Overpass Way Shinkansen Rail Set

[Super]

When first seeing this new release I wasn't much interested in it as I have tons of Gray Track and also tons of the special gray Elevated Rail Piers/Risers. It wasn't until Tharazero1 mentioned to me that this set has the very hard to find (until now) long radius outside gray curves that peaked my interest. I had 3 of these LR curves but wanted to add more for those hard to fit places in a Layout. They really do come in handy. There are 8 of them in this set. What is strange is that this was only released in March of this year but seems to be hard to come by now. Anyone wanting to amass some gray rails this may be the set for you. The set also includes 6 pairs of red Gantry's of a design that I have not seen before. They actually come in 2 pieces and can be snapped together in the middle or used as a solo pole to cover more tracks.

I do have a couple nit pickings with this...
Why the Yellow Piers/Risers? Why not the light gray ones that they have produced in the past? The yellow looks out of place.
Why the gray Special Elevated Rail Piers/Risers when there are no elevated rails? These look out of place when using them on normal tracks and they don't always fit right.
Lastly the red Gantrys don't fit snugly on the top of the yellow piers so they easy can fall over. Why not have them hug the posts a little? as I was typing this I wonder if there is a reason
       Just cane to mind that if a child had a floor Layout and accidentally kicked one of these it would just fall over and not upset the rails and pier.

All in all, a great set if you like the gray's and you can find it.

Those new grey piers are called PC piers, they are actually a reprint of the same type of piers made in Thailand released long ago. I heard these share the exact same mold but people have reported that they are facing rail connection issues. The same outer curve is the same sized one found in the R-05. A grey stop rail, it might have made it's first appearance if I'm not wrong.

[Super]

I have many of the Stop & Go Gray rails so this is definitely not its first appearance. For example, there is even one in the Tomica World Blue EMD F-Unit Set.

Yes, the outer curve is the same radius as the outside rail in the R-05 Double Curve but without the inner rail. They also came in the blue tracks but I don't know which sets.. I find these very useful in connecting large multi loop Layouts like those seen in shopping Malls.

The 'PC Piers' as you call them work perfectly with the  R-26 & R-27 Elevated Rails. Even though I think they look funny under regular tracks they would probably benefit with something across the middle to support those. Just a thin piece of the plastic in the mold would do.

R-09 are the same curves in blue. Sets wise I'm not too sure. The only time I'll use these curves is when one portion of a ready made layout has problems connecting to an irregular part of a layout, also a good curve to substitute the double track curves if you don't have these.

Those piers are designed to work with the elevated rails as the middle plastic piece is a filler for those gaps the elevated rails make. Unfortunately lacks overhead line holders or signal holders. The only ones with these holders are the grey version of the yellow block piers and the old piers with double convex joints (although shorter in height).

[Super]

Correct about the Piers but they do have overhead line holders made for them exclusively although not included in this set.




 And the extra piece of plastic I think would help regular track with these piers would cross as in the picture.

Off the top of my head the single outer blue curves are available in the larger Japanese Talk n Action set (four of them)

as well as six in the Tomica World Super Deluxe set




I'm sure there are many others

[Super]

Thanks Duck

Those new grey piers are called PC piers, they are actually a reprint of the same type of piers made in Thailand released long ago. I heard these share the exact same mold but people have reported that they are facing rail connection issues. The same outer curve is the same sized one found in the R-05. A grey stop rail, it might have made it's first appearance if I'm not wrong.

PC piers have been released many times throughout history. The most recent is the DX rail set in 2018-2019.

Grey stop rail is currently sold in J-06 - Marshalling yard set (操車場).

Outer curve grey rails last appeared in 2018 in the DX rail set with 8 pieces included.

It would have been better if they sold this set with the same tracks but using the elevated track types.

-plarnold

[Super]

Hi Plarnold,  I miss you around here

I agree that a set that includes the PC Piers should have the Elevated Rails they were made for.

I am not familiar with a DX rail set that has gray outer rails. The only DX set I can think of is pictured below but it has blue track.

BTW...that J-06 Marshaling Yard Set has the Dark Gray Rails.

@Super,

Indeed you are correct about J-06. I still believe I have seen a grey stopper rail before. It is possible that I may have one but I don't know where it is. If I do see it, I will get back to you. 

The DX rail set is the one released in 2018 with the station tracks. 
It's actually called the Plarail Variety Rail Set in English (how different).
https://www.takaratomy.co.jp/products/pl.../index.htm

@Super & @Vio,

I've been busy working on something related to Plarail.

I certainly hope it will be worth it.

-plarnold