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Thomas (also released as Thomas the Tank Engine) is a blue tank engine.

Product Description

Character Card

The most famous of all the vehicles on the Island of Sodor, Thomas the Tank Engine is considered by all to be a "really useful engine". He is a cheeky, fussy little engine who is always eager to help.

2018 box description

Meet the story-starter...

Every child's imagination has stories to tell – and this cheeky steam engine is the perfect helper. Children create the stories, Thomas just delivers inspiration.

Changes

  • 1993 (small face, flat top wide funnel and dome, wooden smokebox, stepped footplate, ledge on rear, solid black painted coal, flat magnets, thin undated wheels, staples on chassis)
  • 1993 (flat top thin funnel and dome)
  • 1993 (beveled top funnel and dome, lower smokebox extension, flat footplate)
  • 1993 (blue outline on cab roof, speckled painted coal)
  • 1994 (beveled flat magnets, rounded funnel and dome, solid black painted coal, no staples on chassis, fully black painted cab roof, made in China)
  • 1995 (big round magnets)
  • 1996 (small round magnets)
  • 1997 (big, flatter round magnets, thick, bulky, wheels)
  • 1998 (plastic rounded funnel, small plastic encased magnets)
  • 1999 (larger face with minor changes, realistic plastic funnel and smokebox, funnel hole added)
  • 2001 (name printed on chassis, realistic plastic coal)
  • Early 2002 (new larger face, bigger smokebox, wide boiler, no ledge on rear, new details, shorter dome, funnel hole removed)
  • Late 2002 (funnel hole added)
  • Late 2004 (red stripes on boiler)
  • 2011 (CG style face)
  • 2013 (updated face, curved edges, longer magnet guards, other minor details)
  • 2015 (hollowed out wheels, wheel lip on the inside)
  • 2017 (smaller face)
  • 2018 (printed details on exposed wood, flat dome, shorter length)
  • Mid 2018 (metal pins in chassis, darker paint)
  • 2019 (printed details on painted wood, chassis built into body)
  • 2022 (face with printed 2D details, rivet, cab handrail and step details, painted buffers, ledge on rear, molded dome, molded coal in bunker, larger wheels with spoke details, detailed cab)

Variants

Availability

Trivia

  • Thomas has the most variations of any character in the Thomas Wooden Railway, with more prototypes, changes, and variants than any other character in the range.
  • Thomas is included in more sets and multi-car packs than any other character in the Thomas Wooden Railway.
  • The first prototype 1992 Thomas features four red wheels held in by nails, red and blue magnet guards, a wider chassis, no detailing, and no face.
    • The chassis was borrowed from a train in the German HEROS wooden railway brand.
    • Roy Wilson later glued a face from a 1994 Thomas onto the prototype.
  • The second known prototype of Thomas seen features six red HEROS wheels, no coal bunker details, and a face borrowed from Thomas's ERTL die-cast vehicle.
  • Roy Wilson's third handmade Thomas had a much thinner funnel and dome than later versions.
  • Some 2002 Thomas character cards depict the 1993 prototype instead of the 2002 prototype.
  • Thomas's 2002 prototype is featured on the following boxes:
  • Thomas is one of four vehicles to be available every year since 1993. The others are Gordon, James, and Percy.
  • Thomas is one of five vehicles to have been introduced with a back ledge who never had one in 2002. The others are Henry, Gordon, James, and Percy. All other vehicles would not lose their back ledges until late 2002.
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