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Sets | Trains | Rail | Accessories | Thomas series |
With the success of Thomas the Tank Engine on television and Tomy becoming interested in producing Thomas the Tank Engine toys in the early 1990s a range of Thomas characters and sets compatible with the Tomy Train standard was established. Trains used uniquely colored or arranged wheels but the configuration of the driving wheels and gearbox internals was the same.
The first set in the Thomas range launched in Europe in late 1992 in blue TOMY TRAIN packaging as was the style in Europe at the time. Some parts of the European range were exported, likely in varying and somewhat limited numbers, to Australia.
The first set did not reach the United States until 1994 at which point regular Tomy Train marketing in America stopped with some accessories being repackaged in Thomas-themed packaging and being marketed as the "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Battery Operated Rail System" rather than anything to do with Tomy Train itself.
1994 and 1995 brought new characters and the only new Tomy Train products in the United States those years. In Europe the Tomy Train range was revamped in 1996 as Tomy Trains and a new larger set was introduced. America saw its last new set in 1996 with backstock of the range remaining available into 1997 alongside Plarail-based Thomas the Tank Engine Battery Operated Rail System, the predecessor to Tomica World. Tomy Trains continued to be produced for Europe with some production moving to Singapore before Europe also transitioned to Tomica World in 1998.
Going on sale in the U.K. and Europe in late 1992, Thomas and his two coaches Annie and Clarabel as well as a Sir Topham Hatt figure were released as a train pack.
Thomas has blue wheels, the first Tomy Train engine to not use the standard red. Like Plarail and regular Tomy Trains engines after the early 90s, Tomy Train engines are marked with a production sticker with the number representing the last digit of the year and the letter's position in the alphabet corresponding with the number of the month in the year (October 1994, in the case of J4). Annie and Clarabel use regular red wheels but are new toolings for the coaches themselves, but they are really just large blocks with stickers - it would have been cooler, especially considering Tomy already had an open carriage designed for the range, for Annie and Clarabel to have been able to fit the Tomy Trains figures as passengers.
It is a nice detail that Clarabel's sticker includes her guard's compartment, something that some Clarabel toys miss like the Plarail version released earlier in 1992 (usually because she and Annie share a common tooling to save on production, which is indeed the case here, the stickers just make it easier to depict them than molded open windows).
Train pack with Percy, driver, and two brown Troublesome Trucks with drop-down sides.
The trucks use the tooling of the existing Tomy Train animal wagons but in a nice brown with classic troublesome truck face stickers, and I think they look very nice and fit the system well, with plenty of exposed studs and open space to fill with cargo. The trucks come on unique black-wheeled black train bases and can be prone to losing the drop-down sides. Between four trucks I have only one side piece.
Percy uses the regular Tomy Train chassis with green wheels.
The next Thomas characters, released in 1994 and 1995, were all released individually with a driver figure. The larger engines all have open cabs for the figures to sit in. These trains have different wheel arrangements from regular Tomy Train - very neat! The tenders sit on shorter chassis and the engine have correctly colored wheels instead of red.
The Thomas engines all have nice uses of stickers. I do think that the tenders and really engines as well ride a little high, but this really just a side effect of being designed for the Tomy Train standard and having to fit the large reversing gearbox inside. The short blue-wheeled tender chassis was also used for Gordon. Edward seems to be the hardest to find, I've come across just one from buying lots that had in total three or four of each of the other tender engines - I've held onto two of each of the other big engines, plus the extra boxed James shown below.
European releases from 1992 when the Thomas series started to the Tomy Trains brand refresh in 1996 used this blue TOMY TRAIN packaging.
Inside is a vaccuformed holding tray.
The plastic used on these trains is very nice and bright. James has a nicely-made face and an effective use of plastic color, paint, and stickers.
Like other characters, James continued to be produced into 1997.
In 1995 the two large tender engines Gordon and Henry were released for the range. Gordon looks very large and long and has a nice face.
This version of the chassis has a spring-return articulated front boogie, something that Tomy has not implemented on... any other of their train toys that I can think of.
Henry uses the same long chassis as Gordon and also has a nice big cheery face.
The big engines really do look quite nice with the smaller ones... I quite like the whole range. Some photos of some of the trains in use can be seen on this page.
In the United States, seemingly in part in an effort to clear overstock which seemed to perpetually exist for Tomy Train in the States, four accessory packs were released in Thomas-themed packaging in 1995 after regular Tomy Train releases faded from the states in 1994.
Bridge pack with two American bridge pack with with two yellow iron bridges, four Tomy Train girders, four straight rails, two curve rails, and a pair of slope rails. Same as 1335 Bridge and Track.
Yellow station platform with seats, railings, Elsbridge Station sign, and driver and Sir Topham Hatt figures.
Track pack with six straight rails, six curves, and a pair of turnouts.
Rerelease of 1330 Crossing Pack with crossing with ramps and signs, short tunnel, and tree in Thomas-themed packaging.
The initial Thomas the Tank Engine Tomy Train set was released in October 1992 in the U.K. and made its way to America by 1994.
Year Region |
Set name |
Description |
Photo |
---|---|---|---|
October 1992 Europe |
1126 Thomas the Tank Engine Set | Large oval set with suspension bridge and engine shed on siding with Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel |
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1993 Europe |
1134 Thomas the Tank Engine Starter Set | Small oval set with Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel |
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1994 America |
1126 Thomas the Tank Engine Deluxe Set | American release of the initial larger Thomas the Tank set |
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1994 America |
1134 Thomas the Tank Engine Starter Set | American release of the small oval set |
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1996 Europe |
1146 Thomas and Percy's Big Adventure | Large Tomy Trains set with Thomas and Percy with trucks and coaches and a large layout with bridge, station, and three engine sheds |
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1996 America |
1353 Thomas the Tank Engine Basic Set | Odd circle set for the American market that includes Thomas and Clarabel but no Annie |
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In later 1997 Tomy introduced the short-lived Thomas Battery Operated Road & Rail system, Tomica World's immediate predecessor, to the United States based on the Plarail system, with Tomica World following world-wide in 1998. Tomy continued to sell export Plarail Thomas-series toys internationally into the later 2000s before HiT Toy Company fully replaced it with TrackMaster.
Sets | Trains | Rail | Accessories | Thomas series |