We had the most wonderful time last weekend when Little T came for a visit.
At two and a half, he’s a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, and he’d certainly come to the right place.
For almost a decade, our sons were completely besotted with these trains. And despite the fact that it’s been nearly eighteen years since Big Boy was given his first die-cast engine (the little blue Thomas below), we’ve never been able to part with any of them. There’s a lifetime of memories tied up in them, and they’ve all been loved and treasured deeply. Even though they’re a little battered and in need of new paint, every single one is still in reasonable working condition.
My favourite engine was always Duck – no-one ever called him by his real name of Montague, as he didn’t like it. He was a Great Western Engine, and proud of it…
His friend Oliver was also a GW engine, and rescued by Douglas from the scrap yard. Gordon once referred to him as “sagacious” – the word lover in me was thrilled…
Toby the Tram Engine was Big Boy’s favourite, and so very kind and wise…
Gordon the Express Engine was always in a hurry, and quite arrogant. He’d often end up being taken down a peg or two…
And Henry the Green Engine was much better after they fixed the shape of his smoke box so that he could steam properly…
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Here is my all-time favourite episode – much to Pete’s amusement, just watching this can make me misty-eyed. It’s such a reminder of halcyon days!
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A couple more…here’s Toby’s Tightrope – Big Boy’s favourite…
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And one for Joanna and Brian…with James and bees!
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Do you have Thomas fans at your place?
And if so, do they have a favourite engine?
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Brian has no engines but remembers the stories from when he was a little boy. All the preserved railways here run regular Thomas Events, and many a tank runs up and down the lines with a face on the front full of delighted children and their parents. He says his favourite engine was James The Red Engine, no 5 behind the diesel in your first picture :)
Sigh…James, now he was always in trouble, running off the rails and the like. Small Man was a big James’ fan too.. :)
My grandsons- Aidan and Aiden are both great Thomas lovers.
Unfortunately, Grandma can’t keep them all straight- they have to instruct me about their names and personalities. I think Thomas has a lot of upsetting personality traits- so I won’t get too involved- but ___-en seems to like Emily a great deal and ____-an talks a lot about Toby.
I’m a bigger fan of the little engine that could!
No, no, Thomas is basically a nice little engine, he just gets a bit indignant at times. ;-)
Emily is a relatively new engine – when the good Reverend Awdry wrote these stories for his son Christopher all those years ago, there were definitely no girl engines in the beginning. In the beginning, only the carriages were girls! Very sexist, but then again, it was the 1930s. ;-)
My brother loved Thomas the Tank Engine as a little boy. Mum used to read the stories over and over and over, to the point of memory. On occasion she would be so tired that she would miss words out and my brother would correct her – he knew all the words well before he could read!
I don’t know which his favourite was, I suspect Thomas the Tank Engine himself, but I do remember that he wouldn’t allow my mum to read the story where Gordon or Henry (I can’t remember which) gets stuck in a tunnel. He wouldn’t even allow the book out even though I think the story ends well after all.
I have a feeling that I made my mum keep the books (I’m more sentimental than she is!) but I can’t lay my hands on them right now! Lovely memories :-)
It was Henry – he didn’t get stuck in the tunnel per se, he went into the tunnel and it started to rain, so he refused to come out again, so they boarded him up in there. In the end he had to come out to help in an emergency and all was forgiven. :)
A lifetime of Thomas the Tank has embedded these stories into my brain.. lol!
Yep, I spoke to my mum and she instantly knew exactly which engine I meant and remembered the story!
I like the fact that the stories always end well. So comforting for small children :-)
We have a big Thomas-lover in this house. Luckily, we live near to a train store that has a bunch of tables in back for the little ones to play with. And we’re very happy for the new additions of Lady and Rosie for the little girl! =)
Abby, I did like Lady when she appeared, although I think Rosie is a much newer addition and after our time. It’s amazing how long a track and some push along trains can keep them occupied! :)
Celia don’t ever get rid of them. You are awhile off yet, but that collection there is grandparent gold! I was just discussing with Monkey Boy who his favourites are, the list is getting longer :-) The Monkeys are fans, BIG fans.
Brydie, they’re definitely not going anywhere! Not surprised the Monkeys are fans, little boys seem to find them irresistible! :)
MiddleC was a big Thomas fan when she was a little girl too. She even got a Thomas showbag one year- they were ‘unusual’ back then, and someone tried to buy the Thomas hat from it right off her head! They offered her I think $20 for it 20yrs ago, but she wouldn’t part with it, and we wouldn’t make her!
We have a toy kitchen I don”t want to part with, I have misty-eyed ideas of grandkids too…
My friend Maude’s girls are big fans too – it clearly isn’t a boys only thing! Fancy someone trying to buy MiddleC’s hat off her head! Girl obviously knew even back then that some things were more important than money – good on you, mum, you’ve done a great job! :)
No getting away from Thomas here! OHs favourite when small (he had all the books) they are now big favourites of my children. We now have a complete set of books, which I brought up to date by buying the later ones for Birthday & Christmas presents: the earlier ones by Revd Awdry and the latter ones by his son. (What is it about vicars and trains?!)
We also have a large collection of videos and DVDs: my two children with special needs can’t get enough of them – think its the jolly music and faces as they do not understand the storylines.
hopeeternal
‘Meanderings through my Cookbook’
I’m glad to hear your children get so much joy from them, Hope! How nice for your hubby to be able to share his childhood love with his kids! :)
Celia that’s gorgeous! I loved watching Thomas when I was little. He still helps me know… whenever I’m out running and hit a big hill my head says ‘I think I can, I think I can’ and Thomas pops into my head.
My cousins twin 3yo boys love Thomas too and they have most of the trains.
Claire, it’s been years since my sons watched the tv series, but I still finding myself humming the music as I cook.. ;-)
Well you learn something new about you every day! :)
This is a pretty big aspect of our lives.. :)
Thomas and all his friends were a fixture in this house for years. In fact, I think we still have a Thomas towel lying around somewhere. It was all quite sweet, but I can’t say I miss those trains, although I do miss those simpler days with the kids sometimes.
We don’t miss them, because all the trains are still here! It was a lovely time when the boys were little.. :)
I had to make a Thomas birthday cake for my grandson a few years ago. Not the best memories – struggling in hot weather with blue and black butter cream and trying to get all those little bits of liquorice to stick in the right places ……
Ann, I’m sorry to hear that – I’ve never been game to try making a Thomas cake. I did do a Bananas in Pyjamas cake once that worked quite well though…
Thomas was much the hardest cake – I had no trouble with Spot the Dog for instance! I think Thomas was just a bit too ambitious but it was a special request!
Celia, when I went back home to Brazil last month, I asked my nieces what I should take as gifts for their kids – since I never had kids myself, I am absolutely clueless about the match of age x appropriate gifts.
SHe told me they are totally into these tank engines, so I bought one for each of her kids – big success! Amazing how these “fashions” hit worldwide – makes one think, doesn’t it? ;-)
Sally, this is a “fashion” that’s older than both of us – the books were popular in the 1930s! It really has been very enduring.. :)
I had no idea! Thanks for enlightening me!
Our youngest was into Thomas BIG time! We have many a small character train gracing the lounge room still and I’m struggling to part with them too. Do you know how many different characters there are now? My mind spins when I see them all lined up in the toy shop! I love Ringo’s (it IS Ringo, right?) voice narrating the episodes…
Chris, it was Ringo Starr for the first series or two, and then Michael Angelis after that, although in the US the voices are dubbed over with an American accent. Small Man was a big Ringo fan, but he quite likes Michael’s voice as well. Lucky the engines don’t take up too much room, it’s all the track that takes some creativity to store! ;-)
I have never watched one episode! However, we are great train fans and Dave has an antique train set :)
Tandy, Dave might enjoy the books – quite a lot about old-fashioned steam trains in the stories… :)
Celia, I was visiting your site to get the butterscotch brownie recipe with my 3 year old Jordi on my lap. Imagine how excited he was when he saw all those trains. And there was his favourite, Toby. So the butterscotch brownie we made together become the “Toby cake”. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Thomas and Toby and all the other trains.
By the way we all thought the Toby cake was very yummy including the big boys after school. Thanks for inspiring a lovely afternoon.
Lou, that’s so nice, thank you for telling me that! Toby was a big favourite here too – Big Boy’s favourite episode was a very early one where Toby had a run-in with Mavis and ended up precariously perched over a ravine. It was all too exciting for words…he used to jump up and down whenever it came on! :)
I know of Thomas the tank engine but not having kiddies, I have never watched an episode.
Have a happy week.
:-) Mandy
Mandy, I think I’ve watched enough episodes to last both of us a lifetime! ;-)
Hope your week is shaping up well too!
Ringo Starr’s hallmark voiceover was a part of the TTTE TV series experience too.
I’ve e-mailed you a photo of a steam loco I saw at the weekend.
Got it, thanks Peter! Beautiful looking train!
Ahhh! Brings back memories. We have a plastic tub of Thomas and Brio track. When I had to go on business trips I always tried to bring back a piece of Thomas. I spent hours at the mall with the boy when he was “The Small Boy” watching him with the trains, even though we had more than plenty at home.
Then he moved on to Legos. :-)
Toby was my favorite as well as Sir Topham Hatt.
Sigh..yes, Small Man moved onto Lego as well – mainly the Robotic Inventions packs. Loved them too! :)
My boys were almost too old for Thomas when it made its way to the U.S. and we didn’t have television for most of their childhood. That said, we had Thomas train cars and Thomas books and occasionally access to Thomas videos. Henry was alway my favorite because he was so cranky but still managed to do the right thing. At some point the narrator for the US version was the comedian George Carlin which entertained my husband and myself to no end.
Hi Celia…thanks so much for popping in!!! Lovely to have you visit…All is well here…my arm is taking its time in healing…they said up to 12 months to get full function back…and then I may not get it all back…sigh!!! This has slowed me down some but then I can do lots of things, but I do have trouble going round the back and doing my apron up!!!
As for Thomas my Son wasn’t in to it all but my Grandson is…he is obsessed!!! Happy Cooking…Dzintra