was, of course, new for this release and is marked 1979 on the bottom. Old power EF65s use the then-recent plastic rim drive gearbox. My only old power EF65 was purchased in a larger lot with several other early-mid 80s old power Plarail trains and has an older style of coach molding. The 1984 print Blue Train box I have was purchased with original coaches but an individual release EF-58 instead of the EF65 locomotive.
I have two sets of "old power" era 24 series coaches from the 1980s. The later set (bottom) produced sometime during or after 1984 has some updated molding features that are probably a result of the molding being adapted for the remote-control Blue Train in 1984. The construction of the cars is similar to other cars of the era with the classic axle holder arrangement and screw that sandwiches the body shell to the chassis. The molding of the coaches and roofs is such that, if desired, the roofs can be swapped between carriages.
The old power Blue Train remained on sale in fifth generation boxes until the move to new power in 1987.
Blue Train (1987)
With the move to new power starting in 1987 the Blue Train was reintroduced with a single speed new power gearbox in sixth generation packaging in 1987.
The appearance of the blue train is almost completely unchanged externally by the transition to new power. The use of stickers is still very nice, although the rounded stickers are fairly prone to wearing off around the corners from regular play.
The height of the new power gearbox's hunchback and clip mean a small cutout had to be made on the new power EF65's body shell. I have a number of new power EF65s, including one exported to the U.S. in a Tomica World set, but only two have matching 24 series blue train cars. One EF65 is of unknown production as it has no production sticker while the other two I have are marked as October 1992 and January 1995. The 1992 issue Blue Train would have been sold in a sixth generation box while the 1995 production train would have been sold in a seventh generation box.
All of my new power EF65s were produced after production shifted to Thailand. The older set of 90s blue train coaches I have are similar in construction to the older carriages, while the later set have an additional screw holding the roof of the intermediate car to the body shell. The roofs of the later set are more yellowed. They also use the modern rear coupling with additional strain relief. Around 1999 axleboxes were added to the tooling of the coaches and seemingly slightly later the engine itself.
The 24 series cars were occasionally used in sets, such as the D51 Sound Station Set. In the 1990s when the range expanded massively the Blue Train was recolored as the Twilight Express and the EF65 tooling was recolored into the Car Train Tomica crossover releases as well as the Cassiopeia
The original Blue Train was removed from the lineup with the end of the seventh generation of boxes and the push towards more realistic Plarail engines in the early 2000s. In 2003 a new Blue Train led by an EF66 was released as S-39 Blue Train.