The Mainland

England, part of the United Kingdom, is the Mainland of Sodor.

Location
The Mainland (United Kingdom) is located across the Walney Channel from Sodor and is accessed via the Vicarstown Bridge. Barrow-in-Furness is the nearest mainland station and town to Sodor.

Named Locations
Certain locations on the Mainland have been mentioned by name in both the Railway Series and the television series. These include:

Barrow-in-Furness
The Railway Series
 * The Eight Famous Engines - Percy Takes the Plunge and Gordon Goes Foreign
 * Duck and the Diesel Engine - Domeless Engines
 * Enterprising Engines - Escape
 * Gordon the High-Speed Engine - Fire Escape and Gordon Proves His Point
 * Henry and the Express - Out of Puff

Thomas & Friends
 * Season 19 - Reds vs. Blues

Bluebell Railway
The Railway Series
 * Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine - Bluebells of England, Stepney's Special, Train Stops Play and Bowled Out

Thomas & Friends
 * Season 4 - Rusty to the Rescue (mentioned)

Bournemouth
The Railway Series
 * Toby the Tram Engine - Mrs. Kyndley's Christmas
 * Thomas's Christmas Party (mentioned)

Thomas & Friends
 * Season 1 - Thomas' Christmas Party

Bridlington
Thomas & Friends Specials
 * 2017 - Journey Beyond Sodor

Brighton
Thomas & Friends Specials
 * 2015 - The Adventure Begins

Bristol
The Railway Series
 * Duck and the Diesel Engine - Domeless Engines

Carlisle
The Railway Series
 * Gordon the High-Speed Engine - Gordon Proves His Point

Carnforth
The Railway Series
 * Thomas and the Great Railway Show - Museum-Piece

Crewe
The Railway Series
 * Henry the Green Engine - The Flying Kipper  and Henry's Sneeze
 * Enterprising Engines - Tenders for Henry
 * Henry and the Express - Overhaul
 * Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines - Birdstrike

Thomas & Friends
 * Season 1 - The Flying Kipper  and Whistles and Sneezes

Doncaster
The Railway Series
 * Enterprising Engines - Tenders for Henry
 * Gordon the High-Speed Engine - High-Speed Gordon

London
The Railway Series
 * Toby the Tram Engine - Toby and the Stout Gentleman
 * The Eight Famous Engines - Gordon Goes Foreign, Double Header and The Fat Controller's Engines
 * Thomas Comes Home - Snow Problem
 * Henry and the Express - Out of Puff
 * Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines - Birdstrike
 * Thomas and his Friends - Buffer-Bashing and Gordon's Fire Service

Thomas & Friends
 * Season 4 - Thomas and the Special Letter
 * Season 17 - The Thomas Way

Specials
 * 2018 - Big World! Big Adventures!

Lydney
The Railway Series
 * Wilbert the Forest Engine - Cab Over Wheels

National Railway Museum
The Railway Series
 * Thomas and the Great Railway Show - Museum-Piece, Not the Ticket, Trouble on the Line and Thomas and the Railtour
 * Thomas Comes Home - Thomas Comes Home

Plymouth
The Railway Series
 * Duck and the Diesel Engine - Domeless Engines

Skipton
The Railway Series
 * Thomas and the Great Railway Show - Museum-Piece

York
The Railway Series
 * Thomas and the Great Railway Show - Museum-Piece, Not the Ticket, Trouble on the Line and Thomas and the Railtour
 * Thomas Comes Home - Snow Problem

The Craneworks
Thomas & Friends
 * Season 21 - Cranky at the End of the Line

Engines
Many engines have been known to live and work on the Mainland, such as Flying Scotsman, Spencer, Connor, Caitlin, Samson, Logan, The Mainland Diesels, Lexi, Theo, Merlin, Hurricane, Frankie. A lot of the engines on the North Western Railway used to work or were built on the mainland such as Thomas and Charlie.

In the thirteenth season episode, Play Time, Charlie mentioned some other Mainland engines, which told him how fun Thomas is. They are presumably friends of Charlie.

Appearances
The Mainland has made several appearances in the Railway Series. In the television series, its first appearance was in the fourth season episode, Thomas and the Special Letter. In the CGI series, the Mainland has been mentioned several times and briefly seen whenever the Vicarstown bridge appears. Crovan's Gate was once used as a station on the mainland. The Mainland makes its first full appearance in The Great Race and appears in Journey Beyond Sodor.