Pla-Rail at Toys-R-Us

[CaptOblivious]

A couple of years ago, Toys-R-Us had a bizarre Pla-Rail set that I passed on to my own regret. This year, however, they have picked up a large line of the—I forget what it's called, and HS is currently down for maintenence so I can't look it up—Hyper Guardian? Line of Pla-Rail toys, including basic track pieces. They are calling it "Tomica Hypercity", and you need only hit up toysrus.com and search for Tomica to see the line. Prices are fairly reasonable vs. importing the stuff.

[David]

All fantasy models unfortunately. What gives me interest in Pla-Rail (not enough to buy it in addition to n-gauge, I'd need to pass through Z and T first) is the number of prototype models available in a toy directed at children.

[scott]

Yeah, we had some Thomas Pla-Rail stuff when Anders was four or so, but it hasn't been used in a long time. Back then, I would have bought some non-Thomas stuff gladly.

Anders is turning eight (today!) and seems to do fine with N gauge now.

[CaptOblivious]

All fantasy models unfortunately. What gives me interest in Pla-Rail (not enough to buy it in addition to n-gauge, I'd need to pass through Z and T first) is the number of prototype models available in a toy directed at children.

Ya, I'm not very interested in the fantasy models at all, but they do have a couple things that might yet be of interest: Individual track pieces for sale sans shipping costs, and little Pla-Rail style street scenes that include Tomica HO scale cars.

[westfalen]

Looks like Tomica/ToysRus don't think American kids would be as interested in real trains as Japanese ones would, sadly maybe they're right.

I've seen toy shops and toy departments of even small town department stores in Japan with more Tomica trains than most hobby shops in Australia have scale models. My brother and nephew have it set up all around their house and every trip to Japan I'm on the look out for interesting items, this year I bought back a couple of radio control units.

I have a 500 series myself.

[bikkuri bahn]

Looks like Tomica/ToysRus don't think American kids would be as interested in real trains as Japanese ones would, sadly maybe they're right.

Exactomundo.  If you live in a reasonably large sized city in Japan (as most Japanese do), passenger trains (this is very important) are a daily part of many families' lives- Dad commutes to work in one, Mom goes to the big shopping center located next to a station in one, big sis commutes to high school in one, and junior goes to his evening cram school in one.  In the U.S., it is said that something like only 1% of the population has ever ridden on a passenger train.  To the average American, a train is that lumbering freight at that grade crossing, blocking your SUV when you're hurrying to the strip mall/soccer field/business park located off the freeway...Amtrak outside of the NEC (and maybe California) is a joke- if you're lucky, a once a day train passing through town, often at midnight hours- people are often unaware their town is even served by a train. Guess which society values (and admires) railways more?

*pla-rail (along with legos) were some of my first toys as a young child- it placated my thirst for Japanese trains despite being stuck in the terrible 1970's America when the passenger train almost died.  I must have been the only child in my neighborhood who had toy catenary (and knew what catenary was).

[spacecadet]

In the U.S., it is said that something like only 1% of the population has ever ridden on a passenger train. 

This can't possibly be true - more than 1% of the US population rides the New York City subway alone every day.  And that's just one system in one city (which is also served by three major commuter lines).

Is that 1% supposed to be long distance passenger trains?

[Samurai_Chris]

Was in Toys R Us today in Fukuoka.. The place is filled with the stuff!.. Was thinking about it for my 3y.o...

Chris

[David]

In the U.S., it is said that something like only 1% of the population has ever ridden on a passenger train. 

This can't possibly be true - more than 1% of the US population rides the New York City subway alone every day.  And that's just one system in one city (which is also served by three major commuter lines).

Is that 1% supposed to be long distance passenger trains?

The 1% probably doesn't count subways or trams as "passenger trains" (they're "mass transit" like buses), otherwise it's entirely believable. Unless you live in one of the few North American cities with commuter rail (subway/lightrail) or live along the eastern corridor or parts of California the chances of even seeing a passenger train are low. I could probably bet you that in more then half of the 50 states the number of people who have ridden any type of train (subway and trams included) would be more like 0.1%.

And both Amtrak and it's Canadian equivalent VIA are a joke - you couldn't pay me to ride VIA.

[westfalen]

In the U.S., it is said that something like only 1% of the population has ever ridden on a passenger train. 

This can't possibly be true - more than 1% of the US population rides the New York City subway alone every day.  And that's just one system in one city (which is also served by three major commuter lines).

Is that 1% supposed to be long distance passenger trains?

The 1% probably doesn't count subways or trams as "passenger trains" (they're "mass transit" like buses), otherwise it's entirely believable. Unless you live in one of the few North American cities with commuter rail (subway/lightrail) or live along the eastern corridor or parts of California the chances of even seeing a passenger train are low. I could probably bet you that in more then half of the 50 states the number of people who have ridden any type of train (subway and trams included) would be more like 0.1%.

And both Amtrak and it's Canadian equivalent VIA are a joke - you couldn't pay me to ride VIA.

Maybe the people who calculate the statistics don't know much about trains either.

[westfalen]

Was in Toys R Us today in Fukuoka.. The place is filled with the stuff!.. Was thinking about it for my 3y.o...

Chris

Yeah, for your three year old.

[bikkuri bahn]

Excuse me, it is for intercity passenger trains (i.e. not subways/light rail), and the number is 2%, according to McCommons:

http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2010/05/25/lifestyle/features/waiting-train.html

*usual couple of idiotic comments at the end of the article (incl. a monorail freak- hasn't he seen that Simpson's episode??)

[westfalen]

Excuse me, it is for intercity passenger trains (i.e. not subways/light rail), and the number is 2%, according to McCommons:

http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2010/05/25/lifestyle/features/waiting-train.html

*usual couple of idiotic comments at the end of the article (incl. a monorail freak- hasn't he seen that Simpson's episode??)

The monorail freak says they are the 21st century transportation solution, I guess they still got 90 years to work it out.

[KenS]

I was in the local Toys 'R Us today, and they had quite a large stock of the Tomica Hypercity trains at a significant markdown (I'd guess it's not selling).  What's really interesting is that in addition to some fantasy trains, they had a number based on real (Japanese) prototypes.

This included models of an East-i E, E3 Shinkansen, and Keisei Skyliner (plus track sets).  Not to mention some kind of "EF" freight set.  The Skyliner was three cars, one motorized, for $13 (no track). If you need a last-minute present for a 4-8 year old, this might be a good way to install the Japanese train bug early. 

I managed to walk out without any of them, but I snapped some photos "for reference".

[disturbman]

I saw those sets at Hamleys in London a couple of weeks ago. There was some shinkansens and a Yamanote line train... that was surprising. But at the same I guess that except for us nobody knows that these are models of real life trains.

[KenS]

Yamanote? It's a good thing they didn't have that one, or I'd be a lot poorer right now. 

[disturbman]

 I kind of thought about this possibility when I was writing down "Yamanote"... 

Yes, I'm pretty sure it was an E231 in its Yamanote livery but I can't be certain anymore, I only had a quick look.

[bill937ca]

They are probably old stock. Tomiyca was reviewed in model railroad mags in late 2010.

[disturbman]

Possibly, they also had a demonstration layout.

[David]

I was in the local Toys 'R Us today, and they had quite a large stock of the Tomica Hypercity trains at a significant markdown (I'd guess it's not selling).  What's really interesting is that in addition to some fantasy trains, they had a number based on real (Japanese) prototypes.

This included models of an East-i E, E3 Shinkansen, and Keisei Skyliner (plus track sets).  Not to mention some kind of "EF" freight set.  The Skyliner was three cars, one motorized, for $13 (no track). If you need a last-minute present for a 4-8 year old, this might be a good way to install the Japanese train bug early. 

I managed to walk out without any of them, but I snapped some photos "for reference".

Well apparently the engine (EF65?) didn't have anything distinctively Japanese that needed to be erased, but the rest of those frieght cars got painted over into some kind of toy train horror (though the Koki car didn't come out too bad, it could probably still pass).

[disturbman]

Actually, the flashy green wamu has a real life model: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10133138

[DanMacK]

Too bad these aren't in the Toys R Us in Canada :'(