fall inside a hole

Starting in the 1960s Tomy began manufacturing components and toys for overseas markets and in the 1970s began to directly sell some Plarail and other products abroad.

In the 1970s Tomy released a handful of sets in the U.S. under the "Playrail" name. Most of these sets were from the Plarail Land series which were also sold in the U.K. and Europe as Merry-Go and Tivolli sets. The Playrail name was filed for trademark in October 1975. In addition to the sets I currently own, there is also a Merry-Go-Zoo set with a motorized elephant and zoo animal-themed destinations.

In the later 1970s U.K. toy company Palitoy imported some Plarail Land "Merry-Go" sets (Merry-Go-Train and Merry-Go-Helicopter) as well as a series of traditional Plarail-like sets under the Discovery Time branding, which was also used on other toys (including others from Tomy). Like Playrail, the Merry-Go sets are more common than the Plarail-style ones.

Stelco Junior Express was a late 70s West German-market system that combined Tomy-made engines with locally produced rails and accessories based on the Plarail equivalents with original rolling stock designs.

Tomy Express was a late 80s and early 90s German-market system that used the same darker blue rails as Tomy Train but traditional Plarail vehicles and accessories. The Tomy Express name and darker rails both harken back to Tomy's previous collaboration with Stelco in West Germany.

In the late 90s Tomy began exporting a decent range of trains, sets, and Motor Tomica to Europe, Australia, and America. Regular Tomica World production seems to have begun in late 1997 with the initial wave reaching stores in 1998 with both traditional Plarail-type sets as well as sets from the Thomas the Tank Engine range being introduced throughout the late 90s and early 2000s. Regular Tomica World production ended in late 2003, with some products being repackaged and sold as Thomas Motor Road & Rail alongside the successful Thomas export series into the mid 2000s.

Trains

Individual Tomica World trains were sold in three packs like their Plarail equivalents in red sixth generation-style packaging in Europe.

Sets

Tomica World sets often included both Plarail and Motor Tomica elements, in keeping with the whole "road and rail" idea.

Accessories and Rail

Tomica World accessories and rail are covered on the Tomica World page.

Thomas Motor Road & Rail

After the discontinuation of the regular Tomica World sets and trains, the Thomas the Tank Engine series continued to be sold alongside some carryover Tomica World accessories until 2008 in some regions.