Ertl Company

The "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" ERTL models are a set of die-cast models of scale 1/64 of the characters from the Railway Series and "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends". The range originally consisted of only the main characters, but it eventually extended to include almost all the characters.

=Overview= ERTL created their first Thomas model in 1985. It came with a sticker sheet so you could alter Thomas' face to make him have a different facial expression. That year they also released a larger, motorised version of Thomas.

Later during the year, James and Henry were released, both with a happy face. The stickers were soon replaced with fixed plastic faces.

The ERTL range has made new engines nearly every year since then, tallying up to over 100 models, until the range was replaced by Take-Along.

During the range's popularity, the ERTL company made miniature models of each engine, as well as Gold Rail models.

ERTL ceased production for the US market in 2001, and for the UK market in 2004. The model range has now been discontinued.

All packaging from 1993 to 1999 featured an illustration of the character, drawn by Owain Bell.

For a time, a keyring series was available from the minitures. A carry case was also released to house 11 models.

There was also an ERTL Collectibles series in 2001, which featured a 1:64 scale Ford, which appears to be the Fat Controller's car.

=Normal range= The numbers in round brackets show what number each model was on the portrait card. The numbers in the square brackets show what number each model was on the cartoon card.

1985


The card of these models is mostly the same colour as the model with a white oval in the centre, containing an image of the character. The smoke cloud that normally contained "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" held the name of the character and was above the oval. A blue stripe across the bottom contained the ERTL logo and the Thomas logo.

These models came with a grey bufferbeam and sticker faces. The sticker face was the same as the face of the character's image in the oval.


 * Thomas (1)
 * Henry (3)
 * James (5)
 * Percy (6)
 * Toby (7)
 * Bertie (18)
 * Annie and Clarabel (13)

Three packs of Thomas, Annie and Clarabel or Percy, Annie and Clarabel were available for a short time.

1988

 * Edward (2) [3]
 * Gordon (4)

A motorised Thomas was also released by this time.

1989
In 1989 the range was released in America. There were no new models this year.

1990
1990 saw the release of new models with 3-D faces, as the original sticker-face models were prone to losing their faces.


 * Duck (8)
 * Diesel (14)
 * Trevor (20)
 * Troublesome Trucks (12)
 * Brown troublesome trucks
 * Sir Topham Hatt and a porter (22)

1991

 * Bill (15)
 * Ben (16)
 * Harold (19)

1992

 * Donald (9)
 * Douglas (10)
 * Terence (21)
 * Henrietta (17)

A twin-pack with Donald and Douglas was briefly available in the "Shining Time" range.

1993


The ERTL brand was revamped - the UK models featured a "portrait card", while the US models featured a "Shining Time Station" card.

The portrait card was an image of the character towards the right hand side of the card, passing a push of flowers on the right and a mound of grass on the left. Between the character and the and the grass, aspects of a British village can be seen in the background. Depending on the character, there were rails, road, or water between the flowers and the grass. A collectors card appeared on the reverse side of the portrait and contained a paragraph on the character, and a paragraph of Historical Information; often containing the specifications of the real-life locomotive counterpart and when they were in service.

The "Shining Time Station" card is an aerial image of countryside with many fields and a few bridges. There is track coming along the left-hand side of the image which turns and comes across the card. Behind the model is a white box that joins to the typical smoke cloud and contains the model's name and sometimes a small detail. The "Shining Time Station" logo is situated above the image, and uses a frame to encompass most of the image.


 * Oliver (11)
 * "City of Truro" (29)
 * Daisy (24)
 * Boco (23)
 * Mavis (26)
 * Milk and tar wagons (25)
 * Oil tankers (31)
 * Bulgy (27)
 * Mail coaches (34)
 * George (35)

Two different portraits of George exist: one where he is similar to the model, and one where he is entirely green.

1994

 * The old coaches (30)
 * The breakdown train (28)

1995


A special gold-plated Thomas was released to celebrate the Railway Series' 50th anniversary.


 * Gold Anniversary Thomas (1)
 * 199 Diesel (38)
 * Express coaches (44) [52]
 * Toad (32)
 * Godred (37)
 * Culdee (36)

Culdee, Godred and "City of Truro" were marked as "Special edition engines" for the "Shining Time" range.

1996

 * Rheneas (40)
 * Sir Handel (42) [46]
 * Peter Sam (43)
 * Rusty (39)
 * Duncan (41)
 * Sir Topham Hatt and porter
 * Sir Topham Hatt's car (45)

1997

 * Stepney (49)
 * Skarloey (48)
 * Duke (47) [16]
 * Lord Harry (46)
 * The Diesel (50)
 * Caroline (51)

1998
This was the first year that metallic engines were released.


 * Bluebell (63)
 * Wilbert (55)
 * Sixteen (56)
 * Bulstrode (53)
 * Scrap Trevor on flatbed (33)
 * The Chinese Dragon (54)
 * Scruffey (with truck for a limited time) (52)
 * Henry's log car (57)
 * Metallic Thomas
 * Metallic Percy
 * Metallic Rheneas
 * Metallic Duncan

Bulstrode's portrait card is the only exception to the scene in the background. It is set at a dock with him tied to the right-hand side of the dock. There is a cottage, cliff face, lighthouse, and fishing charter along the left-hand side and background.

The back of Bluebell's portrait card is divided in half; between English and then repeated in French.

Metallic Rheneas does not have a portrait collector's card number.

1999

 * 'Arry and Bert (69 and 70)
 * Gunpowder wagons (59)
 * Canal boat (58)
 * Soft-side truck (62)
 * Lorry 2 (67)
 * Lorry 3 (68)
 * Metallic Duke
 * Metallic Sir Handel
 * Metallic Rusty
 * Metallic Lord Harry
 * Crane (60)
 * The mail van (61)
 * Fire engine (64)

2000
These models were the last to feature the "portait card". The packaging changed to a predominately blue background with a yellow rectangle behind the model which had a red boarder. There was a face-on image of Thomas in the top left had corner with the "Thomas and Friends" smoke cloud beneath. The name of the model was found above the model, centered between the new Thomas logo and the bar on the right, which was made of five circles displaying a "T", right-hand arrow, clock, two flags, and a number "1". There was no collector card with this change.

Special packaging was used for Lady, Diesel 10, Splatter, Dodge, Thomas, Percy and Bertie to celebrate the release of "Thomas and the Magic Railroad". This packaging was similar to that of the redesign. The rectangle behind the model was a cloud-like render with a yellow-sparkle render for the background, and the bar on the right featured small cartoons of Diesel 10, Thomas, Splatter, Lady, and Dodge. An image of Thomas appeared in the bottom left corner.


 * Lady [62]
 * Bertram
 * Diesel 10
 * Splatter
 * Dodge
 * Derek (65)
 * Cranky
 * Thumper
 * Old Slow Coach
 * Biplane (66)
 * Brakevan [11]
 * Gordon's special coaches
 * Sodor Recovery Unit
 * Silver Millenium Thomas (1)

2001



 * The pump car
 * Slate trucks
 * Flying Scotsman
 * Smudger
 * Lorry 1 on flatbed
 * Dyson low-loader
 * Sir Topham Hatt and Lady Hatt
 * Taxi

2002


The US had now stopped making models, but the UK were still making them.

The packaging changed again, now with the engine's name in red, a cartoon of the character in the top right-hand corner, and rails drawn under the model. The collectors card returned to this style of packaging; but had only a brief paragraph of the character's personality, not any factual historical information.

The coupling style now changed from the basic "hook and eye" style to a U-hook, believed to be sturdier and longer-lasting.


 * Harvey
 * Salty
 * Frank
 * Elizabeth
 * The spiteful breakvan
 * The Silly Trucks
 * Dowager Hatt and Mrs. Kyndley
 * Falcon [9]

2003


The models were rescaled to a TT scale.


 * Emily
 * Murdoch
 * Spencer
 * Bear
 * Isabel [86]
 * Catherine [87]
 * Neil [12]

2004

 * Arthur
 * Fergus
 * Jock
 * Jack
 * Alfie

Playsets and Accessories


The track was originally made of grey plastic with rails etched into it. It was eventually replaced by green plastic with a sticker of rails on top.


 * Starter set
 * Deluxe set with branchline, water tower, crane and turntable
 * Branchline
 * Water tower
 * Crane
 * Windmill
 * Tunnel
 * Quarry
 * Crossing
 * Turntable
 * Station house
 * Real sounds
 * Construction
 * Skarloey with two points
 * Duncan with two points
 * Diesel with four points
 * Oliver with four curves
 * Stepney with four curves
 * Toby with four curves
 * Percy with four straights
 * Sir Handel with four straights

Multipacks
A small portion of packs containing multiple different trains, vehicles, and stock were released, mostly commonly for Shining Time Station.


 * Gift Set - containing Thomas, Diesel, Scruffey and a truck (released 2002)
 * Three pack of Bertie, James, and Henry
 * Three pack of Thomas, Annie and Clarabel
 * Six pack of Thomas, Toby, Bertie, Terence, Rheneas and Duncan

Special Edition
There have been a few special edition toys.


 * Metallic Engines set – Metallic Thomas, James and Henry
 * Thomas with Mr. Conductor to celebrate the release of "Thomas and the Magic Railroad"
 * Melody and Motion Thomas with a wind-up Fat Controller
 * Thomas Christmas Train - Thomas with Christmas hat, flatbed with Christmas tree and the Fat Controller dressed as Santa
 * Christmas Thomas and grey or red "Toybox" Scruffey

=Miniatures= Around 1991, ERTL started to produce several miniatures of Thomas and his friends. These versions had sticker faces and were packaged with random parts of a railway. Once all were collected, the parts formed a playset.

In later years most of the models were adapted into keyrings.


 * Thomas with station
 * Edward with water tower
 * James with signalbox
 * Percy with sheds
 * Toby with signals and sidings
 * Duck with watermill
 * Bill with part of a viaduct
 * Ben with viaduct
 * Diesel with tunnel
 * Bertie with level crossing
 * Trevor with windmill
 * Harold with airport


 * Henry
 * Mavis
 * Splatter
 * Dodge

There were also two playsets:
 * Four-corner set with Thomas, Annie and Clarabel
 * Six-corner set with Thomas, Trevor and the Troublesome trucks

Multipacks released for "Shining Time Station" include:
 * Thomas, Annie and Clarabel
 * Thomas, James and trucks
 * Edward, Bertie and Trevor
 * Edward, James and Percy

The background imagery of these packs continued the landscape from the normal series.

A re-release of the range introduced Henry, Mavis, Splatter and Dodge. The new range had some changes, with 3-D faces and "Lego-like" bases. A lego-like set included Toy and Harold

=Gold Rail= ERTL also made another short-lived line in the 90's called the "Gold Rail" Series. The models had magnetic couplings and tracks. The models in this range were a bit smaller than an HO scale train, and were extremely similar to the Bandai Tecs range made in Japan.


 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Bill
 * Ben
 * Annie
 * Clarabel
 * Truck 1
 * Truck 2
 * Harold

Playsets were also made:


 * Ffarquhar
 * Lower Suddery
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * The Docks

=Trivia=
 * In the normal series, misprints exist such as the name "George" appearing on the card of Lorry 2 and "Splatter" appearing on the Magic Railroad card of Thomas.