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Back to the Roots - "The Railway Series"

 

Certainly a vintage face... perhaps even a little scary. But if we just all got off our high horses for a moment, we could actually see just how charming these Thomas' are. "The Railway Series" was a series of children's books released in the 1940's which served as the basis for the eventual "Thomas & Friends" franchise we know today. Thomas, while not a main character in the books, usually appearing periodically, was quite famous so naturally a show was made about him. The rest is history. But take a look at these pieces of Thomas merchandise all from the early 80's. These have been modified in some way, so I hope will enjoy the descriptions.

Up first is the first Thomas toy to ever grace the world - a small die cast train by ERTL. Notice his glued on paper face. Back then, the Thomas television show was so new there were not many sculpts that were offered to toy manufacturers. Instead, the ERTL company used "The Railway Series" books as reference and grabbed the face Thomas was illustrated depicting in one of his first illustrations! 


Next to the little toy is a OO scale model train by Hornby Railways. The Hornby Thomas has been rereleased so many times with a final run being produced in 2016, but this earliest version is the rarest and is considered a grail among modelers. Why? Well, for one - this model depicts an era where Hornby models were still made in Great Britain and not China. And two, look at that face! Some would call it the nightmare face, but once again, it is clearly attempting to depict Thomas with the face seen in his earliest illustration. Because of this, many collectors consider this the only "true" Railway Series inspired model on the market because it is Thomas in his most authentic form. 

Next to him, you will notice a highly modified larger scale ERTL Thomas. Still using "the Railway Series" art as reference for the face, ERTL have now decided to sculpt it and outline in black the details. It is rather charming in my eyes. The great thing about the larger ERTL Thomas is it is perfectly in scale with O Gauge, so this model was repainted in a lighter blue, given a proper running board with buffers and detailing, and was mounted on an O Gauge 0-6-0 chassis. Very happy with the result.

And finally, ERTL released a large "money bank" Thomas where people could keep their coins inside the large Thomas. Once again, Thomas is depicted with his iconic illustrated face, here molded again and possibly to ERTL's perfection(?) Just like the O gauge ERTL scaled Thomas before him, this large toy was actually also conveniently in scale with something.... "Gauge 1." The gauge that was used in the filming of the "Thomas & Friends" television show from Series 1 to series 12. Very, very interested. So here he is, repainted with added detailing and mounted on a Gauge 1 0-6-0 chassis.

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