The 4749 Water Tower Steam Set is a 2006 American Thomas Motorized Road & Rail set that features the Steam Along Thomas, operating water tower, pedestrian crossing, and large layout with multiple switches.
The box for this set implies the pedestrian crossing in this set was originally intended to be the Wellsworth style, and the photos on the box were edited to change the color of the main overpass but not the brown bases or the stickers.
Set contentsQuantity |
Item |
Photo |
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2 pieces |
Steam Thomas |
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5 | Straight Rail |
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2 | Half Straight Rail |
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14 | Curve Rail |
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2 pairs | Turnout Rail |
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1 pair | Sloping Curve Rail (one of each "A" and "B" type) |
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1 | Rail Bridge Girder (grey) |
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3 pieces | Water Tower |
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3 pieces | Pedestrian Overpass (Tidmouth Hault variant) |
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4 pieces | Tunnel |
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2 pieces | Rail Bridge (side pieces only) |
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3 | Tree |
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The Thomas in this set is, of course, the Steam Along Thomas which has a water-vapor "steam" function and sound effects. There is a hole in one of Thomas' filler caps that leads to the internal reservoir and vaporizer at the base of his open funnel which also houses a red LED. Thomas is a metallic blue and has a different face from the regular Tomy Thomas, and Annie and Clarabel also have different faces as well as being longer overall. Although there is a post inside the chassis for a rear coupling, Clarabel does not have one installed.
The motor and gearbox for the train are inside Annie, along with the compartments for three AA batteries. The traditional Plarail power switch in the gearbox turns the motor on and the sliding switch on the bottom of Annie turns on and off Thomas' sound and steam functions.
Exclusive to this set in the United States is the neat operating water tower which can fill the Steam Along Thomas. A track stopper situated further back stops Annie in the right position for Thomas to be lined up under the water tower's spout. The red button sprays some water downwards into Thomas' water tank, and a drain in the track is meant to collect any water that drips out or down Thomas (although typically when Thomas has been running for a while he will gradually drip and drag some water along the rails).
Also featured in this set is the Tidmouth Halt-style Pedestrian Overpass. The Thomas-series tunnel, an iron bridge with slope curve rails and single grey girder to support it, and three trees with wide bases are also included.
The instruction sheet for the Water Tower Steam Set. This set was never released in Europe. It appears that the photo used on the front and rear were not digitally altered to show the Tidmouth Hault-style crossing, presumably because on the black and white manual it does not really matter (and the Wellsworth version probably shows up better in greyscale anyways).
The layout of this set is nice and fairly large with multiple paths for Thomas to take when travelling in either direction around the layout. There is ample space to add more trains and destinations, and the included ones fill out the layout fairly nicely. Thomas looks very nice chugging along and blowing "smoke," occasionally letting out a whistle, or he can be run around without the steam and sound being active.
Thomas' steam function is pretty cool, with an accompanying chuffing noise as well as the red LED flashing in time with the puffs of smoke. The LED helps illuminate Thomas' puffs and the small water vapor clouds he produces are fairly visible. Sometimes when Thomas is stopped he will "let off steam" with a large vapor cloud and wheeshing noise.
Set name | 4749 Water Tower Steam Set | Release period | 2006, United States |
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