This morning I am not sure if I was seeing things or not BUT I can almost swear that as I was drin=ving through Gainesville Va I passed a tractor trailer with a low boy trailer that had a very LARGE Thomas the train engine on it. Has anyone else heard or seen this ?
Thanks
YGW
Google it or check You Tube. Sometimes a person has a camera handy and gets a video or picture and uploads it to the Internet.
I have seen a photo of what people will do when a huge meteorite is going to hit the earth and destroy life. Everyone is taking a picture with their smart phone. lol
Some tourist railroads have a Thomas for kids and sometimes move it to another place for an event.
Rich
Yes, happens all the time. Strasburg RR ships their Thomas to other railroads via truck. Stack comes off and some other parts to allow it to make clearance.
–Randy
The Greenberg Show we have here twice a year features a Thomas ride outside in the parking lot. I’m not sure what the engine is, but I’m guessing it’s a beefy golf cart with a small gas engine, pulling a few bench-seat coaches.
Mister B
The engine I saw this morning was as large as two dump trucks put together. It FILLED the trailer
Here’s a picture of Thomas leaving a local event this year. It is trucked from site to site. Of interest is the fact Thomas’ face must always be covered whenever he is not on the rails ! …
Mark.
Also note that the engine in the photo is not a fully functioning engine. Smoke is all it does. You will see some other sort of power that actually moves the train.
Not sure if it’s the same everywhere, but here, Thomas was on the rear of the train with the “real” engine on the opposite end giving the appearance Thomas was actually pulling the train when in fact the whole train was being pushed from the other end.
Mark.
There are at least 3 “roaming Thomases” around. One is owned by the Strasburg RR museum, the other two are the travelling Day Out With Thomas show. The DOWT engines really are “steamers”… just a steam generator on a 6 wheeled chassis that is pulled by a real locomotive. They do have functioning whistles. We host a DOWT event at the Essex Steam Train around Easter every year. Kids love it. If the parents ask, I will admit that Thomas is a fake, but not within hearing of the kiddies.
I saw the same thing at Nashville a few years before I escaped to a saner place. Actually, Thomas was at the front of the train. The pusher diesel was displaying markers. As trains go, it wasn’t much of a load. A genset could have handled it with two engines shut down.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - several 0-6-0T, no Thomas)
At least one of the Strasburg ones really works, it’s a converted Porter 0-6-0. Up close there are some serious descrepancies compared to the actual Thomas, most obvious the outside cylinders instead of inside cylinders.
–Randy
Edaville has a narrow gauge version pushed by a diesel. My grandsons never took note of the diesel.
The railroad has developed a Thomas Land.
They have their wood versions to play with.
Rich
What a great idea and a great thing for kids! My 6 year old Son would love to see that.
In the past, I’ve seen Thomas riding a semi throught town.
I understand the Thomas franchise is very well monitored and protected by their legal dept., and I’ve been told Strasburg is the official headquarters for all sanctioned Thomas events. The Porter 0-6-0t was rebuilt from a Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal engine, but the cosmetic “steamers” were supposedly built from scratch, specifically for venues where live steam isn’t practical. I don’t know how many there are.
For info on Thomas events, contact the Strasburg Rail Road. I think their exclusive right to the Thomas franchise includes the entire U. S. and Canada, and maybe Mexico. Thomas is one of the things that helps the Strasburg’s bottom line enormously.
Tom
Mark
Thanks for the picture. You know I do not remember seeing any other colors on it othger than blue. I wonder if the one I saw is a new one or one being repainted.
Thanks all
YGW
Just returned from the LHS, where I got the latest issue of Railpace Newsmagazine, Nov., 2014. On page 14 is a photo of Thomas’ pal Percy and this caption:
“MERCY! NOW IT’S PERCY — Strasburg Rail Road has done great job (sic) building Percy from scratch. He is non-powered, with only basic brake and whistle controls. We find Percy on his first day of operation at Strasburg, September 12, 2014. Diesel locomotive 8618 was on the other end of the train. Percy joins Thomas, converted from BEDT 0-6-0T #15. Strasburg’s shop has also constructed four additional non-powered Thomas replicas.”
I was a bit surprised to learn that there were that many authorized Thomas replicas out there.
Tom
It’s a full time traveling show.
http://events.hitentertainment.com/en-us/dayoutwiththomas/index.html
I take my grandson to Spencer, NC for it every year.
Percy was there as well, this year.
I went to check on the new Percy and wow, they are now doing all sorts of food runs. Think I will have to go visit more next summer.
–Randy
Not exactly. The Valley Railroad gets one of the dummy engines, but live steam is certainly practical there. But it’s our loco providing the steam propulsion, not Thomas.
[quote user=“richg1998”]
Edaville has a narrow gauge version pushed by a diesel.
[quote]
This is the 2 ft gauge Thomas, owned by Edaville, at Boothbay Railway Village a few years ago. It was pushed by our Henshel locomotives; one behind Thomas, and the other at the end of the train. The second locomotive is needed for braking on the downgrade.
This Thomas is a dummy locomotive. It has a small gas air compressor and a smoke generator, but no motive power of its own.
I believe there is at least one 3 ft gauge Thomas as well.