Guys, my son loves trains, so I’m on the right track in bringing him up with good behaviors, so we’ve got him started on Thomas. Before I was not interested in Thomas for my son, but after the wife bought some videos, I kind of taken a liking to them.
Does anybody know how they do all of it? I’m talking what kind of scale do they use, anything info on their layout, etc.
I just want to see if you guys know more about the program (model train wise) than the common person would know. I just would like some incite.
There was an item in MR some years ago about the TV program. I don’t recall much other than the TV models were fairly large, perhaps G scale or larger. The eyes in the locos are operated by radio control, and they have different faces they install to show different emotions. I’d imagine a Google search would turn up hundreds of web sites that may provide more info.
The show has been a real influence in children for quite some time now. We’ve had operating Thomas trains on our HO scale modular layout and the wee ones really get a kick out of seeing them operate. They follow the trains around our loop and cannot get enough of them. They also pick up railway terms from the TV show, as I heard one point to a railway crane and call it a breakdown crane, like on TV.
I don’t beleive that there was ever a “layout” per se used for the TV show. It was filmed on a series of sets, rather than on a complet layout. Most of the running models were larger scale, but there are several instances where much smaller scales were used, some of the crash scenes for example. Also, some of the close up face shots were not of the models, but just face models.
Model railway constructor had an article on the filming when they first made the series, here’s what I can remeber.
The series was filmed on sets of individual scenes with all the shots for a set of stories filmed and then the set broken down and rebuilt for the next scene. The engines were based on Marklin Gauge 1 mechanisims with custom made radio control eyes. There were several alternative cast resin faces for each engine. Smoke was blown up through the track from tubes under the boards.
The cameras used periscopes to get the lens down to eye level.
Figures and close ups were done with larger scale models as simon mentioned.