History of Thomas the Tank Engine

In 1984, the first episode of Thomas and Friends aired on the British network ITV. The name "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. SinceEver since the 1980s to the present, the show has featured notable celebrity narrators from the UK 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.

Life-size locomotives were even made after Thomas and Friends for special occasions by Heritage Railways. Commonly called as "Day out with Thomas," an event like this was made to draw visitors and tourists. The additional revenues Heritage railways acquire and passengers and their kids riding on their favorite characters gives everyone joy. Thanks to Thomas and Friends, model trains have become inspiration toward making real life-sized and working locomotives.

In the show's first years, each episode was created in a studio using uncomplicated live animation methods. Compared to other children's shows that employ inanimate objects and making them move by stop-motion animation, Thomas and Friends used stationary characters and the method of animation given to these characters is by changing their facial expressions with interchangeable faces and the movement of the model trains themselves. When it comes to speeches and voices, all characters have the same source and that's the celebrity narrator.

When Thomas and Friends was obtained by HIT Entertainment, modern animation methods were then incorporated. The use of model trains is still an indispensable part of the show but CGI methods made body and lip movements and facial expressions more effective.

Even with this type of enhancement to the show, people with more traditional taste opt to watch earlier episodes of the show because of the nostalgic value they provide.

A huge model railway layout was built inside Shepperton Studios to where live action scenes were taken. The German toy company, Marklin, is the one responsible for creating and supplying the studio with the train characters and the scale size of the locomotives is at 1:32 or Gauge 1 the gauge of the tracks used measure 44.45mm. The model locomotives were also specially made with movable eyes and smoke generators.

The fact that Thomas and his friends has been a popular 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 broadcast in 1984 and millions of young audiences of today are still fascinated by Thomas the Tank Engine.

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

Nigel Braithwaite writes article relating to model trains and in particular Hornby Trains for Trains N Railways. Visit the site today see what he has to say!

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