fall inside a hole
Battery Operated Tomica/Motor Tomica/Plaroad 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. Accessories made to directly cross over with Plarail can be seen on this page.
D-09 Tunnel (~1994)
This grey and yellow car tunnel is made up of multiple sections like the Block Tunnel and was sold as D-09 Tunnel (D-09 トンネル). It appeared by 1994, but it might have been released in 1993, I am not sure. The tooling is marked 1993.
The yellow end sections make up the length of a half straight on their 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 (~1994)
D-10 Bridge (D-10 ブリッジ) consisting of single Straight Road, two Piers, and two green suspension bridge sides.
D-13 Townhouse with Garage (1995)
In 1995 the D-13 Townhouse (with Garage) (D-13 タウンハウス(ガレージ付き)) two-story house with functioning garage that can be connected to Motor Tomica road was released. 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 (1997)
In 1997 this neat turntable D-16 Action U-Turn Road (D-16 アクションUターンどうる) that uses an incoming car's running wheels to spin the turntable around and let the car speed away was released.
It includes a ramp, tree, street light, yield sign, and guard rails.
It was also released in green as a set variant. Actually, I have some of the yellow set variant Motor Tomica accessories, as well as the set's red Toyota Estima, so I ought to get out the other four road sections in the set and photograph it. Some notes on repairing these turntables can be found here.
7512 Road Turntable (Tomica World) (1998)
In 1998 the Road Turntable was released for the Tomica World export series. The box shown here is the American import of the regular European box by International Playthings with added sticker on the rear and small parts warning sticker on the front.
Actually, the yellow U-Turn Road shown above is this Tomica World release, which is December 1998 production. It was new in the box, so I could scan the yield sign sticker. The Japanese sticker has Japanese text on it.
Even brand new, the gears needed to be replaced...
D-18 Road Scenery Emergency Evacuation Drill (1997)
In 1997 a few more advanced roadside scenery sets were released including the D-18 Road Scenery Emergency Evacuation Drill (D-18情景どうろ避難訓練).
This scene depicts what is apparently a drill for evacuating a burning building.
The accessory is made up of the main stopping base with catch-and-release mechanism and attached fire truck and director, the building with moving smoke cloud and people, and two road ramps. The base includes slots that fit the Tomica Town trees and railings. Like other Motor Tomica components from when the range was reformatted around 1997 it was manufactured in China.
The building slots into place and the fire truck's ladder can extend, like many other Tomica fire trucks. I understand why Tomy said this was a "drill" but certainly many children would have pretended that the building was really on fire...
When a vehicle arrives, it makes the smoke move up and down and the people hanging out the side of the building lean in and out. After a little while, the drill leader releases the vehicle and it heads on.