fall inside a hole

My Tomica collection

Stylized Plarail logo used in the 1980s

Tomica are a series of small 1/64 scale die-cast cars from Tomy first produced in 1970. By 1976 over 100 million total Tomica cars had been produced, with 200 million produced by 1979. The range expanded to include plastic buildings and playsets and several different styles of road. This page (will eventually) cover my small collection of "regular" Tomica vehicles as well as Tomy's Motor Tomica (also called B/O Tomica and Plaroad) range that was similar to and integrated into Plarail. Also covered are other Plarail-adjacent road systems like Plahighway and the original 1980s Plaroad.

Sets Trains Rail Scenery Tomica Catalogues Thomas series Exports

Tomica

Die-cast cars

Year
Name
Description
Photo
       
       

Tomica Town

Tomica Town is a series of plastic stores and other buildings made to fit the Tomica diecast cars and a series of cardboard road pieces to create cities with curbs, parking spaces, garages, shops, and other amenities

Year
Name
Description
Photo
       
       

B/O Tomica/Motor Tomica/Plaroad

Motor Tomica (モータートミカ), called B/O (for Battery/Operated) Tomica from 1993 to 1996, was one of Tomy's most well-developed road systems with a wide range of cars, road, and accessories. Like previous car systems Plaroad and Plahighway it featured its own sets, accessories, and cars as well as crossover sets with Plarail. The system was designed to fit in well with Plarail and Tomica Town as well as traditional Tomica. In the 2000s Motor Tomica changed to being sold under the Plaroad name and had a more cut-back lineup

Sets

Year
Name
Description
Photo
August 1996 B/O Tomica New Town Station Set Plarail crossover set with very neat elevated train station with multi-lane road pickup/dropoff area
1997 Motor Tomica Basic Set Cool set showing off the parallel rail and road sections with DD51 and Honda CR-V
July 2004 Plaroad Bulgy Basic Set Thomas-series Plaroad set with Bulgy the green double-decker bus and figure eight of Plaroad

Vehicles

Year
Name
Description
Photo
1993 B-01 Nissan Fairlady Z Red Nissan Fairlady Z
1993 B-02 Nissan Fairlady Z Patrol Car Motorized Nissan Fairlady Z police car
1993 B-03 Toyota Estima Blue individual release Toyota Estima  
1993 B-04 Toyota Estima Ambulance Motorized Toyota Estima in ambulance livery
1993 B-05 Toyota Crown Majesta Pearl Toyota Crown Majesta
1993 B-06 Toyota Crown Majesta Taxi B/O Tomica Crown Majesta in taxi getup
January 1994 B-09 One Man Bus Commuter bus produced in several variations
January 1994 B-11 Mitsubishi Pajero Silver Mitsubishi Pajero  
1994 B-13 Mitsubishi Pajero Highway Public Corporation Patrol Car Pajero released in yellow Japanese highway patrol livery
1994 B-14 Amusement Park Bus Circus animal-themed bus
August 1995 B-17 Nissan Skyline GT-R Silver Nissan Skyline
August 1995 B-18 Crane Truck Yellow service crane truck with extending boom
1996 B-20 Honda CR-V B/O Tomica blue Honda CR-V
February 23 1996 Bertie Individual B/O Tomica Bertie the Bus from the Thomas the Tank Engine series
1997 A-02 Honda CR-V Motor Tomica silver Honda CR-V
1997 A-05 Nissan Skyline GT-R Purple Nissan Skyline
1997 A-12 Toyota TownAce Blue Motor Tomica Toyota TownAce
1997 AM-1 TV Network Car White TV truck with rotating satellite dish
1997 AM-2 Advertisement Car Red box van with rotating Plarail and Tomica advertising banner
1997 Bertie Rereleased Motor Tomica Bertie
June 19 1998 Bulgy Individual Motor Tomica Bulgy the Bus
March 30 2000 Lorry Motor Tomica Lorry 1 from the Thomas series
2004 C-01 Tobu Bus White commuter bus sold under the Plaroad name
2004 TC-01 Plaroad Bertie Rereleased Plaroad Bertie
2004 TC-02 Plaroad Lorry Plaroad Lorry 1
2004 TC-03 Plaroad Bulgy Green grocery-stand Bulgy

Road & Accessories

Like Plarail and the other previous road systems, Tomy sold individual packs of different styles of road pieces. B/O and Motor Tomica road was dark grey with blue junctions and later Plaroad sets had lighter grey road, with a handful of other colors in a few sets

Year
Name
Description
Photo
1993 D-01 Straight Road Four pack of straight road
1993 D-02 1/2 Straight Road Six pack of half straight road
1993 D-03 Curve Road Four pack of curve road
1993 D-04 Intersection Four-way intersection with directional levers
1993 D-05 T Road Three-way intersection with road ramp
1993 D-06 Slope Road Two sloping pieces of road
1993 D-07 Pier Six white road piers
  D-09 Tunnel Yellow and grey expandable tunnel that can stack with itself and the road pier system
  D-10 Bridge Nice green suspension bridge with two piers and straight road
  D-11 Automatic Railroad Crossing Large detailed automatic railroad crossing piece with many often-missing small accessories
  D-13 Townhouse (with Garage) A two-story house with an operating garage that connects to Motor Tomica road
1997 D-15 1/4 Straight Road 12 pack of 1/4 road straights
1997 D-16 Action U-Turn Road    
1997 DR-01 Straight Rail & Road Cool parallel rail and road straight with accessories
1997 DR-02 Curve Rail & Road Cool parallel rail and road curve with accessories
1997 DR-03 Overpass Bridge Yellow rail overpass tunnel with road underneath and a variety of small accessories  
1997 DR-04 Overpass Tunnel A green hilly tunnel for rail with a grey road bridge over top  
2004 D-01 Straight Road Four pack of Plaroad light grey straight road
2004 D-02 1/2 Straight Road Six light grey Plaroad half straight roads  
2004 D-03 Curve Road Four Plaroad light grey curve roads
2004 D-04 Slope Road (with 2 Piers) Two Plaroad slope roads with two orange piers.  
2004 D-05 Road Bridge Pier Six pack of new Plaroad orange road and rail girders  
2004 D-06 1/4 Straight Road 12 quarter straight Plaroad sections  
2005 D-07 T Road Plaroad T junction with ramp
2005 D-08 Intersection Plaroad four-way intersection
2005 D-09 Traffic Light    

Plaroad (1985-1990)

The original Plaroad (プラロード) series was developed in the mid 1980s and like Plahighway before it and Motor Tomica after it both standalone Plaroad sets and crossover Plarail ones were released. Plaroad reused some Plarail components like girders and could be stacked into multi-level layouts. Alongside Plarail's brand refresh and transition to new power in 1987 most Plaroad items were repackaged in Plarail packaging and sold as Plarail accessories rather than a companion range and they disappeared from production around 1990. In the 2000s Motor Tomica was also sold under the Plaroad name

Year
Name
Description
Photo
1985 101 Straight Road Four pack of straight road
1985 102 Small Curve Road Four pack of 90 degree curved road
1985 104 Slope Road Pair of sloped road
1985 105 1/2 Straight Road Six pack of half straight road
1985 106 Turnout Road One pair of road turnouts
1985 Plaroad Basic Set 301 Small standalone Plaroad set with charging base gas station and red Nissan Skyline
1985
J-20 Rail Road Crossing Automatic/Manual crossing for Plaroad and Plarail. Sold as a Plarail accessory
1986 Rail Road Level Crossing Set Plarail crossover set featuring an L Limited Express crossing a Plaroad bus at a level crossing, with an elevated "highway" overpass

Plahighway (プラハイウェイ)

Plahighway was Tomy's first companion road system for Plarail developed in the late 1960s that lasted until around 1974. Road was originally tan but changed to a light blue in the 1970s. Standalone sets as well as Plarail crossover sets with operating crossings were released. A "police chase" style set with two cars and a highway interchange was exported to some countries as late as 1979. More information about the domestic Japanese range can be found in the Plarail Museum's Plahighway Annex

Year
Name
Description
Photo 
1972 Highway Police Chase Large Plahighway set exported through Sears in North America with remotely-controlled switches and automatic toll booth
1975 Highway Police Chase Smaller export Plahighway set with police cruiser and red car on a highway interchange

Catalogues

In 1994 the Tomica and Plarail catalogues were unified. More Tomy catalogues can be seen on the Tomy manuals and catalogues page.

Title Description Cover
'87 Tomica Catalogue 1987 Tomica die cast car catalogue
'90~'91 Tomica Catalogue 1990-1991 Tomica car and playset catalogue
Tomica Plarail '94 Catalogue The first combined Tomica and Plarail catalogue from 1994
Tomica Plarail '95~96 Catalogue 1995-1996 Plarail and Tomica "flippy" catalogue
Tomica Plarail World '97~'98 Catalogue Integrated "Tomica Plarail World" catalogue from 1997-1998
Tomica Plarail World '98~'99 Catalogue Second Tomica Plarail World catalogue from 1998-1999
Tomica Plarail World 1999~2000 Catalogue 1999-2000 Tomica and Plarail catalogue
Tomica Plarail World 2000~2001 Catalogue The 2000-2001 Tomica Plarail World catalogue
Tomica & Plarail Catalogue 2003~2004 Late 2003 Plarail & Tomica catalogue
Tomica & Plarail Catalogue 2004 2004 Tomica Plarail catalogue
Tomica & Plarail Catalogue 2004-2005 Transitional 2004-2005 Tomica Plarail catalogue

Sets Trains Rail Scenery Tomica Catalogues Thomas series Exports