An examination of IMP-8 tail lobe magnetic field measurements has been conducted to determine whether the traveling compression region (TCR) phenomena detected by ISEE-3 in the distant geotail, and believed to be caused by tailward moving plasmoids, are present closer to the earth. The study produced 16 examples of TCRs at distances of X=-31 to -37 RE. For two events considered in detail TCRs were observed in close association with substorm growth phase signatures in the lobes. The lengths of these TCRs are estimated to be 8--12 RE. It is our conclusion that the IMP-8 TCR observations provide new evidence that small plasmoids and, hence, multiple reconnection neutral lines can sometimes exist earthward of X=-35 RE. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1990