The design of the backing card (in the third image I posted above) matches the one used on the 3-car train boxes that were released between 1994 and 2003, the ones known as 7th generation boxes.
However, they must have first appeared considerably earlier than this, because one half of the set (the one with a hole in it that attaches to the chassis by slipping over a moulded stub, or occasionally using a screw) was used on the Tomy Train range which launched in 1987.
However, they must have first appeared considerably earlier than this, because one half of the set (the one with a hole in it that attaches to the chassis by slipping over a moulded stub, or occasionally using a screw) was used on the Tomy Train range which launched in 1987.
![[-]](https://www.blueplastictracks.org/images/collapse.png)