Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends is one of my true favorite children's TV shows since I was very young and I still watch it today. This show is based on a book series called the Railway Series, first written by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry in 1945. In the mid-1980s, the TV series was adapted from the books and the first episode was aired on television. It initially used remotely controlled model trains with moving eyes as well as stationary human figures. The first 11 series, three full-length special productions, and a 13-episode spin-off series featured exclusively classic live action animation.

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Britt Allcroft was the creator of Thomas & Friends and David Mitton became the first director. Between series 1 and 7, Mitton directed the TV show and a 35mm camera was used for filming those episodes. Stephen Asquith, who held various positions (primarily as assistant director), then took over Mitton's position for series 8 through 11, and more modern cameras replaced the original. Asquith also directed two of the sixth series episodes that were the basis for a small separate series called Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, which was under production with the older 35mm camera in 2003 (the same year as series 7) but never released until three years later.

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Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was Thomas’ first storyteller, and he narrated series 1 and 2. Then, beginning with series 3, actor Michael Angelis took over the narration roles. Both storytellers performed their talents initially for the United Kingdom. By the early 1990’s, the United States got involved with the Thomas & Friends franchise, so the first American narrator was a comedian named George Carlin (series 1-4). The other two storytellers for the American audience were actors Alec Baldwin (series 5-6) and Michael Brandon (series 7-11). Additionally, Ringo Starr and Michael Angelis even narrated some episodes for the US. The latter especially performed his role in six episodes from a 2004 US video release New Friends for Thomas.

When it comes to full-length specials, the first theatrical film, titled Thomas and the Magic Railroad, debuted in 2000; it was directed by Britt Allcroft and starred Alec Baldwin. Other specials include Calling All Engines! (2005) and The Great Discovery (2008), both directed by Stephen Asquith. The latter movie was uniquely narrated by guest storyteller Pierce Brosnan. It is really nice to watch those classic Thomas stories, but sadly in my opinion, the computer generated imagery (CGI) series replaced traditional animation when computer animation became cheaper to produce. Nevertheless, I love seeing the models better than CGI animation since I was born in the mid-1990s. In other words, the model series would become nostalgia for millennials like me. 

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The following photos are the wooden trains that are based on this TV show. I love playing with these since I was little. It is a really awesome collection! When we moved to Damascus in 2005, I built a pretty big wooden layout in my basement. But in early 2011, in order to have space for my O gauge electric toy trains, I moved the entire layout all the way up to the attic and rebuilt it there. As of 2015, I realized that I had barely continued to play with my old wooden trains. We needed more storage space in our house by using the attic. So I had to dismantle my layout and all of the trains, track, and accessories are currently remaining in storage.

Click here to watch a video tour of my wooden layout built in the attic.