Thomas the Tank Engine was first conceived as a homemade wooden toy. He was made by a British clergyman and railway enthusiast, Reverend Wilbert Awdry, Thomas was given as a gift to Wilbert’s son, Christopher. Wilbert additionally wrote and illustrated short stories about Thomas and other trains and told them to Christopher when he was sick with measles. The stories eventually became a widely successful book series before being adapted into a worldwide television and media franchise.
Awdry’s first book in The Railway Series was published in 1945, which introduced the engines Edward, Gordon, and Henry. Thomas did not make his official debut until the second book of the series, entitled Thomas the Tank Engine, which was published in 1946.
Thomas’ iconic design was based on an LB&SCR E2 class locomotive. However, this was not Awdry's original intention. The book’s illustrator, Reginald Payne, based Thomas on a real engine he was familiar and ignored Awdry's initial sketches for the character. Awdry, though initially annoyed, accepted the accurate design, and Thomas's now famous look was established.
Reverend Awdry wrote 26 books in for The Railway Series, with the last one published in 1972. His son, Christopher, followed in his father’s footsteps and wrote 16 more books for the series, starting in 1983.
BBC television adaptation using live model trains was attempted in 1953. It was an adaptation of The Sad Story of Henry, however the project was cancelled after one attempt as one of the trains derailed in the middle of the live broadcast and a crew member had to set in and fix it. His hands could be seen resetting the train and this upset children watching at home and Awdry himself who called in to tell them to cancel the show.
In 1979, BBC television producer Britt Allcroft came across The Railway Series and saw their potential. She secured the television rights and developed the format for what would become Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, using live-action models and an expressive narrator.
The show premiered in the UK in 1984. The narrator was Liverpool native and best member of the Beatles, Ringo Starr. Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends was an immediate success, leading to it being the U.S. in 1989 through the PBS series Shining Time Station, where the Thomas segments were introduced by the narrator Starr and then later George Carlin, who replaced Starr after two seasons. Alec Baldwin took over from George Carlin starting in 1999 and also played Mr. Conductor in the feature film Thomas and the Magic Railroad. James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan also narrated the 2008 Thomas film, The Great Discovery. Brosnan was planned to be the narrator for season twelve, thirteen, and fourteen but dropped out for unknown reasons.
The franchise's popularity exploded in a way no one could have predicted. This lead to movies, toy lines, and theme park attractions around the world. In the early 2000s, production was taken over by HiT Entertainment which is now a subsidiary of Mattel. HiT eventually transitioned the show from live models to CGI animation.
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends was rebooted in 2021 as Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go, transitioning to 2D animation featuring new story arcs and character designs.
Thomas the Tank Engine was featured as a balloon at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He was introduced in 2014 to help promote an expansion to the 2008 Thomas Land theme park located at the Drayton Manor Resort in Tamworth, Staffordshire, UK. In 2015, a Thomas Land opened in Carver, Massachusetts. There is also a Thomas Land in the Fuji-Q Highland in Japan, where the series is very popular.
Four real engines made appearances in the show. Stepney has made numerous appearancess, City of Truro and The Flying Scotsman also played minor roles in two third series episodes and finally Stephen, commonly known as The Rocket, has made many appearances as well.
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