fall inside a hole

Steam Along Thomas Set (2005)

First written August 5th, 2024

The Steam Along Thomas Set is an American Thomas Motorized Road & Rail and European Motor Road & Rail set that features the Steam Along Thomas, Maithwaite station, a tunnel, trees, and branching track layout. This set was a special release in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the Railway Series books that Thomas & Friends is based on.


The box pictured is for the North American release. Unlike most U.S. Motorized Road & Rail boxes there is no red stripe on the left side of the front of the box, although it is present on the rear.

Set contents
Quantity
Item
Photo
2 pieces
Steam Thomas
5 Straight Rail
3 Half Straight Rail
16 Curve Rail
1 pair Turnout Rail
1 Stop Rail
2 pairs Sloping Curve Rail (two each A and B slope curves)
4 Rail Bridge Girder (grey)
3 pieces Maithwaite Station
4 pieces Tunnel
4 pieces Ached Bridge (green)
4 Trees (brown stem and base)

The Thomas in this set is, of course, the Steam 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. This was the first release of the Steam Thomas in the United States and Europe, with this example dating to October 2005.

First released in this set is a nice Tomy Maithwaite Station.

Like some other sets, I think the train's coaches line up better with the station with the stop rail moved over slightly (it is right next to a half rail, conveniently).

Also included in this set is the Thomas-series tunnel and a nice green trestle bridge - the only time this bridge was used in a Thomas-series set outside of Japan.

The track layout has two different branches, one that slopes up to cross the arched bridge and the other that takes a twisting route further out and through the tunnel, with both coming back to meet at the station. The grey bridge supports and brown-trunk trees elevate the look of the layout and give it a nicer feel than the standard brighter type. The separate power switch on the bottom of Annie turns on and off Thomas' sound and steam, and without any water installed he will just make the sound and light effects.

Steam 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 4750 Steam Along Thomas Set Release period 2005, Europe & United States
Train rating Track rating
Accessory rating Overall
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