Series 3

The third season of the television series first premiered on VHS in 1991 in the UK before airing on TV. It first aired in the US in 1991 on Shining Time Station, with the last 10 episodes following in 1993. The whole season first aired in the UK from February to July 1992. All twenty-six episodes were narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK and by George Carlin in the US and New Zealand.

Production
Before production of the third season, Clearwater Features closed down, with The Britt Allcroft Company becoming the sole producer. Producer Robert D. Cardona left before series 3, and Britt Allcroft took his place as co-producer alongside David Mitton. According to Robert Gauld-Galliers, "Gordon Goes Foreign" was originally planned to be filmed into an episode, but it wasn't because of high budgets.

The series was a combination of episodes derived from the Railway Series, magazines stories (written by the series' current head writer, Andrew Brenner), and a couple of original stories by Allcroft and Mitton. One of the primary reasons for diverging from the original books was that many of the stories not yet used featured large numbers of new characters, which would be expensive to produce. Another was that the producers wanted more stories about Thomas, the nominal main character. The Rev. W. Awdry noticed the more loose adaptions and disapproved of the new stories citing they were unrealistic.

Music Videos

 * Thomas' Anthem (with footage from Season 3 only)
 * I'm Thomas the Tank Engine (Japan only)

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Duck
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Bill and Ben
 * Diesel
 * BoCo
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Terence
 * Bertie
 * Trevor
 * Harold
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * The Vicar of Wellsworth
 * Jeremiah Jobling (not named)
 * Jem Cole (not named)
 * Henrietta (does not speak)
 * Lady Hatt (not named; does not speak)
 * Stephen Hatt (cameo)
 * Bridget Hatt (cameo)
 * Mrs. Kyndley (cameo)
 * Farmer Finney (cameo)
 * The Märklin Engine (cameo; scrapped only)
 * The Ffarquhar Stationmaster's Wife (cameo)
 * Percy's Ghost Engine (mentioned)
 * The Firelighter (mentioned)
 * Father Christmas (mentioned in the UK version)
 * Daisy (mentioned in music video)

Characters introduced

 * Oliver
 * Mavis
 * Bulgy
 * The Chinese Dragon
 * The New Signalman
 * The Railway Foreman
 * The Quarry-master
 * Toad (does not speak)
 * The Railway Society (do not speak)
 * The Injured Sailor (does not speak)
 * City of Truro (not named; does not speak)
 * Flying Scotsman (not named; tenders and cab only; does not speak)
 * Farmer Trotter (cameo)
 * Bulgy's Friend (mentioned)
 * Big City Engine (dropped)

Trivia

 * This was the first season of several things:
 * The first season narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK and George Carlin in the US, and the first narrated by the latter that had not been previously released with Ringo Starr's narrations.
 * The first season to have episodes not based on material by either Awdry.
 * Britt Allcroft's first season as producer.
 * Angus Wright's first season as executive producer.
 * The first season to use Rockwell font.
 * The first season to feature TUGS models.
 * This season was the first to use the EMU Proteus 2 Orchestral to create the music. However, some of the music made with the Roland Jupiter 6 synthesizer for the first and second season was used.
 * The first season dubbed in Finnish.
 * The first season to introduce music videos.
 * The first season to have slow motion effects.
 * The first season to have material released on home video before it was broadcast on TV.
 * In the US, this is the first season to not have a Christmas themed season finale.
 * The biggest space of time between two seasons airing is between Season 2 and Season 3. Season 2 first aired back in 1986, and Season 3 in 1992.
 * Gordon Goes Foreign was originally going to be an episode in this season, but it was cancelled for being too high budget. It is unknown if any of the other episodes made for this season have replaced it.
 * In the Ukrainian version, Michael Angelis and George Carlin's voices can be heard in the background, as a dubbing track wasn't used. The first thirteen episodes have George Carlin's voice while the last thirteen episodes have Michael Angelis' voice. Angelis is also credited as narrator in the first 13 Season 3 episodes despite Carlin's narration in the background and the episode being redubbed.
 * For much of the season, Tidmouth Sheds appears to be much larger on the inside than usual. While all the exterior scenes depict the shed with the usual six berths, there are nine tracks seen in most interior views.
 * This is the only season that has George Carlin's narration on VHS in New Zealand. However when the Season 3 episodes were aired in New Zealand, Michael Angelis' narration was used instead. This is also the case when The Complete Third Series was released on DVD in New Zealand.
 * Model maker John Holmes did not receive credit for working on this season until 1992.
 * At the very end of Michael Angelis' early narrations, the credits were shown with a still of the final shot of each episode. When shown on TV and in future video and DVD releases, the credits were shown alongside a still of Thomas.
 * This was the last season to be shown on ITV until 2003 when Season 6 was shown.
 * This season was produced in association with Fuji Television Network, Inc., as indicated by a message at the end of each episode. In 1991 airings, the message is in white, while in 1992 airings, it is yellow.
 * According to The Thomas the Tank Engine Man, it cost £1.3 million to produce all 26 episodes.
 * It was during this season that footage of Tidmouth Sheds was shot uniquely for the Japanese-exclusive special Thomas and the U.K. Trip.