Plarail

Plarail (プラレール, Purarēru) is a toy train and plastic track system made by Tomy and introduced in Japan in 1959.

March 1992 saw the introduction of a product line based on the Thomas & Friends television series was introduced in Plarail.

The line features characters, buildings and sets based on the series, and has continued to be a popular sub-series of the Plarail system.

In Summer 2012, the Plarail Chuggington range was released, based on the television series and was retired in late 2016.

In 1987, a range titled Tomy Trains was released in the UK and (excluding Asia) exported worldwide.

In 1998, the Tomy Trains range was discontinued in the UK and replaced with the Plarail system, renamed as Tomica World.

The range featured similar engines and rolling stock on a new realistically designed brown track system.

As Takara Tomy's license was different from its UK and USA branches, the Plarail Thomas range was not affected by these changes.

The system featured products from the Hyper Guardian series and the Tomica die-cast range.

[5] Paramodel is a group of Japanese artists that utilize Plarail tracks among other things for their works of art and installations.