Departing Now

Departing Now (Japanese: しゅっぱつしんこうシリーズ) is a toy range made by Bandai. The range had push-along, remote control, and battery-powered engines that could be controlled by hovering a wand over their cabs. Originally, the engines faces were permanently attached to their bodies, but as the line progressed they were given interchangeable and removable face masks.

Engines

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Donald
 * Douglas
 * Bill
 * Ben
 * Skarloey
 * Rheneas
 * Sir Handel
 * Peter Sam
 * Duncan
 * Duke

Rolling stock

 * Annie
 * Clarabel
 * Henrietta
 * Troublesome Trucks
 * Troublesome Vans
 * Express Coaches
 * The Breakdown Crane
 * Red Narrow Gauge Coaches
 * Blue Narrow Gauge Coaches
 * Narrow Gauge Trucks

Vehicles

 * Terence
 * Bertie
 * Harold

People

 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Lady Hatt
 * Bridget and Stephen Hatt
 * Jeremiah Jobling
 * The Vicar
 * Jem Cole
 * The Policeman
 * The Barber
 * The Stationmaster
 * The Stationmaster's Wife
 * Farmer Finney

Sets

 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Knapford Station
 * Accessory Set
 * Thomas Battery Powered Set
 * Thomas and Annie and Clarabel Set
 * Thomas and James Set
 * Percy and Coaches Set
 * Track Expansion Pack

Trivia

 * The push-along versions of these series, called Puradera (プラデラ), were released in 1991 and 1995.
 * This series was replaced in 1995 with a cost-cutting version, Thomas Rail Series (トーマスレールシリーズ).


 * This series marks the first of several things:
 * The very first Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends merchandise released as series toy by Bandai.
 * The very first Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends merchandise released as battery-powered rail system in Japan.
 * The side-rods on the engines influenced the Plarail released by Tomy in 1992.
 * Henrietta and the breakdown train's liveries are darker than usual.
 * Most of the engines are missing their lamp irons and have over sized funnels.
 * Besides the powered ones, Bandai also released the same exact models as unpowered push alongs. All engines except Donald, Douglas, Edward, Bill and Ben are known to exist as unpowered.
 * Twin engines, such as Donald and Douglas or Bill and Ben, contained one motorised engine and one push along. Each twin had the same exact model, the only difference being the shell that protected the battery (boiler) has a nameplate stating who they were. This could also be swapped with the other twin. This was most likely intended to not limit children to only having one motorised character.
 * The Skarloey engines were never released in a powered form. They were available only as a push along version released in 1995.
 * The Skarloey engines were often sold together in groups of twos.
 * Despite having made every other Skarloey engine including Duke, Rusty was never made for the line.
 * A majority of engines would be sold with a nameboard, spare face masks, and sometimes even people.
 * Some tank engines in the range have sliding cab doors which allows for a person to be put inside.
 * Only Thomas, Henry, Gordon, James and Percy were ever made with interchangeable faces. Each engine had a happy, a sad and an angry face.
 * The Troublesome Van had the same roof as Annie and Clarabel.
 * The Breakdown Train has a hollow cab, the crane's arm raises via a lever, and it has a working winch, with chain instead of the typical string.
 * The range is named after Thomas' catchphrase during the early Japanese dub of the television series.