Does anyone know if there has ever been an article published on the Thomas the Tank Engine layout? I watch the program with my four year old and am always curious about it.
Scale (O? #1? #2?) How large is the layout? How many different scene elements are there? What they hey is the grade of "Gordon’s Hill’? Who are the modelers?
Rob Carignan
Portland, Maine
I didn’t see it, but I remember someone saying that there was a PBS special on it. If there was, you can order a copy. It would be far more informative than any article.
There was a thread asking this a few months ago and it had some links to some old articles on the Thomas production. I can’t seem to find the link, but this is what I recall.
There was no layout per-se. All of the filming was done on individual diorama scenes. The different scale models were used for different elements of the filming. The main models were large scale with interchangeable faces for the expressions.
I figured as much. I think there were different productions, too. Some of the current shorts don’t seem to have the same look as the earlier ones. I’m thinking of the Ringo Starr era.
My son and I made a Thomas “movie” last week with his Thomas Brio set. He wrote the script and I set up each shot for the cam-corder. We slid an old landscape painting from left to right to simulate forward motion. 
If anyone has Quicktime installed, here is the link:
http://web.mac.com/rcarignan/iWeb/Heath/Thomas & James.html
When Thomas came to our local RR museum, the face was off of the smoke box when Thomas was trucked in. I was told by the event coordinator there was a clause in the contract stipulating Thomas’ “face” could not be seen until the day of the event.
Here are a few sites to look at . thomasandfriends The Origins of Thomas the Tank Engine & Behind The Scenes I hope these links will help . I have added DCC to a HO Thomas and looking into adding sound to him but I will need to put the sound in Annie or Clarabel . C Ya Joe
Sound in Thomas would be impossible or close to it. Placing the sound decoder in an adjacent car would be the way to go. Sound in the other engines is not much of a problem at all. The tenders have plenty of room, although you might have to remove one of the plastic columns holding the attachment skrews.
There is also enough room in Toby for a small sound decoder. Emily isn’t out yet so I don’t have any information on that one.
The boys really enjoy the added sound, espically the whistle. [swg]
Tilden
There was an article about Thomas (and The Rev Awdry) in MR some years ago. It had some information on the models used and how it all worked.
–Randy
Check out this site, http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/msrhistory.htm hope this is what you are looking for as Im going to make one for the Grandkids.
Thanks for all the great links.
My four and a half year old son was asking questions last Saturday about the Thomas show and he was quite suprised when I described how they were all models.
We both agreed, though,that even if the show is made with models, the Real Thomas lives on the Island of Sodor.
Son, model railroading is all about the deam
Rob,
Hard as it may seem, there is going to come a time when the little guy does not want to play with Thomas any more! My boys are now 9 and 7 so are well past it. If you want a way to extend the play life of your wooden track investment there is a great company here in the St. Louis area that makes wonderful wooden trains that run on the Brio track. http://www.woodentrain.com/ My boys still play with their wooden trains long after they lost interest in Thomas. Anyway, I just wanted to point you in the direction of a product that I think is superb. Best wishes and have fun.
Rob:
Have you seen the Island of Sodor layout the Bachmann people put together for the Worlds Greatest Hobby tour? http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/gallery/
Although not protoypical (is there really such a thing?) they packed a lot into a multi-level 4’x8’ and featured all the new Bachmann HO Thomas products.
Ever since my son saw this he’s now wanting to get back into Thomas. If they release the engines as DCC ready and with convertible couplers I might consider it.
Derek