'Made in Japan' Thomas Question

I only just got around to 'curating' a Thomas that I acquired in a mixed lot back in August 2023, and I find that he's got MADE IN JAPAN moulded onto the chassis where I would normally expect to see MADE IN THAILAND. He also has grey tyres and brass battery contacts, both of which I think may be unusual.

I would be grateful if any of the Thomas experts out there in the BPT-iverse could tell me what this implies with regard to his origins. In particular, can anyone tell me precisely when the change in manufacturing plant and country took place, and between which two Thomas products? Or did they manufacture in parallel for a while?

I'm sure this information is widely known among Thomas fans, so I'm looking forward to being educated.

[Super]

I wish I could help you Dr Chris as you have helped me so often but as usual I am not very versed in the Thomas line. I am looking forward to our experts answer to this so we all can be educated. Its very rare that Dr Chris asks a questions that he can't search out the answer himself as he is the master researcher around here so I encourage any member that can help out to reply 😊

I know DuckGWR made a video about all the Thomas variants from 1992 to 2003

The thomas you have would have been made between 1992 and 1994 additionally he would have come with a coupling with only one split instead of 2

It's quite a valuable model especially if it has the original tyres as those often end up being replaced

Thomas was produced in Japan from 1992 to 1994. There were two print runs of boxes, one in late 1991 and a second in 1994, and Thomas was produced in 1992 and 1994 only (At least, I have never seen one actually produced in 1993). If you open it up, assuming it still has it, the sticker inside will tell you the month and year.





Production of almost all Thomas Plarail engines (at the time only Thomas, Henry, and James) moved from Japan to Thailand around the beginning of 1995 after all three characters got a new print run of boxes and production run of trains in 1994 (this was the first and only Japanese run of James and the second box printing for the other two) to tide them over until toolings were updated and Thailand production began. The latest Japanese production Thomas-series engine I have is a Thomas from December 1994, with all three engines reappearing in Thailand production by at latest July (probably June) 1995. Brass battery contacts were the norm on all Japanese-produced trains, and similar brass-to-silver changes occurred on other Tomy toys that changed production from Tomy's Japanese factories to their expanding Thailand complex. Plarail began being produced there in 1989, two years after it initially opened, and most Plarail production had moved there by 1994 or so. The last Thomas-series products made in Japan were early B/O Tomica Berties (B/O Tomica was all handled in Japan until 1996 or so) and the panorama bag released in 1995. Tomy began moving B/O Tomica production out of Japan in 1996 (and renamed it Motor Tomica at the same time) when they closed three of their Japanese factories.
 
Some more information, particularly about box revisions, is available on my site here

Thanks DuckGWR for your most comprehensive reply, and the link to the relevant page on your website. Mine does have the sticker but the printing on it is almost illegible. My best guess is B5, which would make it February 1995, just about acceptably squeezing in to the timeline you have laid out, though I wouldn't put any money on it. It might show up a lot better under UV light, but that will have to wait.

[Super]

Very interesting, thank you Duck and D9D 👍

Interesting, I have not seen any of the Thomas-series trains produced in Japan in 1995 so far but it could be possible. It is definitely a Japan-made shell, the Japanese production stickers are wider and stamped with the production code and the Thailand ones are smaller, squarer printed ones. The Japanese ones are more commonly on the side of the shell and the Thailand ones more commonly on the bottom of the cab roof