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Discover Thomas & Friends Exhibition

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The Discover Thomas & Friends Exhibition is a Gauge 1 model layout at the Drayton Manor Resort made up of models used between the first and twelfth series of Thomas & Friends, prior to its transition to full CGI in 2009.

History[]

As Hero of the Rails approached its release, HiT Entertainment opened an exhibition at Drayton Manor Resort's Thomas Land featuring original models from the television series in July 2009. The original exhibition was located in the section at Farmer McColl's Farm next to Terence's Driving School.

In October 2023, the exhibition was relocated at the exit building of Winston's Whistle Stop Tour, where more locations from the television series were recreated. Unlike the original layout - where all engines were props from the television series - only static engines are original props, while the running engines (activated via buttons situated around the layout) are replica models.

Original Layout (2009-2022)[]

Engines[]

Rolling Stock[]

Non-Rail Vehicles[]

Humans and Animals[]

Areas[]

Buildings[]

Current Layout (2023-present)[]

Engines[]

  • Thomas (The Great Discovery-Series 12 brass model originally planned; replica used on final layout, the original prop has likely returned to storage as of 2024)[2]
  • Edward (Replica)
  • Henry (Replica)
  • James (Replica)
  • Percy (Series 10-Series 12 brass model originally planned; replica seen during construction)[3][4]
  • Spencer
  • Rosie (Faces also present during construction)[5]
  • Flora (Display case; faces also present during construction)[6]
  • Iron Bert
  • Salty (Face bag without faces inside also present during construction)[7] [8]
  • Dennis (Face bag without faces inside present during construction)[9]
  • Sir Handel (Small scale replica)
  • Rusty (Small scale replica)

Rolling Stock[]

Non-Rail Vehicles[]

  • Terence
  • Bulgy (Faces also present during construction) [10]
  • George
  • Caroline
  • Lorries 1 and 3
  • Butch
  • Tiger Moth
  • Thumper (Face also present during construction) [11]
  • Elizabeth
  • Post Van
  • A light blue car
  • A red car
  • Two maroon red cars
  • A brown car
  • A white van
  • Bulstrode
  • Cranky (Faces also present during construction) [12]
  • Lord Mountevans
  • Lucinda
  • Sodor Maid
  • The Hot Air Balloon

Humans and Animals[]

Areas[]

Buildings[]

  • Great Waterton station
  • Great Waterton's clock tower
  • Waterton Butchers
  • P.L. Groceries
  • Timothy's Tailors
  • Sodor Sweets
  • Reeves & Tola Cycleshop
  • Ben's Books
  • Waterton Post Office
  • Waterton Blacksmiths
  • Ed's Garage
  • Great Waterton Police Station
  • The Water Works tower
  • Two signal boxes
  • The gantry signal box from Kirk Ronan Junction
  • The L-shaped workmen's hut
  • The Antiques and Newsagents shop
  • The cottage next to Maithwaite
  • Cyril's Cottage
  • One of the gasometers
  • Strawberry Grove wooden station
  • Bluff's Cove station
  • Toby's shed/Elizabeth's shed
  • The Windmill
  • Callan Castle (distant scale model)
  • The houses from Rail Bridge over Rail and Canal Runby
  • Tidmouth Goods Station
  • Brendam Warehouse
  • Sodor Shipping Company
  • Rail Under Road Bridge and Signalbox
  • Wellsworth Bridge
  • Various set pieces from McColl Farm (close-up scale and small scale)
  • A horse from the Carosel from Make Someone Happy

Trivia[]

  • In 2015, the Discover Thomas & Friends exhibition layout was filmed for the 70 Years of Friendship documentary.
  • Thomas, Edward and Toby had replica face masks with eyes on them.
  • Edward's neutral face was on his television series model in 2009 when he first arrived, only to be replaced by a replica smiling face expression.
  • In 2011, Toby's television series model was stolen from the display. It is unknown where the model's location is.
  • Toby's grinning face was on his television series model in 2009, when he first arrived, only to be replaced by a replica face.
  • One of Thomas' alternate happy faces was on his television series model in 2009, when he first arrived, only to be replaced with a replica face until early 2020 where he got given back one of his alternate happy faces.
  • Harvey, Bulgy, Trevor, Stepney, Edward and several rolling stock were removed from the exhibit either to be put on display at various events or to be returned to HiT entertainment/Mattel's Storage Unit in Southampton, England.
  • Thomas was temporarily taken off the layout in early 2020 to be restored.
    • Edward was also removed in early 2020 for restoration by Sean O'Connor and later exhibited at the Clearwater exhibition.
  • In October 2021, George, Butch, Lorries 1 and 3, Elizabeth and the Sodor Bakery Van were moved to different places on the layout and Thomas is now pulling one of the Poultry Wagons and Toad.
  • Sometime in May 2022, Thomas and Molly were moved, with Thomas now pulling two of the mail coaches, a grey LNER 12 ton van and Toad and Molly and the green express coaches a few miles off Great Waterton station.
  • Sometime in July 2022, Thomas' brass model was replaced by a replica based on his plastic model (while the brass model was removed to be restored), Molly is now running in the siding that Daisy used to run on and Toad is now seen with his wincing face as well as Daisy and Terence being removed from the layout entirely before returning to storage.
  • Drayton Manor has come into criticism over the years for its poor handling of, and damage to, the models. They have unfortunately not provided a reason to this, but some changes to the layout have been done directly by Sam Wilkinson and Sean O'Connor removing and swapping out models and faces. The damages are as follows:
    • Thomas is missing his lamp and lamp irons. He was also missing his tail lamp, but it has been put back on him since August 2020.
    • Thomas, Edward and Toby's screen-used faces have been replaced with replicas.
    • Thomas did not have coal in his coal bunker between 2009 and 2011.
    • Edward was missing his right lamp iron, brake pipe, backhead, tender axle boxes and whistle. His handrail had also been bent at the smokebox.
    • Toby was missing his headlamp and his cab roof was facing backwards.
    • Harvey was missing his hook.
    • Bulgy was missing his front bumper and his left side (viewer's right) had been cracked.
    • Terence's plough was broken, and his stack had snapped off, but were both repaired and glued in around 2019.
    • Stepney's front coupling came off in 2014.
    • Thomas' boiler bands have been bleached white due to sun damage.
    • All of the engines' original chassis and wheels were replaced with replicas.
    • Edward's eyebrows rubbed off circa 2015.
    • Thomas' eyebrows have been rubbed off.
    • Cranky's right pupil has rubbed off.
    • Rosie is missing her whistle when the exhibition opened and the back of her left rod broke off in 2017.
    • In 2019, Rosie's motor died out.
    • Rosie was temporarily taken off the layout in early 2020 to be restored.
    • Edward, Rosie and Thomas were repainted entirely in 2020 during their restoration.
    • Thomas and Rosie have chips and scrapes in their paintwork.
    • One of Thomas' splashers is loose.
    • Thomas' eyes have yellowed.
    • The draw bridge from Great Watertown Station had a bent rail, which has since been fixed.
    • One of the green express coaches had one of its buffers broken off.
    • Two of the mail vans had some of their buffers broken off.
    • Class 40's face mask was being held together by black tak but fell off in June 2021. It was put back on at the end of the month, albeit lower than it should be.
    • Daisy's rear side is cracked and her rear buffer is missing.
    • Hank's front left handrail is broken off.
    • Molly is missing her brake pipe and two of her lamp irons because they have been placed on Thomas.
    • Cranky's left eye was rolled back, but had been fixed in 2021.
    • Daisy is missing one of her front buffers.
    • A GWR Brake Van was given Toad's happy face in February 2020, but now wears his wincing face.
    • Tiger Moth's rotor is scratched as of June 2021.
    • Molly took Daisy's place.
    • Hank took Molly's place.
    • Toad, Rocky, Cranky and one of the trucks' faces were replaced.
    • Daisy, Terence and Thomas were taken off the layout in 2022, with Terence and Daisy returning to storage and Thomas being restored while replaced with a replica based off his original plastic model.
    • Butch moved spots and is missing his front registration plate.
    • Five of Stepney's wheels were spread around the exhibit, although these were confirmed as replicas. A spare axle from Daisy was also put on the layout.
    • Edward and James' trains have derailed (with Edward's train decoupling from him and the cattle van's roof becoming detached) as of December 2023. Both have since been fixed and rerailed.
  • Due to all the criticism the exhibition has gained over the years, it was relocated in 2023 in the exit building to Winston's Whistle Stop Tour. A new layout is to be built using the set pieces from the old one. This layout will be smaller than the previous, Great Waterton is set to be on the layout but other stations are likely to be swapped around. The engine props are likely to stay the same with the original Thomas previously on the layout returning alongside one new engine prop either being Salty or a brass Percy.[13] However, images show Spencer next to a fan replica Thomas.
    • On this new layout only replica models will be running according to employees, with the original engine props present on the layout being static. One of the replica models planned to be on display is James. [14] This is also partly due to how besides one of James brass models (which is currently at Hara Model Railway Museum) and the wharf scale model (which is in storage but too large to be put on the layout), HiT and Mattel have no spare James models in their possession due to the original and the remaining spare brass models being sold off. A replica of Percy will also be featured on the layout. [15]
    • In addition a narrow gauge section is to be incorporated, where a small scale replica of a narrow gauge engine will run as Mattel currently have no access to the small scale narrow gauge props (as they were sold off) and only the large scale ones, which would not be able to be used due to the track not being far away enough from the main track and would appear out of scale, unlike the previous layout which had its narrow gauge section far away from the main track to appear narrow gauge from view.
    • Instead of the engines being automatically operated, the layout will feature push button which will set power on the track to move the engines in a particular direction towards the next location which also features a push button to move the engines to the next location ext.[16]
  • The models are displayed in the state of their last use in filming of the twelfth series and some others. This is why some of the characters have their happy, smiling and content faces:
    • Toby had his grinning face when he first arrived and was put on display.
    • Thomas had one of his alternate happy faces when he first arrived and was put on display. Another one of his alternative happy faces was put back on him in early 2020.
    • Harvey had his happy face when he was on display until 2011 when he was returned to HiT Entertainment for storage.
    • Stepney had his chuckling face when he was on display.
    • Bulgy had his happy face when he was on display at Drayton Manor until early 2020 when it was replaced by his smiling face.
    • Trevor had his happy face when he was on display.
    • Elizabeth had her smiling face when she was on display until early 2020 when it was replaced by her grumpy face.
    • Bulstrode had his shocked face when he was on display from 2009 to early 2020 when it was replaced by his unused happy face.
    • Class 40 has his speechless face.
    • George had his angry face when he was put on display. However in October 2021, this was changed to his current smiling face.

External link[]

References[]

  1. ↑ "Roll Along Thomas - Toby "stolen" from Drayton Manor's Thomas Land"
  2. ↑ "[1]"
  3. ↑ "[ [2]"
  4. ↑ https://www.draytontalk.co.uk/threads/85/page-27
  5. ↑ https://twitter.com/stemytenk/status/1645855811309129731
  6. ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/stemytenk/status/1645618991489007616?cxt=HHwWgIC29Z_wtNYtAAAA
  7. ↑ "[3]"
  8. ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/stemytenk/status/1645618991489007616?cxt=HHwWgIC29Z_wtNYtAAAA
  9. ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/stemytenk/status/1645618991489007616?cxt=HHwWgIC29Z_wtNYtAAAA
  10. ↑ https://twitter.com/stemytenk/status/1645855811309129731
  11. ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/stemytenk/status/1645611652996382720?cxt=HHwWgIC-8YvFsdYtAAAA
  12. ↑ https://twitter.com/stemytenk/status/1645855811309129731
  13. ↑ "[4]"
  14. ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/stemytenk/status/1645763988397993987?cxt=HHwWhsC9iZfo9tYtAAAA
  15. ↑ https://www.draytontalk.co.uk/threads/85/page-27
  16. ↑ https://www.draytontalk.co.uk/threads/85/page-28
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