User:Santa/sandbox

Sandbox

Draft Clarification of Motor Road and Rail vs. Plarail vs. Trackmaster

 * Main article: Motor Road and Rail

Thomas Trackmaster is compatible with Motor Road and Rail (known as Plarail [(プラレール] in Asia), a motorized model train system, when using adapters.(<--clarify) In the USA market, HIT Toy's 'Thomas Trackmaster'

In the Japan market, Plarail has been produced since 1959. A battery-operated system became available in 1961, and the Thomas & Friends line was introduced in March 1992, which is still produced.

For the USA market in 2007, HIT Entertainment's subsidiary HIT Toys obtained the license to produce the USA range, which was renamed to 'Thomas TrackMaster'. Track adapters were sold with sets to connect the TrackMaster track to the original blue track, thus making every system compatible.

For the UK market in 1998, the Tomy Trains system was discontinued and replaced with the Plarail system, repackaged and labeled Tomica World. The system featured some European trains, but overall featured existing products from the Plarail system, including the Thomas and Friends series. In 2003, the range was renamed Thomas Motor Road and Rail and focused only on Thomas and Friends themed products. In 2008, Tomy bought the license for the TrackMaster range to be distributed in the UK, and all the Motor Road and Rail engines' products were re-packaged as TrackMaster.

In 2009, the Thomas license was bought by Mattel's Fisher-Price, and since late 2009, the new TrackMaster system is now distributed by Mattel worldwide, apart from Asia. The adapters have since not been sold with sets. As Takara Tomy's license was different from its UK and USA branches, the Plarail Thomas range was not affected by these changes.

''So... bottom line... can a casual visitor to TTTE figure out which toys to buy that are compatible with one another? Or if not, which adapters to buy and what they look like?''