Tracks (Aka Steamer in North America)
Tracks was introduced to the UK market in 1988, as one of the
Adventure Boy Ponies. He had originally been sold in North
America as one of the Big Brother Ponies from 1987, where he was
released under the name Steamer. He was reissued in 1988 in the
second North American set, and consequently also saw a
re-release in 1989 in the UK. The second release in the UK kept
the American name of Big Brother Ponies. Confusing.
Tracks's UK Name
UK Adventure Boy Card, 1988
Although Hasbro UK changed the set name, and the pony's name
from Steamer to Tracks (probably because a 'Steamer' sounded
more like a boat than a train), the name was consistent between
the two releases over here. While he was always sold as
'Steamer' in North America, however, he weirdly appears in the
American catalogue for 1988 with the name 'Casey'. Why Hasbro
would decide to change his name a year into his release is a
total mystery - and they didn't go ahead with it, so we will
never know for sure.
Like all the Big Brother releases, Tracks was sold with a hat
and bandana (called a scarf, or a neck scarf in the UK) as well
as a brush. The bandanas were the same style between ponies, but
in different colours (each brother had a unique colour). The
hats were specially designed to fit that pony's theme, and so
were only sold with that specific character. Tracks's hat is a
train driver's purple hat. The hat is the same as the North
American release, and has R.R on it (for Rail Road) even though
this term is not used in the UK.
Tracks Mint on Card
UK, 1988
Image thanks to TornadoLovesMelody
Some significant batch variations exist with Tracks, which may
be on account of his continuous release over three years.
Tracks and Tracks
Batch variations
Tracks' character
Tracks was often depicted driving a train around Ponyland. His
train, as the following personality page reveals, was actually a
model train, which he was able to grow to full size, and he
often had eager passengers waiting to climb aboard. More bizarre
is his love of creating random train-conga lines, complete with
sound effects.
Tracks: An Adventure Boy Pony
My Little Pony & Friends Comic #7
This hilarious pastime was also covered in his UK backcard story:
" 'Let's play Trains!' cries Tracks.
He just loves getting the ponies in line and playing Steam
Trains.
He always has to go first, though, as he has the train
driver's hat!"
Unfortunately, we never get to see this in action in the comic, as
the stories inevitably focused on his actual train adventures.
Sometimes, Tracks's train took him to places to find or meet new
ponies, for example Teddi
from the Magic Message ponies.
Tracks gets Teddi to help fix Baby Cuddles's teddy bear
Pony Comic, 1988
His habit of building rail tracks and then
creating a real railway from those tracks did appear in the
comics, however. It seems Ponyland had no national rail
service, so Tracks invented one when and where he needed it.
(Sounds a bit like trains in the UK in general.)
According to Tutti Frutti in another comic, Tracks's birthday
coincided with Pancake Day. This story was written in 1988,
and being a geek for stuff like this, I looked it up.
Apparently this means his birthday (according to comic lore)
was February 16th.
