How many "Steam Along" Thomas variations?

[ripley802]

So I am repairing some trains for a fellow member and learned something but then had some additional questions.

I knew of the Metalic version of the Steam Along Thomas and I was aware of the Japanese version which was non metalic, but I did not realize there is also a white deck Metalic version as well which is a Japanese release I believe.

Excluding the new TMR and the new Plarail release, are there others?

[Super]

Would the collection of Plarail Catalogs help?

So I am repairing some trains for a fellow member and learned something but then had some additional questions.

I knew of the Metalic version of the Steam Along Thomas and I was aware of the Japanese version which was non metalic, but I did not realize there is also a white deck Metalic version as well which is a Japanese release I believe.

Excluding the new TMR and the new Plarail release, are there others?

Are you sure it is factory?
Could it be the white deck from the nonmetallic version, with the metallic Thomas upper half and shell?
Yes there is another slight variation that exists though...
Seems like at the time of the Tomy to HitToys transition some of them were released without red boiler stripes.

I never knew they made a white running board version of the metallic variant. I thought the metallic one was only sold in the West. To be fair, the white/grey running board makes any Thomas look better. Also, unpainted boiler bands sounds more like a factory error.

[ripley802]

Are you sure it is factory?
Could it be the white deck from the nonmetallic version, with the metallic Thomas upper half and shell?
Yes there is another slight variation that exists though...
Seems like at the time of the Tomy to HitToys transition some of them were released without red boiler stripes.

Great question. I will get a few pictures but am not sure if the shell may have been switched although it seems like it could be definitely possible.

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I never knew they made a white running board version of the metallic variant. I thought the metallic one was only sold in the West. To be fair, the white/grey running board makes any Thomas look better. Also, unpainted boiler bands sounds more like a factory error.

Thanks. Yeah I was thinking the Metalic version was only in the west as well. And yes the white/gray looks much better.

[ripley802]

Here are a couple pics. It does make more sense that the shells were probably just switched.

All are 2005 Tomy:



On a side note, 2 of 3 are repaired. They needed some re-wiring and additional work. One still has no steam so I am still working on him.

Yes the decks/shells are just switched...the Original non-metallic Steam Thomas comes with a white deck, whereas the one pictured is plain red.
Also, there were way too many stripeless metallic boiler tops released for them to be considered errors...more like transitional laziness.

Are you sure it is factory?
Could it be the white deck from the nonmetallic version, with the metallic Thomas upper half and shell?
Yes there is another slight variation that exists though...
Seems like at the time of the Tomy to HitToys transition some of them were released without red boiler stripes.

It was actually ME who swapped the body shells (I did that for customizing )

[Super]

Well, there you have it, straight from the horse's Grod's mouth

Well, there you have it, straight from the horse's Grod's mouth

What do you mean?