Thomas the Tank Engine - When Was It Last Real?

[whhistle]

Hello

From what I read on various pedia's, it seems Series 8 was when they started using CG content rather than the models.

Can anyone confirm this?

I have the first five series on DVD, the ones I would call "true" Thomas the Tank Engine, but didn't know where to purchase up to.

In addition to this would I be correct in saying there is a hell of a lot more in the books as:

and called BoCo a "buzzbox". Ironically, James was attacked by a swarm of bees the next day, and so BoCo had to take the Express. Gordon was furious that a mere branch line diesel got to pull a mainline train. Gordon was later stranded on Edward's branch line due to a signalman's error. Bill and Ben were quick to tease Gordon, and jokingly threatened to haul him away as scrap. When BoCo arrived with some trucks, he sent Bill and Ben to work, and the relieved Gordon felt he owed his life to BoCo.

When Edward had trouble pulling an enthusiasts' train, BoCo helped Duck to shut the big engines up, who said Edward should be preserved. BoCo later filled in on the branchline while Edward was at the Works. Donald and Douglas were the last engines to accept him.

As I don't remember any of that in the TV series!

Thanks

 

[Yew]

about 10 years ago, sodor sank into the sea, and all th engines sadly perished, then the developers used models mad efor the commercial market to make new episodes, before finally being swapped for CGI

On a serious note, I cant see why wikipedia would be wrong, maybe googling to see if there was anything on the bbc news website could help get confirmation?

 

[mumrar]

Why are model replicas of real trains any more real than CG stuff (I refer to the wording of your title)?

CG allows better effects, more facial interaction and easier camera work, and also the railway itself (unlike the model) requires no maintenance and can be changed to suit weather scenarios far better in CG land.

 

[DarloRich]

stopped being real when they made it in to a tv series! lol

 

[seagull]

Hello

From what I read on various pedia's, it seems Series 8 was when they started using CG content rather than the models.

Can anyone confirm this?

The year 2004 (Season 7) was the last year that the TV series used JUST physical models for the episodes, it was also the last year that each episode lasted for five minutes.
After that, from 2005 onwards (Season 8) it was seven minutes per episode and special effects were used for transitions etc., BUT the real physical train models were also still used.
In 2008 (Season 12) CGI took over for all human and animal characters, BUT real train models were still used.
Season 13 was the first (2009) where everything is done using CGI.

 

[deltic1989]

Personally I prefer Thomas being done with models. I cut my railway teeth watching the adventures of Thomas the tank engine and friends (told by Ringo Starr), and a bedtime story was never complete without the word of the great rev W Awdry. i flicked on the TV a few weeks ago and happened to catch the tail end of one of the new Thomas shows and was shocked when i saw the engines lips move! As a side note i'm not an expert in the running of a railway but, i've wondered for years how sir toppham hatt expects to run a profitable service when he sends his engines to the shed whenever they mess about and be naughty, how can they be "really useful" sat in Tidmouth sheds?

 

[SS4]

Personally I prefer Thomas being done with models. I cut my railway teeth watching the adventures of Thomas the tank engine and friends (told by Ringo Starr), and a bedtime story was never complete without the word of the great rev W Awdry. i flicked on the TV a few weeks ago and happened to catch the tail end of one of the new Thomas shows and was shocked when i saw the engines lips move! As a side note i'm not an expert in the running of a railway but, i've wondered for years how sir toppham hatt expects to run a profitable service when he sends his engines to the shed whenever they mess about and be naughty, how can they be "really useful" sat in Tidmouth sheds?

Or bricking up Henry when he refused to come out of the tunnel!

I kinda felt it went downhill when they started introducing the peripheral engines, especially the narrow gauge ones, it would have been better to leave it after Diesel IMO.

 

[whhistle]

Thank you.

I read there was a bit of a revolution from Steam to Diesel traction used, which is why in many of the stories, Diesel traction is portrayed to be useless and "highly sprung". Just like the take on BR introducing diesels.

 

[deltic1989]

oh yeah i forgot about henry.

 

[Geezertronic]

The Thomas and Friends Britt Allcroft episodes were the best narrated by Ringo Starr (although Michael Angelis was ok too).

 

[GearJammer]

Or bricking up Henry when he refused to come out of the tunnel

Do you think Henry is related to the Eurostar 373's? I seem to recall some of them going into a tunnel and not coming out again, good job Euro Tunnel never bricked them in, could've caused no end of trouble!

 

[Ivo]

Do you think Henry is related to the Eurostar 373's? I seem to recall some of them going into a tunnel and not coming out again, good job Euro Tunnel never bricked them in, could've caused no end of trouble!

[insert Facebook-esque "Like" button here]

I only ever really liked the two Ringo series personally.

Did anyone else have Thomas toys when they were little? We had Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, Donald, Douglas, Diesel, Harold, Terence, Trevor, several troublesome trucks and, later, Daisy and Annie, Clarabel and Henrietta.

 

[SS4]

[insert Facebook-esque "Like" button here]

I only ever really liked the two Ringo series personally.

Did anyone else have Thomas toys when they were little? We had Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, Donald, Douglas, Diesel, Harold, Terence, Trevor, several troublesome trucks and, later, Daisy.

I had Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby as well as Annie and Clarabel

 

[seagull]

Did anyone else have Thomas toys when they were little? We had Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, Donald, Douglas, Diesel, Harold, Terence, Trevor, several troublesome trucks and, later, Daisy.

No, my parents refused to buy them for me as they were 'too expensive' for what they were... some things never change, they're still on the pricey side.

I did have a small '00' gauge layout though to make up for that loss

 

[GearJammer]

A friend of mine gave me a Thomas The Tank Engine video not that long ago saying i'd like it coz i like trains, i have to confess i did watch it and just hav'nt the heart to throw it away, its on my video shelf in with all my Locomaster Profiles videos

 

[tempests1]

Thomas has really moved with the times. In the Sodor Sheds their is a Polish engine called Victor!

 

[mumrar]

Or bricking up Henry when he refused to come out of the tunnel!

I kinda felt it went downhill when they started introducing the peripheral engines, especially the narrow gauge ones, it would have been better to leave it after Diesel IMO.

The narrow gauge engines feature in the very first series of books though.

 

[SS4]

The narrow gauge engines feature in the very first series of books though.

That'll teach me to not read the books before commenting

 

[LE Greys]

Not sure the models were quite right either. I seem to remember the illustrations in the books showing Annie and Clarabel as non-corridor bogie coaches rather than four-wheelers, among other things. There's also a note in the front of one of them (maybe written in 1948) about the Fat Director becoming the Fat Controller.

I've often wondered what the engines actually were. Thomas is certainly a Brighton E2, Percy is a short-saddle dock tank, Henry is a Black 5 or Royal Scot (depending on who you speak to) and Gordon looks very A1-ish. Most of the others are clearly based on real-life, be it the Talyllyn, Wisbeach & Upwell, Snowdon Mountain or wherever. But what are Edward and James? Nondescript 4-4-0 and 2-6-0, or something specific?

 

[IanPooleTrains]

In the Sodor Sheds their is a Polish engine called Victor!

Someone might wanna check his papers, he might be an illegal

Seriously though, I will fess up and saw I used to collect them when I was younger, had all the locos and even had a couple of the 00 guage locos as well

Also, Thomas is a Billington E2
Dunno about Edward
Henry is apparently a 5MT accordinh to everyone's favourite website wikipedia
Gordon is an A3
James is a L&YR Class 28
Dunno at Percy
toby is a J70 Tram
Duck is an easy one
Donnie and Dougie are Caledonian 812s
Diesel is a gronk
Oliver is a 14xx
Bill and Ben and Bagnalls 0-4-0s
Daisy is a Class 101
Boco is a Class 28

and so on and so forth

 

[duffman82]

Can't beat old fashioned thomas the tank engine! Although i heard in the newer series there HST's !

 

[IanPooleTrains]

Can't beat old fashioned thomas the tank engine! Although i heard in the newer series there HST's !

I know there was a HSt mentioned in a book

 

[NXEA!]

I've always thought of Edward being a T9 for some reason, with the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement, and him being referred to in the series as being old. Could James be an 'N' class or something along those lines?

 

[IanPooleTrains]

And if anyone doesn't know what Spencer was, they need to be taken outside and shot

My younger brothers watch it as well

 

[Peter Mugridge]

"When was Thomas last real?"

Would not a purist define "real" Thomas as being only those stories that were actually penned by Wilbert Awdry himself?

 

[LE Greys]

I've always thought of Edward being a T9 for some reason, with the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement, and him being referred to in the series as being old. Could James be an 'N' class or something along those lines?

<gets out Last Steam Locomotives of British Railways (once again)>

Was the Revd. Awdrey a southerner? Edward certainly does have a few T9-ish features in the rebuilt form. I'm beginning to wish I'd never got rid of my old die-cast models now, so I could check the firebox. If it's a round-top, then a T9, if it's a Belpaire, then possibly a GCR Director or even a Midland 2P.

Can't find anything about the L&Y engines, but James seems to resemble an LB&SC Class K, at least from running plates downwards. A Class N would be another possibility.

Couple of candidates for Percy, and both are Scottish. A Y9 (or NBR Class G) and a Caledonian "Pug". Both have the short saddle tank, and were quite widespread classes (but no data as to how many built).

And Henry still looks far too big for a Black 5.

 

[sprinterguy]

I know there was a HSt mentioned in a book

“Pip and Emma”: They appeared in the 50th Anniversary book, which is the last one that I count as being part of the “real” book series.

Thomas and Friends has moved much too far away from the original concept over the last decade IMO, and it’s all been moving rapidly downhill since the release of “Thomas and the Magic Railroad”. A “Warship” with a mechanical grab arm on the roof (well out of the loading gauge)? Somehow I can’t see the Rev. W Awdry writing one of those into the story books back in the day. The proliferation of new characters, with increasingly incredulous story lines is simply bewildering, and I refuse to count the likes of “Spencer” and “Murdoch” (An orange 9F? Really?) as a real part of the world of Thomas. I hold onto the memories of the old books that I read when I was a child, with many of the stories based on real events.

I always thought that “Henry” was a Black five, but thinking about it, a Royal Scot would make perfect sense. “Percy” seems to be some sort of generic industrial saddle tank to me, and as the Fat Controller bought him from some sort of locomotive dealer/works, then the North British lineage of the Y9 and “Caley Pug” would be appropriate, though he could also very easily be a standard Peckett or RSHN industrial tank, albeit the majority of their designs had saddle tanks extending forwards over the smokebox. The jury’s still out on that one.