Big Big Loader

 Video review here!

Here’s an unusual toy in that, well, in truth, you don’t really play with it, it kind of does that for you. It’s the follow up and expansion for Big Loader, BIG BIG Loader!



My brother owned Big Loader as a young kid, we’d set it up and watch it going for hours. When my mum saw and heard that there was a second one coming out, she thought it’d be good for me and my brother to share both sets and bought me Big Big Loader for my birthday.

I remember the advert for Big Big Loader, it’s catchy jingle, and the size of it compared to Big Loader, they weren’t kidding, it looked huge! Sadly, Big Loader is missing some parts, they’re probably bouncing around up in the attic somewhere, and I would've loved to have shown you both of them at the same time. Maybe that’s one for a later episode if I’m able to find them. 

The box in the eyes of my six year old self was practically a colossus, it was one of the largest toys that I owned at the time. The toy inside is described as a construction set, though this I find this to be a lapse description of it. Lego is a construction toy, K’nex and Meccano are construction toys, you build things with them. I wouldn’t call Mousetrap a construction toy simply because I build the trap up. It’s like saying any toy that has “some assembly required” is a construction toy… it’s not. Whilst I agree that Big Big Loader is a system of sorts, only certain parts will work in certain sequence, it’s not like you can reconfigure the pieces into a new layout, you’re really pretty much stuck with the one layout. 




That’s not to discredit this toy in the least bit, not in the slightest. The engineering gone into this thing is nothing short of staggering. 

Everything, and i mean EVERYTHING, is powered off this one simple motor, this one little engine that operates the trucks, the lift, the scoop, the elevator, it’s incredibly well thought out. 

Sections of the track will have these small raised teeth to make the truck move slower, the design of this scoop digger here is incredible, it’s a simple shell that fits over the engine yes, but the fact that this motion of scooping up the balls, lifting them up and tipping them out is all done by forward motion from a simple motor, I can only imagine the trial and error getting this just right.

 By far the most impressive portion of the track for me personally is the elevator, the motor locks into place just perfectly to catch these gears which drive the elevator upwards. When it reaches the top, the motor is released and the little truck can trundle out, amazing!



The components to this are all bright coloured and very similar to Tomy’s Train system of the time, it just looks a fun and entertaining. I’ve long since lost the instructions to this thing but setting up the layout is relatively simple, everything clicks and pops into place perfectly. 





So, what does the toy actually do? Well, it’s a infinite loop of work on a construction site, it doesn’t matter particularly where you start the motor off as it will eventually pass through all points. The loop works like this. The motor first goes into and under the scoop digger, it travels around the track and scoops up the small black balls and drops them into this collection bay.

 The digger reverses back into its garage, the motor slides from underneath it and then underneath the truck. The truck then reverses into the collection bay and collects the balls in it’s little hopper. 

Next, the truck approaches the elevator and rides up to the first floor. The truck, exits, turns around and backs slowly to this spiral. When it hits the back, the truck lifts it’s hopper, tips all the balls into the funnel and sends them spiralling down into the lift.

 The truck then slowly moves away from the spiral and stops to raise the lift up, the lift rises, the balls run along this bridge, down this slope and back onto the path, ready to be scooped up again by the digger. 

The truck trundles back into the elevator, it drops down to the first floor and the cycle repeats.



As I said, this is all the toy does, you don’t interact with it at all other than setting it all up. But it is utterly mesmerising to watch, and satisfying to boot, you’ll find half an hour has gone just watching this little process go on and on and on.

You could attach Big Loader to Big Big Loader, you had the option of switching the motor between the two tracks, a pretty neat idea and the two together made an enormous set. 



It’s not hard to see why I’ve held onto this toy over the years, it’s just so charming and wonderful to watch in motion. Again, I'm amazed by the ingenuity of Tomy to create all this motion and action of one little motor. Bringing this down has definitely put a smile on my face.