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Tomica World Thomas Adventure Set

First written May 28, 2024

The Thomas Adventure Set is a classic Tomica World and Motor Road and Rail set that was released in Europe, Australia, and the United States. It is a nice large set with many features and small accessories. In some ways, it is an expanded version of the Japanese Thomas the Tank Engine and Harold Flying in the Sky Set. This set was well-positioned as a "gift" set and was a good size with lots of fun features that made it perfect for giving for birthdays or holidays, and the set is fairly common.

Thomas Adventure Set (First Tomica World box) (2000)




The 7408 Thomas Adventure Set was new for 2000 and first released in Europe and Australia in red Tomica World packaging with the new abbreviated "Thomas & Friends" cloud logo. The box shows many of the play features of the set as well as other items in the range. Fairly commonly, this set was sold with the current Tomica World VHS tape.

 Set contents
Quantity
Item
Photo
3 pieces
Thomas (six wheels, painted face) with "chuffing" Annie and Clarabel
1 Bertie
3 pieces Bertie's driver, Thomas' driver, and Sir Topham Hatt Tomica figures
5 Straight Rail  
3 Half Straight Rail
4 Curve Rail
1 pair Y Shaped Points Rail
20 pieces Sloping Curve Rail Accessory Kit (four each A and B sloping curves and 12 mini piers)
5 pieces Big Iron Bridge
2 Bridge Support
5 pieces Harold station
4 Straight Road
4 Curve Road
2 T-Junction
11 pieces Tunnel Intersection (Thomas set variant)
2 Tree
Signal
Some releases Tomica World VHS (2000) (PAL)

This set includes Thomas the Tank Engine and Bertie the Bus. Early copies of this set from 2000 include the painted face six wheel Thomas with the old logo of chassis. This set also includes the "chuffing" Annie, an Annie with a noise-making mechanism based on the old Plarail chuffing mail car from the Shuppo D-51. The Clarabel is a transitional plastic-collar chassis type.

Harold is also included in this set by way of the battery-powered station with spinning wire attachment. The station takes a C battery on the underside and has a switch on the left side of the building that sets the station to mode "1" where Harold will spin when the track stopper is set to off and a train is triggering the blue lever hanging out the front or to "2" where Harold will spin continuously until switched off.

The road and rail layouts are both nice and fairly complex, with the rail having elevation and switches as well as bridges and tunnels over the road network with includes two junctions to direct Bertie around. The brown and grey bridge is a very nice variant of the Tunnel Intersection, and the bridge is the recent Plarail Big Iron Bridge. These are all nice accessories and the set can easily be expanded in many ways with road or rail. The large iron bridge can even be reformatted to hold two parallel tracks instead of one.

Three Tomica-style figures are also included. Thomas and Bertie's drivers are the standard figure tooling while Sir Topham Hatt is a shorter, rounder tooling. These figures were only used in this set and some of its variants and were not included in other Tomica World or any Thomas Plarail sets. The two standing trees and signal, of the Tomica World variation with wide bases, are also nice inclusions.

Road and rail in this set is early 2000s Thailand-made. The intersections are of the age and type that yellow and crack with age.

The instructions for this set show the six-wheel Thomas battery instructions and new Thomas & Friends logo but the old curvy Tomy logo. These instructions continued to be used for the 2001 European rerelease.

The VHS included in circa 2000 copies is the 0619 (or is it O619?) GB PAL version of the Tomica World Video tape. My copy of this tape has been transferred and can be viewed on the Internet Archive here.


Click for video with sound!

All set up and running together the set is quite a sight, you can leave Harold flying around and Thomas and Bertie running while controlling the switches on one network or the other, or make Thomas and Bertie race around - the often-included VHS tape includes the episode Thomas and Bertie in which the two characters race to complete their passenger routes and reach the final station. The trees and signal and the small accessories on the overpass and station look very nice and the figures offer an added level of storytelling play.

Thomas Adventure Set (Second Tomica World box) (2001)




In 2001 the European Tomica World box was redesigned with the new squared-off Tomy logo. These boxes seem to have come into use in later 2001 alongside early examples of the new separately-fitted plastic face Thomases with old logo chassis. Like the previous European release, this version often also included a Tomica World VHS.

 Set contents
Quantity
Item
Photo
3 pieces
Thomas (plastic face, old or new chassis depending on era) with "chuffing" Annie and Clarabel
1 Bertie
3 pieces Bertie's driver, Thomas' driver, and Sir Topham Hatt Tomica figures
5 Straight Rail  
3 Half Straight Rail
4 Curve Rail
1 pair Y Shaped Points Rail
20 pieces Sloping Curve Rail Accessory Kit (four each A and B sloping curves and 12 mini piers)
5 pieces Big Iron Bridge
2 Bridge Support  
5 pieces Harold station
4 Straight Road
4 Curve Road
2 T-Junction
11 pieces Tunnel Intersection (Thomas set variant)
2 Tree
Signal
Some releases Tomica World VHS (PAL)  

Early examples of this style of box from 2001 contain late old-chassis Thomases with plastic faces, as the toolings had been updated to produce the Thomas and Lively Freight Cars Set. Comparing it against the 2000 Thomas, you an see how the grey color was getting lighter in the early 2000s after being darker in the later 1990s. Later examples would contain an updated logo chassis. The Berties in the earlier copies of this set are the internal battery compartment type used from 1997 to 2001, with the screw type being used in 2002 and on.

Production of several other components also changed around 2002. Some Motor Tomica component production moved from China to Thailand.

The station is set to operate in the "1" mode here, and Harold spins when Thomas is stopped at the station. This set was never rereleased for the 2003 and on European Motor Road & Rail range - perhaps the small components like the figures no longer passed safety standards?

Thomas Adventure Set (American Motor Road & Rail box) (2001)

In 2001 the Thomas Adventure Set was released in America for the first time in Motor Road & Rail packaging. Other than the style of box, these sets are pretty much identical to the 2001 European version and the variants of components included over time. Some releases even include the NTSC Tomica World VHS.

Set name 7408 Thomas Adventure Set Release period 2000-2003, Europe
2001-2004, United States
Vehicle rating Track rating
Accessory rating Overall
Notes:    
rationale page

7408J Talking Thomas and Harold Adventure Set (Europe) (2002)

In 2002 a version of the Thomas Adventure Set was released that included a Talk 'n' Action series Thomas. This Thomas says voice lines and can turn off or speed up the motor after rolling over special triggering track sections.

 Set contents
Quantity
Item
Photo
3 pieces
Talk 'n' Action Thomas (European accent)
1 Bertie
3 pieces Bertie's driver, Thomas' driver, and Sir Topham Hatt Tomica figures
5 Straight Rail  
4 Curve Rail
1 pair Y Shaped Points Rail
20 pieces Sloping Curve Rail Accessory Kit (four each A and B sloping curves and 12 mini piers)
3 pieces Talking trigger rails  
5 pieces Big Iron Bridge
2 Bridge Support  
5 pieces Harold station
4 Straight Road
4 Curve Road
2 T-Junction
11 pieces Tunnel Intersection (Thomas set variant)
2 Tree
Signal

This set is nearly the same as the standard Adventure set but with the three regular half straight rails swapped for three of the trigger tracks for the included Talk 'n' Action Thomas.

Set name 7408J Talking Thomas and Harold Adventure Set Release period 2002, Europe
Vehicle rating Track rating
Accessory rating Overall
Notes:    
rationale page

4760 Talking Thomas Adventure Set (America) (2002)

An even further modified version of the Thomas Adventure Set was released in the United States in 2002. This set changed the track layout and removed the road elements of the set.

 Set contents
Quantity
Item
Photo
3 pieces
Talk 'n' Action Thomas (American accent)
3 pieces Bertie's driver, Thomas' driver, and Sir Topham Hatt Tomica figures
1 Trevor  
4 Straight Rail  
7 Half Straight Rail
6 Curve Rail
1 pair R-11 Turnout Rail
20 pieces Sloping Curve Rail Accessory Kit (four each A and B sloping curves and 12 mini piers)
3 pieces Talking trigger rails  
5 pieces Big Iron Bridge
2 Bridge Support  
5 pieces Harold station
1 Tunnel
5 Tree
Signal

Unlike the European talking Adventure set, the American version had a different track layout and removed the road features from the set. Only three talking rail sections are included.

Set name 4760 Talking Thomas Adventure Set Release period 2002, United States
Vehicle rating Track rating
Accessory rating Overall
Notes:    
rationale page