a puzzle... tomy or meccano?

ok gang, a puzzle for you to figure out.

i recently acquired this tuneyville choo choo from facebook. i wanted it specifically for the battery cover to put on my casey jones musical train. i got the new one today, and the sticker on the sides says "meccano"!

a quick google gives no result for a connection between tomy and meccano, yet everything on this train is identical to a tomy release, except for the logo sticker. even the bear sticker on the side is the same design.

compare the photo below to this video featuring the tomy one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO5d_yGS6k8

yes, i know its missing the top of the funnel. it was a whole $3, and in rough shape, but the cover is all i was worried about.
   

Maybe it was distributed in a country by Mecanno because Tomy didn't have a licence there?

Well the OFF/ON switch is labelled ARRET/MARCHE, which is maybe a bit of a clue. I see there's another Meccano-branded one for sale on a South African site, also with French on it..

[Super]

This is a puzzler. I can't find much on the company from years ago and if it was a distributor or collaboration company.

I am glad you were able to pick up a battery cover for your original Tomy version for cheap. Thats hard to do for most toys missing any cover.

good thoughts, guys. i automatically assumed meccano as in the toy brand when i saw it, which isnt to say there wasnt a distributor with the same name.

shall keep searching for answers.

The balloon logo next to the word Meccano represents the British toy brand Palitoy.  This is a timeline for Palitoy:

1919: Cascelloid Company was founded by Alfred Edward Pallett in Coalville, Leicestershire, UK. Their first toy made in 1920.
1931: Cascelloid bought by British Xylonite. (Xylonite was another name for Celluloid plastic).
1935: the Palitoy trademark was created by BX for their toy products.
1968: Palitoy was sold to US food company General Mills, and became part of their toy division, also known as CPG (Creative Products Group).
1971: GM acquired Meccano France from the receivers of the UK toy company Tri-ang, while Meccano UK was sold to Airfix.
1981: GM acquired the UK Airfix Group, including Airfix kits, GMR model railways (rebranded as Palitoy Mainline), and Meccano UK.
1985: GM pulled out of the toy market. Airfix was sold to Humbrol, Mainline to Dapol. Lionel trains and MPC kits were also sold off. The Palitoy brand name was discontinued.
1987: Tonka bought the part of CPG which included Kenner toys, Parker games and the former Palitoy, this grouping being sold again in 1991 to Hasbro.

To emphasise the convoluted nature of the family tree of British toy companies, Meccano was founded by Frank Hornby, who was also responsible for Dinky Toys and of course Hornby Model Railways.

So, we know that Palitoy were selling toys in the UK in the early 1970's which were made in Hong Kong under licence from Tomy, the Log Delivery Set and the Merry-Go sets being examples. We also know that GM's acquisition of Meccano France gave them rights to the Meccano name world-wide, with the exception of the British Commonwealth.

So now we have a Tomy toy bearing the 'two kids' logo rebranded as Palitoy (i.e. the balloon logo) Meccano with the French words for Stop and Start alongside the on/off switch, and it's not such a surprise after all!

And here's a Palitoy one:

Palitoy disks & Tomy disks. Hey Sun, do you have a picture of the Meccano disks?
 

  

Argos Catalogue, 1978:


Another style of Palitoy box:


And then there's this, from Estrella Toys of Brazil: