fall inside a hole

Plarail Junkyard

Because I primarily collect Plarail by buying second-hand sets, trains, and lots of other components from Japan, I often come across incomplete trains that I would not mind finding the rest of the cars to. In Japan there may be some small chance that I could find old Plarail at second-hand stores, and even in the United States I have seen Plarail for sale used at thrift stores and online, but generally I am competing against other collectors on auction sites... Shown here are a handful of the older and more interesting incomplete trains I have that I would love to complete some day and write a page about for my site. In no particular order...

Odorikogo

The Odorikogo is a commuter train that shared the 165 series train tooling with the Tokai Type Train and some other releases, with this example sitting on a black chassis with yellow wheels instead of the green with red it should have. There is also some marker writing left on it. It is nice to have extra intermediate cars because if I ever find a three-car set I can have a fourth car right away...

Skyliner

The old paintjob Skyliner, a fairly rare older Plarail. I would love to find the brown power car chassis for this one, if not one with a second intermediate car...

Panorama Express

An original fragile-coupling Panorama Express with smooth roof and the intermediate and tail car to a slightly later type that still has the fragile underframe. This would be great to find a power car for, already having enough cars for a four-car train...

Update: December 2024

I have found a later 1970s Panorama Express! It is a complete three-car train, so now I have a nice long Panorama Express to run...

Panorama Car

Very nice condition power and intermediate car for an old power Panorama Car. I love the big blue translucent windows on this train, and the cars I have are both pretty clean for their age, so I would love to find a nice tail car some day, especially with another intermediate car.

Update: April 2025

I have come across a three-car Panorama Car train! I like getting incomplete Plarail in random lots like this because it lets me run longer trains...

Sleeper Express

The Sleeper Express is an old and sought-after Plarail. I have only so far come across this one shabby intermediate car. I do have some of the new power "employee gift" USA Sleeper Express types.

Express Train

Express Train in Tokai type colors released with the old Electric Plastic Train tooling with crossed windows. This intermediate car has the earlier 1970s couplings, the front of which is broken. In 1975 this train was replaced by the EC05 Tokai Type Train with new tooling.

Recently (April 2025) I have come across two more Tokai Express Train carriages of the earlier tooling variation with less details on the doors and slightly different roof details.

It would be nice to find a power car of either type. The rear couplings, both 1970s types, are slightly different, with the newer car having a larger ring.

New Romance Car

Tail and intermediate cars from a Japan-make New Romance Car. This train uses the same mostly-smooth body shells as some other trains like the Kintetsu Urban Liner with printed side graphics.

Train (Blue)

Just the intermediate/tail car to a Thailand-made new power blue Electric Train. The Electric Trains are nice in that the tail cars still have a rear coupler so buying two three-car trains lets you run five cars right away.

TGV

An intermediate car to an orange TGV train... this car is from Japan, but I also found just the top of a TGV power car at a thrift store a few years ago, because the TGV was exported back in the day.

New 200 Series Shinkansen

In the early 2000s the 0-series style 200 series Shinkansen was rereleased in the updated color scheme the older trains ran in at the time. This train was only sold for a few years before the new S series was introduced and the 200 series faded from the regular lineup... Unlike some of the other trains, I'm missing the intermediate car.