Thomas (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Background Information
Thomas is a fictional standard gauge tank locomotive created by the Reverend W. Awdry with the help from his son Christopher Awdry. He is the No. 1 engine on the North Western Railway.

Thomas first appeared in the first series episode Thomas and Gordon, which first aired in 1984. His last appearance was in the twenty-fourth series episode, Thomas' Animal Friends, whereas his last produced appearance was in Thomas and the Royal Engine, both of which were released in 2021.

Thomas's portrayal in Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends was originally faithful to the books, being sometimes stuck-up and arrogant but otherwise kind-hearted and cheeky. When the show started branching away from the books following the fifth season and from then on, he was lightened up to become more cheekier, but more jovial to appeal to younger children. As the title character, he has the most appearances, speaking roles and episodes dedicated to him in each series due to his popularity in the TV show.

Voice
When Thomas and the Magic Railroad premiered, the character was voiced by Eddie Glen, who replaced John Bellis as the latter was cut from the early draft when the audience said he made him sound "too old". Both Bellis and Glen portrayed Thomas with an English accent.

Kerry Shale originally auditioned for the character in the UK dub of Hero of the Rails but was ultimately replaced by Ben Small, with Martin Sherman voicing him in the US. Small originally auditioned for the role of Thomas in the US before losing it to Sherman. Both played Thomas in their respective dubs until 2015 when the producers decided to cast with a new fresh voice for Thomas, while Martin T. Sherman had quit due to low payment disputes. David Menkin was offered the role of Thomas in the US, but he declined in support of Martin Sherman at the actor's request. Joseph May ultimately succeeded Martin Sherman in the US dub, while John Hasler replaced Ben Small in the UK. Both Hasler and May gave Thomas a higher and bolder-pitched voice, likely to differentiate him from Percy.

Much like Bellis and Glen, Small and Hasler consistently portrayed Thomas with an English accent in the UK, while conversely, Sherman and May portrayed him with an American accent in the US. Ben Small also gave Thomas a notably raspy tone and minor hoarse vocals, which is absent in John Hasler's performance. Both Joseph May and John Hasler were let go from Mattel after the twenty-fourth series when the company rebooted the series entirely.

Gauge 1 models
Thomas's original model was scratch built to run on gauge 1 track for the Unaired Pilot. The model was made from varying thicknesses of plastic sheet to construct the bodyshell along with custom made wheels and chassis. It was all made by the model maker Martin Gill. It was painted using automotive paint and lined with red and yellow automotive pinstripe tape with the numbers being custom cut vinyl stickers.

The scratch built chassis was not tested before being filmed in front of the camera and proved to be unreliable. The space behind the eyes in the body accommodated two small RC servos in a parallelogram arrangement to allow the eyes to be moved by means of a joystick on the remote control. During the pilot, they snagged repeatedly and they were constantly being modified. Often, the eyes were set and locked in a particular direction. It was not unheard of for the static from the power coupling on the track to affect the servos and make the eyes suddenly veer wildly off.

The model was equipped with a smoke generator based on a 12V car cigarette lighter, with conventional studio smoke-machine oil dripped on the hot element before each shot. The heat generated from this proved to be sufficient to warp the ABS plastic of the engines bodies, so they could not be used for any length of time. A swift charging before a shot allowed a rather feeble smoke effect that sometimes emanated from gaps behind the eyes or at the side of the face plate.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up and down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eyeballs were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eyeballs would move however the crew member desired.

Model Changes
Thomas' gauge 1 models had gone through several aesthetic changes in the television series:
 * Series 1:
 * He has a realistic Tenmille brake pipe which is tilted down to keep it from touching his face.
 * He shares his footstep design with Percy.
 * Series 2:
 * He gains a smaller-sized Märklin brake pipe on both his front and back ends.
 * The box under his running board is repainted red.
 * His splasher lining is slightly altered.
 * The blue supports under his whistle become gold.
 * His happy face was painted in a slightly darker shade of grey, and his eyebrows became slightly bigger.
 * Series 3:
 * His footsteps become smaller.
 * The lining on his sides is moved slightly inwards.
 * After Trust Thomas, the lining on the back of his bunker is removed.
 * His shocked face gains a bucktooth.
 * His happy face is reverted back to its original shade of grey, and gained new eyebrows.
 * Series 4:
 * His coupling rod bolts become blue.
 * In some episodes, he is mistakenly depicted with Edward's whistle sound.
 * Series 5:
 * The handle on his tail lamp is removed.
 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad:
 * His paint is given a matte finish.
 * He sits higher on his chassis (brass model).
 * His eyebrows became triangular.
 * The gold supports under his whistle revert to their original blue colour, though they were painted gold on the plastic model during the windmill and chase scenes.
 * His front windows are now the same height as his back windows (brass model).
 * His cab doors are missing for most of the film.
 * His tail lamp regains its handle for most of the film.
 * The bucktooth on his shocked face disappears for the rest of the model era.
 * His funnel becomes thinner (brass model).
 * His dome becomes flatter and thinner (brass model).
 * His whistle sound changed which sounded pretty similar to his original one.
 * His side windows are not rounded at the corners. On his plastic model, the lining became square while the window corners themselves were still rounded.
 * His coupling rod bolts became silver again.
 * The frames on the front of his running plate are moved inward.
 * Series 6:
 * He regained his original whistle sound.
 * His coupling rods became thicker and the middle section of them became square (brass model).
 * His coupling rod bolts became blue again.
 * He regained his cab doors.
 * The handle on his tail lamp is removed again.
 * The frames on the front of his running plate revert back to their original position.
 * His counterweights become slightly smaller and the spokes being slightly thicker (plastic model).
 * Series 7:
 * His tail lamp regains its handle in Something Fishy, but only for a few scenes.
 * Series 8:
 * His cab windows are whited out (brass model).
 * Calling All Engines!
 * In some shots, his whistle valves are turned sideways.
 * Series 9:
 * The teeth on his anxious face disappear for the rest of the HiT Entertainment model era.
 * Series 11:
 * His whistle is lowered, thus placing it closer to the boiler. This was first seen in the episode Thomas and the Big Bang.
 * The funnel becomes even thicker (plastic model).
 * The Great Discovery:
 * His cab windows are slightly smaller and lowered, and the yellow rims are thicker (new brass models).
 * His dome is slightly thicker and more rounded at the top, resembling his plastic model's dome (new brass models).
 * Series 12:
 * On his CGI face, his eyes are enlarged, his eyebrows are thickened, his mouth is smaller, and he has a larger nose.
 * His livery becomes a much darker shade of blue.

Present Day
After production of the model series wrapped in 2008, most of the models and sets would be put into storage, with some being put on display at Drayton Manor Theme Park. All other models would be logged and referenced in 2009 by HiT Entertainment, from this HiT would decide on which models were to enter storage once again, which would be given to crew members and which to be disposed off. Due to Thomas being the main character, all of his models would be kept and would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

Thomas' original brass model is on display at the Hara Model Railway Museum. It has previously been on display at Nitrogen Studios, interestingly, it is still in the same condition as when last seen in The Official BBC Children in Need Medley. One of the three brass models made during the production of The Great Discovery is on display at Drayton Manor, while the other two are on display at two different Explore the Rails events, with one wearing a duplicate recast of the thicker confident Thomas face and the other wearing a replica happy face. When one of The Great Discovery brass models originally came to Drayton Manor, it was given a replica current smiling face. This would later be replaced with a replica confident face in early 2020. Additionally two spare unused number decals, one on it's own and another part of a larger transfer were sold by The Prop Gallery in 2022.

According to Michael White, there were ideas for episodes in the show's twenty-fifth series, including an episode where Thomas would have a fantasy sequence about time travel. In this sequence, the original plastic model would have been used with a filter put on the footage to make it look like its 1984 condition, as well as Ringo Starr returning to narrate the sequence. Sadly, these plans never materialised due to All Engines Go replacing the original series in 2021.

In July 2022, Thomas' model at Drayton Manor was temporarily removed for restoration and replaced with a fan-made replica. It is set to return to Drayton Manor sometime in 2023 alongside a new engine prop to be added to the exhibition. Although it will not be running.

Faces
Thirty-nine different facial expressions were sculpted for Thomas, although only thirty-five were used on-screen and four of which, his jovial, snarling, and frustrated faces were left unused, and his elderly face was created as a prank. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. Some of Thomas' faces were duplicated in case the crew needed a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting. Most of Thomas' screen used and production made faces are now owned by Twitter and Instagram user ThomasTankMerch and Twitter user TomsProps. Thomas' outraged face is owned by YouTube and Facebook user Bearded Skull Memorabilia. Some other Thomas faces such as his sad face and his original thicker confident face were sold on Prop Gallery and Production Treasures respectively with the confident face being now owned by ThomasTankMerch. Other faces such as his tired face were put on display at the first and second Clearwater Event. According to Steve Asquith, some of Thomas' angry faces were unsuitable for him as he never has anger issues in most of the episodes, excluding Topped Off Thomas.

CoolProps Replica
In 2019, a faithful replica prop was announced by CoolProps in Japan and supposed to be sold to the public. They used the original models located at the Hara Model Railway Museum in Japan for reference.

Crew Member Gift Models
After the model series ended, several replica models were created as gifts for those who worked on the show. They would come with a variety of different faces depending on each model. One was sold on Prop Store in 2021, another on Facebook in the mid 2010's, and another is owned by Simon Spencer.

Gauge 3 model
A gauge 3 model of Thomas was built in the ninth series to be used alongside the large-scale models of the Skarloey Railway engines, which were used since the fifth series for ease of filming and reliability.

The model was made from brass. The wheels and chassis were custom machined (CNC). The model was track powered, so pickup contacts were attached to the metal wheels, which ran into the motor to power it. The electricity ran from the track to the wheels/pickup contacts and went into the motor to power him. The model was also fitted with a smoke unit.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up and down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eyeballs were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eyeballs would move however the crew member desired.

The gauge 3 model was used in the ninth-twelfth series and The Great Discovery.

Present Day
In 2015 Thomas' gauge 3 model was put on display at the British Museum during the 70th Anniversary of The Railway Series and after the event, was returned to Mattel's storage unit in Southampton, England. Then in August 2021, the model was put on display again at the Clearwater Weekend event at the Midland Railway Centre. At some point, it was temporarily taken from its display case to be shown on a table with the gauge 3 models of Annie and Clarabel. A G-scale Bachmann Thomas was put in its spot to make the area not look so empty. In August 2022, the model would be exhibited again in its original spot in the main exhibit but in October of 2022, was again replaced by the Bachmann Thomas. His eye mech controller would also be sold by The Prop Gallery the same year.

Faces
Eight different facial expressions were created for the model, but only seven were used on-screen, and one of which, his alarmed face was left unused. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. A production-made resin cast of Thomas' shocked face is owned by Sean O'Connor and would be exhibited alongside various items owned by Mattel at The History Of Thomas Event and first Clearwater Event, a production-made resin cast of his sad face is also owned by Twitter user TomsProps.

Gauge 3.5 model
During the fifth series, the production team were having discussions about scaling up the models to gauge 3.5 for Thomas and the Magic Railroad. Models of Thomas and Percy were built to this scale for testing, but the production team ended up deciding to stick with the gauge 1 models due to budget reasons. Thomas' model was used for test shots accompanied by a green screened Mr. Conductor. The model was later put to use for close-up shots of his wheels, which can be seen in some Music Videos.

During the sixth series, Thomas' 3.5 gauge model would be used alongside the models of the Sodor Construction Company vehicles, which had to be larger than the gauge 1 models in order in fit in all the components required for filming.

The model was made from brass. The wheels and chassis were custom machined (CNC). The model was track powered, so pickup contacts were attached to the metal wheels, which ran into the motor to power it. The electricity ran from the track to the wheels/pickup contacts and went into the motor to power him. The model was also fitted with a smoke unit.

During production of Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, Thomas' model became RC powered instead of track powered, the remote used to power him was sourced from JR Propo's XP662.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eyeballs were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eyeballs would move however the crew member desired.

The model was used in the sixth series, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company and The Great Discovery. It also appeared in some scenes in the eighth series episodes, Gordon Takes Charge, Fish, the Calling All Engines! special and the tenth series episodes, Thomas' Frosty Friend and Topped Off Thomas.

Thomas' gauge 3.5 model has gone through several aesthetic changes in the television series:


 * Series 5:
 * The model's appearance differs from that of the gauge 1 model; this includes:
 * The brake pipe, funnel and buffers increase in size.
 * His lamp becomes much more simplified in shape and increases in size.
 * Thomas gains a hole on the left side of his running board.
 * The counterweight on Thomas's middle wheel changes position, much like his basis.
 * The coupling rods become much chunkier.
 * His footsteps are painted red and have two additional rivets above them.
 * His cab windows lack the yellow rims.
 * Series 6:
 * His footsteps are repainted blue and the additional rivets disappear.
 * His cab windows gain the yellow rims.
 * Jack and the Sodor Construction Company:
 * The lamp is remade to be closer to that on the gauge 1 model.

Present Day
As of 2020, Thomas' gauge 3.5 model is currently on display in Japan at the Uesugi Museum, prior to that it was originally on display at Hara Model Railway Museum and before then, Thomas Town. His driving remote controller was also on display at the Halloween Clearwater Event in 2021.

Faces
Eleven different facial expressions were created for the model. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould.

Close-up model
A close-up model of Thomas was built to be used for scenes where he had to interact with the close-up scale figures. Unlike most close-up models, the one for Thomas was built as a complete engine due to him being the main character.

The cab was made in pieces so it was able to be dismantled and reassembled for use of interior shots if required. The model also emitted steam when required, especially during closeup whistle shots.

Two faces were sculpted for Thomas. The close-up of Thomas's happy face was also used on the close-up of Duck in the second series episode, A Close Shave. Also, the close-up of his sad face is used in another episode, Thomas Comes to Breakfast.

The model was also equipped with an eye mechanism. The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eyeballs were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eyeballs would move however the crew member desired.

Thomas' close-up model has gone through several aesthetic changes in the television series:


 * Series 1:
 * The model has many additions which the gauge 1 model lacks; these include:
 * Seven rivets along each side of his cab roof.
 * Rivets around each end of his smokebox.
 * His tank filler caps gain hinges and handles.
 * He has rivets along his front and rear buffer beams as well as the back of his bunker.
 * His front buffer holds are painted black and based on those of wagons rather than those on Thomas' model.
 * Series 2:
 * His front buffers are changed to more closely resemble those on his gauge 1 model.
 * His front buffer holds are painted red to match his rear ones.
 * Series 3:
 * The seven rivets along each side of his cab roof disappear.
 * He gains two screws on each side of his cab beneath the porthole windows.
 * Series 4:
 * The screws he gained in the third series disappear.
 * Series 5:
 * The bottom halves of his whistles are repainted from blue to gold.
 * Series 11:
 * The rivets around his smokebox disappear.


 * Whistles

Life-size model
During the production of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, a large facsimile of Thomas's cab, tanks and boiler were built for the cab shots featuring him. The scenes were filmed with a green screen method, so a duplicate of Thomas' cab and the background for filming both models were green.

Thomas' Poster
As for dressing for the large scale set, several posters of Thomas was made. The posters appeared in the ninth and tenth series at Knapford station toy shop and the Children's bedroom.

CGI Model (2000)
In Thomas and the Magic Railroad, a CGI model of Thomas was made for the scenes where Thomas would interact on The Magic Railroad. Photographs of Thomas' gauge 1 model were used for referencing, as were his faces. Seven of Thomas' resin faces were recreated onto this CGI model.

CGI Model (2009-2020)
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Thomas was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software. Photographs of Thomas' gauge 1 brass model were used for reference. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.

Although Thomas's CGI model was last used in series in January 2021, it was still used in online promotional videos.

Test model
A CGI Thomas model appeared in the CGI test of the episode Thomas and the Stinky Cheese. It was created by Stardust Pictures in 2008.

Fonts
•Quercus 10 Bold (nameplate)

Texture variants
In addition to his standard livery, several other texture variants exist of Thomas' main CGI model. Many only appeared once, though a few were reused multiple times. These texture variants include:

Pantone colours
The following pantone colours are used on Thomas' CGI model:

Thomas in Popular Culture
Since his debut in The Railway Series and the launch of the television series, Thomas has become an extraordinarily popular character, appearing in over twenty series and starring in several direct-to-video films. Because of his popularity, Thomas has even appeared or has been mentioned in other popular shows and films, as well as appearing in many public events too.

During the Thomas the Tank Engine &amp; Friends production, a large Thomas signboard was installed on the T-stage in Shepperton Studios where they were filmed.

In the Robot Chicken parody sketch Blow Some Steam, Thomas was voiced by Harry Potter actor, Daniel Radcliffe. His Bachmann model was used throughout the sketch.

In 2017, a large chocolate sculpture of Thomas was made to celebrate Easter that year. The sculpture was made by three chocolatiers and was displayed at King's Cross station. An actor dressed as Sir Topham Hatt was also at the display, which featured a TrackMaster layout as a part of the setup.

Voice Actors

 * John Bellis
 * Edward Glen
 * Michael Angelis
 * Robin Smith
 * Ringo Starr
 * Ben Small
 * Kerry Shale
 * John Hasler
 * Martin Sherman
 * Joseph May
 * Steffan Rhys
 * Víctor Ugarte
 * Irwin Daayán
 * Javier Olguín
 * Héctor Cuevas
 * Marc Winslow
 * Harold Salazar
 * Luis Leonardo Suárez
 * César Díaz Capilla
 * Daniel Figueira
 * Marco Vivio
 * Hugolin Chevrette-Landesque
 * Fabrice Trojani
 * Richard Balint
 * Pepijn Koolen
 * Jürgen Theuns
 * Marcel Collé
 * Christian Stark
 * Dirk Bach
 * Espen Sandvik
 * Martin Lange
 * Nick Atkinson
 * Caspar Phillipson
 * Juha Varis
 * Csore Gabor
 * Pavel Tesař
 * Jan Kalous
 * Janusz Zadura
 * Prokhor Chekhovskoy
 * Haris Grigoropoulos
 * Simcha Barbiro
 * Doriel Zohar
 * Gia Trí
 * Keiko Toda
 * Kumiko Higa
 * Shin Yong-u
 * Jo Yeon-u