Series 3

The third series of Thomas & Friends was first released exclusively on VHS in the UK on 11 November 1991. Originally, only the first sixteen episodes were released on VHS, before all twenty-six episodes aired on UK television starting on 25 February 1992. In the US, the first sixteen episodes aired on Shining Time Station in November 1991 with final ten episodes airing in 1993. Like the previous two series, it had twenty-six episodes and was narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK and Australia and by George Carlin in the US and New Zealand.

Production
Before production of the third series, Clearwater Features closed down, with Gullane Entertainment, then known as The Britt Allcroft Company, becoming the sole producer of Thomas. Producer Robert D. Cardona departed before the third series, and Britt Allcroft took his place as co-producer alongside David Mitton.

The series was a mix of stories derived from The Railway Series, magazines stories, written by the series' future head writer, Andrew Brenner, and a couple of original stories written by Allcroft and Mitton. One of the primary reasons for diverging from the original books was that many of the stories not yet adapted featured large numbers of new characters, which would be expensive to produce. Another reason was that the producers wanted more stories about Thomas, the nominal main character. According to Steve Asquith, it was felt that some of the original stories were repetitive and too 'storybook' orientated. The Rev. W. Awdry took umbrage with the looser adaptations of his stories, and publicly criticized the original episodes, particularly Henry's Forest, for their lack of realism and how Thomas was "forced", or as he put it, "crane-shunted" into some of these episodes.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Duck
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Bill and Ben
 * Diesel
 * BoCo
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Troublesome Trucks
 * Terence
 * Bertie
 * Trevor
 * Harold
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Stephen Hatt
 * Mrs. Kyndley
 * Jem Cole
 * The Vicar of Wellsworth
 * The Little Boys
 * Lady Hatt
 * Jeremiah Jobling
 * The Ffarquhar Stationmaster's Wife
 * Henrietta
 * Bridget Hatt
 * Farmer Finney
 * The Ffarquhar Stationmaster
 * One of the Stone-Dropping Boys
 * Harold's Pilots ​
 * Märklin Engine
 * Percy's Workshop Friends
 * Percy's Ghost Engine
 * The Firelighter
 * Father Christmas
 * Daisy

Characters Introduced

 * Oliver
 * Mavis
 * The Chinese Dragon
 * Bulgy
 * The New Signalman
 * The Wellsworth Yardmaster
 * The Goods Depot Foreman
 * The Quarry-Master
 * Farmer Trotter
 * Flying Scotsman
 * Toad
 * The Railway Society
 * The Injured Sailor
 * City of Truro
 * The Boy
 * Big Mickey
 * Bulgy's Friend
 * Ffarquhar Quarry Manager

Locations

 * Island of Sodor
 * Brendam
 * Brendam Docks
 * Brendam Canal
 * Brendam Drawbridge
 * Brendam Goods Station
 * Sodor Trading Co.
 * Upper Brendam
 * Bridge Signal Box
 * Bulgy's Bridge
 * Bulgy's Field
 * Callan Pond
 * Dryaw
 * Dryaw Airfield
 * Dryaw Canal Runby
 * Elsbridge
 * Ffarquhar
 * Ffarquhar Quarry
 * Hackenbeck
 * Haultraugh
 * Henry's Forest
 * Knapford
 * Knapford Yards
 * Sodor Shipping Company
 * Brendam Warehouse
 * Sir Topham Hatt's Office
 * Logging Halt
 * Low Lands
 * Lower Suddery
 * Sodor China Clay Company
 * Suddery Coastal Village
 * The Buckled Tracks
 * The Cliffs Runby
 * The Country Line
 * The Goods Station
 * The Lumber Mill
 * The Quarry Tramroad
 * Ffarquhar River Bridge
 * The Runby Bridge
 * The Three Way Road
 * The Valley Bridge
 * The Viaduct
 * The Waterfall
 * The Watermill
 * The Works
 * Tidmouth
 * Lower Tidmouth
 * Tidmouth Beach
 * Tidmouth Hault
 * Tidmouth Hault Sheds
 * Dilly's Pond
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Tidmouth Goods Station
 * Tidmouth Tunnel
 * Tidmouth Yards
 * Ffarquhar Sheds
 * Ulfstead
 * Vicarstown Goods Depot
 * Wellsworth
 * Crocks Scrap Yard
 * Topham Hall
 * Wellsworth Vicarage Orchard
 * Trevor's Shed
 * Arlesdale Castle
 * Black Loch
 * Cliff Side Track
 * New Harbour
 * Wellsworth Hospital

Trivia

 * This series marks the first of several things for the television series:
 * The first series in which Daisy does not appear since her debut.
 * The first series narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK, as well as the first narrated by George Carlin which had not been previously released with Ringo Starr's narrations.
 * The first series made by Gullane Entertainment, or as it was known at the time, The Britt Allcroft Company.
 * The first series to have episodes not based on stories by Wilbert or Christopher Awdry.
 * Britt Allcroft's first series as producer.
 * Angus Wright's first series as executive producer.
 * The first series to use the Rockwell typeface.
 * TUGS models and props make their Thomas & Friends debut.
 * Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell used the EMU Proteus 2 Orchestral, Sequential Circuits Prophet 2000, Korg DSS-1, Roland Jupiter 6, Linn LM1 Drum Machine, the Yamaha Grand Piano, and the Yamaha RX5 drum module to create the score.
 * The first series where Thomas' shocked face gains a buck tooth.
 * The first series to feature a modified version of James' happy face where his bottom jaw is slightly more pointed.
 * The first and only series where Edward's angry face gains some teeth.
 * The first series where Terence's face gains teeth.
 * The first series which introduced music videos.
 * The first series to have slow motion effects.
 * The first series where Annie and Clarabel only speak in one episode.
 * The first series to feature Duck's unused second series tired face and grinning face, as well as Diesel's from the latter series also being used on this series.
 * From this series on, characters would say "be quiet" instead of "shut up," presumably to make the show's language more family appropriate.
 * The first series to have episodes released on home video before their television broadcast in the UK.
 * In the US, the first series to not have a Christmas-themed series finale.
 * The first series released in the 1990s.
 * The first series that released completely on VHS in South Korea.
 * This was the last series with many things:
 * The last series to have a "restored" version.
 * The last broadcast on CITV until 2003 when the sixth series was shown.
 * The last series to be mixed mono.
 * The last series video edited by Lee Myung-pil for JEI TV in South Korea.
 * This series was the only series of a couple of things:
 * The only series dubbed by Gary Dixon and Gavin Beckwith.
 * The only series where Thames Television was involved in production.
 * The only series where Toad appears, but does not speak (not counting faceless cameos in the eighth series and Calling All Engines!, and a deleted scene from the sixth series).
 * This is the only series where George Carlin's dub was released on VHS in New Zealand. However, when the third series aired on television in New Zealand outside Shining Time Station, Michael Angelis' dub was used instead. This is also the case when third series episodes were released on DVD in New Zealand, including the Series Three DVD.
 * According to The Thomas the Tank Engine Man, it cost £1.3 million to produce all twenty-six episodes.
 * The last ten episodes of this series were not redubbed in the UK.
 * As a result, the recording quality of Michael Angelis' narration also changes drastically, and it becomes noticeable.
 * The second and third series have the largest time gap between any two series: six years. The second series first aired back in 1986 alongside subsequent re-runs of the first and second series which later ceased in 1991 and the airing of the third series in 1992.
 * This series was produced in association with Fuji Television Network, Inc. as indicated by a message at the end of each episode. At the end of the first sixteen episodes, the message is in white, while at the end of the last ten episodes, it is yellow.
 * It was during this series that footage of Tidmouth Sheds was shot uniquely for the Japanese-exclusive special Thomas and the U.K. Trip.
 * Only sixteen episodes were released in the USA in 1991 with Thomas, Percy and the Dragon airing first on November 18, 1991 - Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party on December 27th, 1991. The last ten episodes aired in the UK in 1992 before they were released to American television through Shining Time Station a year later in 1993, from All at Sea airing on March 26th, 1993 - One Good Turn airing on August 20, 1993. This marks the very first time a series aired on television in the US before airing on television in the UK.
 * In the Ukrainian dub, Michael Angelis and George Carlin' dubs can be heard in the background, as a dubbing track was not used. The first thirteen episodes have George Carlin's dub while the last thirteen episodes have Michael Angelis' dub. Michael Angelis is also credited as narrator in the first thirteen episodes despite George Carlin's dub in the background and the episodes being redubbed.
 * For much of the series, Tidmouth Sheds appears to be much larger on the inside than in the first two series.
 * Model maker John Holmes did not receive credit for working on this series until 1992.
 * At the very end of Michael Angelis' original dubs, the credits were shown with a still of the final shot of each sixteen episodes; there were certain parts of dialogue exclusive to these home videos but they were cut out when the series aired in 1992. When shown on television and in future video and DVD releases, the credits were shown alongside a still of Thomas.
 * The series was not shown on 10th March 1992 due to Budget Day.
 * When this series was repeated on CITV from 8th January to 9th July 1993, the first few episodes were edited to fit the timeslot. The episode Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure was also left out.
 * All at Sea and Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure are the only episodes in this series not to be based on any story from The Railway Series by either Awdry or a magazine story written by Andrew Brenner.
 * The Flying Scotsman makes an obscured appearance once in this series. He is not fully shown until 24 years later with the release of the special, The Great Race.
 * Tommy Boyd and Glenn Kinsey were the first presenters to introduce the series. For the 1993 repeats, Glenn Kinsey introduced the series until 12th February 1993 and from then on the series was fully announced by Steve Ryde as an offscreen voiceover until the end of the terrestrial broadcast on 9th July 1993.
 * The last ten episodes of this series, from Buzz, Buzz to Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure, were all filmed in a different period after the previous sixteen episodes. As such, some changes on the details on the models and sets have been made:
 * S.S. Vienna gained red smokestacks.
 * Thomas' red lining on the back of his cab was removed until the nineteenth series.
 * Henry's brake pipes were also removed.
 * James' former laughing face became a grinning face.
 * Duck's happy and jovial faces both gained some teeth.
 * Bill and Ben's happy and laughing faces gained some teeth.
 * The interior shots for Tidmouth Sheds featured nine berths instead of the usual six.
 * The third series has the most deleted scenes out of all songs from the model series.
 * Super Rescue is the only story from Enterprising Engines that was never adapted due to budget constraints.
 * Some concept art of this series features grid references, which indicates a Sodor map with locations from the television series was made during production of this series.