fall inside a hole

Tomy Train Rail

First written April 16, 2024
Reformatted November 2025

TomyTrain was a battery-powered plastic toy train system developed by Tomy for international sale in the late 1980s. Tomy Train track is dark blue like Tomy Express and was first produced in Tomy's relatively new Thailand factory. The factory opened in 1987 and first produced Plarail in 1989, a year after Tomy Train seems to have first been released. Early rail is partially new Thailand toolings and old Japanese toolings which were moved to Thailand and updated with treaded rail surfaces while later track is a mix of later early 1990s Thailand toolings before eventually production shifted to Singapore in the range's twilight years.

1300 Straight Rail (1988)

Packs of six straight rails were sold individually for much of the range's lifespan in multiple regions. Early straight track is seemingly a fresh Thailand tooling with a treaded surface. The underside is marked THAILAND with a slot mark near the outboard connector

Half Straight Rail (1988)

Tomy Train half straights were not sold individually, with many appearing in sets from different eras as well as in some accessories like the Crossover Switch and Track Pack. Early Tomy Train Half Straight Rails are notoriously prone to splitting.

Later on a different less split-prone Thailand tooling was used, as seen here on this circa 1993 half straight rail.

1301 Curve Rail (1988)

Packs of six curve rails were sold individually for much of the range's lifespan in multiple regions. Early Tomy Trains curve track is a Japanese roughtop tooling that had tread added on top, with the oval bump over where the tooling originally said "JAPAN". Also present is the slot mark.

By 1993, Thailand-original toolings were in use.

1302 Stop, Reverse, and Half Rail (1988)

This pack included several rails not sold individually, although they appear regularly in sets.

Early Tomy Train stop rails were first produced from old 1970s Hong Kong tooling that were used for Palitoy exports. These were originally all smooth, with the rail surface being updated with treading for TomyTrain. This tooling was later updated to have the serrated stopper platform, as seen above. These earlier types can be spotted by their rougher undersides and thinner stopper platform.

Later stop rails used more modern Thailand toolings.

Tomy Trains reverser rails were condensed down to half a straight rail from their older Round-Trip Plarail cousins. Otherwise, they have a very similar structure, and even revert to a roughtop surface around the directional changer.

See above for half straight track info.

1303 Point Rail (1988)

Pairs of turnout rails released in multiple regions. Early Tomy Trains switch track is prone to shrinking and splitting.

Later (1993 and on) turnouts seem to survive a little better.

1304 Slope Rail (1988)

The Tomy Trains elevation system is based around the taller loading gauge of Tomy Train trains, with the slope rails elevating track ~108mm to work with a system of red risers. This is taller than the Plarail Slope Rail and elevation system which is based on a ~65mm standard.

These slope rails are as long a two and a half straights horizontally as opposed to Plarail's two. The Tomy Train slope rails also include a rack on either side that the cogs on the engine's wheels engage with to give the motor a direct-drive against the rail. This makes sure an engine will pretty much always make it up a slope and also controls the train's speed when going down - it functions in some form like a real cog railroad. (This is somewhat humorous in a later Euro Park set where the "Big Dipper" coaster the train represents travels down the big hill just as slowly as it went up)

Tomy Train slope rails were initially produced in Thailand and later Singapore.

Automatic Reversing Rail (1988)

In addition to the lever type half-straight reversers, these automatic reversers were included in many sets. These are very handy for putting midway down sidings so that a locomotive can pick up a train and then head forward out of the siding or to reverse any train in motion that would otherwise continue heading for a dead-end siding. The rail surface around the reverser is roughtop, and the underside of the tooling is different from a regular straight rail.

Similar to the "manual" Reversing Rail this is an evolution of the earlier Round-Trip Plarail reverser track piece, which funnily enough was produced in a familiar dark blue despite predating the Tomy Train standard by about a decade...

Ramps (1988)

Track-to-surface ramp pieces were first used to offer an entrance to the "road" in the standard Tomy Trains railroad crossing. It continued to be used in grey on the later yellow magnet-base stations on the attached road section.

In 1989 these were produced in red for the Plarail First Set. In the 1996 Tomy Trains range they were produced in dark blue. Decades later, they appeared in standard Plarail blue in the Shinkansen Kodama Set. Finally, I have assembled all four.

Banked Curve (1988)

Premiering in 1988 in Tomy Train 1, the Banked Curve is a 90 degree curve rail with the footprint of two normal curve rails that raises up a modest distance in the middle. In addition to the long-lived Tomy Train 1, it was also included in the American Log 'n Load Set, the Euro Park set, and the Fun Day set.

It was reused in light green as a hill piece in the Thomas-series Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine Exciting Cruise Set in 2010, with the tooling updated.

1334 Tomy Train Track Pack (1990)

American track pack with eight straight rails, eight curve rails, four half straight rails, a pair of turnouts, a stop rail, and a reverser rail.

Single/Double Point Rail (1990)

In 1990 dark blue Single/Double Point Rails began to appear, with a pair in the 1316 Inter-City Station and one later included with the 1337 Automatic 3-Way Switch as the Plarail double rail standard was not well established in Tomy Train. Some sets also included single/double point rails.

Like in Plarail and the point rails, there is an A (convex single input and two concave branches) and a B (concave single connector and convex spurs) type.

1342 Adaptor Track (1990/1992)

First sold mail-order only in the U.K. in 1990 and 1991, later sold in a regular pack. Beginning in 1991 one of each type was also sold in 1326 Suspension Bridge. A few were also included in later sets, particularly ones that use the Y-shaped points.

Sloping Curve Rail (1991)

In 1991 as part of the 1326 Suspension Bridge pack dark blue slope curve rails that were originally designed for the Plarail mini block pier standard were released. There is an "A" type that curves up and to the left and a B type that curves up and to the right and they were only produced in the one joint configuration (I.E. to go up and to the left your track must currently end (or be able to be adapted into) a convex connector to connect a "B" slope curve.

These come from early 1990s Thailand toolings.

1335 Crossover Points (1993)

Tomy Train version of the Crossing Point Rail, oddly with an entirely new tooling that uses more plastic. Like the Plarail version, it includes four half straights which can be used with 12 curves to make a figure eight. The track change levers allow you to send a train straight or off to one of the adjacent branches in a tight turn.

Although seemingly based on the Plarail standard one, the Tomy Train crossover point is a solid piece of hard plastic instead of the softer and less filled-in Plarail type. Seemingly part of this was done so that all of the rail could be treaded - the crossover point remained roughtop-treaded for decades in Plarail. The traditional Plarail version can be flipped over to make a point-less "standard" 90 degree crossing.

1337 Automatic 3-Way Points (1990/1993)

First sold in the 1317 Siding Accessory Set, the Plarail three-way automatic switch was adapted for Tomy Trains and sold individually (with an opposing single/double point rail) and in some sets in Europe starting in 1993.

The later individual release from 1993 is marked Made in Thailand but I believe the earlier 1990 release from the siding accessory pack may be marked only Thailand.

1340 Y-Shaped Points (1994)

Tomy Train dark blue version of the Plarail Figure Eight Point Rail. These points have the footprint of two straights heading in opposite directions and can be used to build wyes and figure eights. Because of the connector configuration, one of the branches will have two of the same connector on either end. Included in some later sets.

These points come from Thailand tread-over-roughtop toolings that were originally from Japan (the oval marks in the points near the MADE IN THAILAND text is where the original JAPAN text was marked out of the mold). The double convex switch is the L switch and the double concave switch is the R switch.

Three-Way Points (1996)

Only included in a large Thomas-series set, the Plarail three-way "point machine" was released in dark blue. The lever on the side swings the directional decider between the three branches, with molding to allow a train to overrun the switch when set against it.

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