Thomas the Tank Engine toys date back to the days of the Railway Series with punch-out card craft sets and the Meccano Percy. When the television series débuted in the U.K. in the mid 1980s toys and merchandising steadily began releasing, accelerating dramatically in the early 1990s after Thomas the Tank Engine began airing in the United States in 1989 and Japan in 1991. By the early 2000s video sales and a theatrical movie had propelled Thomas into toddler stardom and merchandising was modernized and expanded with a boom of new characters introduced into the television series. Thomas's popularity began to decline with the transition to CGI animation, and with Mattel and Fisher Price taking over production of most Thomas toys many once-great ranges began to decline in quality and desirability to the point that new Thomas toys are largely irrelevant in the current (mid-2020s) toy marketplace.
In addition to their Plarail series of Thomas trains, sets, and accessories and its exports, Tomy also produced a wide variety of other Thomas merchandise and toys.
Year |
Toy name |
Description |
Photo |
---|---|---|---|
1992 | Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine series | Still-running series of trains, sets, and accessories for the long-lived Plarail system of toy trains |
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1992 | Tomy Train Thomas the Tank Engine series | Engines and sets produced for the European and American Tomy Train series of reversing trains with magnetic couplings |
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1997 | Thomas the Tank Engine Battery Operated Rail System | Tomy's first time exporting the Plarail Thomas series with a small American range |
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1997 |
Thomas Big Loader | Thomas-themed version of the classic Tomy Big Loader |
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1997 |
Thomas
Tote-Along-Train Thomas Bring-Along-A-Train |
Thomas-themed version of the previous Tomy Tote-Along/Bring-Along-A-Train toy |
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1998 | Tomica World Thomas the Tank Engine | In 1998 Tomy began exporting both traditional Plarail and Thomas-series sets and engines under the Tomica World range |
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1999 | Thomas Big Big Loader | Thomas-themed version of the 1990s Tomy Big Big Loader |
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2001 |
Thomas Motorized Road & Rail | American successor to Tomica World with Thomas-series trains and sets |
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2003 | Thomas Motor Road & Rail | European successor to Tomica World with more set and character availability |
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2004 | Mini Mini Plarail Thomas | Thomas the Tank Engine subrange of the candy-toy Mini Mini Plarail series |
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Japanese toymaker Bandai produced the large plastic motorized Departing Now series, the die-cast Thomas Engine Collection Series, and the plastic Nakayoshi series as well as importing and producing other Thomas toys. In Germany, Bandai distributed the ERTL and Wooden Railway ranges for a period of time in the 1990s.
Year |
Toy name |
Description |
Photo |
---|---|---|---|
December 1991 | All Aboard! Thomas and Friends | Thomas-themed version of a 1989 Bandai downhill train racing toy |
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1995-1996 | Thomas Connect Collection | Hard vinyl Thomas figures with functioning couplings |
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1996-2010 |
Thomas Exciting
World Thomas Swing |
Hard vinyl Thomas capsule toys, later sold as keychains |
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1997 | Go Ahead Thomas | Series of five wind-up Thomas candy toys | |
1999-2009 | Thomas Town | Candy toys that include a Thomas character and section of track; released in waves that can create small dioramas or be connected together randomly |
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2002-2006 | Thomas Mini Diecast Collection | Die-cast capsule machine toys in the shape of different Thomas the Tank Engine characters |
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2010-2013 | Capsule Thomas Collection | Series of small plastic trains on rollers |
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The Thomas Wooden Railway system was introduced in the early 1990s and was compatible with existing wooden train systems like Brio. The range eventually expanded to include hundreds of trains, destinations, and accessories. These were the Thomas toys I played with the most as a kid.
Year |
Name |
Description |
Photo |
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THQ or Toy Head Quarters, as their name suggested, was started to manufacture toys and shifted to focus on video games as the 1990s progressed. In 1993 they produced a range of both Thomas the Tank Engine toys and video game software.
Year | Toy name | Description | Photo |
---|---|---|---|
1993 | Wind-Up Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends | Range of small wind-up characters, also sold by ERTL and Applause |
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Tomix is Tomy's brand of mostly N scale trains primarily released in Japan. Beginning in 1998, several Thomas the Tank Engine series trains and sets have been released.
Year | Name | Description | Photo |
---|---|---|---|
1998 | Thomas the Tank Engine Starter Set | The first Thomas-series Tomix set with oval of track, track mat, power pack, and Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel |
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1999 | SCRuffy Freight Car Set | Rolling stock pack containing troublesome truck S.C.Ruffy and a troublesome van |
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1999 | Thomas N Gauge Series Station Set | N scale Ffarquhar Station from the Thomas series |
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1999 | Thomas N Gauge Series Watermill Set | Watermill similar in design to one shown in the Thomas TV show |
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1999 | Thomas N Gauge Series Windmill Set | N scale windmill based on one seen in the Thomas series |
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2000 | Thomas N-Gauge Accessory Set | Export train pack with Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel |
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Thomas toys from other manufacturers
Year |
Set name |
Description |
Photo |
---|---|---|---|
1995 | Snow Sausage Rolling Thomas the Tank Engine Mini Models | Small single-color characters with plastic rollers included as bonuses with Snow Brand Foods sausages |
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2002 | Thomas the Tank Engine Mysterious! Transfer Station | Thomas, Percy, and Toby cycle around and around one at a time, changing engines at the station |
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2003 | Thomas Character Mascots | Small Banpresto prize toys produced in several different colors |
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2009-2012 |
Boss Coffee Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Vehicle Collection | Small plastic series of Thomas characters included with cans of Boss Coffee beverages |
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~2017-2020 | Zaini Thomas & Friends Chocolate Eggs | Chocolate surprise eggs with small stickered Thomas characters inside |
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A few random Thomas pin badges and accessories are shown on this page.