fall inside a hole

Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine-series stations

First written July 2024

In 1992 Tomy began releasing a series of Thomas Plarail trains, sets, and accessories, with stations, tunnels, and other components being recolored from the existing Plarail range and others being new or borrowed toolings. Covered here are the station accessories Tomy produced for the range and their variations.

Wellsworth Station (1992)

First released in the initial Thomas the Tank Engine Set in 1992, the Tomy Wellsworth Station is a recolor of the Plarail Country Station. The Country Station does not really resemble the Wellsworth Station seen in the Thomas show and books but the color choice is nice and it fits with the Thomas and Plarail aesthetics well, being a (admittedly Plarail-leaning) blend of both.

  

The early Japan-made versions of this station include the token exchange tablet and hook like the original Plarail station.

You can get a train to deliver the tablet if you can find a window at the right height that the tablet can be hung out of.

  

In 1995 Country Station manufacturing moved to Thailand and the tablet exchange hook was changed to a second flat-type tree.

Some time between 1995 and 1997 some additional support was added around the base of the sign. This version of Wellsworth Station stayed in production until the new logo version in the early-mid 2000s and was exported in Tomica World sets for several years.


Around 2003 when many Plarail toolings were updated with the new squared-off Tomy logo the Wellsworth Station gained the logo in the platform.

Variant Included in... Photo
Made in Japan (tablet hook and tablet) Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine Set (1992)
Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine Basic Set (1992)
Plarail Henry Train Set (1993)
Made in Thailand (two trees) Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine Basic Set (1995)
Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine and Bertie Set (1995)
 
Made in Thailand
(additional sign support)
Thomas the Tank Engine Standard Set (1997)
Thomas the Tank Engine Deluxe Set (1997)
Tomica World Thomas Medium Set (1998-2002)
Tomica World Thomas Deluxe Set (1998)
Tomica World Thomas Station Set (1999-2002)
Motorized Road & Rail Thomas at the Station Set (2001-2002)
 
New logo Motor Road & Rail Thomas Medium Set (2003)
Motor Road & Rail Thomas Station Set (2003)
Motorized Road & Rail Thomas at the Station Set (2003)

Wellsworth Pedestrian Crossing (1992)

 

Matching the color and style of the Wellsworth Station recolor is the Wellsworth pedestrian crossing bridge, also first included in the Thomas the Tank Engine Set. This is a recolor of the Plarail Pedestrian Overpass.

It doesn't exactly match the style of them, but there are several stations on Sodor with pedestrian overpasses.

This overpass fell out of use fairly quickly in Japan but was used in a few Tomica World and Motor Road & Rail exports later on, coming from the period Plarail overpass toolings and moving to Thailand in the 1990s and being updated with the new logo around 2003.

Variant Included in... Photo
Made in Japan Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine Set (1992)
Made in Thailand Tomica World Thomas Deluxe Set (1998)
Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine and Harold Flying in the Sky Set (Tidmouth Hault variant) (1998)
 
New logo MR&R (UK) Station Crossing Accessory Kit (2003)
MR&R Water Tower Steam Set (Tidmouth Hault variant) (2006)
Plarail (Asia) Thomas and Spencer Racing Set (2010)
 

Tidmouth Hault Station Crossing (1998)

 

In the 1998 Thomas the Tank Engine and Harold Flying in the Sky Set a brown version of the covered Pedestrian Overpass was produced with a "TO THE TRAINS" sign like that seen on the pedestrian bridge at Tidmouth Hault in the Thomas the Tank Engine television series. Other than the sign, the crossings are not all that similar, with the crossing seen in the show being green and uncovered.

This variant of the crossing was produced again in 2006 for the Water Tower Steam Set from the undated new-logo toolings.

Thomas the Tank Engine Panorama Bag (1995)

In November 1995 the Knapford Station-themed "cleaning up box" Panorama Bag was released as an individual accessory.

This multi-lane station can hold track as a regular accessory or trains as a storage container. More details can be seen on the Thomas the Tank Engine Panorama Bag page.

Ffarquhar Station (1996)

The first new station tooling for the Thomas series came with the introduction of Ffarquhar Station in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Freight Cars Set in June 1996.

Being a fresh tooling, it fairly closely resembles the station building as seen in the television series.

From 1996 to 2002 or so the base used the old curvy Tomy logo. Earlier examples have more obvious green overspray inside the station building itself behind where the doors and windows were painted.

In the early 2000s the base of the station was updated with the new Tomy logo.

Around 2006, seemingly to make production easier, the windows and doors became separately fitted components shot in green plastic that clip into a new inner support structure. This structure adds some width to the bottom lip of the station and actually prevents it from sitting properly on the base - one side will always stick up a little. This is a rather unfortunate side effect of this change, and it unfortunately effects some later set variants.

Although 2006 was nearing the end of American Motorized Road & Rail sales, this version of the station did end up being exported to the United States as well as into Australia and the U.K. until the end of the Motor Road & Rail range in 2008.

Around 2009 or so, allowances were added into the base tooling to let the new version of the station fit down flat again.

Variant Included in... Photo
Old logo base Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine and Freight Cars Set (1996)
Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine and Bulgy Set (1997)
Tomica World Thomas Big Set (1998)
Plarail Donald and Douglas Snowplow Train Set (set variant) (1999)
Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine and Freight Cars Set (1999)
Plarail Talking Thomas Set (2000)
Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine Go Out 3D Bag Complete Edition (2001-2002)
Motorized Road & Rail Thomas Big Set (2001-2002)
New logo base Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine First Plarail Set (set variant) (2002)
Motorized Road & Rail Thomas Big Set (2002)
Motorized Road & Rail Thomas' Railway Fun Set (2002)
Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine Go Out 3D Bag Complete Edition (2003)
Motor Road & Rail Thomas Big Set (2003)
Motor Road & Rail Thomas and Cranky Deluxe Action Set (2003)
Motorized Road & Rail Thomas All Aboard Set (2005)
Separately fitted doors and windows Above mentioned sets that continued production into 2006
Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine Bridge and Quarry Mine Set (2006)
Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine and Percy and the Dragon Set (2006)
MR&R Thomas, Percy and the Chinese Dragon Set (2007)
Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine and Bertie's Competition Set (set variant) (2008)
Corrected base Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine Basic Set (set variant) (2009)  

Ffarquhar Station set variants

In 1999 for the Donald and Douglas Snowplow Train Set a set-exclusive snowy variant was produced with footprints in the station base, a white roof section, and a dusting of white paint over the main building.

The 2008 Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine and Bertie's Competition Set includes a one-off white window and door set variant of Ffarquhar Station. This is a small and subtle but nice-looking change, and offers some variety in the otherwise fairly common Ffarquhar. In 2001 the Thomas the Tank Engine First Plarail Set featured a recolor of the station that is marked Tidmouth which has nice painted details including a nicely done-up platform, which would also look smart with some of the other upper buildings.

In 2009 the Thomas the Tank Engine Basic Set included a yellow version of Ffarquhar with a red roof that resembles the color scheme of Wellsworth Station in the television series, also with white windows and doors.

J-25 Thomas the Tank Engine Railroad Crossing Station (1996)

First released in July 1996, this neat Motor Tomica-compatible road and rail crossing features Elsbridge station, a signalbox, operating crossing gates, and nice fence details. More information is available on the Thomas Railroad Crossing Station page.

Flying Harold Station (1998)

First used in the Plarail Thomas the Tank Engine and Harold Flying in the Sky Set in late 1998, this motorized station includes a fence and light as well as Harold on a metal arm. The station takes a C battery and has two modes -  mode "1" makes Harold spin around when the track stopper is set to off and a train is triggering the blue lever hanging out the front while mode "2" makes Harold spin continuously until switched off.

Like many other Tomy toys with motors and batteries produced in the 1990s and 2000s, stickers in the battery compartments reveal when a particular station was manufactured, with the letter's position in the alphabet corresponding with the month (A=January, B=February, etc) and the digit(s) corresponding to the last numbers of the year it was made.

This accessory's appearance is based off of Dryaw Station, the station near the airfield where Harold can often be found.

Like several other Plarail Thomas accessories that were only used once or twice in Japan, this station was used in several international export sets and even had a Sodor Airport variant in 2005 based on the same mechanism. The main airport building was also later used on a different base with road and rail connections for Jeremy's Airport.

Talking Harold Station (2000)

In 2000 as part of the larger Japanese Talking Thomas Talking Harold and Station Set a version of the flying Harold station was released that included a modified stopper that instead changes the pattern of Talk 'n' Action bumps in front of the station to make a Talk 'n' Action train stop or speed up. Two triggers as well as the regular switch in the station platform trigger Harold to fly around for a short time and say a phrase in return to a train departing the station. More information can be seen on the Talking Thomas Talking Harold and Station Set page.

Maithwaite Station (2005)

First included with the export Steam Along Thomas Set in 2005, Maithwaite Station also appeared in the 2006 Thomas Ultimate and Maithwaite Station sets.

A less-detailed version of this station with a different sticker in the planter in front of the sign was released in Japan in 2010 in the Departing From the Station! Hiro and Thomas the Tank Engine Set.

Knapford Station (2005)

In 2005 a version of Knapford Station was released as an individual accessory in Japan and Europe. A single station platform was later included in a few sets. More information can be found on the Knapford Station page.