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My Plarail Locomotives

Since the early 1970s Tomy has produced more and more steam, electric, and diesel locomotives for the Plarail range. Many of these locomotives have been released either individually or with freight or passenger cars as a regular three-car release.

Organized here are variations of some of the different locomotives in my Plarail collection. Rather than being organized by differences in boxes and only focusing on individual releases like the Plarail Trains page, production changes and variations as well as set variants are highlighted.

D-51 Steam Locomotive (1970)

The Plarail D-51 was first released in 1970 in dark blue and black with a set of freight cars and continued to be available in sets and train packs with other freight cars and passenger cars. Occasionally, the D-51 even has a tender!

Year	Variation	Description
1971	D-51 Express Train D-51 Express Set	Early D-51 with old style coupling rods, metal crank pins, and clicking "chuffing" gearbox; previously released with freight cars
1975	Chug-A-Log Choo Choo	American export mid-1970s chuffing D-51s with "TOMY" sticker on the cab
~1976	D-51 Express Train D-51 Ranch Set	New (but very similar) D-51 tooling with black stickers and older style of side rods
1978	SL01 D-51 Express	Circa 1978 the coupling rods were redesigned to be all plastic
April 1980	SL04 D-51 with Light	New for 1980 D-51 with clicking noisemaker and extra contact strips to power light in body shell
1982	Basic No.1 Set D-51	D-51 with Light tooling without the light sold in some sets, has clicking gearbox
1982	Shuppo D-51 Shuppo D51 Set	D-51 with Light tooling without the light or the gearbox chuffing mechanism in favor of the chuffing mail van
August 10 1987	D-51 Locomotive with Light	Mid-production old-power D-51 with light now with different freight cars
1990	D-51 Locomotive with Light	In 1990 production of the D-51 moved to Thailand. The rereleased D-51 with Light, like other Thailand-made D-51s, lacks the chuffing clicker in the gearbox
1990	Shuppo D-51	The Shuppo D-51 also moved production to Thailand and remained in the range until 1994
Late 1993	Doll Play D51 Steam Locomotive	Old-power D-51 without light pulling a special tender and passenger car for Doll Play dolls
1994	D51 Locomotive with Light	Redesigned direct-drive gearbox D-51 with light mechanism now part of the lower chassis assembly
1994	Doll Play D51 Steam Locomotive	New power rerelease of the Doll Play D-51
1999	Fan Club Exclusive Plarail 40th Anniversary Album	Five-car commemorative album only available to Plarail Fan Club members that includes a new power D-51 Express Train with lit D-51 and old 10 series passenger cars

EF-15 Electric Locomotive (1970)

The first EF-15s were introduced in 1970 with a grey chassis that was soon changed to black - the tanker and container car the EF-15 was sold with changed from having red chassis to yellow at the same time. The original trains were red with yellow and green variations appearing in 1974. They were discontinued in the later 1970s and appeared in a few sets later on, briefly reappearing in the early 2000s.

Year	Variation	Description
1970	Electric Locomotive Electric Locomotive Set	Original grey-chassis EF-15 with red-chassis freight cars
1972	Electric Locomotive Electric Locomotive Set	Not long after the original grey chassis EF-15, it was rereleased in black with the more common yellow-chassis freight cars
1974	Electric Locomotive EF-15 Electric Locomotive Overpass Panorama Set	Third generation box EF-15s sold in red, yellow, and green; rear door cutout elongated
1981	Electric Locomotive Overpass Set	After the lit set variation the year prior, future EF-15s had the additional holes in the tooled made to accommodate the contact strips and bulb
2001 2002	EF15 Electric Locomotive S-27 EF15 Electric Locomotive	Brown EF-15 and two flatbed cars with containers

DD-51 Diesel Locomotive (1973)

The Plarail DD-51 was first introduced in the early 1970s and saw several slight production variations and was one of the later trains to move to new power. It began to appear in more liveries and paint styles as Tomy focused more on detailed trains in the 2000s.

Year	Variation	Description
April 1973	DD51 Diesel Locomotive	Original DD51 with dark grey roof and chassis with metal rim-drive gearbox and three freight cars
1974	DD51 Diesel Locomotive	Not long after the original set and individual releases, the chassis and roof was changed to black and the orange was also adjusted
1978	DL01 DD-51	The DD-51 was redesigned to use the plastic old power gearbox in the later 1970s
1994	DD-51 Diesel Locomotive	The DD-51 was updated to new power in 1994 with a new flatter type of drive unit and yellow wheels
1997	Motor Tomica Basic Set	Hokutosei blue train livery DD-51
2000	First Try Set Red	More realistic liveried DD-51 with grey chassis
July 17 2003	K-02 DD51 type 1150	Updated DD51 with realistic livery and real running number

C-12 Steam Locomotive (1973)

The Plarail C-12 was first introduced alongside a rotary snowplow, with the C-12 having a front coupling to push the snowplow along that remained on all old-power C-12s. The C-12, like the D-51, was late to be converted to new power, and was produced in Thailand with a metal old-power gearbox in the 1990s.

Year	Variation	Description
1975	C-12 Logging Railway Set	Early C-12 with earlier side rod design and two tipping log cars
1976	C-12	The first individual release C-12s occurred after the introduction of the fully-plastic side rods
~1977	Palitoy Discovery Time Junior Train Set Log Delivery Train Set	Hong Kong-made C-12s with grey side rods and British Railways-style arrow stickers
~1978	Stelco Junior Express Junior Express Set 4570	Hong Kong C-12s with more traditional side rods and stickers for the German Junior Express series
1991	C-12	Thailand-production old-power C-12s lack the clicking chuffer of the Japan-made type
1994	C-12 Steam Locomotive	The C-12 was converted for new power in 1994. The front coupling was removed...
October 14 1999	Rotary Snowplow	New power C-12 body shell on a dummy chassis with front coupler recreating the old rotary snowplow
December 28 1999	20th Century Toy Museum Exhibition Rotary Snowplow	Blue version of the unpowered C-12 from a rotary snowplow variation
~2001	7560 Animal Express	Red new-power C-12 with action animal cars exported for Tomica World
April 23 2009 January 20 2011	50th Anniversary C12 Steam Locomotive Arch Bridge and Rail Set KF-01 C12 Steam Locomotive	Redesigned AA-battery C12 steam locomotive first released in a set and later individually

EF-58 Electric Locomotive (1974)

The Plarail EF-58 entered production in 1974 and sold with two container cars before being rereleased individually. The tooling was updated to new power in 1987.

Year	Variation	Description
1978	EL01 EF-58	Fifth generation individual release of the metal gearbox EF-58
~1979	Stelco Junior Express Junior Express Set 4545	Orange EF-58 locomotives produced for the German Stelco Junior Express series, sold with local production carriages
August 10 1987	EF-58	Individual EF-58 updated for new power
October 14 1999	Plarail 40th Anniversary Edition	EF-58-61 Imperial Train locomotive and observation cars
March 17 2011	SCMAGLEV and Railway Park Opening Commemoration Special Set	Grape Color No. 2 EF-58-157 included in Railway Park opening commemoration set

ED-70 Electric Locomotive (1975)

The first individual and set ED-70s in earlier 1975 were yellow, with green ED-70s appearing in later production sets and the same third generation lift-top box with two reversing rails and a regular straight rail, making even the individual release a complete "set" - no cars included. The yellow ED-70 appeared again in the "train" box era, and the red locomotive was a set exclusive.

Year	Variation	Description	Photo
1975	ED-70 Electric Locomotive Round-Trip Plarail 3D Loading and Unloading Set	Green reversing ED-70 sold in sets and individually with reversing rails

EF-66 Electric Locomotive (1976)

The Round-Trip EF-66 was first introduced in 1976 with coupling bars on both ends, with several other old-power variations in the decades that followed before being converted to new power in the mid 1990s.

Year	Variation	Description
1978	EL02 EF-66 Round Trip	Individual release of the reversing Round-Trip EF66 with single rear coupling bar and internal drive system
August 10 1987	Round-Trip EF-66	Single-bar Round Trip EF66 with "external" gearbox variation
July 25 1993	EF-66 Electric Locomotive	Old-power non-reversing EF-66 replacing the old Round-Trip type, still made in Japan
1995	EF-66 Electric Locomotive	New power EF-66 with retooled pantographs produced in Thailand
July 1999	Mail Train Set	Red postal service EF66 and mail van from the Adventure Asphalt Island series
2001	Railway Yard Full of Freight Cars Set	White and light blue freight livery EF-66
2001	First Try Set Dark Blue	The first EF-66 with a realistic running number but still the EF66 text in the tooling at the front and rear
July 17 2003	K-03 EF66 type 11	Updated EF66 with JR blue livery and EF 66 11 running number
September 29 2005	S-60 EF66 Electric Locomotive	JR EF 66 54 with two container cars

EF-65 Electric Locomotive (1979)

The EF-65 tooling was introduced alongside the Fuji-service Blue Train in 1979, with a few other variations appearing later. The EF-65 tooling was also used to depict the EF-64, EF-81s, and other electric locomotives.

Year	Variation	Description
1979	EL05 Blue Train Blue Train Set	Old power EF-65s hauling 24 series Blue Train cars
1984	Radio Control Blue Train	The initial series of radio control Plarail trains included the Blue Train
August 10 1987	Blue Train	New power EF65-hauled Blue Train with updated headmarks, first made in Japan and later Thailand
April 29 2001	EF65 General Type	Plarail Expo exclusive JNR-color EF-65
2002	Locomotive Depot and Five Mechanics	Blue EF 65 501 and brown EF 65 56 with one powered and one dummy chassis between them included in a Plarail Factory rerelease

EF-81 Electric Locomotive (1991)

The first EF-81s, based on the same tooling as the EF-65s, were released in the Twilight Express train in 1991, appearing in several other colors and styles including a regular individual release and several train pack releases.

Year	Variation	Description
September 15 1991	Twilight Express	New Power Twilight Express train based on the Blue Train release
1999	Car Train	Silvery EF-81 with passenger car and Tomica-carrying car transporter
April 28 2010	Twilight Express	Plarail Expo rereleased Twilight Express train