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Plarail fact of the day: Tomy& #39;s other road systems! We& #39;ll start with one used outside of Japan, and one of two (sorta, we& #39;ll come back to that) that I own: this TOMYTrain autobridge is compatable with TOMY Fun Runs World road. They use pullback cars, and also had destinations.
Around 1974 a number of "Highway" Plarail sets were released, which used a baby blue road system with connectors on the outside of the pieces - sort of similar to how Departing Now track connects.
As a side note, the old Plarail turnaround piece (which became the red turnaround still available today) resembles this generation of road. The road could also be bought without an accompanying Plarail train.
The 1980s brought about Plaroad, a similarly colored and connected road system. The parts have some additions, such as added scenery slots on curves. They use normal risers, and again were available alone. The Plaroad name has been reused since then, starting in 2004
New Plaroad is really just an extension of the road system you& #39;re probably familiar with.
The road you know and love outside of Japan started as Tomy& #39;s Tomica cars were reintegrated formally with Plarail in the 90s when B/O (battery operated) Tomica was introduced, eventually being renamed Motor Tomica. You can see references to B/O Tomica on many 90s Thomas boxes.
Another style you are possibly familiar with is the Tomica Hypercity cardboard road - I have a little bit of this too, you could occasionally find it at stores like TJ Maxx and Ollie& #39;s 7 or 8 years ago. It& #39;s designed to sit around little destinations with curbs built in.
There are a few other road systems for regular nonmotorized Tomica cars too. Some playsets have a fixed layout, usually with an elevator of sorts to bring cars up for them to slide down a series of ramps, and there is also a style of road that connects like puzzle pieces
There is also a "moving road" system with a grooved, rotating tube in the road that pulls vehicles forward. All three systems have had Plarail crossovers, including a few outside Japan in Hypercity sets.
Tomica cars were released as individual cars outside Japan as well, particularly in the US as Tomy Pocket Cars
Believe it or not, the original Plarail road system is one that, if you own Tomy track, you own a descendent of. That& #39;s because one of the first 3 products to use the familiar blue rails was this highway vehicle set, with wooden vehicles. Original Plarail road is just Plarail!
These rails have no grooves for wheels to grip whatsoever, and you can see the old out of print very steep ascending tracks. These were both changed as motorized vehicles were introduced to make them easier to run. Other 1959 sets include similar track and push trains.
Much of this thread& #39;s information and pictures come from Vio& #39;s BigLobe Museum Continuation thread over on Blue Plastic Tracks here https://blueplastictracks.com/showthread.php?tid=4035">https://blueplastictracks.com/showthrea...