I was just wondering what gauge is Thomas the tank engine? Is it HO? They all have a very nice smoke unit. Is there a website where one can look at a behind the scene look at how it is done? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks
Jeff Strong
They make a Thomas in HO and G scale. There may be more scales availible as well.
I guess what I meant to ask, is what gauge is used to make the show Thomas the tank engine. Thanks!
Jeff Strong
There was an article in MR on the making of Thomas several years ago, it was a three or four page spread. Check the model rr magazine index. IIRC it may have been G or larger.
As for Thomas trainsets:
Lionel did in in G and O-27.
Hornby did him in OO/HO.
Bachmann also does him in HO.
They were No1 (1:32) scale, they ran on Marklin mechanisms.
They also used smaller models for longshots. And, by the way, that was ONE MASSIVE LAYOUT!!!
Must’ve been! They had the true meaning of an “Empire”.
I believe I heard that the layout was in California, but I have no real evidence to support this.
-Daniel
I read that there was no “layout” per say…Each train was shot on a sectional peice of track that was specific to each scene where the show took place, I remember they were about 5’ x 20’. That way the sections could be rolled out, set up, take the shots, then rolled off and new sections rolled in for another scene . This way they could make many different scenes and store them easier. Also I remember the trains were R/C controlled with battery pack power. That was done so the track sections could bebuilt easier without any wiring, they were just big props, all the power, and controls were inside the engines. Thomas’s Eyes were radio controled from a seperate operator.
Im like an expert at this. The models were “O” scale. There are many different layouts (all about 16x20 ft) For every season (every 27 episodes) they take out one layout that will be needed, fix it up from storage, shoot all the scenes needed on that llayout for all 27 episodes, wheel it back into storage, and do it all again with another set.
They have radio controlled eyes and are battery powered. Each engine has between 7-40 different faces or masks that have holes for the RC eyes to show through. Whenever they let off steam, that is steam from under the track.
That about covers it.
that was quite blatant in some scenes