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Battery Operated Tomica (1993-1996)/Motor Tomica (1997-2003)/Plaroad (2004-2008) accessories
First written May 2024In the mid 1990s Tomy developed battery-powered die-cast and plastic Tomica-style motorized cars that ran on a plastic road system. This series was first called B/O Tomica (B/Oトミカ) from its introduction around 1993 until the end of 1996 when the name was changed to Motor Tomica (モータートミカ), perhaps because Tomy introduced other battery-powered Tomica cars that did not have motors but rather lights, sounds, or similar features and the naming may have been confusing. Production also shifted from Japan to China. When the Plarail range was refreshed in the early 2000s the Motor Tomica range was sold as Plaroad primarily as a companion to Plarail (Tomy had previously used the Plaroad name for their later 1980s Plarail-companion road system).
Motor Tomica road uses a rotationally symmetric clip connection style. Pieces are single-sided with the connection occurring below the road's surface. The underside of road has round rims that fit around the road pier supports. Many accessories key into the road and pier system.
D-09 Tunnel (D-09 トンネル) (199)
This grey and yellow car tunnel is made up of multiple sections like the Block Tunnel.
The yellow end sections make up the length of a half straight on its own and each grey section is an additional quarter straight.
The top of the tunnel supports road and has the footprint of a road pier at either end which means you can stack the tunnels or include them in larger Motor Tomica towers and highway systems.
These tunnels were first produced in Japan and in the later 1990s China. The underside support structure of the middle sections changed between these versions, getting stronger over time.
7516 Road Tunnel (Tomica World) (1998)
In 1998 Chinese-production grey and yellow road tunnels were released as part of the Tomica World range. A road tunnel was included in the 7427 Super Mega Set. Unlike some other Tomica accessories, the stickers were not changed for the export version.
D-10 Bridge (D-10 ブリッジ) (199)
Bridge consisting of single Straight Road, two Piers, and two green suspension bridge sides.
D-11 Automatic Railroad Crossing (D-11 自動ふみきり) (199)
Very neat and highly detailed automatic railroad crossing. This crossing is very neat - the large base section has an automated Plarail crossing and several small accessories including crossing signs, trees, a sign, guard rails, and a trash can and vending machine are included. I do not currently own a complete Japanese example of this crossing - the small pieces are pretty much always lost, and although I have several of the bases and a few of the signs I do not have a complete set with stickers. The road section is one and a half road straights long while the rail section is one straight rail long.
When a Motor Tomica car approaches the crossing, it is stopped by the first blue stopper in the road and runs against the rollers further back in the road. The next time a train passes it releases the first stopper and then stops the car against a second stopper which remains up until the train has finished passing, letting it continue on after. A button next to the stopper can alternately release the car at any point. (Note that one of the crossing gates does not drop properly when the train passes in this video - I will have to take a new one at some point, perhaps if I ever get one with a complete set of stickered accessories.
Unlike the previous Plaroad J-20 Rail Road Crossing, this crossing works in either direction.
7541 Automatic Crossing (Tomica World) (1999)
In 1999 the Automatic Crossing was released for the export Tomica World range.
The Automatic Crossing was also included in some sets such as the 7427 Super Mega Set.
This version features its own sticker sheet which replaces the vending machine with a restroom. The curvy Tomy logo on the Tomica World sticker was never updated for the 2000s rerelease.
In 2003 the automatic crossing was rereleased in European Thomas Motor Road & Rail packaging.
I have one of these crossings in the box with unused accessories.
D-13 Townhouse with Garage (D-13 タウンハウス(ガレージ付き)) (199)
Two-story house with functioning garage that can be connected to Motor Tomica road. This accessory comes as a garage base with a separate second story. A tree and two planters (one pictured - I currently only own one) are included to fit into the holes in the base, and several stickers cover the house.
When a car hits the yellow trigger as it drives up, the garage door opens and the car is caught on the turntable in the garage. Pulling the yellow lever closes the garage door and spins the turntable around so the car is facing forward. Pressing the yellow button lifts the garage door and releases the car. There is another door in the rear which can be opened to access the garage from the back.
This accessory was included in several Tomica World sets including the Super Mega Set.
D-16 Action U-Turn Road (D-16 アクションUターンどうる) (1997)
Neat turntable road section that uses an incoming car's running wheels to spin the turntable around and let the car speed away. Includes a ramp, tree, street light, yield sign, and guard rails.
Also released in green as a set variant. Some notes on repairing these turntables can be found here.
DR-01 Straight Rail & Road (DR-01 ストレートレール&どうろ) (1997)
Very cool combined parallel road and rail straight section with accessory pack. Produced in China.
Each accessory comes with a base section that is ~215mm long with double-concave rail section, road section, and median with also has road-style connections as well as a flat-style Tomica tree and yellow stoplight and barriers. This length makes the baseplate a replacement for a regular straight rail and straight road.
The prototype shown in the Tomica Plarail World '97~'98 Catalogue shows that at some point there were two planters in the medians.
These pieces, as well as the curved DR-02 version below, were also produced in green for a Doraemon set.
DR-02 Curve Rail & Road (DR-02 カープレール&どうろ) (1997)
Very cool combined parallel road and rail curve section with accessory pack. Manufactured in China, as many new Motor Tomica things were in the later 1990s.
Each accessory comes with a base section with double-concave rail section that is the same as a regular curve rail, curved road section that offers pretty much the only official way to et a 45 degree Motor Tomica curve, and median with also has road-style connections as well as a flat-style Tomica tree and yellow stoplight and barriers.
These road sections work with other accessories of the day like the J-16 City Station which has specific cutouts to accept the central median's connectors.
DR-03 Overpass Bridge (DR-03 立体交差橋) (1997)
Yellow city-type elevated railway bridge with road tunnel and accessories. Two street lights, two trees, four road barriers, and two red road barriers are included.
These bridges were first produced in China from 1997 to 2001 or so and later in Thailand.
In 1997 a set-exclusive red and white version was produced for the Tomica Plarail World Viaduct Set.
7521 Tunnel Intersection (Tomica World) (1998)
In 1998 a version of the overpass bridge was released for the Tomica World series as 7521 Tunnel Intersection. This version has different stickers - I quite like the curvy Tomy logo on the bridge. A nice brown variant of this bridge was also produced for the Thomas the Tank Engine export series (it was not used in Japan) which has four trees instead of two trees and two stoplights as well as grey bridge railings. A variant of the grey and red bridge was also released in the Tomica World U.S. Patrol Set.
DR-04 Overpass Tunnel (DR-04 立体交差トンネル) (1997)
Green tunnel with grey road bridge on top of the "mountain." The road has holes for Tomica accessories as well as molding features for stacking road piers on top.
Some Thomas sets like the Thomas and Bulgy Set came with a brown variant.
7522 Road and Rail Tunnel (Tomica World) (1998)
In 1998 the individual grey road tunnel was released for the Tomica World series as 7522 Road and Rail Tunnel.