lovemywyguy Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Hi all, I am new to this forum my name is Stephanie and I am desperately looking for some help with Plarail. I live on the East cost of the U.S. and my 4 year old son is an avid train enthusiast. We have been through every toy train line available in the U.S. now Including Geo Trax, Chuggington, Thomas wooden, and trackmaster. We just recently discovered on Tomica (we have everything Toys R Us offers) and we are in love. The problem is the line is limited here. When I look online I find countless amazing products for Tomica Hypercity, and plarail, but there seems to be no US retailers. I would love any information on whether or not playrail and Tomica are interchangeable ( I think they are). I would also love to know some sites where I can order Tomica and playrail pieces at fair prices. My son also loves some of the car sets like the automated parking garages, but every site I have found charges ridiculous prices. Some items are upwards of $400 for things that I didn't even pay $100 for at TRU. I would also be very interested in the Plarail advanced, and any of the remote controled plarail items, and automated switch tracks. Any information on cool peices, great web sites, and good deals would greatly be appreciated. Link to comment
CaptOblivious Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Tonic in the US is nothing more than a combination of Plarail and Japanese Tomica (which is HO scale vehicles, like Matchbox Cars). (note also that Thomas Trackmaster is also rebranded Thomas Plarail, only with different track!) My daughter is into Plarail too! You can order it from eBay (look for a seller named PlazaJapan, but there are others with good prices too), or from Hobby Search (http://1999.co.jp/eng). Prices are low, but expect to be shocked by the shipping costs, which can double the price. Ship SAL for slower but cheaper service. Let us know if you have more questions, there are many of us here who enjoy Plarail, or have children that do! Link to comment
cteno4 Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 lovemywyguy, there are some chaps in the hong kong that sell plarail on ebay at reasonable prices and shipping. one of our club members had collected a lot over the years for his son that way. he has since out grown it and the plarail moved onto another kid! good stuff, tough and fun. jeff Link to comment
CaptOblivious Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Let me add that the Plarail Advance is pretty cool. I was in Kyoto when it was released...and most stores sold out in just a couple of days. Looks like its going to be tough to get, even in Japan. Link to comment
lovemywyguy Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Let me add that the Plarail Advance is pretty cool. I was in Kyoto when it was released...and most stores sold out in just a couple of days. Looks like its going to be tough to get, even in Japan. So does this mean that Plarail is relatively new? I don't know why but I thought it had been around for a really long time. Link to comment
lovemywyguy Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Tonic in the US is nothing more than a combination of Plarail and Japanese Tomica (which is HO scale vehicles, like Matchbox Cars). (note also that Thomas Trackmaster is also rebranded Thomas Plarail, only with different track!) My daughter is into Plarail too! You can order it from eBay (look for a seller named PlazaJapan, but there are others with good prices too), or from Hobby Search (http://1999.co.jp/eng). Prices are low, but expect to be shocked by the shipping costs, which can double the price. Ship SAL for slower but cheaper service. Let us know if you have more questions, there are many of us here who enjoy Plarail, or have children that do! I realized that the Thomas Trackmaster/ plarail trains here in the states work with our track as well, but they seem to run much slower which seems to make them much less interesting to my son. I have seen on some sites that you can order the Thomas ( and pre order the Chuggington) plarail trains from some of the Japanese sites. Our these versions any faster or are they the same ones we get here? Link to comment
lovemywyguy Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 lovemywyguy, there are some chaps in the hong kong that sell plarail on ebay at reasonable prices and shipping. one of our club members had collected a lot over the years for his son that way. he has since out grown it and the plarail moved onto another kid! good stuff, tough and fun. jeff LOL yea I think we found this site by accident. We ordered one train from them, and I have to say I was extreamly happy with the end cost and how quickly it arrived. Link to comment
lovemywyguy Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Okay one more question for today. Do any of you know any good sites for some of the Japanese Tomica car items as well. I have to say I am loving the fact that here in the U.S. They combined the two lines, I am just really sad to see them doing so poorly at Toys R Us. I fear that they will not order more, and I know we are going to need lots more of it. Thank you all for your help it is fantastic to have a place to ask questions. Link to comment
JR 500系 Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Hi! I was into Tomica for sometime before moving into Lego and finally coming back to N gauge. Here's a site i've just found that have a couple of nice tomica cars and Plarail: http://stores.ebay.com/frederickwong2000?_trksid=p4340.l2563 Made a search and came upon this site: http://www.tomica-usa.com/products Tomica and Plarail is quite common here for me in Sillypore, but it seems like it doesn't sell well. Tomica has increased their prices by almost 30% and it has caused some decrease in their sales... Let me know if you are particularly looking for any set and if just so happens to be in Sillypore, i might be able to grab hold of it for you ~ Hoped that helps and cheers! Link to comment
CaptOblivious Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Let me add that the Plarail Advance is pretty cool. I was in Kyoto when it was released...and most stores sold out in just a couple of days. Looks like its going to be tough to get, even in Japan. So does this mean that Plarail is relatively new? I don't know why but I thought it had been around for a really long time. Plarail has been around for nearly 40 years. Plarail Advance is less than a year old. The difference is that Advance is half the size, looks a little more realistic, yet runs on the same track. Link to comment
cteno4 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 distrubman, thanks mucho, great video! jeff Link to comment
lovemywyguy Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Thank you all for your posts, and I really look forward to getting some of the Plarail advance trains for my son, I think he will love the fact that he can play with twice as many at one time. Link to comment
JR 500系 Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Thanks disturbman for the video! Didnt realise Pla-Rail Advance can be ran on the outer ring of existing Pla-Rail tracks! Nice! Here in Sillypore, there are tons and tons of Plarail, especially focus on Thomas the train series... Normal Plarail, with quite a number of starter sets... Thomas the train series on sale here... Link to comment
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