Does anyone know how many Thomas the Tank Engine replicas there are?

It appears that a standard gauge one is working at the Northwest Pacific Railway Museum and another at the Illinois Railroad Museum this weekend.

Then there is a three foot gauge one that works at the Colorado Railroad Museum. And then the two foot gauge replicas at Thomas Land, at what used to be the Edaville Railroad in Massachusetts.

The Strasburg Railroad has a real 0-6-0 locomotive; which used to be a Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal loco. I saw that one at Railfair 1999.

ted Miles

Hi Ted;

Good to hear from you. I think you have accounted for all of them.

I think that's all of the current ones. There may have been others in the early days when Thomas was just getting started (I seem to recall an 0-4-0T?).

Mr. Hefner, it's good to have you back. We missed you.

Thank you Charlie. When I shut down my Surviving World Steam Project a few years ago, I drifted away from steam preservation.

Thanks in large part to AOTT on Facebook, I have been visiting here more frequently. Thanks again.

In less than two weeks, Kennywood Amusement Park in Pittsburgh, PA will be opening Thomas Town. I keep seeing ads on the TV and it sure looks like another Thomas replica has been created.

https://www.kennywood.com/thomastown

There is one "steam" Thomas that currently operates at Strasburg and at the Henry Ford. In years past, he had traveled to nine or ten different operations per year, but at 55 tons, he's pretty expensive to haul around.

Of the unpowered Thomas "replicas", there are four standard gauge, one 3' gauge, and one 2' gauge.

There is one unpowered Percy "replica".

Damn, that place has certainly changed since I was a kid...…

Do Pittsburghers still understand the meaning of the phrase "Kennywood's open?"

My late wife's parents were good friends with the owners. When she was young, she would ride the roller coasters all day

I think the last year that the live steam Thomas came to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad was 2009. I remember seeing a picture of an awkward looking Thomas replica from the late 90's that was probably half the size of the coaches. It had very small wheels and appeared to be something straight out of an amusement park. Anyone have pictures of that?

Some other material on the Kennywood project.

One thing that hurts for traditionalists like us is that Thomas will be partially replacing the park train that's been there since the 1940s. Of note is that its locomotives (steam outline units constructed by Vulcan) were originally built for the New York World's Fair of 1939-1940.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/ ... 1804240164

https://coaster-nation.com/thomas-town- ... kennywood/

https://www.kpconnection.com/2018/02/ne ... omas-town/

http://www.post-gazette.com/life/recrea ... 1803020191

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/02 ... ouncement/

Those Vulcan locomotives are historic in themselves. As usually happens at amusement parks, they will be put into storage and replaced by new Thomas locomotives. Might be worth finding out if they may be available soon.

Do Pittsburghers still understand the meaning of the phrase "Kennywood's open?"

Absolutely! The attached photo shows the sign which appears in every men's room of the Eat'n Park chain of restaurants.

For the uninitiated, "Kennywood's open!", when addressed to a male, is Pittsburghese shorthand for: "Your fly is unzipped."

/s/ Larry

I didn't realize that the Steam Thomas only visits Henry Ford now (and of course operates at Strasburg). I thought he still got around to a few other places.

I should make it a point to see him at Henry Ford next year, in case his traveling days are numbered. Would like to get some photos of him around the roundhouse / turntable etc. That roundhouse looks VERY similar to the one in the early thomas films that I grew up on.

The rumblings are that one of the Vulcans is getting a Thomas body,at least for this year. The other one will be kept in emergency reserve as is, with the possibility of a Thomas body in the future.

In the past, the "real" Thomas (as I like to call the engine) also visited the Delaware River Railroad in Phillipsburg, NJ on an annual basis. The past two years, however, they have used one of the "replica" Thomases instead (sadly).