Future of Tomica World in USA

To rephrase they did make an American style train, it is far from being available anymore. It came in a high end set so you would start out with enough track to play for hours right out of the box, makes sense to me. And during the time the Amtrak set was released Tomy was the producer of Thomas in the U.S. and stand alone track packs were available. As for the Tomica Hypercity line, for the first year it was for sale in the U.S. it was Toys R Us exclusive and had it caught on, switch track packs were going to be released as evident in the following photo. Switch tracks were also available in the bigger Hypercity sets which were reasonably priced, at this point I don't blame Tomy they have tried!
And yes it was marketed as just another toy I agree, but I sincerely think you overestimate the demand for it in the United States!

I am not trying to be argumentative I am just having a discussion.

Good discussion all around, no offense taken. Interesting to know that it was a TRU exclusive for the first year. Maybe that's why my train store dealer had such trouble getting it in. Perhaps many of the sets he wanted didn't last past (or much past) the TRU promotional period.

Nice to see the pic. However, I can't quite tell, but it looks like most of the trains in that ad are the robo or sci-fi trains.

I think we just disagree about whether TOMY made the right decisions in marketing Tomica and selecting which items to sell. Putting the most recognizable train in the highest price box (and one that was only limited in distribution) only works if you have a brand that parents know. Otherwise get it in at a modest price point and sell the heck out of it.

Also, by comparison it appears that currently the "Power Trains" brand of train sets are doing well at multiple outlets and sells at a price point not much different from Tomica. Though much lower quality than Tomy and almost all with stickers instead of paint, they are all based on real-world designs in both the trains and the accessories. Clearly a toy trying to present itself as a train set.

I think they prove that a market exists. I just wish it was Tomy in that niche, and I think if TOMY had played their cards better I think it could have been. I think we do agree, though, that it might be too late now.
:-(