I agree totally with this.
Beats me how anyone could see this as a bad thing. I think anyone poo-pooing this probably has a big bowl of sour grapes at hand, secretly wishing there'd been something like this when they were toddlers.
Sure, it isn't prototypical. But I've seen kids at RR museums and there's no way they light up at such a young age looking at cold, static rolling stock as they would seeing 'a real Thomas' and riding behind it (him). And when they're older, if there's interest, they'll find the 'real' stuff compelling enough. And if they don't? Well, those weren't likely going to become trains fans anyway.
Keep in mind, Space Camp has generated more than a couple of real astronauts, and they've all pointed to the experience as a kid for why they decided to go into space for real. It's silly to think something similar wouldn't or couldn't happen with this Thomas park or one of the travelling Thomas replicas.

It helps build a brand many of us use to pump money from parents pockets into our projects. What's not to like? It's not as if it was displacing the classic steam Edaville of the 1960s.

Since we're on the topic of Thomas, here's an article I wrote that appeared in the Keokuk, Iowa DAILY GATE CITY on August 14, 2015. It's part of our ongoing effort to publicize the restoration of the Keokuk Union Depot in local media.

Hate to tell Dr Leonard, but "Sammy the switch-engine" has already been written about!

There was a series of books produced in the UK as "Sammy the Shunter" (a red 2-4-2 tank engine) from 1949, and along with another series of books called "Chuffalong" (a green tank engine) they followed the "Thomas" books in the childrens market. Both of those disappeared by the end of the 60's and faded into memory, whilst the "Thomas" series was taken over, relaunched, and became a multinational brand!
I've got some of the Sammy/Chuffalong books in my loft somewhere, and actually had more of those (around 4-6 of each) than the Thomas ones (2).

Wonder what the holders of the Thomas brand would have to say if you tried to resurrect one of the other characters nowadays..............?!

As if we needed more material along the lines of Thomas and Chuggington, as good as some of it may be? When can we get past cartoons, even of the quality of "The Polar Express?"

It isn't that some good material isn't available.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=36158

Hi,

From about 2000 to about 2008 The young boy (4-12) across the street from me was interested in Thomas and in the Brio hardwood.

I let him show me his train sets. I showed him about passenger trains, freight trains and mixed trains using his Thomas train set with the Thomas cars with Thomas, Clarabell (and the other passenger car), and the freight cars.

He found out about some of the depths of railroading while showing me the his Thomas.

He liked running my 4' x 8' HO scale layout also. He also liked trying to switch cars.

Doug vV

A xenophobic response to a nonissue. BFD.

There's a lot we can learn about how we can not be our own worst enemies from the UK railway enthusiasts. We can still learn a lot about railroading on a somewhat smaller scale from UK practices - much of which are easily applicable to our tourist and museum operations. Few of ours have anything like mainline operating possibilities, so the geography works...... and the reconstruction of transportation infrastructure in predeveloped areas rather than building it to pen a frontier. And, we did learn about railroading from the Brits after all. Tank engines? Perhaps this guy knows nothing about the backbone of industrial railroading....... how did he get a newspaper column anyhow?

And that's just in the realm of reality. Fiction? Much more from the UK than here, where the RALPH series is about all we had in the genre.

More popular railway cultural icons, please...... no matter where they are from.

I think this topic belongs in Interchange since it raises interesting questions for preservation.

For example, what happens with Thomas events at museums and heritage railroads in New England, relatively near the theme park? Do those Thomas events remain viable? Will H.I.T. even allow those events to continue to be held?

Furthermore, the article AM quoted says "The first American theme park devoted to Thomas the Tank Engine and his locomotive friends" -- I take that to mean that more Thomas theme parks will be built. Imagine a museum that gets 75% of its annual revenue from its annual "Thomas the Bank Engine" event -- what happens to it when the theme park across town decides to build their own Thomasland?

If your museum is getting 75% of its annual revenue from one merchandising event, it's time to rethink your business model.

A number of UK preserved lines had a rethink on "Thomas" events when the current holder of the "brand" started demaning more of a "cut of the action" a few years back and imposing conditions on the use of said "brand".
Some dropped these events altogether and others came up with alternatives - "Ivor the Engine" (Welsh 0-4-0T, and no smiley face!) is one that will be fairly unknown on the other side of the Atlantic. Various "Family" themed days, whether they be "Peppa Pig", "Superhero days" or whatever else they have come up with have filled the Thomas void and attracted families and more importantly, appear to be paying the bills.

There is life after Thomas if one thinks and acts constructively........

Thanks for the responses. I don't write a regular newspaper column; the article was submitted as part of our effort to locally promote interest in the Keokuk Union Depot restoration project. I've written a few on other topics, such as the meaning of train whistles, and J. W. Barriger's inspection train into Keokuk in the 1940s.

I wrote the Thomas article months ago, and since writing it I have changed my idea to "Snappy the Switch Engine" (I didn't know about "Sammy the Shunter" -- British terminology once again, not North American). I have in mind an 0-6-0 like the Pennsy's B-6 class, or the NYC B-11k 0-6-0 recently damaged in Utica. I might start writing the series myself (I'm a clergyman, too, like Thomas's creator) if I knew an illustrator who could create good images of "Snappy the Switch Engine." Titles like "Snappy and the Broken Drawbar" or "Snappy Helps Hubert the Helper Engine" come to mind.

Of course I know a little about industrial railroading, with little 0-4-0Ts or "fireless cookers," "critters" or GE 44-tonners. But if you were a young man standing trackside on the GTW or NYC main line in the 1950s, photographing trains, your chances of seeing anything but a tender engine would be nil.

My concern is simply that Thomas, as fun as he is, doesn't present a very accurate picture of North American railroading in the steam era. It would be nice to have something more applicable to our overall rail environment in the heyday of steam.

Keep in mind that Thomas was never intended to present an accurate picture of railroading. It was a sort of parable about things that kids deal with on a daily basis, with trains replacing people as the characters.

Basic concepts like helping others or arguing, getting along with friends, as well as stories about the results of being lazy or lying, presented in a kid friendly manner with easy to identify characters.

The trains are just the canvas upon which the stories are painted.

I have not paid much attention to Thomas, so I never knew that he is basically just a canvas to teach kids about moral principles, good behavior, etc. If that is so it would seem that the intent in using Thomas as the canvas was the starting assumption that kids like trains.

On the contrary, what most railway preservationists seem to believe is that the starting assumption is that kids like fantasy, and so the Thomas fantasy is intended as a canvas to teach kids about the principles of real trains. And therefore, Thomas serves a purpose of introducing kids to the world of railway preservation.

However, if it is true that Thomas is intended to attract the attention of kids because they love trains, then it seems as though they are already prepared to engage in railway preservation, and don’t need Thomas to prime that interest.

That tells me that true railroad museums and attractions should be just as appealing to kids as Thomas is; even if the kids have never known Thomas.

That's very true, of course, and the Rev. W. F. Awdry certainly had that intent in creating Thomas. For example, Sir Topham Hatt often seems to stand in the place of God in the drama, alternately directing, correcting and forgiving the miscreant locomotives. I don't question the underlying purposes of the episode creators; I'm just saying I would like to see a North American "canvas" for those stories to play out, one that would be informative in the interest of railway preservation on these shores.

Although I will be out of the area this year, for most of the Days Out With Thomas at Orange Empire I've been either on the Thomas photo line or have been Sir Topham Hatt's assistant. The standard schedule for Sir Topham is 15 minute for photos with our visitors and 15 minutes off (that costume gets rather stuffy quite quickly). If someone asks during break time, I just tell them that "Sir Topham is having a spot of tea. He's English, and tea time is very important. He also has to make sure all the trains are running properly, then he can come out and see us." During most Thomas visits, my older daughter comes out to help one of the days; the first time she was in on the Thomas scene, she worked in the merchandise area, which that year was in the Grizzly Flats Engine House, where an all-American tank engine named Chloe is on display as part of the Ward Kimball legacy. After spending the day selling Thomas goodies of all sorts to doting parents and grandparents (some of whose credit cards must have been smoking) she said, "Aren't you glad they didn't have Thomas when Vicky (sister) and I were growing up?" Some of our members tend to find work to do in the "members only" area out in back, and make snide remarks about that "little blue so-and-so", but most of us look upon Thomas as a way to introduce our museum to folks who might not other wise make the journey. We have some of our streetcars running (even if Thomas would call them "trams") and our Baldwin 2-6-2 is usually on display, tender and all. Some of our older visitors will ask "Does Thomas really pull the train?" and the answer is, "Of course he does, but since our train is seven or eight North American passenger cars, he asks for some help, because he usually pulls only two or three English-style cars, which are lighter. It's always smart to ask for help when you need it, and we use one of our restored diesels to give him a boost."