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Woolworth's Shuttling Ferry-Boat (early 1970s)

First written April 26, 2024

The Shuttling Ferry-Boat is a fairly simple "shuttle" type toy in which a vehicle, in this case a little tour bus and ferry boat, go around and around in a set layout with limited interaction. This toy was produced in Japan by Tomy for Woolworths and Woolco stores at some point in the earlier 1970s (it does not seem that anyone has been able to pin it down further than this, but other Tomy exports appeared under store brands in the States by 1972). In Japan it was sold by Tomy as フェリーボート or simply Ferry Boat and had one red and one green base, neither with stopper, as well as other color and sticker differences. A version sold by Geyper in Spain as Geyper Ferry-Boat also used this red and green base style as well as alternate stickers.

The top and bottom of the box show how to install the battery and turn the bus on as well as how to use the stopper.

Set contents
Quantity
Item
Photo
1
Tour bus

1 Ferry
2 "Water" track pieces
1
Red base
1
Red base with stopper

2 Marine Tower
2 Signs (regional variations)

The little tour bus in this set is really neat and fits the style of a lot of other Tomy toys from this era, molded nicely out of red and white with a window insert (the Japanese version has an insert with people printed on it). The molded details are sparse but well-chosen and nicely designed and the body has a neat shape that dips down at the front. The gearbox is a neat direct-drive affair that is similar to the old all-metal Plarail gearboxes and there is a Plarail-style activation tab catcher but is is located under the front wheels instead of the rear ones as on Plarail. The power switch is a physical wedge that moves the battery away from the contact on the gearbox to turn off the bus.

The ferry is made up of two parts and the roof can be removed. The base has two sets of stoppers and pass-through rollers that catch the bus to drive the ferry along until the protruding bumpers disengage the catch and let the bus go. A geartrain on one axle drives a small speed arrestor or governor but it doesn't seem particularly necessary - perhaps it is to provide some flywheel effect?

One of the large red plastic bases has a simple stopper mechanism that stops the bus on top of rollers which spin the tower in the center of that base around until the knob is turned to drop the stopper. The "marine tower" lookouts have a nice sticker of onlookers wrapped around the top. The stickers on the signs and ferry have a few variants - the Canadian Woolworth's releases has Victoria and Saint John's stickers. A ferry ride between Los Angeles and New York would be quite the trip...

The ferry rides back and forth on two identical water "track" pieces that are curved up and down to produce a subtle wave-rolling effect as the ferry runs. The connection style is rotationally symmetric and the connection system is somewhat similar to what Tomy used on old Plarail U-Turn rails and some of their early road systems.

I really like the look of the sleek little bus spinning around the bases - I sort of wish there was a little more land for the bus to run on, but I suppose I can get it out some time I play with Plarail and use it as a neat little bus. The rolling of the waves is neat as is the spinning effect, but I sort of like the set just left running with the stopper down.

This ferry set became somewhat "known" about in Western Plarail circles a few years ago and several people on the Blue Plastic Tracks forums ended up with a copy. I would like to pick up some of the other regional variations, in particular the Spanish and Japanese releases.