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Thomas the Tank Engine and Bertie Set (1995)
First written November 24th, 2023
The Thomas the Tank Engine and Bertie Set (きかんしゃトーマス＆バーティー セット, literally "Locomotive Thomas and Bertie Set") was released on July 14, 1995 and was the first Thomas-series Plarail set to integrate Motor Tomica, then called B/O Tomica. The set features Thomas and his two coaches Annie and Clarabel, a square of track with Wellsworth Station and a drawbridge that forms a crossing with a loop of Motor Tomica road with Bertie that is elevated over the rail to cross back over it a second time. This was the first Thomas-series set to not use a crop of the same Owen Bell piece of Thomas and Henry at a station, instead showing a fitting illustration of Thomas and Bertie.
I currently own two boxed copies of this set. The first was purchased some time in 2019 and was the second boxed 1990s Thomas set I bought after my original 1992 Thomas the Tank Engine Set. The second set, which is pictured above and primarily throughout, has a better condition box as well as the original 1995-1996 Plarail catalogue.
Set contents| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 3 pieces |
Thomas,
Annie, and Clarabel (four wheel made in Thailand variant) |
 |
| 1 | Bertie (made in Japan variant) |
 |
| 2 |
R-01 Straight Rail |
 |
| 4 | R-02 Half Straight Rail |
 |
| 8 |
R-03 Curve Rail |
 |
| 1 |
R-08 Stop Rail |
 |
| 5 | D-01 Straight Road |
 |
| 4 |
D-03
Curve Road |
 |
| 2 |
D-06 Incline Slope |
 |
| 2 | D-07 Bridge Pier |
 |
| 5 pieces | J-13 Cross Drawbridge |
 |
| 1 |
Wellsworth
Station (made in Thailand version with two trees) |
 |
As Thomas's tooling had been moved to Thailand before 1995 production began, the Thomases in these sets is the early Thailand-made type.
These Thomases have silver battery contacts and the modern two-split coupling. The ones from my two sets were produced in July and August 1995.
Bertie was newly produced for 1995 and was exclusive to this set until 1996 when he was released individually. Bertie was originally produced in Japan for use in this set as well as early individual releases before the tooling moved to Japan some time in 1996. Bertie was the last Thomas-series item to be developed and manufactured in Japan, coming out after Percy was produced in Thailand, but Motor Tomica (then still B/O Tomica, short for Battery Operated Tomica) was all still being produced in Japan circa 1995 so it is likely that they felt it would be easier to produce him where the rest of Motor Tomica was already being made. The power switch on these early Japan-made Berties is a grey piece of plastic with brass contacts that slide within the chassis to form a switch instead of later chassis which use a traditional switch with a plastic cover piece. The earlier Bertie in my slightly earlier copy of the set is actually produced across two different months - the body shell was produced in July 1995 and the chassis in August. The stamps used here are seemingly the ones used to stamp the small blank stickers on made in Japan Plarail at the time but applied directly to the plastic. This is similar to what was done on made in Japan tender engines, although Bertie's chassis is stamped in white, making it more visible than the black stamp on the bottom of the black coal battery cover.
The Thailand-made version of Wellsworth Station has two of the flat trees used on other accessories line the line of trees, with one of the trees replacing the original tablet exchange hook and tablet from the Japanese version and the original Plarail Country Station Wellsworth is based on.
The "cross drawbridge" is a very nice accessory new in 1995 that was based off of an older Plarail molding where it was a rail-over-rail crossing instead of rail-over-road. The molding has been updated to accept two spring-loaded road stoppers.
The two stoppers clip into the sides of the drawbridge and the trees slot into openings on the side of the stoppers. When a vehicle rolls up to the crossing, it depresses the spring-loaded pad embedded in the road, which also lifts a small tab upwards to stop the vehicle from advancing. Pressing the button near the road connector moves the pad back up and drops the tab, letting the vehicle pass. The drawbridge is made in Thailand.
Most of the rails in this set are the 1992 dated molds with treaded rails used in Japan from 1992 to the end of Japanese Plarail production. The straight and curve rails have "dial" molding marks, while the half straight rails have less elaborate "JAPAN" markings with just a mold slot number. The stop rail is made in Thailand. The previously released 1995 version of the Thomas Basic Set used all Thailand-made rails, but seemingly in part because so much of the Tomica contents in this set were already made in Japan it was decided to use Japan-made rails as well. B/O Tomica road entered production in 1993 and was only produced in Japan at the time, and other than the drawbridge the roads are all Japan-made. The two road girders also come from the original 1993 Japanese molds.
Although this set does not seem to be specifically based on the story of Thomas and Bertie's Great Race, as some later Tomy sets were, it does fit the basic concept nicely enough and I am sure some children used this set to recreate parts of the story. Around 1995 was when Tomy began heavily incorporating the relatively new B/O Tomica in with Plarail, releasing several normal Plarail sets with Motor Tomica road and vehicles as well as new crossover accessories. Bertie being new for 1995 and exclusive to the set at the time was also a selling point.
One interesting omission from this set is any kind of "smaller" Plarail accessory like standing trees or signals. The flat trees on the drawbridge and station add a little life but the decently sized square of track and the long loop of road look a little bare without any accessories. A pair of iron bridge sides for Bertie's "bridge" would also have been cool, but I suppose with a motorized train and bus the set's price would have already had to be higher than a normal set.
Thomas Deluxe Set (Battery Operated Rail System) (1997)
This set was exported to America in 1997 as the Deluxe Set as part of the Battery Operated Rail System range with a Thailand-made Bertie. This was the first time Motor Tomica Bertie (and, indeed, Motor Tomica in general) was exported.