The Railway Series

[Autocar Publicity]

I don't intend to depress anyone, but take a look at this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... ank-engine

The Grauniad is not intolerant, it can't stand intolerance...

[easternstreak]

gordon confused me
ORIGINAL STORIES: A1/A3
TV SERIES: PRINCESS

That was because Awdry's orginal model of Gordon was a butchered Hornby Princess, he did mention that Gordon was meant to be an A3, I guess the model-makers for the TV series didn't listen, at all.

[LNER Fan 60008]

If it helps,
Thomas: LBSCR E2 0-6-0T
Edward: Rebuilt FR "Larger Seagull" 4-4-0
Henry: LMS 5MT "Black Five" 4-6-0
Gordon: LNER A1/A3 4-6-2
James: Hughes L&YR Class 28 rebuilt into 2-6-0
Percy: Avonside 0-4-0ST
Toby: GER Wisbech steam tram J70 0-6-0T
Diesel: BR Class 08 0-6-0
Donald/Douglas: CR "812" 0-6-0

I think those are the basises for the main characters.

That's pretty much correct. Gordon is a "rebuilt" A1 mainly owing to the fact that (as mentioned earlier) Awdry's model of Gordon was bashed out of a Princess Royal class. This gave the basis for his own back-story in the book "The Island Of Sodor" which gives much technical information regarding Sodor and it's engines. Another later book ("Sodor: Reading Between The Lines") gives out much information as well.
Very early sketches seem to show him as a full out A1, however the sketches are so basic it's hard to be sure. But with this, Thomas was drawn as resembling an LNER J50 and Henry I was an Ivatt Atlantic. Edward was still a 4-4-0 of fairly ambiguous origin.

With that, the original Henry is best described as a knocked down A1 with some features from an Ivatt Atlantic - seemingly the result of the original illustrator not believing 4-4-2s existed. The original book illustrations draw him nearly identical to Gordon, only the cab, tender, steam pipes, color, and firebox shape really differing. Unfortunately, there is no consistent story for Henry's original appearance - one book suggests he was "the LMS' secret attempt at recreating the LNER A1"* whilst another simply describes him as built from rejected Gresely plans stolen by a rival. Then to top it all off, Awdry initially suggested there were two Henrys - the original and then the Black 5. So in the end, there is no clear story as to what's what with Henry.

...I guess the model-makers for the TV series didn't listen, at all...

The TV models were mainly based on the original book illustrations rather than the technical notes from "The Island Of Sodor". Not to mention a great degree of standardization was implemented on the TV models - if you look carefully you'll see Henry and Gordon share the same basic chassis! The only difference being Henry has the trailing wheels removed.
Likewise, Duck and Donald/Douglas used the same 0-6-0 chassis with a longer gap between the last two wheel sets. Models from the 4th season onward were full-out custom jobs.

I don't intend to depress anyone, but take a look at this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... ank-engine

I saw that the other week. Sadly, this is just the latest in a long line of Thomas bashes coming from high-brow "academics" whom seem to enjoy missing points entirely. I understand not everyone enjoys Thomas nor the Railway Series but to churn out such garbage like that, it's just unnecessary and it doesn't help when such views are so poorly written. If one must criticize, they must at least be familiar with the work beforehand instead of just tearing in without much given research.

[GateGhost]

[quote="LNER Fan 60008]
The TV models were mainly based on the original book illustrations rather than the technical notes from "The Island Of Sodor". Not to mention a great degree of standardization was implemented on the TV models - if you look carefully you'll see Henry and Gordon share the same basic chassis! The only difference being Henry has the trailing wheels removed.
Likewise, Duck and Donald/Douglas used the same 0-6-0 chassis with a longer gap between the last two wheel sets. Models from the 4th season onward were full-out custom jobs. [/quote]

I never realized that untill now.

[WOOTANG]

the original model of henry was a very bad runner (according to rev. awdry) so they needed to have a complete rebuild which resulted the episode (THE FLYING KIPPER) to allow them a rebuild

(notice that the fat controller actually states he sending henry to crewe and not another place would imply LMS)

[easternstreak]

(notice that the fat controller actually states he sending henry to crewe and not another place would imply LMS)

Well it was mentioned that Stanier was Sir Topham Hatt's mentor (i think)

Besides if that guardian journalist wants something to complain about, she should look into the racially discriminative teachings and terrible morals the current T.V series is giving off.

[LNER Fan 60008]

Awdry's model of Henry was always a Black 5, it wasn't fully rebuilt but rather the motor was cleaned and it proved to run better after that. Once the motor eventually gave out, the model was scrapped.

Henry I was never modeled by Awdry as far as I know.

Well it was mentioned that Stanier was Sir Topham Hatt's mentor

That is correct. In Sodor's history, Hatt was apprenticed under Stanier. This is hinted in one book to be a clue as to how Henry was rebuilt so easily. And, of course, the choice to rebuild Gordon at Crewe instead of Doncaster is probably linked to that fact as well.

Besides if that guardian journalist wants something to complain about, she should look into the racially discriminative teachings and terrible morals the current T.V series is giving off.

As much as I adore the Awdry stories and the original Clearwater TV series, I don't think the current Thomas is very good at all. I haven't seen much of it, but everything seems very cluttered in comparison to the straightforward originals. You have engines and locations that would have never existed in Awdry's canon, nor is any of it as endearing as the originals. Such simple and memorable lines as "The Driver won't choose you again. He wants big strong engines like us." are nowhere to be seen, instead very cluttered language is used. One episode went to avoiding the word "Christmas" despite the scenery suggesting the theme was supposed to be Christmas.

In the end, the current Thomas TV series is little else than a promoter for the massive line of merchandise behind it - a sad fate to what started off as good adaptions of the Awdry books. Now with Mattel owning Thomas, I doubt anything will really change for the better on that front.

[easternstreak]

If you haven't seen a lot of the current T.V series these are the main problems.

Racism:
Quote from James to the Rescue: James "Toby, Sodor Rescue Engines are steam engines, you are a steam tram. Steam Trams can't be rescue engines."
Quote from Misty Island Rescue: Thomas "No Diesel, I'm sure that the Fat Controller means a really useful steamie, you'll never be that"

Bad grammer/making up words:
Misty Island Rescue: Thomas: "I feel badly"
Day of the Diesels: Sir Topham Hatt: "None of my engines is ever forgotten"

And every episode has the same plot, you just need to change the title character and the type of "special special".
Engine X gets a special special from the fat controller. Engine X thinks that he/she knows how to special special anyway. Engine X goes and makes a mess of the special special 3 times. Engine X realises his/her mistake, gets told off by Fat Controller. Engine X goes and solves problem. Everything is all right, Engine X will make the same mistake in a future episode. No morals learn't, episode boring and repetative.
We call it the three strikes you're out formula.

[LNER Fan 60008]

No, I've never taken the time to really watch the current series. I wasn't aware it was that bad!

For what it's worth, the steam vs. diesel rivalry ended in the Railway Series in the book "James and the Diesel Engines". James, the last engine to hold prejudice against diesels in general had let up by the end of the book, and with that went the rivalry entirely. The subject as a whole is rather dated by now, so one wonders why it was chosen as the main story device again.

Sir Topham Hatt: "None of my engines is ever forgotten"

He didn't account for all those "scrapped" engines often seen in background scenery! This began as early as the 4th season, one can find "scrapped" models of Thomas, Gordon, Douglas, and James in the background in some scenes. Other engines, including the City of Truro and Oliver models can be seen as "scrap" in later seasons. One wonders if the TV directors actually knew what scrapping meant.

[WOOTANG]

the most annoying thing about the new stuff is that ALL characters have an individual voice

I MISS RINGO those were the best
then upto series 9 (I THINK) the season before CGI
those were good aswell

[CVR1865]

It is interesting you make that point about the voices. I have always thought the Johnny Morris audio books were the best, with James as a welsh engine and all the others having their own very unique voices thanks to Johnny's excpetional talents. I always felt let down by what I (as a 4 yr old) thought was just the man on the TV being lazy and not wanting to do the proper voices.

[LNER Fan 60008]

I MISS RINGO those were the best
then upto series 9 (I THINK) the season before CGI
those were good aswell

Season 12 brought in CGI faces, with everything being CGI Season 13 onward. I only ever saw the first five series in general and typically preferred the original two.

It is interesting you make that point about the voices. I have always thought the Johnny Morris audio books were the best, with James as a welsh engine and all the others having their own very unique voices thanks to Johnny's excpetional talents. I always felt let down by what I (as a 4 yr old) thought was just the man on the TV being lazy and not wanting to do the proper voices.

I've heard some of the Morris (and Willie Rushton) recordings, they really are different from what the TV series offered.

George Carlin (US Narrator of "Seven Dirty Words" fame) did try a similar approach with most engines getting their own style of voice - many of these stemming from Carlin's show routines. In contrast, I always felt Ringo was narrating as if he was reading out of the books. I didn't prefer one to the other, but Carlin's narrations were usually preferred by the TV stations here.

[easternstreak]

Hey, I've recently been remaking Season 1 episodes using Stop-Motion for Youtube, I would really appreciate a few extra views and maybe a like. Please take 10 minutes of your time to watch these two episodes and tell me what you think, I could use it to improve in the future.
Thank You
Thomas Goes Fishing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSQCzt1k ... re=mh_lolz
Down the Mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtsesZJL ... re=mh_lolz

[WOOTANG]

eastenstreak
unfortunately it says your account has been terminated on youtube

[easternstreak]

eastenstreak
unfortunately it says your account has been terminated on youtube

eh, no it hasn't, at least i don't think so.
I can acces it just fine whether, I've signed in or out.
try this link to the actual channel; http://www.youtube.com/user/thescotsman ... sults_main
also a link to another stop-motion video, this one is more LNER related: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CTFkStO ... ure=relmfu