| Japanese | Interpretation | Notes |
| トミー | Tomy, as in the company that manufactures Plarail | sometimes machine-translated as "tommy" |
| タカラトミー | Takara Tomy, Tomy's trading name in Asia since merging with Takara in 2006 | |
| プラレール | Plarail | |
| トミカ | Tomica | |
| モータートミカ | Motor Tomica | Originally sold as B/O Tomica (B/Oトミカ), Tomy's 1990s motorized Tomica vehicles that integrated well with regular Tomica and Plarail |
| プラロード | Plaroad | 1985-1990 road companion to Plarail, also the name Motor Tomica was sold under after 2003 |
| 旧動力 | old power | term for the older friction-drive Plarail gearboxes |
| 新動力 | new power | term for the direct-drive gearbox introduced nearly range-wide in 1987 |
| スーパーレール | Super Rail | Tomy's larger train system aimed at children that had outgrown Plarail but were not yet ready for model trains |
| ビッグローダー | Big Loader | |
| Japanese | Interpretation | Notes |
| きしゃ or 汽車 | Kisha, used for trains, in particular steam locomotives | 汽 for steam or vapor and 車 for a type of vehicle. Kisha and the onomatopoeia below can be heard in the Japanese song Kisha Poppo (きしゃぽっぽ), which seems to have originated as a war song about seeing off a steam train full of soldiers, so these onomatopoeia are long-standing like English equivalents |
| シュッポー | Shuppo, chuffing of a steam train | onomatopoeia for the sound of a train chuffing, the Japanese equivalent of "chugga-chugga" as in shu-po-shu-po-shu-po and the Shuppo D-51 with chuffing mail car |
| シュシュ | Shushu, chuffing of a steam train | similar to shuppo, a faster more rapid steam train running sound with less of a puff (shu-shu-shu-shu) as in Yonezawa's Shushupoppo (ヨネザワのシュシュポッポ) train sets. Also apparently the Japanese term for the hair-retention product Scrunchie |
| ぽっぽ or ポッポ | Poppo, puffing of a steam train | onomatopoeia for the sound of a train puffing, the Japanese equivalent of "puff puff" as in pop-po-pop-po and the Mickey Poppo with clicking "puffer" gearbox |
| きかんしゃトーマス | Kikansha Thomas, small locomotive Thomas | Japanese name for Thomas the Tank Engine, both his full character name and the associated television show including into when it became known as Thomas & Friends. Kikansha has become associated with friendship as a result. |
| きゅうこうでんしゃ 急行電車 |
Kyuko densha or express train | |
| レール | rail |
From the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, Japan's economy boomed and formed the Bubble Economy. As a result, some toys became more expensive and elaborate during this time - the large radio control Plarail set that included a two-speed reversing Super Hikari and a remote control point rail with separate remote from 1989 or the continued support of the Super Rail series with the largest and only two-train set appearing in the early 1990s.