things are still bonkers busy here, but i have been adding to the collection slowly but surely. additions include the 4 takara wagons and 2 takara sets including one with talking thomas.
freight wagons
japanese talking thomas water and coal set
shinkansen kodama set
the shop was shut over the holidays and reopened on the third of january. the shop is located in tauranga, some 5 hours away. luck has it my brother lives there and my folks were heading that way to see him and his kids. i sent mum with the mission of buying the set and also checking out a tunnel that was on another shelf.
she phoned the day the shop opened and said she had the set and the tunnel, but giving no more information. the two sets plus tunnel cost $54NZD. an absolute steal.
needless to say, i was surprised when they arrived home tonight with not only thomas, but in the same bag a shinkansen kodama set. both must have come from the same home, along with the curved tunnel.
when i was unpacking the boxes, i found a fair amount of big loader track, plus a chassis and terence cover. the track will be donated as i have no need for it, but the other two bits will be kept.
the kodama set is really nice. the engine needs a replacement coupler, but on the whole its in great condition. it came with two pla-kids, and a nicely detailed station.
the thomas set was better than i expected. it wasnt the terence logging set, but instead a coal hopper and water tower. thats not the best part though... thomas is actually a japanese talking thomas! he contains a voice box, while annie is the drive unit. she needs a new axle and a bit of a clean. clarabel needs a coupler on the back.
unfortunately, i cant understand what thomas says, but he has a number of phrases and plays the theme song [much less irritating than the english talker version]. as he is going along the track, he says "wheee". the coal station and water tower trigger reactions as well. for example, when he stops at the water tower, you can hear water running, he goes "glug glug glug" and then "ahhh".
also in the boxes were a few extra bits, including three different radius curves, two hill tracks, yellow girders and best of all, a bell station. you can see in the photo the 3 different curves. these are parts that didnt appear to fit in either of the two sets.