fall inside a hole
Bandai Tanoshi Poppo
First written July 7, 2024Bandai first released the downhill train "racing game" たのしいポッポ or Tanoshi Poppo in Japan in 1989. With the success of Thomas the Tank Engine on Japanese television, a Thomas & Friends themed version was released in 1991 as one of Bandai's first Thomas toys.
Tanoshi Poppo (1989)
The Bandai Tanoshi Poppo was first released in 1989 featuring a cute mountain scene with bridges, stations, inclines, and a ropeway. The trains included were a blue and grey D51 steam locomotive and yellow and white 0 series Shinkansens.
I have the grey D51 and yellow 0 series (minus stickers) from one of these sets.
All Aboard! Thomas and Friends (1991)
In December 1991 a slightly reworked version of Tanoshi Poppo was released with Thomas & Friends characters. This was released as しゅっぱつしんこう! トーマスと仲間なかまたち or All Aboard! Thomas and Friends. The "Shuppatsu Shinkou" しゅっぱつしんこう or all aboard name was also used on Bandai's larger Departing Now series. To differentiate it, it is also called 出発進行 in some catalogues.
The sides of the box have some promotional stills from the television series as well as instructions for inserting the battery, trees, and how to turn it on and put the trains on the track.
Set contents
| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mountain base |
 |
| 3 | Trains (Thomas, Percy, James) |
 |
| 2 | Trees |
installed in base above |
The trains in this set are Thomas, Percy, and James. They have nice unique toolings as well as sticker details.
The trains have two small metal rollers underneath that ride between the rails molded into the mountain.
The mountain has a winding track with two lift hills. The original version featured a ropeway up the side of the mountain - this is removed for the Thomas version, and there are brown stickers over where the ropeway was installed. A bell inside the base rings as the motor runs.
Here is Thomas, Percy, and James as well as all five trains running on the Thomas mountain. Click the GIFs to see the video version with the sound of the bell ringing and motor whirring.