fall inside a hole

D51 Express Train (1971)

First written August 31, 2023

The D51 is both a classic Japanese steam engine and a classic Plarail model. Over 1000 D51 were built between their development in 1935 to the end of their production in the mid 1940s, with a handful of D51s built for export in the very early 1950s. The Plarail D51 was originally introduced in 1970 and was one of the first Plarail trains based on a real class of locomotive. The D51 Express Train was first introduced in 1971 in the second era of liftoff boxes. A boxed example of the original release can be found in the Plarail Museum.

The D51 was first released with two freight cars in 1970 and in 1971 the molding for the 1960's Electric Super Express Hikari intermediate car was reused to represent two 10-series passenger cars. Coaches produced between 1971 and 1973 still have the pantographs from the 0 series Shinkansen on the roofs.

The D51 shown here is an early 70s example of the D51 with the original black-sided design of the clicking "chuffing" gearbox with the black drive spools that hold up better than the later drive tires. The wheels use thinner black traction tires that also hold up better. The D51 stickers have a blue background and the coupling rods are an earlier design held in with metal crank pins. The chassis is marked with the Tomy "boy and girl" logo and made in Japan markings. I have two early D51s of this type with coaches, one purchased with some period rails and accessories and the other from a copy of the D-51 Express Set.

The coaches are early 70s construction with the early "chunky" solid hooks and softer plastic loops similar to the modern coupling system. The couplings are "looser" and do not snap into one another. These couplings are somewhat fragile nowadays and should be done up carefully. The chassis have the older more fragile integrated axle holders and rougher screw assembly and the loop coupling is held in place by melting down the plastic peg it sits around. They are marked as made in Japan both on the bottom of the chassis and the inside of the coach shell.

Click for video with sound of "chuffing" gearbox

D51 Express train (new coaches) (1974)

Around 1974 when the line was refreshed with new boxes and roughtop rails the 10 series coach molds were changed to no longer include pantographs. This version of the D51 Express Train went off sale in 1976.

The new coach moldings are nearly identical to (and clearly adapted from) the older molds with the pantographs removed. This version of the coach is generally easier to find and has identical construction other than the molding of the shell. The chassis are identical. The made in Japan text in the coach shell is down at the other end from the earlier version.

I first purchased two of the 10 series coaches without pantographs in July 2023 without a matching D51. In May 2024 I found a further three pantographless cars, two more with mid 1970s chunky couplings and another with an updated insert style chassis.

SL-01 D-51 Express Train (1978)

In 1978 the D-51 Express Train was rereleased as SL-01 D51 Express Train in the EC series of boxes in the later 1970s style as represented here. This is actually the body shell of a later 1970s D-51 Express Train on the chassis from a later D-51 from after the introduction of the D51 with Light.

The original chassis was missing its side rods and one smoke deflector but it is otherwise the same as the 1980s D-51 chassis except for where the tooling was modified to have extra holes to rivet the contact strips to attach the light connection gimmick and the newer D-51 having a more modern rear coupler. The other D-51 pictured, from the same lot, is the Basic No.1 Set D-51 type that does not include the light. The upper body shell has the more obvious modification of the open front headlamp.

One rather discolored coach was also included in the same lot the two D-51s came from. In 1980 when the D-51 Express Train went out of production the de facto "normal" D51 individual release became the D51 with Light.

The coach chassis was updated to the insert type in the late 1970s and used in a few sets into the early 1980s, by which point the chassis was changed to the insert type. I am not sure if this happened by the end of 1970s D-51 Express production... The relatively short-lived Melody D-51 from the Winter Era of Plarail included one regular 10 series car as well as the one with the electronic beeper "melody" car.

An updated new power D-51 Express Train appears in the Plarail 40th Anniversary Album.