| |
Well, my prayers have been finally answered (sorta:-)
I had gotten into the habit of firing off an email to Brad Justus every 6 months
or so when he was still heading up LEGO Direct begging for TLG to get a license
for producing Thomas the Tank Engine. He was always good about writing back and
thanking me for the reminder! About six years later, he (Thomas, not Brad:-)
arrived at my door step.
Okay, so he’s Duplo, but that didn’t tarnish my excitement in the least. The
bright side is that he’s 8 wide! :-)
(Skip boring blah, blah to pics
HERE
Well, the way I saw it, I was faced with 4 options:
- Literally cut off Thomas’ and the others’ faces and glue them to my current MOC cast. That way they would all be, at least, ALL LEGO. (I can hear RobH cheering for that option in the background already!)
- Take just the face element and recreate my MOC Thomas characters in 8 wide.
- Remove the 9 volt track from the TCLTC Thomas section and lay Duplo track, and power the trains via batteries somehow.
- Remove the Duplo wheels and replace them with 9 volt ones.
I finally chose the last option. No cutting (sorry, Rob!;-), simple
modifications, giving the GP virtually a product out of the box to see and,
hopefully, to purchase. Now, if TLG has the wisdom to release 9 volt versions,
I’ll be all over those in a heartbeat!
Some final notes:
I did actually rebuild my Annie and Claribel, since TLG mysteriously decided to
omit them in this initial offering. I had to make them squat and cute like the
others; I think that they turned out okay.
Also, I actually split a troublesome truck that came with the Thomas set (the
only freight car among the initial 4 sets) into 2 separate cars-- I thought
that they looked more appropriate that way. I filled them with 1x1 light gray
and gray plates; I will be using 8x8 bricks to seal the plates in the cars for
traveling and storage.
All in all I’m happy that there are finally official LEGO Thomas characters!
They aren’t how I would have designed them, especially if some 9 volt versions
aren’t in the pike, but I will take them nonetheless. It is my ardent wish that
these sets sell like mad!
JOHN
|
|
| |
> (Skip boring blah, blah to pics
> <http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=185 HERE>
>
> Well, the way I saw it, I was faced with 4 options:
>
> + Literally cut off Thomas' and the others' faces and glue them to my
> current
> MOC cast. That way they would all be, at least, ALL LEGO. (I can hear
> RobH
> cheering for that option in the background already!)
Works for me. I actually thought about doing that when I saw them in the
prerelease photos! But now that you have one in your hand, how does the
size of the face compare to, say, a 4x4 radar dish?
Rob
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Rob Hendrix wrote:
| |
Works for me. I actually thought about doing that when I saw them in the
prerelease photos! But now that you have one in your hand, how does the
size of the face compare to, say, a 4x4 radar dish?
|
They are five studs in diameter. The faces I used on my 6 wide Thomas
characters were just shy of 4 wide. I think that these new faces would be
virtually impossible to use on 6 wide trains and have the results look good
(except, perhaps, for Toby)
JOHN
|
|
| |
In lugnet.announce.moc, John Neal wrote:
| |
Well, the way I saw it, I was faced with 4 options:
- Literally cut off Thomas’ and the others’ faces and glue them to my current MOC cast. That way they would all be, at least, ALL LEGO. (I can hear RobH cheering for that option in the background already!)
- Take just the face element and recreate my MOC Thomas characters in 8 wide.
- Remove the 9 volt track from the TCLTC Thomas section and lay Duplo track, and power the trains via batteries somehow.
- Remove the Duplo wheels and replace them with 9 volt ones.
I finally chose the last option. No cutting (sorry, Rob!;-), simple
modifications, giving the GP virtually a product out of the box to see and,
hopefully, to purchase. Now, if TLG has the wisdom to release 9 volt
versions, I’ll be all over those in a heartbeat!
|
SWEET! I have been thinking about doing something very similiar since I first
saw the preview pictures. John, you might get me to go 8-wide after all. ;-)
Russell
BayLTC/BayLUG
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Russell Clark wrote:
| |
SWEET! I have been thinking about doing something very similiar since I first
saw the preview pictures. John, you might get me to go 8-wide after all. ;-)
|
lol Hey Russ-
I was actually thinking about you when I was building this stuff-- how will
these sets affect your LEGO Thomas presentation?
JOHN
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
| |
I was actually thinking about you when I was building this stuff-- how will
these sets affect your LEGO Thomas presentation?
|
I am probably going to have to add a section on modifying the Duplo sets to 9v
since it is a new and easy way to get Thomas for a club/layout.
Russell
|
|
| |
In lugnet.announce.moc, John Neal wrote:
| |
Well, my prayers have been finally answered (sorta:-)
I had gotten into the habit of firing off an email to Brad Justus every 6
months or so when he was still heading up LEGO Direct begging for TLG to get
a license for producing Thomas the Tank Engine. He was always good about
writing back and thanking me for the reminder! About six years later, he
(Thomas, not Brad:-) arrived at my door step.
Okay, so he’s Duplo, but that didn’t tarnish my excitement in the least. The
bright side is that he’s 8 wide! :-)
(Skip boring blah, blah to pics
HERE
|
Thanks for the pics! I must say they look pretty good, even with the squishing.
I have an unrelated question though: How do those 1-wide sleepers work in
curves?
ROSCO
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Ross Crawford wrote:
| |
I have an unrelated question though: How do those 1-wide sleepers work in
curves?
|
Great. Since a 100k pic is worth 100k of words, I’ll post some to show how
(along with some pics for my son Ross’ solution for points, as requested
elsewhere)
JOHN
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, Ross Crawford wrote:
| |
I have an unrelated question though: How do those 1-wide sleepers work in
curves?
|
Great. Since a 100k pic is worth 100k of words, I’ll post some to show how
(along with some pics for my son Ross’ solution for points, as requested
elsewhere)
|
Also, don’t those sleepers mean less ground clearance for the motor (and other
stuff)?
Legoswami
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Samarth Moray wrote:
| |
Also, don’t those sleepers mean less ground clearance for the motor (and
other stuff)?
|
Yes, but how much clearance does one need? These ties are simply 1x4 tiles on
the LEGO ties. If you need more clearance that, you also probably need more
time at the design table;-)
Out of curiousity, to what “other stuff” might you be referring? I have always
found that the actual 9 volt train motor itself was the lowest thing hanging
under a train. And those can pass over a plate and tile on the LEGO track
with no problem, as in the case of a road crossing, or
burying trolley track
JOHN
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, Samarth Moray wrote:
| |
Also, don’t those sleepers mean less ground clearance for the motor (and
other stuff)?
|
Yes, but how much clearance does one need? These ties are simply 1x4 tiles
on the LEGO ties. If you need more clearance that, you also probably need
more time at the design table;-)
|
I had some problems while trying to replicate a dummy for the train motor. It
seems one plate lower than the where the axle is in a regular wheelset is 1/2 a
plate lower than the ground clearance of the motor. Although I don’t recall the
exact figures at this point.
| |
Out of curiousity, to what “other stuff” might you be referring? I have
always found that the actual 9 volt train motor itself was the lowest thing
hanging under a train. And those can pass over a plate and tile on the
LEGO track with no problem, as in the case of a road crossing, or
burying trolley
track
|
Other stuff like diesel fuel tanks and all the other stuff that goes in between
the bogies themselves. I also ran into some minor issues (now resolved) with my
latest diesel which is being built in sideways SNOT.
Ah what the hell, here’s the whole idea, copied from JLUG, minus the foul
language:
Everyone knows that Lego trains which have C-C wheels SUCK. So here’s my plan.
I’m building my Loco sideways. I’m building the bogies sideways. I’m building
everything. sideways. I’ll use 1x2 technic brick holes and a 1x2 brick with a
rotor pin on the side for the bogies, and I’ll use either log or 1x2x2 bricks
(Both have axle holes where the tube should be in the middle) to get studs on
both sides of my ‘train base’ hehe. This will give me building surfaces on both
ends. and the gap produced by having a 12L technic rod up the back of either one
of those 2 bricks will give me a gap in the middle to access the bogies, which
of course, will not be housed in those stupid 6x3 thingys TLC has them in.
Further, I’ll be able place the wheels more precisely since the bogies are
sideways, and thus accurtely space things out. Then with a friction drive by a
tyre on the axle of that, I’ll attach a Brickley Roscowicz inline and voila!!!
The basic building blocks (pun unintended) for motorizing the entire assembly
and a C-C diesel is born!
Reference images:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Samarth/Crap/img_0032.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Samarth/Crap/img_0033.jpg
Addition: Building sideways gives you the additional option of adding 1x1 with
holes to the side, and then attaching plates and/or tiles, to get widths like
~7.2 studs wide ~7.6 studs wide etc. As if the clear-cut 6,7,8 wasn’t good
enough ;-)
Legoswami
|
|
| |
Hello John,
Very nice. Two questions:
1) Where can I get a Duplo Thomas engine? - I’m not seeing them listed on S@H
anywhere.
2) What color blue did LEGO use for the engine?
Thanks,
Ben Fleskes
Big Ben Bricks LLC
In lugnet.announce.moc, John Neal wrote:
| |
Well, my prayers have been finally answered (sorta:-)
I had gotten into the habit of firing off an email to Brad Justus every 6
months or so when he was still heading up LEGO Direct begging for TLG to get
a license for producing Thomas the Tank Engine. He was always good about
writing back and thanking me for the reminder! About six years later, he
(Thomas, not Brad:-) arrived at my door step.
Okay, so he’s Duplo, but that didn’t tarnish my excitement in the least. The
bright side is that he’s 8 wide! :-)
(Skip boring blah, blah to pics
HERE
|
snip
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Ben Fleskes wrote:
> 1) Where can I get a Duplo Thomas engine? - I'm not seeing them listed on S@H
> anywhere.
Toys-R-Us has them.
HTH,
- Joe
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Ben Fleskes wrote:
| |
Hello John,
Very nice. Two questions:
1) Where can I get a Duplo Thomas engine? - I’m not seeing them listed on S@H
anywhere.
|
Hey, Ben!
They have been sighted at various TRU and also from TRU online (Amazon.com)
| |
2) What color blue did LEGO use for the engine?
|
It is the regular LEGO blue. Percy, OTOH, is the lighter LEGO green, which is
the correct color for him.
JOHN
|
|
| |
In lugnet.announce.moc, John Neal wrote:
One of the perils of fatherhood for which I was not prepared is the disturbing
fact that the Thomas themesong stays in my brain for three or four days after I
watch the show. I can only catch it with Matthew on Sunday mornings, but
Wednesday afternoon I’ve still got “Thomas, he’s the cheeky one” rattling around
in my skull.
I keep expecting those kids to break into “Another Brick in the Wall,” too.
Anyway...
| |
(Skip boring blah, blah to pics
HERE
|
While browsing through the folder, I saw
this
really butch speeder and wondered where the 4x2x4 pink engine came from. Care
to divulge?
Oh, and the Thomas stuff is very cool, to be sure. And I love the ambulance.
Nice work as always.
Dave!
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Dave Schuler wrote:
| |
In lugnet.announce.moc, John Neal wrote:
One of the perils of fatherhood for which I was not prepared is the
disturbing fact that the Thomas themesong stays in my brain for three or four
days after I watch the show. I can only catch it with Matthew on Sunday
mornings, but Wednesday afternoon I’ve still got “Thomas, he’s the cheeky
one” rattling around in my skull.
|
As I mentioned previously, I still yell “CHOO-CHOO!” when I see a train while
driving around in my car. If that’s not disturbing...
| |
I keep expecting those kids to break into “Another Brick in the Wall,” too.
|
lol Reminds me of HP:POA last year-- I had that section of chorus “Something
wicked this way comes!” locked into my brain for I don’t know how long. Perhaps
there is something particularily insidious about a choir of British children!
:-)
| |
Anyway...
| |
(Skip boring blah, blah to pics
HERE
|
While browsing through the folder, I saw
this
really butch speeder and wondered where the 4x2x4 pink engine came from.
Care to divulge?
|
From Set 5890 that I
bought for my daughter a long time ago... It originally started out as a
lampshade;-)
| |
Oh, and the Thomas stuff is very cool, to be sure. And I love the ambulance.
Nice work as always.
|
Thanks, Dave!
JOHN
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, Dave Schuler wrote:
| |
In lugnet.announce.moc, John Neal wrote:
|
|
| |
As I mentioned previously, I still yell “CHOO-CHOO!” when I see a train while
driving around in my car.
|
Duplo question:
Are those Thomas Duplo sets available in retail yet, or are they direct-only?
And is Bob the Builder still on the retail market?
| |
From Set 5890 that I
bought for my daughter a long time ago... It originally started out as a
lampshade;-)
|
I had a lampshade that, a few hours into the party, ended up as a hat.
Hey, I call ‘em as I see ‘em.
Dave!
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Dave Schuler wrote:
| |
Duplo question:
Are those Thomas Duplo sets available in retail yet, or are they direct-only?
And is Bob the Builder still on the retail market?
|
My wife and I saw these here in Vermont at Toys R Us this weekend, so they are
available in retail (at least in this small corner of the north-eastern U.S.).
I still occasionally find a Bob The Builder (great, now I’ll be singing *that*
song for the rest of the day...) set at KayBee.
-Elroy
|
|
| |
Dave Schuler wrote:
> Are those Thomas Duplo sets available in retail yet, or are they direct-only?
I know for sure _we_ will not get them (so I can't help you).
> And is Bob the Builder still on the retail market?
If I'm not mistaken there should be renewed line in June including 2 new
vehicles. But maybe _you_ won't get it?
Jindroush
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jindrich Kubec wrote:
> Dave Schuler wrote:
> > Are those Thomas Duplo sets available in retail yet, or are they direct-only?
>
> I know for sure _we_ will not get them (so I can't help you).
>
> > And is Bob the Builder still on the retail market?
>
> If I'm not mistaken there should be renewed line in June including 2 new
> vehicles. But maybe _you_ won't get it?
Well, I'm in Pennsylvania, if that makes any difference. I'm not too savvy with
www.lego.com, so I don't know how to confirm availability. Elroy already
mentioned that he's seen them in Vermont, so that's good news. Anyone else have
any ideas?
Sure, John got hold of the Thomas Duplo stuff, but I'm confident that he's
entered into some dark, 8-wide pact with Dark Powers.
That sounds dirtier than I intended--sorry.
Dave!
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Dave Schuler wrote:
| |
Sure, John got hold of the Thomas Duplo stuff, but I’m confident that he’s
entered into some dark, 8-wide pact with Dark Powers.
|
Dark Powers? Any relation to
Austin or Stephanie?
With whom do I have dark pacts? Only the (Dark) Shadow knows....
JOHN
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, Dave Schuler wrote:
| |
Sure, John got hold of the Thomas Duplo stuff, but I’m confident that he’s
entered into some dark, 8-wide pact with Dark Powers.
|
Dark Powers? Any relation to
Austin or Stephanie?
With whom do I have dark pacts? Only the (Dark) Shadow knows....
|
I was thinking of Booth, if you must know.
According to IMDB, he can’t be photographed; what stronger proof do you need
that he’s evil?
Dave!
|
|
| |
In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Dave Schuler wrote:
| |
I was thinking of Booth, if you must
know.
|
Ahh, he is evil, as he will always be burned into my psyche as Jim Jones!
JOHN
|
|
| |
Dave Schuler wrote:
> > > Are those Thomas Duplo sets available in retail yet, or are they direct-only?
> >
> > I know for sure _we_ will not get them (so I can't help you).
> >
> > > And is Bob the Builder still on the retail market?
> >
> > If I'm not mistaken there should be renewed line in June including 2 new
> > vehicles. But maybe _you_ won't get it?
>
>
> Well, I'm in Pennsylvania, if that makes any difference. I'm not too savvy with
> www.lego.com, so I don't know how to confirm availability. Elroy already
> mentioned that he's seen them in Vermont, so that's good news. Anyone else have
> any ideas?
I was told that Europe won't get Thomas at all. (I meant _we_
Europeans). I should wrote it more clearly.
--
Jindroush
www.kostky.org - For czech LEGO fans.
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jindrich Kubec wrote:
> Dave Schuler wrote:
> > > > Are those Thomas Duplo sets available in retail yet, or are they direct-only?
> > >
> > > I know for sure _we_ will not get them (so I can't help you).
> > >
> > > > And is Bob the Builder still on the retail market?
> > >
> > > If I'm not mistaken there should be renewed line in June including 2 new
> > > vehicles. But maybe _you_ won't get it?
> >
> >
> > Well, I'm in Pennsylvania, if that makes any difference. I'm not too savvy with
> > www.lego.com, so I don't know how to confirm availability. Elroy already
> > mentioned that he's seen them in Vermont, so that's good news. Anyone else have
> > any ideas?
>
> I was told that Europe won't get Thomas at all. (I meant _we_
> Europeans). I should wrote it more clearly.
That's okay--from your name I suspected that you were from the Continent, but I
confess that this really baffles me. Judging from the theme song and the names
in the credits, Thomas originates in the UK, which I believe *is* part of
Europe, right? So why wouldn't you guys get the LEGO stuff?
I know, I know--licensing deals etc. etc. etc.
Still, it's a bummer for you.
Dave!
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Dave Schuler wrote:
> That's okay--from your name I suspected that you were from the Continent,
Says the guy with a German surname... ;)
> but I confess that this really baffles me. Judging from the theme
> song and the names in the credits, Thomas originates in the UK,
> which I believe *is* part of Europe, right? So why wouldn't you
> guys get the LEGO stuff?
There's a theme song? In the UK there's a tune, but no song. But does Thomas
the Tank Engine feature much in non-English-speaking countries?
Jason Railton
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
> There's a theme song? In the UK there's a tune, but no song. But does Thomas
Same here.
> the Tank Engine feature much in non-English-speaking countries?
FWIW the one on Cartoon Network here is also there as a Hindi-dubbed version.
Legoswami
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
> In lugnet.trains, Dave Schuler wrote:
>
> > That's okay--from your name I suspected that you were from the Continent,
>
> Says the guy with a German surname... ;)
>
> > but I confess that this really baffles me. Judging from the theme
> > song and the names in the credits, Thomas originates in the UK,
> > which I believe *is* part of Europe, right? So why wouldn't you
> > guys get the LEGO stuff?
>
> There's a theme song? In the UK there's a tune, but no song. But does Thomas
> the Tank Engine feature much in non-English-speaking countries?
>
> Jason Railton
Oh yes, he does.
In Sweden the toy manufacture company BRIO has had a license to produce him and
all of his friends as wooden toys for their wooden railway system (about 5-wide,
i would guess), and the TV show has been shown, and is available for purchase,
dubbed to Swedish.
Very popular in certain age groups :)
Olof
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
And you have the cheek to call yourself “British”???
Song lyrics here
I suppose you’ve never heard of “Monty Python”, either? ;-)
JOHN
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
And you have the cheek to call yourself “British”???
Song lyrics here
I suppose you’ve never heard of “Monty Python”, either? ;-)
JOHN
|
I’m willing to bet he doesn’t call himself British.
Tim
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
And you have the cheek to call yourself “British”???
Song lyrics here
|
Hey, wait a minute.
These
are the lyrics from all of the episodes that I’ve seen, but I’ve only been
watching for the last few months.
A few observations:
1 It’s always the episode in which someone has to cross the scary, rickety
bridge.
2 If it’s not that episode, it’s the one in which someone gets stuck in
an avalanche
3 I don’t care for Gordon’s attitude.
4 Sir Tophamhat sounds like a jerk to work for.
Dave!
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
> In lugnet.trains, Dave Schuler wrote:
>
> > That's okay--from your name I suspected that you were from the Continent,
>
> Says the guy with a German surname... ;)
Hey, good call. And the Hebrew first name, come to think of it.
Who the heck am I, anyway?
Dave!
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
And you have the cheek to call yourself “British”???
Song lyrics here
I suppose you’ve never heard of “Monty Python”, either? ;-)
JOHN
|
That sounds almost as tacky as calling him a ‘railroad’ engine.
As I said, I’ve never been subjected to that in years of books, TV and even LPs
of Johnny Morris reading recordings of the books. I have heard the TV series
theme tune played over the tannoys in London Underground stations to put off
buskers though, which was amusing.
Jason Railton
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Dave Schuler wrote:
| |
Who the heck am I, anyway?
|
No kidding: “Matthew”, Hebrew for “gift of God”
:-)
JOHN
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Olof Dahlberg wrote:
> In Sweden the toy manufacture company BRIO has had a license to produce him and
> all of his friends as wooden toys for their wooden railway system (about 5-wide,
> i would guess), and the TV show has been shown, and is available for purchase,
> dubbed to Swedish.
> Very popular in certain age groups :)
> Olof
I had Brio trains, along with a plastic variant the same size. I've seen Thomas
Brio, but I've never particularly shopped for Thomas products abroad.
Jason Railton
|
|
| |
In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Tim David wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
And you have the cheek to call yourself “British”???
Song lyrics here
I suppose you’ve never heard of “Monty Python”, either? ;-)
JOHN
|
I’m willing to bet he doesn’t call himself British.
Tim
|
That’s what goes on my passport application and for people outside the UK. I’m
only English to the Scots, Irish, Welsh and Cornish.
Jason Railton
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
And you have the cheek to call yourself “British”???
Song lyrics here
I suppose you’ve never heard of “Monty Python”, either? ;-)
JOHN
|
That sounds almost as tacky as calling him a ‘railroad’ engine.
|
Now, it is my understanding that all of the characters are all based on
real-life locos. Not so?
| |
As I said, I’ve never been subjected to that in years of books, TV and even
LPs of Johnny Morris reading recordings of the books. I have heard the TV
series theme tune played over the tannoys in London Underground stations to
put off buskers though, which was amusing.
|
lol that is amusing. I had heard that Mozart was being played as well. How
awful for those poor subway loitering ne’er-do-wells:-)
BTW, I apologize for impuning your character. A huge caveat is whether one is a
parent of young children or not. Having kids has a way of drawing one into
worlds in which one wouldn’t normally dwell or even be aware:-)
JOHN
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
> In lugnet.trains, Olof Dahlberg wrote:
> > In Sweden the toy manufacture company BRIO has had a license to produce him and
> > all of his friends as wooden toys for their wooden railway system (about 5-wide,
> > i would guess), and the TV show has been shown, and is available for purchase,
> > dubbed to Swedish.
> > Very popular in certain age groups :)
> > Olof
>
> I had Brio trains, along with a plastic variant the same size. I've seen Thomas
> Brio, but I've never particularly shopped for Thomas products abroad.
Thomas in the US includes a "Brio compatible" product from some company that is
NOT Brio, near as I can tell (TC Timbers??? I forget). Everything interoperates
but the track is different, it has ties simulated via grooves that go across the
run of the track. It's interesting that Brio got the license in some geographies
and an apparent competitor did in others.
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
| |
(SNIP)
Now, it is my understanding that all of the characters are all based on
real-life locos. Not so?
(SNIP)
JOHN
|
The characters from the original 26 books by the Rev W Awdry, and the next 14
books by his son Christopher Awdry use characters based on real engines and
stories that happened on the real railway (whether transposed to a different
railway setting with different engines or not).
I can’t vouch for anything beyond the original books and I stick to characters
featured in the originals, building the real engine on which each character is
based.
These are the ones I know: Thomas is a London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
(LBSCR) E2, of which 5 were built
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=742630
Gordon is an LNER Gresley A3 Pacific. Henry (in his new shape) is an LMS “Black
5” 4-6-0 painted green like the first of class (842 built). Duck is a GWR 5700
series pannier tank http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=742627
Toby is an LNER steam tram and such engines used to work in the docks
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=742631
Mavis is a class 04 shunter with cow-catchers and side-plates, like the first
few of the class (142 built). The engines for Edward and James are a bit less
clear. Donald and Douglas are NBR C class J36s. Stepney is an LBSCR A1X
“Terrier” tank engine, which can be seen for real at the Bluebell Railway in
East Sussex http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=742629
Of the diesels, “Diesel” is a Class 08 shunter, “Bear” is a Class 35 Hymek Bo-Bo
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=832399
“BoCo” is a Class 28 Metropolitan Vickers CoBo
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=707083
Pip and Emma are the two Class 43 diesels one each end of an HST. Other diesels
were also featured but not named.
Of the trucks, Toad the brake van is a standard GWR brake van, of which the type
was called Toad http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1103699 If
you wondering why “Toad”, other wagon types in Britain were named after various
fish.
Of the small engines on the Skarloey Railway, there are direct equivalents on
the Talyllyn Railway at Towyn in Wales: Skarloey is Talyllyn, Rheneas id
Dolgoch, Sir Handel is Sir Haydn, Peter Sam is Edward Thomas, Rusty has his real
name, Duncan is Douglas and Ivo Hugh is Tom Rolt. I think in all cases where
the names are of particular people like the manager, the relationship is the
same in the book as in real life.
Rex, Bert and Mike, the engines run by the Small Controller, have equivalents at
the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in Cumbria (NW England).
The mountain engines of “Culdee Fell” are at the Snowdon Mountain Railway in
North Wales.
Of course there are other characters besides the trains, such as Bertie the bus,
Harold the Helicopter and Terence the Tractor.
There is also a site that lists a few more with pictures here:
http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/engines.htm
Those who have added characters after the Awdrys have demonstrated a lack of
understanding of how the original was formed - from real railway events with
real railway engines. I think it’s such a shame! What was a brilliant idea has
become corrupted by poor quality for commercial reasons.
Mark
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In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
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That sounds almost as tacky as calling him a ‘railroad’ engine.
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Now, it is my understanding that all of the characters are all based on
real-life locos. Not so?
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Eh? The point is the books were originally called the Rev. W Awdry’s Railway
Series, so the title ‘Thomas and the Magic Railroad’ is something of a
travesty.
But they all are, anyway, except Thomas. The closest to Thomas is a small
number of tank engines modified from their original prototype.
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BTW, I apologize for impuning your character. A huge caveat is whether one
is a parent of young children or not. Having kids has a way of drawing one
into worlds in which one wouldn’t normally dwell or even be aware:-)
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No, I don’t have any myself, but believe it or not, I was one once. I also had
younger brothers, so received extended exposure.
Jason Railton
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In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
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A huge caveat is whether one
is a parent of young children or not. Having kids has a way of drawing one
into worlds in which one wouldn’t normally dwell or even be aware:-)
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No, I don’t have any myself, but believe it or not, I was one once. I also
had younger brothers, so received extended exposure.
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Yes, well, I was once young as well, but never even heard a, well, peep about
Thomas the Tank Engine until the PBS series “Shining Times Station” which began
airing in the US in 1989. It is that series which propelled Thomas onto the
world stage.
I never had much time for the show itself-- we purchased the VHS videos of the
Thomas stories sans the bromidic, “real people” parts.
JOHN
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In lugnet.duplo, John Neal wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
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A huge caveat is whether one
is a parent of young children or not. Having kids has a way of drawing
one into worlds in which one wouldn’t normally dwell or even be aware:-)
|
No, I don’t have any myself, but believe it or not, I was one once. I also
had younger brothers, so received extended exposure.
|
Yes, well, I was once young as well, but never even heard a, well, peep
about Thomas the Tank Engine until the PBS series “Shining Times Station”
which began airing in the US in 1989. It is that series which propelled
Thomas onto the world stage.
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Ahem. Thomas the Tank Engine books and records (7” 45 RPM!) were very popular in
Australia in the early 70s. So while the TV series may have propelled it onto
the North American stage, that is not necessarily the world stage.
ROSCO
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In lugnet.trains, Ross Crawford wrote:
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Ahem. Thomas the Tank Engine books and records (7” 45 RPM!) were very popular
in Australia in the early 70s. So while the TV series may have propelled it
onto the North American stage, that is not necessarily the world stage.
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Hehe, was wondering how long it would be before you pointed that out!
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In lugnet.trains, Ross Crawford wrote:
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Ahem. Thomas the Tank Engine books and records (7” 45 RPM!) were very popular
in Australia in the early 70s.
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What happened since?
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So while the TV series may have propelled it
onto the North American stage, that is not necessarily the world stage.
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Well, the success of the series prompted the major motion picture release, which
could rightly be called a “world stage”.
I realize that the books have been around a looong time. But as actual
toys, Thomas, it seems to me, is a rather recent phenomenon. I had Brio as a
kid, but no Thomas Brio (as is now). My dad had Marklin train set, but no
Thomas characters were ever sold by model railroad manufacturers (that I’m
aware).
And, to be honest, what really turned my crank about Thomas were the videos
produced by Britt Alcroft. To me, without the videos, the Thomas stories by the
Rev. Awdry become just another little engine that could.
JOHN
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In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
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A huge caveat is whether one
is a parent of young children or not. Having kids has a way of drawing
one into worlds in which one wouldn’t normally dwell or even be aware:-)
|
No, I don’t have any myself, but believe it or not, I was one once. I also
had younger brothers, so received extended exposure.
|
Yes, well, I was once young as well, but never even heard a, well, peep
about Thomas the Tank Engine until the PBS series “Shining Times Station”
which began airing in the US in 1989. It is that series which propelled
Thomas onto the world stage.
I never had much time for the show itself-- we purchased the VHS videos of
the Thomas stories sans the bromidic, “real people” parts.
JOHN
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I’m curious as to what this show consisted off. We had a TV series called
‘Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends’. It started with a theme tune featuring
shots including a side view of Thomas+Annie+Clarabel passing a windmill at the
moment the titles come up.
The engines were all large-scale moving models with wisps of steam, swappable
facial expressions and remote-controlled moving eyes. The people were wooden
posable painted toy figures.
You only ever saw the points, signals and vehicles move. Trains would move,
blow steam or roll their eyes, but the faces and human figures only ever changed
between cuts - they were never animated.
Is this what the ‘Shining Times’ series was?
Jason Railton
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In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
> I realize that the {books} have been around a looong time. But as actual
> {toys}, Thomas, it seems to me, is a rather recent phenomenon. I had Brio as
> a kid, but no {Thomas} Brio (as is now).
I'm going to be a pedant here and argue that there is no Thomas BRIO now,
either. At least not in the US. It's a clone, not real BRIO.
This site suggests that one company that makes BRIO **compatible** Thomas stuff
is Learning Curve.
http://www.totallythomas.com/prod/thomas/ttefdir.html
Why care? If we are pedantic about proper LEGO vs. clone identification we
should be about other brands as well, no?
Hope that helps!
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In lugnet.trains, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
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I realize that the books have been around a looong time. But as actual
toys, Thomas, it seems to me, is a rather recent phenomenon. I had Brio as
a kid, but no Thomas Brio (as is now).
|
I’m going to be a pedant here and argue that there is no Thomas BRIO now,
either. At least not in the US. It’s a clone, not real BRIO.
This site suggests that one company that makes BRIO **compatible** Thomas
stuff is Learning Curve.
http://www.totallythomas.com/prod/thomas/ttefdir.html
Why care? If we are pedantic about proper LEGO vs. clone identification we
should be about other brands as well, no?
Hope that helps!
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Yeah, well, I’m all for pendantries and all, but here is what meant. I know
that Learning Curve has the Thomas license (I bought enough of them-- I oughta
know!) What I didn’t know is that Brio has a license in (Sweden?). Even if
Brio hasn’t a license for Thomas anywhere, Learning Curve wasn’t around 30 odd
years ago when I was playing with Brio. So if Thomas were so world renown 30
years ago, then why wouldn’t Brio have siezed that marketing opportunity?
Because, and this was my initial point, I don’t think he was that popular
around the world (Aussie notwithstanding)
JOHN
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In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
|
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A huge caveat is whether one
is a parent of young children or not. Having kids has a way of drawing
one into worlds in which one wouldn’t normally dwell or even be aware:-)
|
No, I don’t have any myself, but believe it or not, I was one once. I also
had younger brothers, so received extended exposure.
|
Yes, well, I was once young as well, but never even heard a, well, peep
about Thomas the Tank Engine until the PBS series “Shining Times Station”
which began airing in the US in 1989. It is that series which propelled
Thomas onto the world stage.
I never had much time for the show itself-- we purchased the VHS videos of
the Thomas stories sans the bromidic, “real people” parts.
JOHN
|
I’m curious as to what this show consisted off. We had a TV series called
‘Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends’. It started with a theme tune featuring
shots including a side view of Thomas+Annie+Clarabel passing a windmill at
the moment the titles come up.
The engines were all large-scale moving models with wisps of steam, swappable
facial expressions and remote-controlled moving eyes. The people were wooden
posable painted toy figures.
You only ever saw the points, signals and vehicles move. Trains would move,
blow steam or roll their eyes, but the faces and human figures only ever
changed between cuts - they were never animated.
Is this what the ‘Shining Times’ series was?
|
Sort of. It was set in a train station, with human characters. One character
(Ringo, initially), would tell a story (about Thomas et al) every now and then
to some kids, and the show would cut to the large scale Thomas characters with
the posable painted figures-- no humans at all. We would see the story as Ringo
would narrate it.
So, it was always, “get on with the boring station stuff, and get to a story
about Thomas!”
Finally, they released videos of just the Thomas stories (6 per tape, IIRC)
And the crowd cheered. “yay.”
JOHN
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In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
snip
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Sort of. It was set in a train station, with human characters. One
character (Ringo, initially), would tell a story (about Thomas et al) every
now and then to some kids, and the show would cut to the large scale Thomas
characters with the posable painted figures-- no humans at all. We would see
the story as Ringo would narrate it.
So, it was always, “get on with the boring station stuff, and get to a story
about Thomas!”
Finally, they released videos of just the Thomas stories (6 per tape, IIRC)
And the crowd cheered. “yay.”
JOHN
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I dunno, I’m kinda partial to George Carlin doing it now--Carlin shaping the
young minds of the ‘next generation’--that’s how I like my irony...
Dave K
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In lugnet.trains, David Koudys wrote:
<snip>
>
> I dunno, I'm kinda partial to George Carlin doing it now--Carlin shaping the
> young minds of the 'next generation'--that's how I like my irony...
>
> Dave K
Didn't realize that it was 'that long ago'--
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098910/
"
George Carlin .... Mr. Conductor (1991-1993)
"
and the synopsis--
"
Plot Summary for
"Shining Time Station" (1990)
An American version of the popular British children's program. Every episode,
the kids (and sometimes the adults, too) at Shining Time Station learn some
special lessons about life and getting along with others from the miniature Mr.
Conductor. The lessons are then illustrated in segments featuring Thomas the
Tank Engine.
"
Dave K
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In lugnet.trains, David Koudys wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, David Koudys wrote:
snip
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I dunno, I’m kinda partial to George Carlin doing it now--Carlin shaping the
young minds of the ‘next generation’--that’s how I like my irony...
Dave K
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Didn’t realize that it was ‘that long ago’--
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098910/
“
George Carlin .... Mr. Conductor (1991-1993)
”
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I must admit that I have lost touch with the show and all of the newer
characters (although Ross and I did go to see the motion picture, for the sake
of nostalgia:-)
I heard that Alec Baldwin took over for Carlin (AB was in the movie)-- I don’t
even know if the show is still going or not.
What I want is for VH1 to do a “Behind the Music” on Britt and her whole large
scale train operation!
JOHN
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In lugnet.trains, John Neal wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Ross Crawford wrote:
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Ahem. Thomas the Tank Engine books and records (7” 45 RPM!) were very
popular in Australia in the early 70s.
|
What happened since?
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Ummmmm does it matter? They were very popular in countries other than the UK, so
they (the characters/stories) were propelled to the world stage many years
before anyone thought of a Brio Thomas or TV series.
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So while the TV series may have propelled it
onto the North American stage, that is not necessarily the world stage.
|
Well, the success of the series prompted the major motion picture release,
which could rightly be called a “world stage”.
|
Sure, but it had already been brought to the “world stage” in different forms
many years before.
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I realize that the books have been around a looong time. But as actual
toys, Thomas, it seems to me, is a rather recent phenomenon.
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Ahhh you see that makes a difference. Your original statement didn’t say “Thomas
toys” but just “Thomas”, which to me means the character (and the stories). I
guess because that’s how I was introduced to Thomas.
BTW I do remember a plastic unknown brand Thomas toy being available at the
time, but I never owned one and I doubt it was a huge success. Unfortunately, I
did not write down any info or commit it to memory.
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I had Brio as
a kid, but no Thomas Brio (as is now). My dad had Marklin train set, but
no Thomas characters were ever sold by model railroad manufacturers (that I’m
aware).
And, to be honest, what really turned my crank about Thomas were the
videos produced by Britt Alcroft. To me, without the videos, the Thomas
stories by the Rev. Awdry become just another little engine that could.
|
John, I realise it is only relatively recently that Thomas toys & videos and all
the paraphenalia that goes with them became popular, but I still think the books
and records were a significant introduction for many kids around the world. I
just think the statement “the TV series propelled Thomas to the world stage” is
not totally correct, hence my post.
ROSCO
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In lugnet.trains, Ross Crawford wrote:
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John, I realise it is only relatively recently that Thomas toys & videos and
all the paraphenalia that goes with them became popular, but I still think
the books and records were a significant introduction for many kids around
the world. I just think the statement “the TV series propelled Thomas to the
world stage” is not totally correct, hence my post.
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Fair enough. I guess what I don’t understand is how Thomas could have remained
a relative unknown here in the US up until the late 80’s.
JOHN
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In lugnet.trains, Elroy Davis wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Dave Schuler wrote:
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Duplo question:
Are those Thomas Duplo sets available in retail yet, or are they
direct-only? And is Bob the Builder still on the retail market?
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My wife and I saw these here in Vermont at Toys R Us this weekend, so they
are available in retail (at least in this small corner of the north-eastern
U.S.). I still occasionally find a Bob The Builder (great, now I’ll be
singing *that* song for the rest of the day...) set at KayBee.
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TRU in Pittsburgh, PA now has a few Thomas sets, including Toby, James, and
Thomas himself. Not sure of the official set names.
The sets for Dora the Explora are also available, but I think that they’ve been
there a little longer than the Thomas.
Dave!
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