Why, Oh Why Trackmaster?

[Super]

Hmmm...well they either had to increase the speed or gearing to make it up the hill. Their speeds do look to be a little more but by very much? And...do they have flat drives as looking at the on/off switches they look further back especially James. Hard to see, what do you think?

[Ucwepn]

I don't like to speculate, I think same gearing for james slightly upgraded motor. Thomas would need some kind of toothed gear drive on the track to climb a hill like that.

im really pleased the avalanche has an auto reset rather than a manual. i was expecting to have to put a spring on it to make it return.

the old tomy engines had steep hills, and they had teeth on both the rear wheels and the hill itself. thomas cant climb them as too steep. maybe they have a similar set up with this set?

Lesson learned Do not trust anyone except for Tomy!!!!!

Well, I still like trackmaster, but tomy does have its advantages by a long shot. Trackmaster is only really available here, but does have some advantages

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This vid from the other thread makes a little more sense now with Thomas climbing to "greater heights" and James going faster than the current James

Oh no! They are making new track.......AGAIN! I don't want to have to stet new again with my track !

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Hmmm...well they either had to increase the speed or gearing to make it up the hill. Their speeds do look to be a little more but by very much? And...do they have flat drives as looking at the on/off switches they look further back especially James. Hard to see, what do you think?

Being on a phone, it wasn't the easiest to see, but my thoughts so far are they need to fix that thomas because it has only 2 wheels and is a bit large, and james as a very small tender. Plus the track, they are really changing it again!

what trackmaster should really do is to have more remote control locomotives. I prefer to have some that can go backward.

[Super]

what trackmaster should really do is to have more remote control locomotives. I prefer to have some that can go backward.

I am curious about the ones that can go backwards. Can they reverse with a lot of rolling stock behind it or will it just start derailing the cars?

[Ucwepn]

depends what type of track they are on and how many cars. We really need a new coupling system, This is where the larger TOMY trains with magnets were superior to plarail.

Reverse switch duck shunting 4 coaches

depends what type of track they are on and how many cars. We really need a new coupling system, This is where the larger TOMY trains with magnets were superior to plarail.

Reverse switch duck shunting 4 coaches

But even the old couplers struggled when trying to reverse a large rake I.e 4 trucks or more, also the old tomy trains were dire at reversing up inclines!

Other than cost-cutting, I can't imagine why Fisher-Price/Mattel/Trackmaster decided to make wholesale changes to the Trackmaster line, with redesigned engines, and an all new track system. To make them incompatible with the blue Tomy track and the existing brown Trackmaster track is incomprehensible!

I think Fisher-Price/Mattel has been secretly trying to kill off the Trackmaster line, since they seem to put much more effort into the Take N Play line. (More characters, faster release, more overall products)

Perhaps this redesign is intended to be the nail-in-the-coffin? "Look, Executive Board, we redesigned the whole line to make the engines more realistic, faster, and better performing, and sales have tanked! Let's drop this line to concentrate more on Take N Play."

After all, the brown Trackmaster track was their design to begin with. Why abandon it after only a few years?

Sorry for the rant, but needed to get it off my chest!

[Ucwepn]

very well said grumpy_tyrant I agree with all those points, it is just very unbelievable that they could mess up such a high quality product! I can bet the profit margins for take n play are very good! the small engines sell for $10 each in Australia.