Days Out with Thomas

DayOutwithThomaslogo — 2013 - present UK logo

Day Out with Thomas (Originally named Friends of Thomas the Tank Engine) is a trade name licensed by HiT Entertainment for tourist events that take place on heritage railways and feature one or more engines decorated to look like characters from Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.

History

The Nene Valley Railway at Peterborough in England was the first railway in the world to possess a full-scale replica Thomas. This was an industrial tank engine built by Hudswell Clarke that had been nicknamed "Thomas" due to its blue livery and resemblance to the famous tank engine. In 1971 the Reverend W. Awdry made the name official. HiT Entertainment later tried - unsuccessfully - to sue the Nene Valley Railway on the grounds that the engine was breaching their trademark. The case was dismissed as the name was given by the Reverend W. Awdry.

Since then, other tank engines around the world have been dressed up as Thomas. Some railways have gone so far as to rebuild locomotives in order to produce a better replica. This has divided preservationists: those opposed claim it disfigures historic locomotives and trivialises the preservation movement; those in favour claim they draw visitors and can kindle an interest in children.

Many "Thomases" aren't actually real engines; they are really "shells" built around a smoke machine.

Some railways have developed a further source of income in the hire of "Thomases" to railways that do not have a "Thomas" of their own.

Events by country

United Kingdom

Many railways now host Day Out with Thomas events. Some feature just Thomas, while others feature other engines like Diesel, Percy, Donald and Douglas, Duck, Oliver, James, Henry, Gordon, Toby, Bill and Ben, Spencer, Fergus, Arthur, Murdoch, Emily, Rosie, Daisy, S. C. Ruffey, Toad, the Diesel, and Mavis.

The Talyllyn Railway have "Duncan Days" events, in which they dress up some of their locomotives as the Skarloey Railway engines. The engines are repainted red, to match their Railway Series counterparts. Duncan is a pivotal character during these events. The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway often have special events similar to this, in which they dress up some of their locomotives to resemble the Arlesdale Railway engines.

United States

There are seven travelling "Thomases", all standard gauge except for two 3'0" (narrow gauge) engines. While travelling between events, the engines are disguised. Thomas appears in full dress at Day Out with Thomas events hosted by railroads in arrangement with HiT Entertainment. Many of the larger railroad museums and tourist railroads host Day Out with Thomas events periodically.

There are two real engines (One coal fired, one oil fired) and five dummies. The five dummies were made at Strasburg Railroad in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. The coal fired engine is former Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal #15, converted into a Thomas replica in 1999. It currently resides at the Strasburg Railroad and is lent out to other railroads from time to time. The oil fired engine travels between numerous railroads, including the Henry Ford, Delaware River Railroad, and numerous others. In 2014, all of the dummies along with the BEDT#15 engine were updated with a CGI-style face and animatronic features, allowing Thomas to "talk". A few heritage lines in the US began using Percy in their events in 2014; there is only one Percy replica, and like the majority of the Thomases, it is a dummy.

New Zealand

Mainline Steam's Bagnall tank engine has appeared as "Thomas" at a number of different locations, including the extremely popular biannual "Day Out with Thomas the Tank Engine" weekends at the Glenbrook Vintage Railway. In the Hutt Valley, the Silver Stream Railway has a Thomas-like engine on display at its entrance.

Australia

In Queensland, The Workshops Rail Museum adds faces to their engines, coaches, and road vehicles resembling Edward, Lady, Donald, Douglas, D199, Annie, Clarabel, Trevor, and George. An engine previously used for James is currently undergoing an overhaul. The event also uses a life size Thomas replica which is not a real engine.
Timbertown Heritage Village in New South Wales holds yearly events featuring replicas of Thomas, Rosie, Cranky and George.
In Victoria, the 2 ft 6in Puffing Billy Railway decorates their 0-4-0ST Peckett as Thomas. On occasion, a face is added to their traction engine, to look like Trevor. Other engines belonging to the railway are often given faces.
In New South Wales, the Zig Zag Railway, Lithgow held an event referred to as "Friends of Thomas", utilizing engines resembling Thomas, James, Donald, and Douglas. Thomas events at the Zig Zag have discontinued with the closure of the line on June 17th, 2012. The NSW Rail Transport Museum, Thirlmere also holds an event, with engines resembling Thomas, Toby, Henry, and Donald.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the "Zuid Limburgse Stoomtrein Maatschapij" (South Limburg Steam Engine Railway) hosts a "Day Out with Thomas" event once a year. For this event, they borrow a steam locomotive, which looks like Thomas, from a railway in the United Kingdom. They use different engines, depending on the engine they receive each year. They use their own engines as Thomas' friends.

Japan

In Japan, a C11-type steam locomotive (No. 227) was decorated as Thomas by placing a face with moving eyes on the smokebox, as well as painting the body blue and adding a "splasher" on the running board. This engine ran in the summer of 2014 on the Oigawa Railway in Shimada, Shizuoka Prefecture. In addition, a JNR Class 9600 decorated as Hiro is being displayed at the station yard of Senzu Station as well as a diesel locomotive disguised as Rusty.

Thomas will run daily on a 37.2-kilometre route between Shinkanaya Station in Shimada and Senzu Station in Kawane-Honcho in the prefecture for about two months. On its first test run, three coaches the engine has been pulling were painted orange, in the vein of Annie and Clarabel. On the official opening run, more coaches were added to the train.

It is said by the Oigawa Railway, James will be making an appearance starting next year in 2015. JNR Class 56 (No. 44) that runs on the Oigawa line will be decorated as James. Both James and Thomas will be operating together with their own trains by the summer of June to October. A full-size replica of Percy has recently been made for the next summer event in 2015, and is on display with the Class 9600 at Senzu Station. A rusted disused JNR C10, C11 or C12-type steam locomotive that doesn't operate anymore, was revamped into the replica of Percy. It is currently unknown what the original built numbers of the locomotive were, or what class design it really is.

Off the Rails

Since 2008 many heritage railways in the UK have withdrawn their Day Out with Thomas events due to HiT's revised licensing conditions, which include the requirement for enhanced criminal records (CRB) checks on railway staff and volunteers and training courses for actors playing The Fat Controller. Several railways were affected and have not had Thomas back on their events list since. "Jimmy the Jinty" took over for the East Lancashire Railway in 2009. Despite a two year absence, taken over by Underground Ernie, the Thomas licence returned to Eastleigh Lakeside Steam Railway in 2010.

Events at the Elsecar Heritage Railway were axed in 2010 due to the new prices and had been replaced by Peppa Pig until 2013. Thomas also left the Great Central Railway in 2009 and was replaced by Ivor the Engine until 2012. However, Thomas returned to the East Lancashire Railway as of 2011 and a year later was welcomed back at the Severn Valley Railway, Churnet Valley Railway, and the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. However the Midland Railway Centre and the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway, both announced that due to spiralling costs and a decline in the number of visitors to their Thomas events, they will no longer be hosting events during 2013, but the first time in five years, events returned to the North Norfolk Railway. As from 2014, the East Somerset Railway will be cutting Thomas weekends.

After ending the partnership held with Mega Blocks since 2010 and now partnered with Fisher Price, the franchise relaunched in 2013 with a new website and with expanded promotion and advertising. However, due to the changes, only twenty railways in the UK now hold a licence for Thomas weekends. According to a plan on slideshare.net, the current licence is expected to last up until 2015. The Nene Valley Railway is currently overhauling their Thomas loco.