Plarail’s special edition Railway Series Thomas was released earlier this year to commemorate the franchise’s 80th anniversary and has already become a must-have collector’s item – I was lucky enough to pre-order mine straight from Japan in mid-March in anticipation of prices rising from high demand. Styled after the front cover illustration of Thomas’ debut book, this item might just be one of Plarail’s best releases yet!
This Thomas is virtually identical to the Thomas TOMY has been producing since 1992, only with darker colour tones and a unique face to match the book illustrations. While a stock-standard Plarail Thomas now has printed details, this variant goes back to the old sticker decals and have been drawn to closely mirror the book’s art style – it almost feels as though Thomas has been pulled straight from the pages of The Railway Series book no. 2! Intentional or not, the paper stickers help to give the toy an appropriately vintage feel. The only minor nitpick people have pointed out is how Thomas’ lamp irons aren’t painted, but it’s easy to see how they thought they could get away with this considering they are a near-identical shade of grey to the rest of the running board in the illustrations.
Thomas also comes with his faithful coaches, Annie and Clarabel, who are also presented in the classic Railway Series style. They look to be based on how they appeared in Tank Engine Thomas Again with faces that look identical to the illustrations and, notably, no names on their sides – you could even use them as generic branch line coaches if you wanted.
The Reverend W. Awdry and Britt Allcroft are surely smiling from above at this new release. By combining the 1992 tooling with a 1946 twist to create a brand new product for 2025, this vintage-style Railway Series Thomas from Plarail is a perfect blend of old and new…
And it certainly gives the new Fisher-Price range a run for its money!
