Thomas & Friends (franchise)

With the popularity of the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends TV series among children, Thomas-based merchandise has proven very lucrative. At least 5 different categories of trains and tracks exist: "Take Along Thomas" with grey tracks; TrackMaster battery-operated engines with brown tracks (previously Tomy with blue track); Brio-type wooden engines with wooden rails and roads (by ELC and others); electric model railway (produced in OO gauge by Hornby and Bachmann, N gauge by Tomix, O gauge by Lionel, and (from 2010) G-scale from Bachmann); and Lego engines and tracks. Merit Toys also produced some larger scale battery-powered engines with carriages and wagons in the 1980s, which ran on red tracks. Complementary videos, DVDs, books, games, puzzles, stationery, clothing and household items have also been produced.

From 2015 The "Minis" and "My First Thomas" range started.

In January 1987, a number of Thomas toys were recalled after test found lead content in the paint was up to 90 times the legally permitted level. The toys were imported by ERTL (UK) from China.[5]

Mattel (which, in 2017, took over HiT Entertainment which also acquired Gullane Entertainment (formerly the Britt Allcroft Company) in 2002) licenses "Day out with Thomas" events all over the world, at which visitors to heritage railways can meet and ride on a train hauled by a replica "Thomas".

As none of the E2 Class survived into preservation, various other classes have been adapted to resemble Thomas. Replicas are based on alternative 0-6-0 format engines such as Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST number 3781, which was converted from a saddle-tank to a side-tank design[6] by fabricators of the Mid-Hants Railway to create No. 1 "Thomas" in 1994. The Strasburg Rail Road in Lancaster, PA (USA) built and featured their No. 1 "Thomas" since 1999 in the US and announced their introduction of "Percy, the Small Engine" at the "Day Out With Thomas" event on 13 September 2014.[7]

Due to the increasing licensing fees and many other restrictions imposed by HiT including the need for "Sir Topham Hatts" to have auditions and the requirement for intensive Criminal Records Bureau checking, many heritage railways in the UK and overseas have reluctantly decided to withdraw from running "Thomas" days, thus reducing the income stream to these organisations.[8][9]

An international tour featuring Thomas and his driver was completed in 2005 in honour of the 60th anniversary of the original stories. Former US President George H.W. Bush dedicated the Presidential Train during a ceremony in 2005.

A "real" Thomas was used in a special play, The Queen's Handbag, staged to celebrate the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, starring well-loved characters from children's literature. In the play the near life-sized Thomas carried Sophie Dahl to the stage to meet Sir Topham Hatt (Jonathan Ross) at the beginning of the show. The same Thomas had previously been used in the All Aboard Live Tour.

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  Thomas the Tank Engine at Central railway station, Sydney
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  Thomas (47327) at Rushcliffe Country Park Nottingham
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  Thomas the Tank Engine at Ropley station on the Watercress Line
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  Thomas the Tank Engine on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad in Virginia City, Nevada

In June and July 2001, the National Autistic Society conducted a survey of 81 parents of children with autism and Asperger syndrome to investigate their putative 'special relationship' with Thomas the Tank Engine. The survey confirmed the organisation's assumption from anecdotal evidence that children with autism spectrum disorders associate far more strongly with Thomas the Tank Engine than with other children's characters.[10]

In the National Autistic Society's April 2007 survey, conducted with 748 UK parents of children under 10 with autism, 58% of parents reported Thomas was the first children's character their children enjoyed, with about one-third of parents reporting their children were able to learn basic facial expressions from the characters, as all of Thomas's friends have easy-to-read expressions. 54% of parents reported that the stories contributed to their child's sense of security.[11]