The L Limited Express was the name given to some limited express trains run by JNR beginning in 1972. The L Limited Express typically had unreserved seats like a regular express train (and unlike regular limited express trains) and was an effort to popularize limited express services. By the late 1970s more than 30 Limited Express services ran across Japan, but as the Shinkansen and regular express services expanded in the 1990s the difference between L Limited and regular express trains diminished, and in 2002 JR East began rescheduling L Limited trains as Limited Express trains, with other companies phasing out the L Limited name over the next 15 years. By 2018 no trains ran under the L Limited name.
The Plarail L Limited Express was first released individually in 1976 in fourth generation packaging as L特急 L Express. The entire train is very nicely molded with separately fitted silvery-grey pantographs, vents, and cabs. The use of stickers is simple but very effective. End cars of the train have つばめ stickers and "Tubame," presumably an odd Romanization of tsubame, on the front. The つばめ (Tsubame or Swallow) service first began in 1930 on the Tokaido main line between Tokyo and Kobe station, moving west to the Sanyo main line and becoming a limited express service linking up with the Shinkansen when it opened in 1964. In 1972 it was rerouted again and became an L Limited Express before the Tsubame. 485 series trains had several different nose shapes over the years, with the type shown here matching the 581 and 583 series trains that also serviced the lines.
The power car uses the metal rim-drive gearbox of the older rim-drive era with a front power switch that is bent up nicely to hug the front of the chassis. The original rim-drive tires were intact but dry rotted and wrapping them in a layer of heat-shrink tubing as well as replacing the wheel's tires got the engine running nicely again. This L Limited Express comes from a 1977 Basic No.3 Set.
The underside of the shell shows how the vents and roofs are held in
place by melting part of the plastic. It is marked with Japan on the
underside of the roof. The bottom of the chassis is marked made in Japan
and has the old boy-and-girl Tomy logo.
By this time in the later 70s the nearly-modern version of the coupling system with only a split in the outer rim of the loop coupling was in use while the wheel supports remained the relatively fragile type. The screw in the tail car screws into the vent in the middle of the car and sandwiches the rest of the body shell to the chassis. The chassis are marked Japan.
In 1978 the L Limited Express was reissued in the new 5th generation packaging, initially with the metal old-power gearbox but the new more robust "insert" chassis design. 1970s and earlier 1980s L Limiteds use the metal old power gearbox while later old power L Limited Express trains use the milky white plastic gearbox.
Recently (May 2024) I have come across a particularly early insert chassis L Limited intermediate car from the late 70s that does not have the JAPAN marks in the chassis and has a shorter screw slot in the insert. This was probably a fairly short-lived variant that was updated fairly quickly to include the made in Japan mark and the more common chassis insert. I don't remember if I have seen this style of insert on other trains - I do not think any of my early Hikari with Lights have this insert variant, but that train came out in 1979, so it is potentially the case this style of insert chassis was just used circa 1978 (the previous Hikari before the lit version used the fragile style of wheel supports until it was discontinued circa 1980). I did not find this car with a matching power car - it was in a lot with two power cars and intermediate cars and one tail car, and the tail car from this version appears to be missing as the other trio is a better color match and has matching styles of insert. A third L Limited of this era came from a loose Basic No.3 Set dating from around 1980 which still has the metal gearbox.
When the car chassis were updated with the more secure wheel holders the power car chassis was also updated with the clip-on type front wheel holder. The plastic mix on couplings used from around 1978 to 1980 or so seems to yellow more consistently - compare the couplings on the 1978-1980 L Limited trains above with those on a single intermediate car from the mid 1980s.
During this generation the L Limited was updated to use the plastic rim-drive gearbox still as EC-03 L Limited Express in the 5th generation "EC" boxes. This happened at some point in the earlier 1980s - circa 1984 the radio control version used the plastic gearbox.
The power switches are left sticking straight out on these and other later rim-drive power cars. My plastic gearbox L Limited Express comes from the 1986 Rail Road Level Crossing Set and is thus one of the later old power L Limiteds produced before the transition to new power. Interestingly, unlike most of the other trains which were made into radio control trains in the 1980s, it does not seem that Tomy continued to use the intermediate car tooling with the additional clip cutouts, although the later tail car does still have the molded clip to hold an antennae (it protrudes up into the tail car just behind the coupler).
In 1987 the L Limited Express was released with a single speed new power gearbox, with a two-speed version coming later. The new power L Limited Express has the cab and vents molded into a single larger roof section that is clipped into the body, rendering the cab and vents in silvery-grey as before as well as the rest of the top of the train body, which I think looks rather nice. The Tsubame L Limited Express was last sold as S-24 485 Series L Limited Express in 9th generation packaging, going out of production around 2018. Later 485 series trains had similar features to the 583 series trains and the molding evolved over the years, with the later versions having updated detailing and grey wheels. Plarail has also released a few other colorations of the L Limited Express representing other services like the Asama line in the Hokuriku Shinkansen Asama Opening Commemorative Set as well as other 485 series trains like the red Kamome Express trains from the mid to late 1990s.