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Tomy

Tomy was founded by Eiichiro Tomiyama as the Tomiyama Toy Manufacturing Company in February 1924. The company produced many friction-drive and tin toys throughout their first 30 or so years until the rise in the use of plastic in toys throughout the 1950s. In the late 1950s Tomy began producing plastic toys.

Around 1958 Tomy became acquainted in some way with Playskool's Tot Railroad. Tomy adapted their own version of the light blue rail standard and released the first Highway Vehicle and Plastic Rail sets in the late 1950s, spawning the massive range of Plarail trains, track, and accessories available today. For more detailed information about the history of Plarail, visit the Plarail History page. Many manufacturing trends and marks are similar between Plarail and other Tomy toys, so although it is primarily focused on Plarail the Plarail Carbon-Dating page may also help you figure out the production period of a particular Tomy toy.

1960s: Developing Plarail

In the 1960s Tomy developed the Plarail system, producing large chunky push Plastic Trains before developing and revising several drive and coupling systems and new rail pieces throughout the mid and late 1960s as Plastic Rail developed into Plarail, giving the standard a good foundation for the expansion of the range in the 1970s.

1960s Tomy Toys

Here are some of the Tomy toy from the 1960s in my collection

Year Name Description Photo
~1963 Shuttle Train Tin "shuttle train" toy from the Tomiyama era sold by AHI overseas. Battery-operated train runs back and forth up and down and performs a coal loading and unloading operation
1968 Electric Limited Express Hikarigo Set NO.1 Early electric Plarail set with second-generation gearbox New Super Electric Express Hikari Shinkansen train
1968-1973 Magic Skyrail Space-themed vehicle toy with tracked space crawlers that can go upside down and around. Exported as Gripidee Gravidee

Child Guidance collaborations

Seemingly first around 1964 Tomy became involved with Child Guidance Toys of the Bronx, New York when Tomy manufactured the battery-powered train in two "Double-O-Eight Runaway Train" sets. In the later 1960s Tomy would continue to produce some toys in Japan for Child Guidance to sell in the United States, with several of these toys also adapted and sold in Japan by Tomy

Year Set name Description Photo
1964 4030 Double-O-Eight Runaway Train Early Child Guidance Railroad set with an exported early Plarail 0 series Shinkansen
Late 1967 8000 Child Guidance Kiddie Land Amusement park set with train and accessories manufactured by Tomy and also sold as part of the Plarail range
1969 Motorized Shuttle Train Manufactured by Tomy and sold by Child Guidance in the U.S. and Geyper in Spain. Japanese release seems limited and sold in American boxes with an "Action Plarail" ribbon sticker over part of the box
1970 Mini-Car Factory Motorized car assembly line toy that automatically assembled cars in different color combinations, released as オートファクトリー Auto Factory in Japan

1970s: Toy Town and International Expansion

In the 1950s, facing rising prices and natural disasters in Tokyo, toymakers in Japan sought out a new manufacturing hub and Eiichiro Toyama of Tomy helped to found the Toy Town industrial park in the Tochigi Prefecture in the Kanto region of Japan. Factories were built throughout the 1960s with the first toys under the Toy Town Tomy name releasing in 1969 and the area seeing its mot success making domestic and export toys in the 1970s.

In 1970 Tomy established its Hong Kong manufacturing subsidy TOMY (HONG KONG) LTD. and released their first diecast Tomica cars. Tomy expanded into many overseas markets in the 1970s by exporting Tomy and Toy Town toys first through department stores and under other toy companies and later under the Tomy name by their new American distribution company Tomy Corp. with an office and warehouse in Long Beach, California. In 1975 the first version of the popular game Pop-Up Pirate was released in Japan and in 1977 and the following years the first releases of the Big Loader became a big international success, with Tomica and some of Tomy's range of "Pocketmate" games also being exported outside of Japan in the 1970s.

Tomy also became involved with more overseas toy companies and importers and produced toys for Palitoy in the U.K., Geyper in Spain, and Stelco in West Germany. The seemingly short-lived Tomy Spielwaren GmbH that operated out of the Stelco facility after they went bankrupt in early 1979 appears to have been the first of Tomy's European offices, but by 1982 Tomy U.K. had begun servicing Europe.

In Japan, Tomy had been importing American Bachmann N scale train since the late 1960s, and distributing Japanese rolling stock produced by the same company that was producing Bachmann's N scale products as Tomy Nine Scale, referring to the 9mm spacing between the rails. In 1976 this range was renamed Tomix and in 1980 Tomy established a new manufacturing plant in Japan that only produced Tomix at first (now it is the headquarters for TomyTec, Tomy's hobby subsidiary that has handled Tomix since the early 2000s).

Tomy-designed or made toys from the 1970s in my collection include...

Year Name Description Photo
1970 Giant Crane Large (over 2 feet tall) motorized crane toy with four motors controlling the arm, block and tackle, and claw with accessories to pick up and maneuver
1970s Dead Heat Game
デッドヒートゲーム
Series of Tomy downhill racing "games" with motorized lifts and multiple lanes with horse races, cyclists, motor cycle racers, and other racing sports
1972-1979 Highway Police Chase "Plahighway" export sets for Sears with police cruiser chasing a red car around a highway interchange with controllable junctions
1972 The Little Engine That Could Train Set American "Freerail" export set sold at Montgomery Ward's with a "puffing" steam locomotive and flexible, cuttable track
1973 Pit In Racing Large two-lane racing set with rechargeable cars that can change lanes and stop in the "pit" to charge  
1970s Shuttling Ferry-Boat "Shuttle" ferry set with bus that rides a ferry back and forth between two observation towers. Sold in Japan by Tomy and distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Woolworths, also had a Geyper version in Spain
1974 EF-15 Electric Locomotive Overpass Panorama Set First Plarail set to use the classic "overpass" layout with raised curved bridge and early EF15 electric locomotive and freight train
1975 Playrail American market train sets based on Plarail - but mostly Plarail Land sets that were aimed at younger children
1975-1980s Pocket Games Spring-loaded and wind-up pocket-size timewasters
1976 Tomix Tomy's range of primarily N scale trains  
1977
Big Loader Construction site automaton turned toy released and rereleased many, many times
1977 Palitoy Discovery Time train sets Plarail and Plarail Land export sets for the U.K. market sold by Palitoy
1978 Stelco Junior Express A West German train system based on Plarail with Tomy-produced locomotives
~1978 Super Rail Black Refined Super Rail train system with reversing trains with other advanced controllable features like changing speed and automatic coupling and uncoupling
1979 Atomic Arcade Pinball Motorized portable pinball table with motor, lights, sound, and score reels; one of the best "portable" toy pinball tables

1980s: Overseas Success and the Start of Thailand Production

With the successes of Big Loader, Atomic Arcade Pinball, and some of their other electromechanical toys in the 1970s, Tomy continued to produce fun and inventive toys sold around the world in the 1980s, now mostly sold under their own name. In 1981 they opened Tomy Canada in Canada and in 1982 Tomy U.K. in Sutton, Surrey began importing toys for the European market. Tomy became known for toys like the Racing Turbo, their handheld and pocket games, and tabletop games like Screwball Scramble and Kong Man. Tomy's range of robot and vehicle toys were also popular exports, and Tomy developed good international brand recognition, particularly in Europe.

Facing high costs of domestic production, Tomy closed two of their Japanese factories in 1986. Also in 1986 Tomy America (Tomy Corp.) and Tomy Canada struck a deal with Coleco where Coleco would handle Tomy's North American distribution. By 1988, however, Coleco was bankrupt and Tomy purchased back their North America distribution rights in 1989, operating as Tomy America Inc. beginning in 1988.

In 1987 Tomy Thailand began producing new production runs of some classic Tomy toys such as the Big Loader, with some Plarail production beginning there in 1989. In the 1990s Tomy's manufacturing in Thailand would expand even further.

Tomy-designed or made toys from the 1980s in my collection include...

Year Name Description Photo
1980 Stunt Car Race Set Motorized truck stunt show with friction-drive racers that go up on two wheels and race around
1981 Super Skyway Roller coaster-style toy with recharging train that traverses up, around, and back on racked track  
1984 Radio Control Plarail First remote-control series of Plarail trains
1985 Potch Small "home robopet" dog robot that runs around and barks. Also released as "Spotbot"
1985 Plaroad Plastic road system with motorized cars that worked with many Plarail accessories, tying together well geometrically and aesthetically
1987 New-Power Plarail Plarail tractive power was changed forever with the introduction of the direct-drive "new power" gearbox in 1987, which most of the range was rereleased with
1988 Tomy Train Toy train system based on the Plarail rail standard with larger reversing engines with magnetic couplings and a range of accessories released in America and Europe

1990s: Licensed & character toys

Having previously licensed some toys, particularly for Disney, Tomy began releasing many more character toys including Super Mario, Thomas the Tank Engine, Doraemon, and later new characters like Pokémon.

In 1993 Tomy developed the B/O or Motor Tomica range, a battery-powered companion to the Tomica range which was compatible in many ways with Plarail.

Tomy continued to shift production out of Japan and into Thailand, moving Plarail, Motor Tomica, and other production lines to the expanding Thailand facility.

In 1997 Tomy began exporting Plarail Thomas series sets to the Untied States, expanding into the Tomica World range in 1998 which featured regular Plarail and Motor Tomica components as well as Thomas series trains and sets.

Tomy-designed or made toys from the 1990s in my collection include...

Year Name Description Photo
1992 Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine series Still-running series of trains, sets, and accessories for the long-lived Plarail system of toy trains
1993 B/O Tomica/Motor Tomica Motorized version of Tomica diecast and plastic cars that work well with the Plarail system
1994 Big Big Loader Two-level Big Loader with elevator that can be connected to the original Big Loader
1998 Tomica World Export series of Plarail and Tomica sets, vehicles, and accessories

Tomy divisions timeline

Tomy has operated under many different names in different regions and has had several subsidiaries in Japan as well as multiple manufacturing facilities at different points in time.

Name
Region
Years Active Description
Showcased products
Tomiyama
Tomy
トミー
Takara Tomy
タカラトミー
Japan
1919- Tomy's original Japanese company, produced toys in Japan domestically until 1996 when all production had moved to Thailand or China. Merged with Takara in 2006 Shuttle Train (1960s)
Plarail (1959-)
Atomic Pinball (1979-2000s)
Dead Heat (1970s-2000s)
Super Rail (1975-1990)
Tomix (1976-) (now handled by TomyTec)
Big Loader (1977-)
Potch (1985-2000s)
Toy Town
トイタウン
Toybox

Japan
1960s-2000s Brand with ties to Tomy and Tomy's work in the Toy Town toy factory complex, used on a variety of mostly electromechanical toys that were often also exported for foreign markets Oyama Shuppo/Mountain Railway (1969-2000s)
Flippity Flyer (1970s)
Aerial Tank Engine (1976)
Tomy (Hong Kong) LTD
Hong Kong
1970- Tomy's first overseas manufacturing subsidiary that would produce some toys for export throughout the 1970s Discovery Time Junior Train Set (for Palitoy, U.K.) (1977)
C-12s (Palitoy and Stelco, U.K. and W. Germany) (1977-1979)
Pocket Games (circa early 1980s)
Tomy Singapore
Singapore
1972-1995 Tomy began producing toys in a new Singapore factory in the early 1970s. Tomy would occasionally produce export toys or other variants of originally Japanese-made toys here until manufacturing stopped in late 1991 in favor of the expanding Thailand production center. The office remained as a sales and distribution center until March 1995 Big Loader (Singapore variations) (1979-1987)
Tomy Spielwaren GmbH
West Germany
1979-? Tomy's seemingly short-lived West German operation out of the Stelco facility with whom they had previously worked with. By the era of Tomy Express Tomy's German operations were out of their European headquarters in England Stelco Junior Express (1979-1980)
Tomy UK Ltd., European Headquarters
UK
1982- Tomy's UK offices and European headquarters in Sutton, Surrey Atomic Pinball (1980s-)
Tomy Train (Eur. & Aus.) (1988-1997)
Tomy-Express (Germany) (1989-1993)
Tomica World (Eur. & Aus.) (1998-2003)
Thomas Motor Road & Rail (Eur. & Aus.) (2003-2008)
Thomas & Friends TrackMaster (U.K.) (2008)
Tomy Kyogo Co.
Tomy Corp.
USA
1975-1989 Tomy's first American headquarters and distribution warehouse located in Long Beach, CA. Released the Big Loader and other later 1970s exports, entered a partnership with Coleco in 1986 who folded and sold to Hasbro in 1989, at which point Tomy bought back their American distribution rights The Little Engine That Could Train Set (1972-1976)
Playrail (1975-~1980)
Big Loader (1977-1987)
Atomic Arcade Pinball (1979)
Tomy Canada
Canada
1981-1989 Tomy's Canadian division opened in 1981 that merged with Coleco alongside the American Tomy Corp. in 1986, bought back in 1989  
Tomy Thailand
Thailand
1987- Tomy started producing toys in Thailand in 1987 and throughout the 1990s Thailand would expand to be Tomy's major region of manufacturing Plarail (1989-)
Tomy America Inc.
USA
1988- Tomy's next American offices in Edison, New Jersey; later in Brea, California. Purchased the American and Canadian Tomy distribution rights Coleco had from the 1986 deal when they went bankrupt in 1989 Tomy Train (1988-1996)
Atomic Pinball (late 1980s-)
Big Loader (1989-)
Thomas the Tank Engine Wooden Railway (2012)
Yujin Co., Ltd.
株式会社ユージン
Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.
タカラトミーアーツ
1988-2008 (Yujin)
2009-
Capsule toy and candy toy manufacturer and seller that later became a subsidiary of Tomy, renamed Takara Tomy ARTS in January 2009 Candy Dispenser Thomas (1998)
Capsule Plarail (1999-)
Tomy Industries Company
トミー興産株式会社
Japan
1990-2014 Tomy industries subsidiary, located in Toytown. Merged into Takara Tomy Ibis in 2014  
TomyTec
トミーテック
1996- Tomy subsidiary that handled hobby and scale model products including Tomix model trains Tomix (late 2001-)
Tomy Engineering Service
株式会社トミーエンジニアリング
Japan
1996-2014 Tomy offered design and engineering services for a time, although it seems either few toys were developed this way or few have been documented. Merged into Takara Tomy Ibis Train Unlimited series (1999)
Tomy Business Service Company
株式会社トミービジネスサービス
Japan
2003-2014 Handled the Takara Tomy Mall until merging into Takara Tomy Ibis  
Takara Tomy Ibis
タカラトミーアイビス
Japan
2014- Created from the merger of Tomy Industries Co., Takara Tomy Engineering Service Co., and Takara Tomy Business Service Co. in November 2012. Handles digital content and the "Takara Tomy Mall" online store as well as after-sale support