I remember parents complaining for years that Take-Along (later Take-n-Play, then Adventures) wouldn't fit on wooden or TOMY/TrackMaster tracks (despite it clearly saying so on the package), but was TrackMaster Push-Along really the way to go? The die-cast engines had their own unique narrow wheel gauge for 16 years, and would've continued to.
Just seems to me that they used those complaints from a small minority of parents as an excuse to try to "fix" a brand that was already on a downward slope.
And now Mattel (Fisher-Price) has released a statement that the separate brands were always "their challenge area, their hot topic" and by 2020 they want "completely interchangeable trains, no more confusion!" - so get ready for Thomas & Friends Wood with TrackMaster couplings, I guess?
Just seems to me that they used those complaints from a small minority of parents as an excuse to try to "fix" a brand that was already on a downward slope.
And now Mattel (Fisher-Price) has released a statement that the separate brands were always "their challenge area, their hot topic" and by 2020 they want "completely interchangeable trains, no more confusion!" - so get ready for Thomas & Friends Wood with TrackMaster couplings, I guess?
![[-]](https://www.blueplastictracks.org/images/collapse.png)