Callan Castle (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
Callan Castle is a fictional castle near Black Loch on the Island of Sodor created by Jan Page and David Mitton.

The castle first appeared in the seventh series episode Toby's Windmill, which first aired in 2003. Its last appearance was in the twenty-first series episode Confused Coaches, which was released in 2017.

Gauge 1 models
Callan Castle was originally built for the seventh series. Two models of the castle were created: one in-scale with the rest of the props, with the second being smaller in scale. The second model was used for distant shots to achieve the effect of forced perspective.

Close-up set
A close-up set of a small portion of Callan Castle was built to be used for scenes involving the close-up scale figures.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Callan Castle was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. The model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

According to Greg Tiernan, the CGI models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.