The Railway Series

[60800]

Do any the models still exist? and what scale were they?

[WOOTANG]

Blackout

Yes some of the original models still exist some are at drayton manor theme park

As for scale they varied
Some were 'O' gauge and 'OO'
When the skarloey railway got involved that was originally 'OO9'

[WOOTANG]

LNER fan

I'm sure the episode about city of truro
I'm sure duck and gordon are talking and duck says
"He's famouser than you he went 100 miles per hour before you were thought about"
In which gordon replies "do he said"
The story (DOMELESS ENGINES) episode (GORDON AND THR FAMOUS VISITOR)

[60800]

Does anyone have photos of the models? Google is proving useless

[WOOTANG]

Blackout
Ill have a look through my pictures I should have some somewhere

[LNER Fan 60008]

Do any the models still exist? and what scale were they?

Some of Awdry's models still exist (others were scrapped over time). This site from the Talyllyn railway has some information.
http://www.talyllyn.co.uk/museum

The "main" engines (Thomas, Gordon, etc.) appear to be OO scale, with the Skarloey Railway engines being much smaller. Awdry was quite the kit-basher.

As for the original TV models from 1984, I have no idea. The models at Drayton manor (I think) are from the later TV series by HiT and not the original 1984 models from Clearwater Studios. The original TV series models were done in Gauge 1 and used Marklin chassis combined with custom made bodies. Later models were all scratch built. The narrow gauge railway on TV was initially O gauge, and was mainly scratch built. The thing is that over the TV series' run, new models were introduced as opposed to sticking to the originals over time. So, it is not too easy to tell what still exists and what doesn't.

I'm sure the episode about city of truro
I'm sure duck and gordon are talking and duck says
"He's famouser than you he went 100 miles per hour before you were thought about"
In which gordon replies "do he said"
The story (DOMELESS ENGINES) episode (GORDON AND THR FAMOUS VISITOR)

That is correct for the Awdry story, but when it was adapted to TV the connections between Truro's achievements-apparent and British Railways as a whole were cut out. Gordon's prejudice over "domeless engines" was also toned down a bit. These changes may have suited Allcroft's demands, but I do feel they blunted down the stories somewhat.

As for pictures of Awdry's models, look around on this site.
www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/gordon.htm

[60800]

Thanks, I've never watched the TV series or read the books, but the story behind it and the models etc are actually very interesting

[WOOTANG]

i used to live by thomas the tank engine it did teach me a few lessons on life

[LNER Fan 60008]

The fact they used extensive modelling in the TV series was something I always liked, especially in the first two seasons.

I see that the TV series has now become a CGI cartoon, which is rather sad to see.

[StevieG]

" another episode (TENDERS & TURNTABLES) involves james spinning on a turntable which was based on a true event (cant remember real location) but screens were put up around the turntable .... "

" From the Pegnsean site, it is said the turntable incident happened on the Settle and Carlisle line of the Midland Railway. Although I haven't read Christopher's books, I've heard they are more technically oriented as opposed to being based strictly off real events in every story. .... "

I have a vague memory of once reading, I think, that this was Hawes Junction (now Garsdale), where I believe it was once very busy turning (& turning round) bank engines, and that a mini-stockade was indeed constructed afterwards to protect the 'table from the worst of any high winds,
I think that was it, unless I'm getting confused that this was the place which featured large in the Midland Railway's pre-Great War fatal collision not far away, and usually known as 'Ais Gill', caused by a signalman's error, which led to the MR installing some particular electrical signalling safeguards over much of their network to minimise the chance of recurrence.

[WOOTANG]

COME ON THEN
We all have been talking
BUT WHATS EVERYONE FAVORITE EPISODE AND WHY??

[LNER Fan 60008]

My favorite stories include "Edward, Gordon, and Henry", "Off the Rails", "Pop Goes the Diesel", and "Super Rescue".

[2002EarlMarischal]

I'll be honest, I was thinking I'd leave this thread alone, but the ongoing interest in Thomas and friends may just be, (if it isn't already), one of the major factors in keeping our hobby going for future generations.

The only individual story I really remember, is the one where Henry won't come out of the tunnel!

Long live Thomas!

[60800]

The only episode I recall was the one where Percy had to take a small frieght in the middle of the night. I was about two and I was as scared as he was!

[WOOTANG]

2002
your thinking of (THE SAD STORY OF HENRY)
which features the best opening
"Once an engine attached to a train
was afraid of a few drops of rain
it went into a tunnel and squeaked through its funnel
and wouldn't come out again

blackout
yours im struggling to think of anything else you can remember
the only 1 that springs to mind is (THOMAS, PERCY AND THE DRAGON)