Thomas/Behind the Scenes

The Railway Series
Thomas is a fictional standard gauge tank locomotive created by the Rev. W. Awdry. He is the No. 1 engine on the North Western Railway.

He first appeared in the Railway Series book, Thomas the Tank Engine, which was published in 1946. His last appearance was in Thomas and his Friends, published in 2011.

Front of Thomas:

The Original Thomas
When the Reverend W. Awdry created Thomas, he existed only as a wooden toy made for his son, Christopher. This engine looked rather different from the character in the books and television series and was based on an LNER J50 or a Hudswell Clarke with smaller side tanks and splashers. He was painted teal-green with yellow lining and carried the number 1 on his bunker on both sides in yellow and also carried the letters "NW" on his side tanks in yellow. Awdry claimed that this stood for "No Where", but later works would identify the railway Thomas and his friends worked on as the North Western Railway.

For the illustrations of Thomas the Tank Engine, Edmund Ward, then-publisher of the Railway Series, hired illustrator Reginald Payne, who decided to base Thomas on the LB&SCR E2 Class. (Awdry was annoyed that Thomas was obviously not the tank engine he had first drawn, but he was satisfied when Payne explained that he was drawn after a real prototype). Unfortunately, Payne did not receive any credit for his work; it is only since the publication of Brian Sibley's The Thomas the Tank Engine Man that he has received recognition.

Running Plate Problems
Thomas' running plate was allegedly a source of contention for the Rev. W. Awdry during the course of the Railway Series. As originally drawn, Thomas had a distinctive dip at the front of his running plate, but not on the back. The story goes that to Awdry's eyes, this meant that Thomas' buffers would be at different levels, an operational inaccuracy and impossibility. This seems curious on Awdry's part, as all the artists had drawn Thomas as having an extra-deep rear bufferbeam to compensate, this putting the front and rear buffers at the same level.

Be it a matter of taste or inaccuracy, the issue of the running plate had to be settled: thus Thomas' excursion into the stationmaster's house at Ffarquhar was arranged. After his repairs at Crovan's Gate, Thomas returned with a new modified running plate that was flat and level from smokebox to bunker. In the television series, Thomas' running plate was never changed, even after the events of Thomas Comes to Breakfast were adapted. However, his buffers at his front and rear end are measured at the exact same level, regardless of the dip on his front bufferbeam.

Too Much Thomas?
While he may seem innocent enough, poor Thomas created a fair bit of trouble for Christopher Awdry and Egmont Books, publishers of the Railway Series, when the latter started asking for more books about the happy little tank engine. Granted, Thomas was the most popular character in the original Railway Series books, but Egmont went too far and thus the problem continues. With the advent of the television series, Egmont started asking for more Thomas and to this day Thomas has eight Railway Series volumes under his undercarriage. Two of the titles actually have very little to do with Thomas - "Thomas Comes Home" focuses on the adventures of the branch line engines during Thomas' visit to York, while "Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines" only featured one story about Thomas, although he did appear in two of the other three stories. As a result of Thomas' fame, classic characters, like Oliver and Bear, have become largely neglected.

The Original Thomas
A wooden push-along toy from the early 1940s is the original Thomas made by the Reverend Awdry out of a piece of broomstick for his son Christopher. This engine looked rather different from the character in the books and television series and was based on an LNER Class J50 with smaller side tanks and splashers. He was painted teal-green with yellow lining and carried the letters NW on his side tanks.

Awdry claimed that this stood for "No Where", but later works would identify the railway Thomas and his friends worked on as the fictional North Western Railway. Christopher Awdry lost this model when he was in the US, although it was recreated for a sizzle promo for the 70th Anniversary.

Awdry's model
The Reverend was happy to endorse Payne's account that Thomas was an LBSC E2, although the first Thomas on the Awdry's model railway, from Stuart Reidpath, lacked extended tanks. In the 1979 Thomas Annual, Awdry wrote:

"I bought Thomas in 1948 when I was writing "Tank Engine Thomas Again" and wanted to start modelling once more after a lapse of some twenty years. Thomas was one of Stewart Reidpath's standard models with a heavy, cast white metal body and was fitted with his "Essar" chassis and motor. Stewart Reidpath is now dead and his motors, let alone spare parts for them, have been unobtainable for years; but Thomas still keeps going! He is, as you might expect from his age, a temperamental old gentleman and has to be driven very carefully indeed".

Gauge 1 model
Thomas' original model was custom built to run on gauge 1 track for the Unaired Pilot. The model was built with a perspex body shell by model maker, Martin Gill. It was painted using automotive paint and lined with red automotive pinstripe tape with the numbers being custom cut vinyl stickers. The buffers and brake pipes were made by Tenmille. The chassis was built from scratch, it was never tested before being filmed in front of the camera and proved to be unreliable.

Gauge 3.5 model
During the fifth series the production team were having discussions about scaling up the models to gauge 3.5. Models of Thomas and Percy were built to this scale for testing, but the production team ended up deciding to stick with the gauge 1 models. However, Thomas’ model was used for some close-up shots of his wheels for some Music Videos.

Gauge 3 model
A gauge 3 model of Thomas was built in the ninth series to be used alongside the large-scale models of the Skarloey Railway engines, which had been used since the fifth series for ease of filming and reliability.

The model was made from brass. The wheels and chassis were custom machined (CNC). The model was track powered, so pickup contacts were attached to the metal wheels, which ran into the motor to power it. The electricity ran from the track to the wheels/pickup contacts and went into the motor to power him. The model was also fitted with a smoke unit.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired.

Eight different facial expressions were created for the model, but only seven were used on screen. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould.

Close-up model
A close-up model of Thomas was built to be used for scenes where he had to interact with the close-up scale figures.

The cab was made in pieces so it was able to be dismantled and resembled for use of interior shots if required. Most of the close-up scale of engines made to this scale were usually not built as complete models, however Thomas was.

Two faces were sculpted for Thomas. The close-up Thomas happy face was also used on the close-up Duck in the second series episode, A Close Shave. Also, the close-up sad face is used in Thomas Comes to Breakfast.

The model was also equipped with eye mechanism. The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired.


 * Whistles

Life-size model
During production of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, a large facsimile of Thomas' cab, tanks and boiler were built for the cab shots featuring him. The scenes were filmed with a greenscreen method, so the life-sized model and the background for filming were green.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Thomas was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of Thomas' gauge 1 model were used for referencing. According Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval. As of 2018, the render recieved multiple variations, most prominently in the fantasy sequences.

In 2016, a new streamlined render of Thomas was made for The Great Race. The render was completely made from scratch, the wheels, side rods and face being the only reused parts. The render was modified for the 2018 special, Big World! Big Adventures!, most notably, gaining a new livery resembling Thomas' current one and a visor over his eyes. Both versions were only used in fantasy scenes in their respective specials.

Thomas has had modifications throughout the CGI era. These include:
 * Hero of the Rails:
 * Thomas' cab is open.
 * He goes back to his original size.
 * His number 1 became slightly smaller, and the red lining became thicker.
 * Thomas gains visible internal motion.
 * The Adventure Begins:
 * The red lining on the back of Thomas' bunker returns.
 * His side rods become silver.
 * Journey Beyond Sodor:
 * A bunker hatch is added in his cab.
 * Series 23:
 * He gained rivets across his bufferbeam front and sides, side tanks top and sides, around his cab side windows, on his coupling hook and buffer bases, on his bunker sides and rear, on the sides of his frames, along the sides of his roof, and around his smokebox.
 * He now has handrails on either side of his cab entrances.
 * He now has a step on the front of each of his side tanks.

Thomas in Popular Culture
Since his debut in the Railway Series and the launch of the television series, Thomas has become an extraordinarily popular character, appearing in over twenty series and starring in several direct-to-video films. Because of his popularity, Thomas has even appeared or has been mentioned in other popular shows and films, as well as appearing in many public events too.

Thomas appeared in the 2009 Children in Need charity single produced by the BBC. In it, he was voiced by Ringo Starr, the former narrator of the television series.

In the Robot Chicken parody sketch Blow Some Steam, Thomas was voiced by Harry Potter actor, Daniel Radcliffe. His Bachmann model was used throughout the sketch.

Voice Actors

 * John Bellis
 * Edward Glen
 * Ringo Starr
 * Ben Small
 * Kerry Shale
 * John Hasler
 * Martin Sherman
 * Joseph May
 * Hugolin Chevrette-Landesque
 * Fabrice Trojani
 * Keiko Toda
 * Kumiko Higa
 * Espen Sandvik
 * Martin Lange
 * Marco Vivio
 * Víctor Ugarte
 * Irwin Daayán
 * Javier Olguín
 * Héctor Ireta de Alba
 * Luis Leonardo Suárez
 * Marcel Collé
 * Christian Stark
 * Dirk Bach
 * Janusz Zadura
 * Pepijn Koolen
 * Jürgen Theuns
 * Simcha Barbiro
 * Doriel Zohar
 * Caspar Phillipson
 * Daniel Figueira
 * César Díaz Capilla
 * Juha Varis
 * Richard Balint
 * Haris Grigoropoulos
 * Csore Gabor
 * Gia Trí
 * Prokhor Chekhovskoy
 * Pavel Tesař
 * Jan Kalous
 * Kim Eun-a
 * Shin Yong-U
 * Nick Atkinson
 * Steffan Rhys