Written by TCH2
Trains - without question the most powerful, formidable and popular means of land transportation. For over a hundred years, these iron workhorses, whether driven by steam, diesel or electricity, have fascinated people of all ages and have come in all shapes and sizes, from the giant Big Boys of America to those small trains used to give people rides in parks.
In particular, steam engines are the most appealing kind of railway locomotives - whether it's out of nostalgia for the old days, fascination with their elaborate machinery, or simply just the sight of them. And indeed, steam engines are machines that demand attention, with their billowing clouds of steam, loud whistles and immense chugging.
Though steam engines can be found all over the world, mostly on heritage lines or in museums, there is something quintessentially British about them - unsurprisingly given it was Britons that pioneered steam engines, and railways overall, in the first place. And this link between the two is best determined in what is undoubtedly the most iconic piece of British childrens' media. I'm talking, of course, about that little locomotive with his colour so blue, Thomas the Tank Engine!
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, later shortened to Thomas & Friends, debuted on television on the 9th October 1984, 40 years ago today. Based on The Railway Series by Wilbert and Christopher Awdry, the show has been a monumental hit, arguably outshining the books upon which it was based. It spawned 24 episodes, 584 episodes and 14 films and lasted 36 years before finally concluding in 2020, fittingly the 75th anniversary of The Railway Series.
But what made this show so appealing? What helped it truly stand out from its peers (when done right, mind you - the show infamously varied in quality over the years)? Well, have tickets ready, climb aboard and mind the gap, as we take an express journey into the success of Thomas the Tank Engine!
From Book to TV:
"Dear Christopher
Here is your friend Thomas the Tank Engine.
He wanted to come out of his station yard and see the world. These stories tell you how he did it.
I hope you will like them, because you helped me to make them.
Your Loving Daddy"
It seems incredible now that this children's media giant began as a series of bedtime stories for one little boy. Reverend Wilbert Awdry, a huge fan of trains, told his son Christopher stories of sentient, talking locomotives to cheer him when he was sick with measles. These stories were turned into a series of books known as The Railway Series, which quickly became a massive hit.
The secret of Thomas' success can be traced back to these books. Firstly, there's this statement from Wilbert Awdry himself:
"You've got to remember... that you're not merely writing for children. You're writing for the unfortunate people - mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandfathers, grandmothers - who've got to read the children the stories aloud, not just once, but over and over and over again."
Awdry clearly understood that children's media isn't just making random nonsense and throwing it at kids to entertain them. There had to be maturity and cohesion to it all. As the series went on, Awdry began to more deeply incorporate real-life railway aspects and regulations into his series, even bringing in real-life engines like Flying Scotsman, City of Truro, Stepney and more. He also didn't shy away from the harsh reality of what became of steam engines as diesels took over the railways of Britain - the scrapheap!
All this helped to make the Island of Sodor feel like an actual railway, rather than a fantasy world. And this would be reflected when Thomas arrived on television.
The first two attempts to bring The Railway Series to television - one a live-recording of The Sad Story of Henry and the other an animated show by Andrew Lloyd Webber - were unsuccessful. For a time, it seemed that Thomas and his friends would be confined only to the pages of books. But that all changed in 1979 when Awdry met young British TV producer, Hilary Allcroft, better known as Britt: https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/Britt_Allcroft
Having read Awdry's books as research for a documentary about the Bluebell Railway, Britt was convinced the series had TV appeal, and despite some apprehension from Awdry himself, she successfully acquired the TV rights for the Railway Series, securing the finance for the show in 1981.
To direct the show, Britt was advised to seek out the co-founder of the Clearwater Film Company, David Mitton. David had started out as a special effects technician working on various Gerry Anderson shows in the 1960s such as Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 and others. Through all of this, David recognised how impactful and realistic the use of models and sets could be. As such, when he struck his deal with Britt to bring the Railway Series to television, the idea of drawing the engines was rejected. Instead, they decided to use model trains filmed on a massive railway set at the 1:32, or 'Gauge 1', scale, with radio-controlled eyes, resin-sculpted faces and smoke generators that allowed them to puff actual steam. So Thomas and his friends got their very own studio at Shepperton's, London.
To narrate the series, Britt approached former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr - not like his fame, but because she reckoned children would relate to him, having heard his narration on television. Though initially hesitant, having never read The Railway Series before, upon doing so, Ringo agreed to take the job. It also was through him that composers Mike O’Donnell and Junior Campbell were brought on board as well. This duo would produce the show's incredible variety in music - most notably, the iconic theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5SMxYT8FHo
After producing 26 episodes, with stories drawn from the first eight RWS books, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends finally arrived on Children's ITV on the 9th of October 1984, introduced, appropriately enough, by Sergeant-Major Zero, a character from another Gerry Anderson show Terrahawks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bntQp6uDoKI
The show was an instant hit with children everywhere, lauded as a triumphant translation of Wilbert Awdry's work to television. As such, a second season was green-lit, followed by a third and a fourth, and the rest is history.
Magic of Thomas:
So, what was the secret to Thomas' success? What made the stories of these talking trains so appealing to so many children, and adults as well for that matter?
Well, firstly and most importantly, it wasn't a cartoon. In a lot of previous, contemporary and future media, anthropomorphic vehicles would be shown doing things their real-life counterparts could not do. This was not the case for the engines of Sodor. Aside from their faces and fluency, the engines were, well, railway engines first and foremost. They didn't jump around, squash and stretch, articulate with their wheels or anything like that. They were heavy, iron workhorses who did exactly what trains did in real life - shunting trucks, pulling passenger and goods trains, maintaining the line and so on. They had drivers and firemen to operate them, and they abided by real railway regulations (for the most part).
This sense of realism was reinforced by Britt and David's use of models. Now, if you were to look at pictures of the models alongside the production team, they are pretty small, able to fit in one hand. But you wouldn't think that watching the show, would you? David and his team had a way to make the models look bigger than they actually were - having the camera placed at a low angle so that the audience was looking up at the engines, as one would with a real engine. Combined with the use of smoke generators, the careful incorporation of real-life train sounds and the remarkable lighting, those small models felt so much bigger than they actually were.
Notably, David had a lot of respect for the models he used. As he said himself:
"There's little nuances to every engine. Each one performs differently, has different functions. So they're all lovable in their own way. They're like dogs, really - they're little things. Once you get hold of them and you don't really insult them - that's the thing, they hate being insulted. And they won't work, you know, if you insult them..."
The stories were pretty straightforward too. Each episode had a clear story structure and focus (for the most part). Morals were clearly woven in the narrative so they weren't spoon-fed to the audience. When a character did something bad, they answered for it. The plots, while concise and to the point, managed to be told at a calm pace. And there was a good level of variety in storytelling as well - it was mostly calm and comedic, but occasionally, it included intense races and runaways (the latter of which also mirrored reality) and even dipped into horror with stories of ghosts and the prospect of being scrapped, like in the Railway Series.
Then there were the sets. David and his team left no stone unturned in bringing the Island of Sodor to life. The sets were remarkably detailed and put together - the numerous tracks at Knapford Station, the luscious greenery of the countryside, the iconic windmill, the backdrops and lighting to make the sets feel bigger, the more frequent use of actual water from Season 3 onward, the panning camera shots across sets to show off their size, the endless array of rolling stock, model people and objects in the background, and so much more. It all felt like a place you could visit; and it all felt very English.
There were also the toys - Etrl, Wooden Railway, Hornby, Bachman, Tomy, Take n Play and many others. They generally kept it simple, especially with any boxed sets, allowing kids to use their own imaginations as what they could use the toys for. They could create their own stories, make their own trains, build a vast transport world where everything worked together and so much more.
Thomas the Tank Engine had a particular appeal to those with autism. Now, it is a stereotype to say all autistic people love trains, but love for Thomas went beyond simply because he was a train. The elaborately-built sets with all their details, the straightforward and general calm narratives and the incredible variety in distinct facial expressions have been said to contribute to autistic children's development and sense of security. Furthermore, any changes that the show underwent between seasons - panning shots in Season 2, water in Season 3, the narrow-gauge engines in Season 4 and so on - weren't too monumental that autistic people would feel overwhelmed.
Thomas the Tank Engine is generally agreed to have at its peak during the 90s, with Seasons 3, 4 and 5 being the high points of the show's run, and with good reason too. The sets, music and storytelling were definitely at their best in these seasons. True, some of the original stories in Seasons 3 and 4 earned criticism from Wilbert Awdry himself - most infamously, Henry’s Forest - but otherwise, Thomas and his friends were running very well indeed.
However, things took a turn for the worst with the release of the infamous Thomas and the Magic Railroad. What was meant to be Thomas’ grand steaming into the big station instead ended up a massive derailment. The film was a critical and financial flop, which led to Thomas being acquired by HiT Entertainment in 2002. It’s generally believed Britt herself was made to step down from her own company, but the truth is, she willingly chose it due to the pressures of handling Thomas starting to the get to her.
The biggest criticism fans have of Magic Railroad, and one I can accept as legit, is that the film essentially eschewed the idea of Thomas being realistic, and instead presented Sodor as something like Narnia - a fantasy world separate from our world. However, it is worth noting that, even in that movie, the characters were still trains first and foremost. They pulled trains, shunted trucks and remained locked to the track.
Regardless, Thomas the Tank Engine was never the same again after Magic Railroad. Subsequent seasons slowly abandoned the general railway realism and maturity that defined the show. Engines regressed; their loads and the sets became more gimmicky and childish; and the dialogue became more padded and fluffy, often packed with rhymes. All this finally hit rock bottom during the Nitrogen era, with its infamous three-strikes formula, lack of railways cohesion and annoying characters.
On a related note, the Nitrogen era marked a shift in the show's art-style - the models were abandoned and replaced with CGI, with fully moving faces and individual voice actors. While many were naturally unhappy about this, over time, fans grew to accept it, as the CGI allowed for shots not possible with the models, and while handled correctly, it too captured the sense of weight and momentum that showcased how the engines were heavy iron workhorses and not cartoon characters. Sadly, this would slowly be abandoned, but I'll talk more on that in a minute.
The writing of the show improved significantly when it was bought up by Mattel and long-time magazine writer Andrew Brenner took over. Together, they re-established the maturity and realism that made Thomas appealing and further expanded the Island of Sodor with new characters and locations. Alas, I can't talk too much beyond that, as I've not seen the Brenner era in full, but it was a much-welcome renaissance period - or 'Brennaisannce' as fans call it.
But it wasn't to last. The movie 'Journey Beyond Sodor' and Season 21 introduced the concept of the engines swaying and bouncing their bodies around, which many felt was a feeble attempt at adding articulation and also detracted from them being engines. This only worsened during the 'Big World, Big Adventures', which also became more action-oriented and fast-paced, and used fantasy sequences that showed the characters as anything but trains.
And then... after the original show ended in 2020 following its 24th season... we got All Engines Go.
Now I'm not going to go on a long rant on why AEG is so hated - there are a plethora of videos covering that subject all over YouTube - but I will cover the main problem fans, including myself, have with it: the characters don't feel like trains anymore. What with their cartoony movements and articulations that seem more apt for YouTube parodies, lack of any real railway regulations and the fact that the various rolling stock characters are shown as able to move on their own, there's no longer an in-universe reason for the characters to be trains, so it just feels like another typical cartoon that just wears Thomas' name.
But I don't want to end this on a bleak note. Fans across the Internet have kept the spirit and magic of Thomas alive, either with retrospectives that delve into the rises and falls of the series, or with all sorts of stories and videos that could almost pass for material from the Awdrys or from Britt and David. Their passion and devotion is honestly very wholesome and incredible.
And that, my friends, is what made Thomas the children's media giant it is today. Obviously, it's had its ups and downs, and is officially down at the moment. But in terms of fan passion, it remains very up indeed. And it is my hope that someday, this passion will see a return to official media, preferably through another reboot after Thomas is acquired by a new owner (Hasbro or Aardman are my best choices).
Until then, it's up to fans to ensure that no matter what happens, Thomas the Tank Engine remains a Really Useful Engine!
Cue the music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJk7abl2eZs
This post is devoted to the following:
Wilbert Vere Awdry (15 June 1911 - 21 March 1997) - original creator of The Railway Series
David Nelson Godfrey Mitton (27 February 1939 - 16 May 2008) - director of the first seven seasons of Thomas and Friends
Nicolas Michael Angelis (29 April 1944 - 30 May 2020) - narrator of the UK dub of Seasons 3-16, as well as audiobooks, games and four movies
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