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Tomy Train

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Tomy Train Stations

Several different types of stations were produced for the Tomy Train range. Generally, these were either localized Plarail accessories adapted for the system or original accessories that took advantage of the Tomy Train system's building and doll play features. Most early sets were made up of standard components but starting in the mid 1990s some sets included specific color, sticker, or component variations.

1308 Station (1988)

The initial Tomy Train station system used a wide plastic base piece with studs on top and a few small accessories like a hand railing and three-wide row of seats as well as a big sign with several different sticker designs. Early signs are single-sided while later ones have stickers on both sides.

The row of three seats and railing pieces were produced in both red and blue and were included with stations in alternating colored sets. As advertised on the box, of course, you could build whatever station you want out of building blocks on top of it.

Early on, these bases did not have a track clip to affix them up against the track, but this was added in the 1990s as well as updated manufacturing text.

1316 Inter-City Station Accessory Set (1990)

The first magnet-base accessory and first major use of the studded block building system with a new large base with two integrated magnetic moving pathways for the included passenger figures with magnetic feet, which would become standard for all releases in 1991 with the expansion of the magnet system.

I only have a partial set of this accessory - the entire yellow upper floor baseplate and the other upper components besides the bus & train station sign with clock are absent, as is the bus and some other components.

The magnetic paths in the floors position one figure to walk back and forth behind the ticket counter while the other lets passengers pass through the gate from the bus to train side or vice versa. The escalator is functioning - its actually driven by a little pull-back motor that get's "pulled back" when the escalator is pushed down and then when a figure's magnetic feet trigger the motor it runs the escalator up to the upper level. One of the gears in mine is slipping - I'll fix it or use it for parts if I end up with the parts to complete one of these stations.

One of the "bricks" on the lower level has a rotating destination board on one side and a lever which rings a bell and flips the arrivals board around.

As mentioned with the figures above, it seems Tomy devised this magnet system in 1988 and just did not fully implement it for a few years, as multiple components are marked 1988.

The pack also includes two straight rails and a set of single/double point rails as well as the ramp track-to-surface pieces for the bus "road" side of the station. This was seemingly the only 1990 TOMYTRAINS accessory pack to also be released in the later TOMY TRAINS packaging.

1318 Station Announcer/Talking Station (1990)

A very cool European adaptation of the Plarail J-27 Talking Station was released with a small acoustic phonograph and multi-track disk that plays different station sounds and announcements at the press of a button.

The Plarail version, first sold in summer 1987, has the studded base and even similar (though clearly distinct) blue guard railings to the Tomy Train system but these were really part of the "Plarail Town" series of studded Plarail accessories started in 1987.

The Tomy Train version does not seem to have come with these railings, despite similar pieces being in the standard. Some Plarail Town buildings can be seen at the bottom of this webpage. Funnily enough, in the later 1990s the Plarail station was replaced with an electronic version that included two silvery railings that used the Tomy Train railing tooling.

The sides of the station are nicely decorated with a printed cardboard insert. The front of the station has a destination board that can be rotated between different cities. The rear has a time board with rotating arrivals.

This is the only panel station system item released for Tomy Train, and one of very few panel station standard items to ever be exported. Under the roof is the battery compartment. The sliding lever in the compartment is the speed adjustment for the acoustic record player inside, something the instructions do not mention.

Production of this station spanned the period that studs were removed from some components. The G2 mark on the bottom of the roof means this example was produced in July 1992. The base kept its studs, but the panel station roof lost theirs. Oddly, the original Plarail components were where this station's studs came from, being related to the relatively short-lived Plarail Town series and predate Tomy Train. The Panel Station standard first appeared in Japan in 1987 and the shared roof tooling also lost its studs in Japan. I wonder if the studs would have been removed from the tooling if it hadn't been a component included in Tomy Train...

The first button plays a reminder to have your tickets ready. The middle button in the top row is an all aboard call. The top right button is a reminder to stand clear of the doors. The bottom left button drops the track stopper and says the train is now leaving, and the bottom middle button raises the stopper and says the next train is arriving. The final button says fast train approaching. It is neat to have the English and Japanese versions of these stations and I really like the electromechanical nature of this station's operation versus the Sound Play Station and other electronic talking stations. You can hear the crackles of the little plastic record after the announcement has played.

1319 Automatic Stop/Start Station (1990)

Tomy Train release of the Plarail catch-and-release station with ringing bell and changing display board. Released in American white grid packaging and later in Europe in TOMYTRAIN packaging.

1333 Station Pack (1990)

American accessory pack with standard train station platform, two figures, stop rail, and red passenger car. It was part of the 1993 U.S. mail-in offer - that leaflet shows the set with two workmen figures as shown here, but the 1990 and 1991 American dealer's catalogues show the station with one workman and one female passenger.

1323 Freight Station and Depot Accessory Set (1991)

Nice accessory set sold in European TOMYTRAIN and American Tomy Train packaging with the new-for-1991 log loading station, log unloading depot, log truck, log wagon, and two operators.

Because it uses the magnetic base, figures with magnets in the feet standing on the outlined square pads can be moved back and forth using the red levers. When the station is built, this allows the figures to approach the ladder from the road or travel under the chute.

Like the earlier, smaller yellow stations, these use railing and three-wide seat pieces that fit over the studs molded into the bases which come in two variations - red and blue, with the railings always matching and the opposite color of the seat. The revised European Tomy Train 3 version comes with red rails and blue seats, while the American Log 'n Load Set appears to come with either variation, and the boxed individual releases are hard to pin down. For what it is worth, the European box shows red rails and blue seats and the American box the opposite. The station itself is made up from a series of interlocking orange components. A support block holds up the chute which the lift fits under. A three-wide support beam across the gap at the top holds it together, and other accessory pieces like the ladder and sign can be added.

The log truck can drive up the ramps to the lift. The red stopper engages with a hanging catch in the truck's chassis which will stop it in the right position. The truck bed can then be tipped into the blue scoop.

The red lever on the side of the loader lifts the lift up, and an interlock stops the log at the top of the chute until the lift starts to drop, at which point it rolls down to the loader. Additional logs pile in behind the first.

The yellow tipper wagon has protrusions on each side, one purpose of which is to hit the red trigger under the loader to drop a log. Clips on this side of the yellow base of the loader hold it up against the track so it stays lined up.

The log chute has an ON/OFF control with an additional magnetic feature with the nearby operator console. If the chute is set to on, it will dispense a log when the train passes, but if it is set to off it will not drop a log unless a figure (with magnets in its feet) is standing at the operator's console which overrides the mechanism to allow a log to drop.

The action of the log loader is "chunky" in the way that Tomy Train kind of is and it is fun to use. All of the stickers are done in the earlier style of the series and I think they look very nice.

The dumping depot automatically collects any logs in a tipper car when the train passes. A lip catches on the protrusions on the side of the tipper car and tips it to dump any logs inside.

The depot itself can be tipped up to drop logs into a log truck that is lined up against it.

The log truck has a push-down friction-drive mechanism inside that means when you push the driver figure down the truck goes jetting off. This is usually pretty quick and a little uncontrollable and/or a little underwhelming, depending on how much energy the mechanism absorbed and how good the truck's traction is when you release it.

One of the coolest Tomy Train accessories. Also released with different stickers in the Busy Freight Train Set.

1332 Sound Play Station (1991)

TomyTrain version of the Plarail Sound Play Station.

The back wall of the station is nicely decorated as is the "control panel" section. Unfortunately, my example is missing the battery cover. The back and underside are plain. The control panel has an integrated stopper and seven buttons that play different sounds. The top left button plays a ringing bell. The second button plays a diesel train horn. The third button is a steam engine chuffing, and the fourth is a steam engine whistle. On the bottom row is the clacking of going over an iron bridge, the dinging of a railroad crossing, and the mooing of a cow. Although several sounds are similar to or share the same concept to the Plarail station, it does not seem that any sounds were directly reused.

1339 Signal Station (1993)

Updated station based on the original standard Tomy Trains station with new red roof, phone booth, and signal that changes as a train passes.

One of the catalogue descriptions calls this little white structure a ticket-taking kiosk, and I suppose it could be that, but to me it really looks like a phone booth. The stickers sort of imply there is just a payphone hanging outside the kiosk, I suppose. There is a magnet in the opening door so that a figure can "walk" in and out when it is opened.

The grey support structure and red roof were nice additions to the otherwise fairly flat original station. I have seen this rather neat Tomy Station sign in single and double sided versions, and really like the graphic of the little train. Its a pity Tomy did not produce more different types of Tomy Train engines, a subway-style train would have been neat.