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Tomy Trains Thomas and Percy's Big Adventure (1996)

Originally written May 7, 2024

The #1146 Thomas and Percy's Big Adventure Set is a later European Tomy Trains Thomas the Tank Engine series set that is very large, one of the largest in the range and the only set to come with two powered engines. It includes Thomas and Percy with Annie and Clarabel and Troublesome Trucks as well as a large looping layout with bridge, station, sidings, and sheds.

This set was only released in the Europe with a focus on the U.K. and stayed in production into 1997.

Set contents

Quantity	Item	Photo
5 pieces	Thomas with Annie and Clarabel
5 pieces	Percy with Troublesome Trucks
3 pieces	Sir Topham Hatt and two drivers
11	Straight Rail
3	Half Straight Rail
12	Curve Rail
1	Stop Rail
1	Reverse Rail
5	Turnout Rail (three right and two left)
1	Automatic Reverse Rail
4 pieces	Slope Rail (one of each type)
1	Three-Way Switch
2	Bridge Girder
2 pieces	Bridge
4	Buffer
3	Engine Shed (four pieces each)
6 pieces	Elsbridge Station platform
2	Tree
1	Stoplight

Thomas and Percy's Big Adventure, as the name implies, includes both Thomas the Tank engine and Percy the Green Engine as well as Annie and Clarabel, two Troublesome Trucks, two drivers, and Sir Topham Hatt. The trucks in my set are missing their brown sides, as many often are.

This huge set is the only Tomy Train set to come with two powered trains and this set serves as potentially the only Tomy Train set a kid could ever need - other Thomas characters could easily be added before the layout starts to feel cramped, especially with three sheds and a siding inside of the larger loop.

The track layout in this set is nice and large with a lot of straight rails as well as a regular stop rail, reverser rail, automatic reverser, and the combination stop/reverser in the sheds. This is the only set to come with the three-way switch in dark blue.

Interestingly, the sheds in this set do not have the little flip-down sign and mechanic gimmick - perhaps they felt this was too expensive to include with three of the sheds included in the set. The track base for each shed has an integrated stop rail and reverse rail which are controlled using the levers on the side.

The station in this set is similar to other Tomy Train stations with the same yellow base piece, the Elsbridge sign, and the newer red roof and grey support. The siding near the sheds is long enough for a train to pick up a few carriages and then reverse back out.

This set remained on sale in Europe and particularly the U.K. into 1997 under the Tomy Trains range and was never released in the United States. In 1998 the Tomy Trains range was discontinued and the Tomica World range began being exported to Europe and the U.S.