fall inside a hole

Montgomery Ward The Little Engine That Could Train Set (1972-1976)

First written May 2, 2024

At least as early as 1972 American department store Montgomery Wards distributed a train set manufactured by Tomy based on their short-lived Japanese "Freerail" (フリーレール) standard with flexible, cuttable rails that fit into sleeper sections and accessories that can be freely moved around (hence the name) with a little steam engine to run around the track. Although the name is presumably a reference to the book The Little Engine That Could, the use here is unrelated and seemingly legally fine from the standpoint that it is a different product being a train toy versus a published book. Unlike some other Tomy exports from the 1970s, the Tomy name is present on the front of the box.

The steam engine's smoke stack "puffs" up and down as the train runs. As far as I know, the only Freerail trains ever released were this locomotive and its tender. The M-20 on this box may signify that it was produced in late 1971 or 1972, which would make sense for an early example of this set, and there is also a TP code.

This set remained on sale at least as late as 1976. I have found two different box variations, one older (shown at the top of the page) with the Tomy Company, Inc. name on it with the newer copy saying Tomy Koygo Co. as well as including licensing information related to Questor, who trademarked "The Little Engine That Could" for use on toys in 1976, having acquired Platt & Munk, publishers of the book, in the late 1960s. Tomy had actually already worked with Questor due to their relationship with Child Guidance Toys and the box was seemingly updated in accordance and became a properly "licensed" Little Engine That Could toy.

In Japan, Freerail seems to have appeared and disappeared in the early 1970s, with a smaller No.1 set that I believe was similar to this set and a larger No.2 set that also included switches seemingly being the only products in the range. A Japanese commercial for Freerail can be seen here.

Set contents
Quantity
Item
Photo
2 pieces Steam locomotive and tender
2 Spools of rail
10 Track sections
1 Crossing piece
2 Track supports
3 pieces Bridge
3 pieces Tunnel
2 Trees

The steam locomotive in this set is seemingly the only type ever produced for Freerail and has a dark blue body and black chassis. Other than the name of the set the set has nothing in particular to do with the book of the same name, and the engine does not particularly resemble the train depicted in the book.

The coupling system is similar to a style used on Plarail in the later 1960s with a flexible hook coupling on one side and bars molded into rolling stock on the other, although the hook is on the rear of the engine and the tender has no bars and, as far as I know, there was not any other rolling stock produced to couple to it anyways. On the other hand, the tender has a nice big opening to let another toy ride inside or load it with cargo if you want to pretend it is a cargo car.

The earlier engine I have has smooth rubber traction tires while the later one has a treaded surface. Both styles seem a little worn out but do mostly work in helping the locomotives get around.

The trains are run by a relatively simple geartrain that also drives a little striker on the drive axle that hits against a yellow piece of plastic that makes the funnel "puff" as it runs. On both my engines, this yellow section was found broken - I think if the train is stopped with the striker sitting against the plastic, it leaves it under spring tension from the spring-loaded funnel trying to return down and wears it out over time. Perhaps if run enough this happens regardless, but luckily both pieces of both of the actuators were still with my sets and I was able to glue them back into place. Getting them out of the chassis requires taking the gears out and popping one of the battery contact strips out of the plastic chassis so the yellow plastic can be removed. Them it must be fed back up into place with the "tongue" heading up under the funnel and the battery strip locked back down in place over it.

The rail in this set is termed Freerail in Japan because it can be freely cut to length and shaped to fit a desired layout. White clip-together sleeper sections form the main network of the rail system with some pieces like crossing and switches having plastic bases that the sleepers and rail fit into. Unless you cut down these sleeper sections and reaffix them in some way, these form the basic lengths of track that you can use in your layout.

The rail comes in blue spools and has an I beam-like profile. Because the rail is all cut to length, once you have set up and cut the rail to fit one layout, most other layouts will require you to either cut the lengths shorter or use only some of the components of the set. If you cut the rail too much it would probably start to form uneven joints. The older copy of the set I own has unused spools while the newer one has had its rails cut to fit the suggested layout, and I do not currently plan on cutting either set's rails further.

In addition to being bent into any flat layout you want, Freerail can also be lifted up a reasonable grade to go over the included bridges or other support structures made from other toys or books. I really quite like the look of the white supports and red "iron" sides. These bridge sides are the same tooling as the period Plarail Iron Bridge which transitioned from all-smooth sides with holes along the top to the much more common version with rivet and side plate details around around 1975, with that change being reflected here between the older and newer copies of this set.

Two brick-patterned track supports help slope track upwards towards the bridge section and a tunnel is formed from two plastic portals and a printed piece of cardboard that is curled over and fit inside the rear of the portal mouths. There are also two Plarail-style trees of the era that come apart into three pieces.

Here is a scan of the tunnel cardboard, which I believe is the same design used in the Freerail version. I do not think that very many of these tunnels survived very long (my later used set is missing it entirely).

The easiest way to set up a layout is to lay out the sleepers and any of the other plastic track components in the approximate shape you want to end up with. Then, starting from any plastic components, add rail into the sleepers, forming the rail into the position you want as you go. If you want elevated sections, it is probably a good idea to form them into the layout before you cut any rail.

I like the funny sort of puffing the locomotive does with its smokestack and the very loosely curved rails with the white sleepers looks cool. It would have been nice if there had ever been any other kind of carriages made for the system.

I tried out both repaired engines and they both ran fine (the one circa 1976 is shown first and the 1972 locomotive shown above), although the rubber traction tires should probably be replaced. I would like to try out some other toy train cars that look like they would work but the originals have large flanges to sit on the rails properly and most other toy cars would ride and bump over the sleepers instead of properly riding the rails. I would also like to find a Japanese Freerail set, in particular the larger No. 2 set with switches.

February 2025

I have recently (late 2024) acquired a Freerail No.2 set from Japan. More details about it can be seen here.