fall inside a hole

Plarail Nankai 50000 series Rapi:t

First written August 28, 2024

The Nankai Rapit or Rapi:t is a limited express train operated by the Nankai Railway between Namba Station on the Nankai mainline and Kansai International Airport. The service began in 1994 and has been serviced by 50000 series trains since its inception.

Nankai Rapit (1997-2003)

The Nankai Rapit (南海ラピート) was first released in seventh generation packaging on April 17, 1997. The Rapit has a very distinctive cab shape and body design, running in all blue. The Plarail version uses a two-speed new power gearbox. The cabs have sort of a beaked appearance with neat windshields, with these earlier examples having silver dots around the cabs.

This is a fairly late example of the old style of Rapi:t, being produced in mid 2002 after the toolings had already been updated to the new squared-off Tomy logo as they prepared for the 2003 lineup.

S-35 Nankai Rapit (2003-2015)

On October 30th, 2003 the Rapit was rereleased as S-35 Nankai Rapit in ninth generation packaging. These Rapits have body decoration that stands out more (the Rapit text is a bolder silver) and other small changes like the center protrusion to the sides of each cab being red instead of silver. A revised box was put into print after the Takara Tomy merger.

Nankai Rapit - Clear Color (Plarail Expo) (2006)

Available for sale at Plarail Expos beginning in 2006, the Nankai Rapit - Clear Color (南海ラピート・クリアカラー) is a translucent blue version of the S-35 Nankai Rapi:t. The box says of the Rapi:t: This is a Nankai Electric Railway vehicle that was introduced in 1994 and is characterized by its innovative design such as the shape of the top and oval windows. It runs between Namba and Kansai Airport.

The translucent blue plastic is lighter than the usual dark blue of the Rapit but I think this shows off the translucence better. The window is clear and the spots around the windshields are different as well.

It seems that these trains continued to be made and sold for Plarail Expos until 2016 when the Rapit was retooled for the "new mechanism" chassis. My example is seemingly fairly early and was produced in March 2006 before first going on sale in late April that year. For whatever reason, the clip covering part of the gearbox on mine is yellowed... you can see it through the body shell, so I should probably replace it at some point.

In addition to the translucent blue body shells the underframe details are silvery instead of grey.

S-35 Nankai Rapit (new mechanism) (2015)

In October 2015 the Rapit was rereleased with the modern "new mechanism" system of shared chassis.