Go Blog Online!

Thomas and Friends is a creation of the British TV culture inspired by the model train trend in the nation and its first episode was broadcast on British TV in 1984.  The title “Thomas and Friends” was converted to “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends” in 2003 and was shot in Shepperton Studios. 

The show is based on the book written by Reverend W.V. Awdry, The Railway Series, which highlight talking trains and other vehicles.  For more than 20 years, the show has starred notable famous narrators from Britain and the United States namely Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Pierce Brosnan, and Alec Baldwin.

Distribution and merchandising have made Thomas and Friends a household name and children’s favorite.  A few of Thomas and Friends-inspired merchandise comes in the form of shirts, mugs, blankets, bed sheets, and of course, model trains.

Thomas and Friends is even made into real-life locomotives and coaches by Heritage Railways on certain events.  Normally named as ”Day out with Thomas,” an event like this was made to attract visitors and tourists.  The additional revenues Heritage railways get and passengers and their kids riding on their favorite characters gives everyone delight.  Thanks to Thomas and Friends, model trains have turn into the inspiration toward making real life-sized and working locomotives.

In the early years of the show, every episode was shot in a studio using straightforward live animation techniques.  Compared to other kids’ shows that make use of inanimate objects and making them move via stop-motion animation, Thomas and Friends used stationary characters and the style of animation given to these characters is by radio controllers and straightforward facial adjustments on the character trains.  Character voices are uniformed since a celebrity narrator is the only one providing it. 

By the time HIT Entertainment got holdof show rights to Thomas and Friends, they chose to change the way animation is made for it.  CGI changed the show in a big way by making noticeable and effective facial expressions, lip movements and moving characters but even with all this, the use of real model trains is still elemental for the show. 

Even with this kind of upgrading Thomas and Friends show has gotten, there are still some who choose to watch 80’s episodes of the show due to its distinctive and plain way of animation.

A huge model railway layout was built within Shepperton Studios to where live action scenes were taken.  Thomas the tank engine and his train friends were originally made by German Toy maker Marklin and the scale size of the locomotives is at 1:32 or Gauge 1 with a track gauge of 44.45 mm.  Movable eyes along with smoke generators were the basic special attributes of the model locomotives for the show.

The fact that Thomas and his friends has been a well-liked kids show for a lot of countries around the world is undeniable.  Children and children-at-heart have always stay tuned when it was initially shown in 1984 and millions of young audiences of today are still captivated by Thomas the Tank Engine. 

Model trains enthusiasts and kids alike will enjoy Thomas and his friends as gifts or as part of their collection and Hornby is able to give this satisfaction with its Hornby R9071 Thomas the Tank Engine Train Set.

Online Lifestyle