Guys: Back on 1/30 in this thread, FATMAN posted some views of a Bandi HO set that he had found. I know very little about Japanese toy trains of this era, but he speculated that their approach was moving to be more "cartoon" or toy like. This item isn't BANDI but I just recently encountered a small lithographed station that has me completely mystified. It also, like FATMAN's set, seems to be HO in scale going by the size of the litho people shown. It also has some sort of power or transformer like function, because on one side (track side) are two obvious 2 pole (DC?) connectors that would appear to run to the track (as they are on the track side of the building). While on one end of the building is an input socket of the same sort and a plastic switch (forward / reverse?) . I loved the litho as like many Japanese items of this era it is highly detailed and beautifully colored. It is also different on both the long sides, the street side is very different to the track side, which clearly made this little guy much harder to manufacture. The non-electrical connection end does have a trade mark, it is "TM" enclosed in a diamond symbol along with the words , "Trade Mark" on both sides and "Made in Japan" underneath the diamond. Any all information would be most appreciated.
Street side view, note name "Plainview" and "Information" both written in English. Size - about 7" long at grey base, I know it looks like 8" in the picture but that is an optical illusion of the photo. Direct measurement is 7".
Track side view, showing electrical leads and venting for something inside of station, indicating that something generating heat was on the inside. Sorry the red plastic roof does not come off easily so I don't actually know what is inside if anything
Electrical input (?) side of the station, note red plastic button between circular connectors (unknown function -but might be a reset button for a disconnect in case of a derail). Note also the red plastic two way switch that I am speculating is forward / reverse.
Trade mark end of station note words "Trade Mark" and "Made in Japan" to the side and below the diamond shaped symbol containing the letters "TM" .
Note width of little station is about 2", Roof is red plastic, one piece, attached to building via 4 eyelet rivets and it does not detach. Base is grey plastic, one piece, attached to the building by an elaborate tab system where the tabs from the sides are wrapped over molded cavities equipped with rods. Construction is quite elaborate and complex for its size.
Anyway, thought you might like to see this thing. I picked it up at a train show in Plano, Tx in January just because I love litho buildings and the litho work on this is just top quality.
Don McErlean
