What better way to get a youngster interested in railfanning than Thomas the Tank Engine? These pictures were taken on July 12, 2001, the day before "A Weekend with Thomas at the Danbury Railway Museum." That weekend had about 15,000 tickets sold to ride with Thomas. http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=76905&a=13588211&f=0
It may impress the kiddies, but it is sad to see one of Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal's 0-6-0T's butchered like that. I have many fond memories of them in operation. By the way, Photopoint wouldn't let me exit until I had viewed some pop-up ads. They charge you and then force others to view ads before they can exit?
I will ask the new PhotoPoint management about the pop-up ads. That is a new twist and not good. So far as the 0-6-0T, I would rather see one restored and used this way than have it disappear into a scrap heap. But I have to agree with you to the extent that we need as many of these historic units restored to their original condition. I do have to give the Thomas people credit for planting in many young people the first taste of railfanning. Many times I have had youngsters in my tour groups at the Danbury Railway Museum who show a much greater interest in our equipment. Their first introduction was through Thomas in previous years.
Peirce, at Railfair 99 in Sacramento a Thomas was present. He didn't have any side rods, and when he was fired up it turns out he was a diesel. At any rate he was a big hit with all the kids. My grandkids enjoyed him.
I don't have the full details, but I understand that since 1999, the franchise for Thomas in the USA has gone to a new group located in Pennsylvania. They built the one in my pictures and tour it to about 15 shows a year. I remember the one you saw. It was in Danbury,in July of 1999. They did not actually power up this Thomas, but used the DRM's RS-1 at the other end of the consist. It was also smaller than this new steam engine.
Here's another tank engine that was restored, but not into a Thomas The Tank Engine character, here's 0-4-0T 25 "Sampson." from Dave's Train Photos [ 05 August 2001: Message edited by: E&NRailway ]</p>
Since I am going to help a friend of mine at the Illinois Railway Museum when Thomas is visiting them, I just wanted to know a little about it. Are there a couple of these models around the country, or is there one that does all the shows, railfairs, etc. Is Thomas self-propelled or is it shoved by a diesel on the end of the train? Just wanted to know, and I remember a picture in MR a few years ago where another small engine (not Thomas) was in Ontario, and was on the head end being pushed by another unit. Just curious, thanks a lot guys! Dave
The old Thomas from 1999 and earlier was more of a mock-up. When it visited the Danbury Railway Museum, we put it at the head end and our RS-1 at the tail. The RS-1 did all the actual work. I don't know if that Thomas still exists. This new Thomas, the one in my pix, is a restored Porter 0-4-0T that runs under its own power. While at the DRM, it pulled five vintage commuter coaches that were built in the early to mid 1920s. I believe there is only one Thomas at this time, although there is a possibility one our two more might be built. I do not know that for a hard fact, however. The Thomas that will be visiting will be the same one that was in Danbury according to the schedule I saw last week. Good luck with the show. It is a lot of work, but worth while. We had Thomas for three days and sold out all 5,000 tickets for each day. One tip from our experience. The largest crowds were in the mornings. People seemed to all want to be first in line. If the morning crowd is too large, advise them to come back in the afternoon when the "me first" bunch has left.
Thanks a lot, Pierce. I needed that information. And I remember last year the IRM has 15,000 people in one weekend for Thomas. I will not be running that train, I will be firing for my friend on another, so the only problems will probably be getting all the people off the station tracks so we can pull in, too! Thanks a lot again! Later- Dave
Here's the Thomas that appeared at Railfair '99. I have looked through all the brochures and can't find his origin. It did say "first appearance on the west coast" so I assume he came from back east.
