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Tomyville Log 'n Load Train Set (1991)
Originally written April 18, 2024
In 1991 the American Tomy Train range was revamped with the Log 'n Load Train Set being the larger of the two. The set includes an Amtrak-style diesel with log car as well as the log loading station and unloading depot. When the American range was updated in 1993 this set remained as the intermediate set in its original box design. The production period of a specific example can be determined by its contents or, perhaps less reliably, the presence of the yellow Bonus! offer sticker on the front of the box which was part of a 1993 mail-in promotion. 1993 production run examples seem far more common.
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. Originally, the box would have used a cardboard tray for the set pieces with a foam or later formed plastic insert to hold the trains in the front viewing window, but both are missing from my copy. The name of this set is seemingly a reference to the phrase "lock and load," which is sort of an odd thing to name a toy for preschoolers after.
Set contents| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 8 pieces |
"Amtrak" diesel locomotive with
log tipper car, two logs, and caboose |
 |
| 1 | Log truck |
 |
| 2 pieces | Driver and operator figures |
 |
| 2 | Straight Rail |
 |
| 4 | Half Straight Rail |
 |
| 9 | Curve Rail |
 |
| 1 | Stop Rail |
 |
| 1 | Reverse Rail |
 |
| 1 | Turnout Rail (L) |
 |
| 1 | Automatic Reverse Rail |
 |
| 1 | Banked Curve |
 |
| 1 | Buffer |
 |
| 14 pieces | Freight Station |
 |
| 1 | Log Depot |
 |
| 3 pieces | Fir Tree |
 |
| 1 | Stop Sign |
 |
The train in this set is a short logging train with an Amtrak-style diesel, tipper wagon, and caboose.
1991 production examples would have included the studded type of locomotive and caboose roof but this 1993 example has the later flat type.
The figures in this set have magnets in the feet to properly interact with the magnetic freight station base. The log truck has a tipping truck bed to allow it to deliver logs.
The main destination included in the set is the new-for-1991 Freight Station and Depot. This large log loader station is built on the magnetic yellow base also used by the Inter-city Station and the station allows you to unload logs from the log truck, lift them up the lift, roll down and collect in the chute, and then be loaded into the train as it passes.
After the train has loaded up with logs, the depot will automatically tip the tipper wagon when the train passes, collecting any logs it is carrying. These logs can then be tipped back into the truck to start the cycle all over again.
The little siding with automatic reverser is only long enough to pick up a single truck in. The log truck has a spring-drive mechanism that runs when the driver is pushed down like Tomy's classic Push n Go vehicle toys.
The 1993 Tomyville Trains sets, which the later production run Log 'n Load sets were a part of, 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. Interestingly, the front of these instructions seem to show this set with the Santa Fe style engine.
The set actually included a copy of the original multilingual European-style TOMYTRAINS accessory instructions for the freight station.
The log loading station is a very cool Tomy Train accessory, arguably the coolest they ever made, but the set overall feels smaller than the old Tomy Train 2, with no elevated portion and only a three-car train. The set only includes a single point rail, with the smaller period Tunnel Train Set actually coming with a pair.
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.