Blue Plastic Tracks

When the eponymous delivery from "Thomas (and) the Jet Engine" was made in Plarail, the well wagon had to be split in two because it would've been too long (and perhaps in keeping with the three car standard as well). That resulted in having two oddly shaped bits of rolling stock that looked out of place and didn't have other good uses. Thanks to the existence of bogies in regular Plarail items, someone found how to make it look right while still being able to navigate curves.



Another Japanese Twitter user named tsubame_8910 (うぇいゔらと) took both parts, glued them together and replaced the original wheels with the bogies from (most likely) the new autorack. It actually took me a while to realise it was the original tops merged and not a scratchbuild. One downside: The engine no longer lights up when pulled, but I'm sure he could find some way to change how it's powered. Needless to say, it looks much more faithful and the bogies perfectly mimic its TV appearance. Better than what I suggested to Therealblack64YT (TM2 truck/tender chassis for bogies on custom coaches), and I wonder how they would look on other Thomas stock like this. Really nice work.

That is so cool. I had no idea that the crate wagon was really supposed to be one with the Jet Engine. Most likely due to me not knowing the show very well. Thanks for the picture Lag. I am picturing a 9 volt battery tucked neatly under those crates, wired to the original switch with a Flickering LED light in the engine. This is pretty neat an an excellent use of articulating bogies. Might there be a video of this running the rails?

There's one very short video supposedly showing that it can go around a curve, and also showing the joint between the two halves collapsing!

https://twitter.com/i/status/1308171526709993477

sadly the chassis is plastic and not metal, you can't simply wield them together.  The super glue or should i say crazy glue has limits.

Thanks for the Link to that video Dr Chris.

If that modifier was listening here I would suggest he drill matching holes in both pieces and use pins at the joint to strengthen that weakest part. In addition to that also bracing the joint underneath to give even more strength. Its a great idea and custom though.

not sure if drilling would work given the plastic chassis is extremely thin.  This may be my next project.  i will keep the existing wheels instead of the bogies due to the complexity of conversion.

He did actually get a suggestion to strengthen it from underneath with something like "a lollipop stick", which he said he will do. I didn't have nitpicks about the seam, knowing how difficult it had to be to join them.

@LV2: How would yours work without articulation? It would be better to just rebuild the well wagon entirely, which would also allow the engine, tank and crates to be removed.

in theory it will work but there will be a bigger tail swing issue.  

I was actually thinking of similar idea in terms of strengthening the mid section with wooden chop sticks.  I was also considering using the red long Tomy carrier but the light will not glow without any form of modification.