No respect for Thomas modeller

[bcawthon]

I have followed this thread with interest as I have long thought it would be fun to build a Thomas layout. Not just for the kids, but for myself. Heresy? No. I'm 57 and I play with trains, just at a more advanced level than I could have when I was a little boy because I can now do all the things that I loved about grownup model railroads.

As can be seen from the responses, there are more than a few grownup model railroaders who like Thomas themselves. And why not? Let's face it; the "layout" built for the television series is really pretty nice and any layout is a fiction, no matter how beautifully rendered or how close to prototype it is. You are simply picking the world you want to create and, as long as it fulfills your dreams and makes you happy, one is as valid as another. A friend and I built a modular layout featuring a completely made-up Old West town preserved as a tourist trap. That layout also features a recreation of some of the scenery from "Jurassic Park" and the fishing village from the "Popeye" movie. We have a first place and third place award at the national level, a Con-Cor award and a fistful of blue ribbons from GATS, so I guess it was okay. 

The Railway series locomotives are based on real English locomotives and the author of the original series was a lifelong railfan with friends who worked for the railroads. There are plenty of opportunities for operation, as Thomas and his friends fulfill a variety of roles, from yard switching to pulling mixed consists and extras. And they run on a schedule and obey (most of the time) signals.

Of course, the Sodor Railway does have more accidents than any prototype railroad could have without being bankrupted by lawsuits (even in England) and replicating all those might prove a bit hard on the motive power and rolling stock, not to mention various structures, but one needn't follow everything seen on the shows.

So go for it. Whether you build your own Island of Sodor or just run Thomas on your existing trackage, more power to you.

As for those guys at the hobby shop, if they're not proud enough of the hobby to welcome all comers, maybe they're in the wrong hobby. And if they don't welcome all customers, they're definitely in the wrong business.

[daschilling]

Like many others, I have a "model" layout, and may or may not ever run a "Thomas" on it.  It does not change that fact that "Thomas" has generated a huge amount of interest in model (or toy) railroading.  With the current trends in hobbies, ANYTHING  that helps promote model railroading as a hobby is good .  I have at least three grandchildren who are interested in having their own railroads, "Thomas" or otherwise, who probably wouldn't have given it a second thought without the influence of both "Thomas" and "Grandpa Choo-Choo's" layout.

At their ages, I put mixed freights out on the line with lots of flat cars so they can load them with things and run the trains around carrying their "freight."  Of course this might be considered sacrilege by "serious" modelers, but I've noticed a trend in the RR hobby magazines that you must "model" a particular prototype railroad as it was in one particular week of history, if not a single day, and exactly the exact trains, and sometimes, exact consists the prototype did, in order to be a serious railroad modeler.  Before we self-destruct of hobby, we should go back to "Model railroading is fun," even if MR and Kalbach publishing have abandoned th.ie idea.  Well I better get off my .

Good luck with Sodor, and I would like to see how anyone's model of Sodor turns out.    Hey why not do it in "S" gauge!

[cruikshank]

Well I'm going to try to make some side money by building and selling Thomas layouts for Christmas.  So Last night I was searching the net for the Best price and got lucky.  A local Department Store in PA Boscov's has the Thomas Clarable and Annie Deluxe set on sale for $49.  That was cheaper than anywhere else I could find.  So I picked one up and some plywood and I'm going to give it a try.  If it was for Me I would have bought James becasue he was bright red and a freight set, but I thought The Kids really know Thomas, so I'll start there.  I'll keep you posted.  I got the ply in the miscut bin at Lowes for $4 so so far I'm keeping my cost low.   Dave

[jamesbaker]

I tell you what. Every time I go into a hobby store I always look for Thomas stuff. I have not bought anything yet. Although I will be starting my collection soon.

I also know that I have bought my layout supplies and stocked up my rolling stock.  I have built and bought what "I" wanted no matter who says what!
My point is that I bought and built what I wanted and not what every one else wants.

YOU buy and build YOUR lay out.  Do as you wish, there is not limit to your rail road except those that you set.  Don't let any one else's opinion bother you man. Keep your head up and run your Thomas for all of us.

I would love to see more pictures of Thomas items.  Maybe some one should start and ALL Thomas Post!!! I know that others and my self would follow it daily.

Just my $.02
Baker

[Anonymous]

You having fun, aren't you? That's the point of the hobby.

[rtstasiak]

I always watched the Thomas episodes with my boys when they were young.  We were all amazed at the looks and performance of the UK prototypes, and I incorporated a number of Airfix and other items into my own US prototype HO model railroad.  The Thomas influence is still around because our seasonal G garden railroad is built around a wild collection of two axle engines and rolling stock with link and pin couplers. 

Thomas rules, except for when the wrecking cranes have to set him back down on the rails!

[NeO6874]

But most of the time the cause for that is the freight cars.... evil scheming freight cars....

[jeffrey-wimberly]

The troublesome trucks! Gotta love 'em.

[vsmith]

Dont know if anyone posted this...

 

More than you ever want to know about Thomas and the Isleand of Sodor

 

http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/ffarquhar.htm

 

 

[chemung]

Will the HO Thomas and two coaches make it around 15" radius? Thanks

[lvanhen]

vsmith wrote the following post at 10-24-2006 11:59 AM:

Dont know if anyone posted this...

 

More than you ever want to know about Thomas and the Isleand of Sodor

 

http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/ffarquhar.htm

 

Great link!! Thanks!!

[lvanhen]

chemung wrote the following post at 10-24-2006 6:47 PM:

Will the HO Thomas and two coaches make it around 15" radius? Thanks

Should be no problem - could probably make it on some trolley layouts!  Go ahead & buy the set!

[BRVRR]

Thomas and his pals are the best thing to happen to model railroading in many years. The TV series, books and toy trains have garnered the interest of millions of potential model railroaders for the hobby.

In my experience, HO scale is large enough for little hands and fingers. I introduced my grandson to Thomas when he was 4-years old. He had no trouble putting the locomotive or rolling stock on the rails.

My grandson's interest in model railroading was ignited by Thomas and that interest continues today, 6-years later. He lives and breaths trains.

Thomas, Anne, and Carabelle still take an occasional tour of the BRVRR and probably will as long as there are little people around the house.

Build your layout. I have thought of the same thing myself. I still might do it if I ever get a place with enough room. Think of it. A seperate island with the Sodor Railway on it. Why not?

Good luck and have fun.

[wjstix]

I'm just weighing in, new to the topic, so let me go back to the original post a bit.

The Thomas "boom" of recent years has been great for the hobby as far as I can see. Years ago kids got into trains thru Lionel or American Flyer or Marx, often building their first layout with their Dad - which often lead to a lifetime model railroad hobby for both of them !! Now it's Thomas that are getting the kids (and Dad's) working together. I know my 4-yr old granddaughter loves seeing my HO/OO Thomas on my layout, and has her own wooden / plastic trains of Thomas and Sodor.

I'm sure years ago some people at the LSHS (Local Serious Hobby Shop) snickered at adults buying Lionel or Am Flyer stuff for their family toy train layouts, but like I said above, a lot of those kids are now the "premier" scale modellers we look up to.

BTW - I'd love to see a sound equipped Thomas - even if some of the electronics had to go in an attached Annie or Clarabel !! Now with all the sound possibilities with the new generation of sound decoders, being able to have not only train sounds but a "talking Thomas" who could say hi to kids and a few other phrases would be fantastic !!

[cruikshank]

I just test ran my Bachmann HO Thomas.  I got the Deluxe set from a local Department store for $49.00  The engine surprised me and ran good out of the box, and great after a 1/2 hour burn it. His little shifty eyes even worked. Can run it slow with no problems.  I'm not as impressed by the EZ-Track.  Both Bachmann and Life-like make it in Steel Alloy and Nickle Silver.  Why in this day and age for the few cents difference do they still make steel track ?  I'm also very spoiled by Kato Unitrack.  I plan on Making an Island of Sodor layout and selling it to test the waters for such a thing.  Undecided as to whether I should keep the Bachmann track for such a venture or sell it and go with Kato or Atlas.  It ran ok on the carpet so it will probably do fine on ply and foam.  Just seems cheesey compared to Kato, but like I said I'm spoiled.  What has your out of box experience with Bachmann Thomas been ?  Thanks,  Dave

 

   Also I've never built a figure 8 layout in my life.  With the Bachmann 18" curves how many curves and what degree crossing does it take to make a figure 8 ?

[conrail92]

Persoanly I dont think that stange at all, the show itself is actualy entertaing if your a modeler yourself it might be even more, because of the scneray and things in the show.

[Train Master]

dude, dont let anyone tell you what yu can or cant use because they dont like it. my freinds dont like the music i listen to but i listen to it anyways. i like 50 aand 60s rock. btw, im only 13 and like old rock. i also like thomas

[Anonymous]

First post (after considerable lurking)

I just nabbed a bachmann digital commander twin diesel set for my almost 4 yr old crumbsnatcher (at least that's what I am telling the wife). I was thinking of a mini Sodor layout and then got more interested with the DCC conversions. The box is still wrapped up, but I am starting to learn more and more about DCC. I haven't been on model RRing since the late 70s. I believe I had a Tycho HO set, I just have a gondola car without trucks left over in my old stash of junk around the grandparent's house.

In a nutshell, I feel somewhat intimidated with the new train technology and the 'purists' who model after actual lines.  Any suggestions on getting off on the right track, pun intended?

[simon1966]

Hi Mac-Daddy, welcome out of lurk mode!

 

My first suggestion for getting off on the right track is for you to start a new thread with your questions.  You will get far more response than tacking on to the end of an old multi-page thread like this.

The idea of modelling Sodor is appealing, especially with young children, and there is nothing wrong in wanting to do that.  However, I have 2 boys, now 7 and 9 and while they love trains Thomas has long since stopped being of interest to them.  If you are going to put resources, time and effort into a layout keep an eye on the future and be able to shift away from the Thomas theme as your son inevitably grows out of it.

[gp30]

 Hi Was at a train show recently and a guy there had a small Thomas layout it was one of the more popular layouts with children and adults. It's your dollar remind the lhs of that.

August

[richg1998]

Generally society does not like people who choose to be different.

Go to

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/index.php

and click on the Bach-man forums. There is a catagory for Thomas & Friends.

You will have to copy & paste the URL. Someone told me how to set it as a hyper link but I lost the message. In these forums it is not  intuitively obvious on making a hyper link like it is in other forums. My stepson who is a programmer for many years has told me more than once, the geeks have won. Deal with it.

rich 

[Pathfinder]

Generally society does not like people who choose to be different.

Go to

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/index.php

and click on the Bach-man forums. There is a catagory for Thomas & Friends.

You will have to copy & paste the URL. Someone told me how to set it as a hyper link but I lost the message. In these forums it is not  intuitively obvious on making a hyper link like it is in other forums. My stepson who is a programmer for many years has told me more than once, the geeks have won. Deal with it.

rich 

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/index.php

That should get you there 

And here is a direct link to the Thomas part of the Bach-Man

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php?PHPSESSID=f76f7ca8e57a7659773572305c1f8c30&board=4.0

 

 

[richg1998]

Hi Trevor

I to am a family man but never any sons. Do a Yahoo or Google search for "thomas and friends" or "thomas the train". You will find may links of interest for you and your sons.

rich 

[lvanhen]

Repost:  Here is a link to the original Thomas layout

http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/ffarquhar.htm

lots of great info!

[loathar]

I've got a BIG problem with Thomas! It's on at the same time as Trains and Locomotives so I have to keep flipping back and forth!

[Metro Red Line]

If you make your Sodor "prototypical" - as in faithful to the videos/TV show, then you have all my respect.

[JFdez]

Trevor,

I truly respect what you're doing.  Given the large amount of available materials (books, videos, etc), the possibilities for Sodor layouts, whether "rivet-counting" accurate or wildly free-lanced, are endless. 

I would note that one of the best club layout I've ever seen was an adult-built, adult-run Sodor layout at no less than a National Train Show (Kansas City, more than a few years ago).  They built and "populated" this layout before Bachmann released their Thomas product line. 

Go forth and have fun!  Better yet, give the layout a "new coat of paint."

Juan

[MidlandPacific]

I think anything you can do with your children is great (I mean, maybe not ANYTHING, but you know, anything wholesome.  I wouldn't recommend daisy-chaining M-80s in the mailboxes on your street, for example.  At least, not until he's a teenager).  Some of my happiest childhood memories are of the time my dad devoted to railfanning.  I don't think he had much interest in it, but I did, and he was perfectly willing to stand at trackside for an hour or two at a time, if I wanted to.  That's what parenting is all about. 

[Lillen]

Do the Bachmann Thomas come with DCC or a DCC plug?

 

Lillen

[simon1966]

Based on the photo and the instructions for decoder installation on the TCS web site http://www.tcsdcc.com/decoderpics/thomas/Thomas.htm  I would say no.