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Tomyville Trains The Great Freight Train Set (1993)

Originally written April 19, 2024


In 1993 the Great Freight Train was released as part of the Tomyville Trains series of American Tomy Trains releases featuring a wider variety of rolling stock than typical sets as well as some newer accessories not easily available in America. The set features the classic operating crane as well as the newer engine wash and shed and an elevated portion with the two loops of track connected by a crossover switch.

This box borrows some style cues from the 1970s Playrail sets. This wood-boarder style was used on some other toys around this time like the early 1990s Thailand-made American Big Loader reissue.

 Set contents
Quantity
Item
Photo
8 pieces
"Santa Fe" diesel locomotive with container car, car carrier, and cement mixer car

Forklift
3 pieces Driver, operator, and passenger figures 
11 Straight Rail
2 Half Straight Rail
16 Curve Rail
2
Slope Rail (one of each type)
1 Stop Rail
1 Crossover Point
7 Bridge Girder
2 pieces Bridge
3 pieces Crane
4 pieces Engine Shed
1 Train Wash
1 Railroad Crossing Sign
1 Stop Sign

The Great Freight Train, as the name suggests, is an impressive freight train including the Santa Fe-style engine, a blue container and flatbed, a red car carrier with yellow car, and a spinning cement mixer. This is the only time multipack carriages like the auto carrier and mixer were used in sets

The cement mixer drum spins when the back wheels are turned, as you would hope from a cement mixer train carriage. The blue chute swivels and a magnet in the deck of the carriage allows a figure to ride along. The set also includes a studless forklift to carry the container. The engine in my set was manufactured in September 1993.

Alongside the container car and forklift, this set also includes the studless version of the rolling gantry crane, as cool as ever.

First sold in Europe in 1991 but not available elsewhere in America at this point was the Engine Shed, which has a large studded base with integrated stop and return rails. Orange buttons on the top cause a workman figure or work sign to swing down. It appears this studless version of the shed is somewhat uncommon - most of the European ones I have have studs, and the later Thomas-series sheds with no ceiling play features have studs.

This set also includes the train wash and crossover points, neither of which seem to have been sold normally in the United States. The train wash has a built-in reverser from when it was a Round-Trip Plarail accessory. The crossover switch allows the train to swap between the different loops of track.

Also included is a slightly longer bridge than usual. The freight train does look nice with the cement mixer spinning along the whole time.

The 1993 Tomyville Trains sets all shared one instruction leaflet. Around this time, Tomy was still trying to clear stock of circa-1990 American accessory packs and were offering 12 dollars worth free plus shipping (plus, of course, the option to buy more) with any of the 1993 sets.

This is a very nice big set with some cool rolling stock and accessories, with the crossover switch letting you switch between loops or run big strange figure-eight type patterns. The engine wash and shed both offer options for reversing the train, with a stop rail also integrated to the shed and included separately. I do think it would be nice to have one additional interactive aspect of the freight train - I really think it was a missed opportunity to not include the magnet freight system used on the blue containers in the cars for the car carrier so that the crane could also load and unload the cars. The cement mixer is neat but other than the driver none of the figures in my copy of this set have magnets in the feet to stand on it.

1993 seems to have been the last year of regular American releases under the Tomyville name. In 1994 and 1995 the only new Tomy Train releases in America were the Thomas the Tank Engine series trains and sets sold as the "Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends Battery Operated Railway" with no specific mention of the Tomy Train connection.