Yes, same here of course, but was this before or after the launch of the film a few years ago? Same as Hogwarts Express was nothing more than a picture till Warner Brothers made it into a film and painted Olton Hall RED! (Nice shade for t! - Runs and ducks!)
At least since the TV series, whenever that was shown there. I don't think TtT's fame there is to do with the US film released in 2000. I used to work with Japanese lanaguge students, and one knew all about Thomas in either 1999 or 2000.
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says "Thomas the Tank Engine is one of the top children's favorite characters of all time. The timeless charm of the Awdrys' works have sold 25million units in the US and world wide book sales are approaching 80 million units. ... [Britt Allcroft's] classic "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends", can now be seen in over 120 countries and inspired a multimillion dollar ancillary entertainment empire. She personally led the way in establishing the Thomas franchise in all the major market places starting with Japan, Australasia and the United States."
There is/was a range of Japanese N gauge Thomas models.
No, but the books were popular before the film, and I think there are various drawings and photos of trains on the covers of some of the books.
"Arthur Figgis" wrote >Same as Hogwarts Express was nothing more than a picture till Warner
Ah, I was trying to refer to the recognised GWR loco! where as the pictures I have seen range from something even more fictitious than a GWR loco in Maroon to a large US loco with 3ft headlamp! (The audio tapes read by Stephen Fry)
I only read the books as I got fed up of the other half keep going on about this and that and potty mad, before the film and merchandising...
-- Andy Sollis CVMRD
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A few weeks ago I sat down at a table on a GNER train from Kings Cross, and the three other people all pulled out identical copies of the most recent book, the burst out laughing - and looking along the carriage a substantial proportion of passengers had copies. Being very sad, I only had a copy of a book about the Spurn Head railway!
Yes, Too True.... I'm forever fighting with the missus over who is reading it.... So far, she is a couple of chapters ahead, but she did start first....
It even got commented on by our Chief Constable when he visited the control room, the fact that he had to wait till his son had finished it!
Yep, It's a wizard book to be reading!
-- Andy Sollis CVMRD
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The message from "John Turner" contains these words:
There were 5 others, all ex-industrial types by Hudswell Clark, Manning Wardle, and Vulcan Foundry. In common with most light railways they were "modified" over the years and one of the 0-6-0s ran as a 2-2-2 for a while.
I was thinking more about the assorted petrol-engined locomotives/railcars, including the converted racing car which did duty as a loco on light loads.
Nope, that was a fairly "normal" railway. I've been told that With' was less dire when it had a railway; but maybe that was just because it was easier to leave!
The last time I had the misfortune to be there we were sat on the beach eating our chips next to another family. The mother shouted at her sprog something to the effect of "we've brought you all the way here, so if you don't start enjoying yourself you'll get a slap", which sums the place up - it takes the threat of physical violence for someone to enjoy being there.
Yes, it was built to shift stuff trom a pier at Spurn to the various military places at Kilnsea, before there was a road along the peninsular.
They had at least 3 sail bogies, 3 i/c railcars, and assorted steam locos at various times, including one hired from the NER. They had an
0-6-0ST, which gradually became a 2-2-2ST, a converted sports car, and an ex-North London Railway coach. The book - "Sailing the Rails" is pretty good.
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