Online Selling Shockers

US Trackmaster engines do not say Tomy, and I don't think UK ones do either, just HiT Toys and later Mattel. The HiT Toys and earlier Mattel Trackmaster don't have holes in the wheels, Mattel added them when they changed from boxes to plastic bubbles/clamshells to hold engines so they could hold them in place.



Notice how the wheels on the second one are partially below the cardboard "rail" platform, there is a second set of holes with black plastic rods through them to hold the engine down and in place.

Like TrainMan said, the drive units were pretty much identical for several years. When HiT Toys took over, the Thomas type drive unit was instead made in white plastic with a splash of black paint in the area exposed by the window and the grey power switch was changed to white. I think the housing is slightly different, but still close enough to where I have a Thomas with a franken-motor that's half black Tomy and half white HiT Toys. I believe similar small changes were made to the other drive units, slight molding and plastic differences but otherwise pretty much interchangeable. The HiT Toys engines were mostly unchanged from the unpainted running board Tomy engines available in the US up to that point, it wasn't until Mattel came in that they gained or lost detail, Mattel added red boiler stripes and eventually removed front cab window stickers, among other things.


There's a Tomy versus an early Mattel, HiT Toys were the same as Mattel. Later Mattel slowely changed everything over to the flat type drive unit, replacing the Thomas and eventually the tender-in-the-battery and Diesel C-cell type drive units with it. And, as mentioned, in 2014 they changed everything over to the same 2 AAA chassis

HiT Toys models don't use the pull down middle wheels, you just squeeze the body shell. Mattel changed all the battery covers over to using screws.


I would have some more comprehensive pictures, but all I have in my apartment right now is my spares and repairs bin and some of the magnet style 90s TomyTrain trains.

Hmm, I was trying to get this thread back on track here at the end, but I can't seem to find a screenshot of the auction I once saw where someone had taped drawings of a claw and mean face over a Trackmaster BoCo. Somebody obviously wanted Diesel 10 but could only get BoCo!