fall inside a hole

Mickey Poppo (1982)

First written March 20, 2024

In preparation for the opening of Tokyo Disneyland in 1983 two "Mickey Poppo" (ミッキーポッポ) trains were released based loosely on the park's trains. Tomy was (and still is, as Takara Tomy) the sponsor of Tokyo Disneyland's Western River Railroad, the railroad running through the Adventureland and Westernland regions of Tokyo Disneyland. "Poppo" is Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of a puffing steam locomotive. Early Mickey Poppos were made in Japan with production moving to Thailand around 1990. In 1997 Mickey Poppo was finally updated to use a new power-style direct drive gearbox. Mickey Poppo regular three-pack style releases include the steam locomotive with attached tender and a single open-air carriage with two Family Doll figures. These figures are the same tooling as the regular set of five but come in different colors.

Mickey Poppo Red

It appears the red version of Mickey Poppo may have been released first in later 1982, appearing is some sets in 1983, while the green version first seems to appear around 1984, although only the red version appears in the 1984 catalogue. Flags inserted into the cowcatcher have the Tomy "boy and girl" logo molded into them. Mickey Poppo engines and cars use black couplings, which are relatively rare and somewhat sought-after. The gearboxes in these old power Mickey Poppos are relatively cramped and have a noisemaking "clicker" to represent steam engine chuffing. They are also somewhat exposed and seem prone to getting filled with carpet fluff and hair, and even in unused condition the rubber components of the friction drive will probably still need some attention. Details on the Mickey Poppo gearbox and how to open Mickey Poppos can be found here.

Stickers on one side of the engine's cab shows Mickey Mouse while the other shows Donald Duck with an engineer' cap and his hand on the whistle. Occasionally, Mickey Poppos can be found with these stickers installed on the "wrong" sides. Old power Mickey Poppos have their power switch hanging down underneath the tender. The battery cover is a friction fit which is easily lost over time, as has happened to one of my Mickey Poppo Reds as well as my only Green. I have modeled a 3D printable replacement cover that can be used in place of the original. My mostly complete Mickey Poppo Red was produced in Thailand in July 1991.

All portions of the Mickey Poppo are marked with Disney licensing (namely, the engine and carriage chassis as well as the bottom of the battery cover and coach roof, presumably because they were considered separate pieces of the toy)

The roofs of the coaches come off to allow the doll play dolls to be inserted more easily. They can be inserted facing a multitude of ways.

Stickers on the rear of the coaches have the Tomy logo. The coaches for Mickey Poppos are often broken or missing their roofs.

In addition to the Thailand-made Mickey Poppo Red shown here, I also have the 1990 Mickey Poppo Set variant Mickey Poppo Red with yellow wheels, orange coupling rods, and no carriage roof sticker.

Mickey Poppo Green

I do not have a complete Mickey Poppo Green but I do have the locomotive with a broken coach missing the roof and battery cover. The flags on these engines are also often broken off, although this one has managed to retain both.

This Mickey Poppo is also made in Thailand, with the coach coming from a separate lot (and also having been made in Thailand). The same lot the green engine came from also had another red engine, with some tape on one side of the tender and a ripped sticker on the other where some tape was once used to hold the battery cover in place.

"Disney Mickey Poppo"

A Plarail Land-style train set featuring an "it's a small world" ride with spinning boats and internal music box was released with a more exaggerated style of steam locomotive as used in the Plarail Land or Playrail series. The engine is red with a blue chassis and is named "Disney Mickey Poppo" on the side with a chunky red coach resembling the Disneyland coaches with stickered sides showing passengers and two circular "seats" in the top for the Plarail Land-style dolls included in the set. Donald is shown driving the train on both sides and a Mickey doll can sit in the open rear cab (or elsewhere in the set). A video of this set showing the "Disney Mickey Poppo" can be seen here.

New Power (1997)

In 1997 both Mickey Poppos were rereleased in new boxes with new power gearboxes. Mickey Poppos were, I believe, the last old power friction-drive engines being produced, outlasting the other late straggling C12 and D51 steam locomotives. I do not currently own one of these Mickey Poppos, but the new gearbox moves the power switch to the roof of the locomotive without otherwise altering the external appearance of Mickey Poppo. I do have two Shuppos based on the new power Mickey Poppo. The new power Mickey Poppo was retired around 2000.

Tokyo Disneyland sets (2007 - )

In the 2000s the Mickey Poppo tooling continued to be updated and used in some Tokyo Disneyland Plarail sets which were available for sale at Tokyo Disneyland. Instead of the "Disney Railroad" the Mickey Poppos were running under, the newer Mickey Poppo-based trains represent specific engines at Tokyo Disneyland. The flags on the front of these engines no longer contain the Tomy "boy and girl" logo.

I have this modernized engine and car from the Plarail Western River Railroad Set (ウエスタンリバー鉄道プラレール プレイセット) which is similar to Mickey Poppo Red. The set is fairly small and the only exclusive components are the engine and carriage - I will have to piece the rest of it together and set it up some time. Unlike the more generic Mickey Poppos, this train is specifically made to represent the Colorado, one of the real Western River Railroad locomotives, with new painted detailing and stickers to match, as well as an updated coach. In addition to the added detail, the seats inside have been retooled to now accommodate Plakids figures instead of the older Family Dolls. It also has molded axleboxes. One of the green flags on my Colorado is broken off.

The tender has been updated to have a screw holding the cover on and it runs on a single AA battery instead of a C cell. The new power battery cover previously extended the overlapping friction-fit tabs, but also end up lost. For what it is worth, even screwed battery covers go missing from toys with decent regularity, although my various new power Mickey Poppos all have their battery covers. The roofs on these coaches are now glued on, although they can be removed with some persuasion (I don't remember if it was already loose when I got it, but the roof on mine can be pulled off with minor effort and shows the glue patches on the interface).

It is a little hard tell when exactly some of these Tokyo Disneyland sets first released. The box for this set has the Takara Tomy mark, which began being used on Plarail boxes in 2007, and the molding stamp on the inside of the battery cover (E1607) implies the engine was manufactured the 16th of May 2007, so it seems reasonable that this set first came out around 2007.

Later on the Tokyo Disneyland/Western River Railroad engines got a new gearbox that allowed the AA battery to be installed directly into the engine, with the tender being a completely separate piece of rolling stock that coupled on normally. It seems that the Western River Railroad set was rereleased with this new AA gearbox in later years, and individual three-pack-style releases of the Missouri and Mississippi were released. I do have one of these separate-tender Missouri releases sans coach, but I have not gotten it out of storage to photograph yet. A Toy Story-themed Tokyo Disneyland set also featured a new AA gearbox Mickey Poppo themed after Woody.

It is amazing to look at the original 1980s friction-drive Mickey Poppo gearbox, already cramped into a fairly tiny and oddly-shaped Plarail chassis, and see it evolve all the way to the point where the battery can fit in the locomotive with the direct-drive gearbox.