Postcards and Stamps



The Thomas The Tank Engine postcards have been in production since 1952. They feature scenes from the Railway Series, Stills from the Episodes (mostly deleted scenes or alternative shots and promo shots) and from Day out with Thomas events. Some also feature illustrations from Owen Bell and Clifford Meadway.

1952 - 1964
The first Edmund Ward postcards issue was published in 1952 and comprise a total of 18 postcards in three sets of 6. They were produced using images taken from the Railway Series.

The sets were:

"Thomas the Tank Engine Series", numbered 101/1 through to 101/6

"James the Red Engine Series", numbered 201/1 through to 201/6

"Henry the Green Engine Series", numbered 301/1 through to 301/6.

Originally one of the postcards in the Henry the Green Engine Series (301/1) Percy was incorrectly referred to as Toby. This was corrected the following year as well as postcard number 301/4 was replaced with a new image and caption.

In 1954 a few alterations were made to the backs of the postcards with the titles and copyright information being made smaller. As well as this another set of 6 postcards was released.

"Gordon the Big Engine Series" numbered 401/1 through to 401/6.

These 24 postcards were in use from 1954 though 1955, as in 1956 an additional 12 postcards were added making a total of 36 in use.

Apart from 101/1 through to 101/6 the other 18 original postcards were renumbered 101/7 through to 101/24. It was at this time that the format of having 6 postcards in each series was dropped, however 4 additions series were added. They were:

"Percy Series",

"Edward the Blue Engine Series"

"Sir Handel Series", and

"Skarloey Series"



These were the postcards in use for the next 3 years until 1958. In 1959 this issue of 36 postcards once again used the number sequence 101/1 through to 101/36 with several of the images from the 1956 issue being re-used, but a lot of different images were also used. The defining aspect of this series is the first use of deckled edging. There was some alterations made to the backs of this series of postcards with the copyright information being made longer comparied to past versions. There were also some postcards printed with a spelling error in the publishers address reading 'Bishopsg, ateLondon' instead of 'Bishopsgate, London'.

It wasn't until 1964 that the postcards were to go through another change, whilst a couple of the images from the 1959 issue were re-used for this issue they were mainly different. Another change was the number sequence of this issue was now 10/1 through to 10/36 rather than the previous 101/? format.

1984 onward
After a gap of eighteen years or so, during which the rights associated to Thomas the Tank Engine were bought by Britt Allcroft, we see the 2nd era issue of postcard (or Story Cards) in continental postcard size. Many of these style of postcards were released from 1984 to 1986. They were produced by Judges Postcards Ltd, Hastings, England.



All the images that were used featured were taken from season one and two were mostly stills, but they also included promotional shots and deleted scenes from the episodes. On the back of these cards the design and placement of the logos and copyright information moved around quite a bit during the years but all featured a short story about the image on the front of the postcard.

Dear

Thomas throught that snow was silly soft stuff and did not like wearign his snow plough and it made him cross. He shook it and banged it and it was so damaged that the Driver had to take it off. One day Thomas ran intop a snow drift and could not move at all. Terence, the Tractor, pulled him clear and he promised to be sensible.

From

There were some postcards reprinted with a border and the engines name on the from of the card. Six card are currently known to have been done like this: Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James and Toby. It is unknown weather more exist. However in 1986 some other images were altered to include a border but instead of a name they included 'Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'. Two postcards at this time are known to of been produced in 1986 featuring 3 and 4 images with a red or green frame surrounding them.



In 1990 a new set of postcards were released featuring artwork done by Clifford Meadway. Each one features a short little description of the Engine shown on the front. There are 8 of these postcards known to of been produced. Gordon (C12131), Bill and Ben (C12132), Edward (C12133), Thomas (C12134), James (C12135), Percy (C12136), Douglas (C12137) and Henry (C12138).

The following year more of the episode Thomas Cards were released this time with images taken from Season 3 of the show. One included a deleted scene from 'Edward and the Really Useful Party' showing Diesel stood next to Edward (C13120). Some were also reprinted with a border and the engines names underneath the image and more multiview postacrds were released too.