Thomas & Friends Multi-Level Track Set Trains & Cranes Super Tower with Thomas & Percy Engines plus Harold for Preschool Kids Ages 3+ Years, GXH09

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Sibley, Brian (2015). The Thomas the Tank Engine Man: The Life of Reverend W. Awdry (2nded.). Lion Books. ISBN 978-0-7459-7027-1.

The Storytellers". Sodor Island. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013 . Retrieved 17 February 2014.The buyer of Gullane Entertainment turned out to be HiT Entertainment and the eighth series, that aired in 2004, came with drastic changes. The episodes became more formulaic in plot with the focus on morals and education. Since the eighth series this format is still being carried out for all the following series with great success. One of the primary reasons for diverging from the original books was that many of the stories not yet used 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). Awdry complained that the new stories would be unrealistic (see Henry the Green Engine for more details). [15] Robert D. Cardona left as producer, while Britt Allcroft joined David Mitton as co-producer. Angus Wright took over as executive producer. Thomas's on-screen appearances in the TV series were developed by Britt Allcroft. The first series of 26 stories premiered in October 1984 on the ITV Network in the UK, with former Beatles drummer/vocalist Ringo Starr as storyteller. The stories were featured as segments as part of Shining Time Station in the US beginning in 1989 with Starr as the show's Mr. Conductor character. From 1991 to 1993, George Carlin replaced Starr as both the storyteller and as Mr. Conductor for Shining Time Station. Carlin also told the Thomas stories for Shining Time Station in 1995. In 1979, British television producer Britt Allcroft was producing a documentary on the Bluebell Railway, [3] [4] a heritage railway in Sussex which featured in the Railway Series book Stepney the Bluebell Engine. [9] As part of her research before filming, Allcroft read some books in The Railway Series and was highly entertained and impressed with the stories which Awdry had written, later remarking that "there was something in the stories that I felt I could develop that would connect with children. I saw a strong emotional content that would carry with little children's experiences with life." [4] Mallory, Michael (6 November 2006). "How Thomas the Tank Engine Works". Entertainment.howstuffworks.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2007 . Retrieved 1 October 2011.

Thomas appears and speaks in every episode of the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth and nineteenth series. He also appears in every episode of the ninth, sixteenth and twentieth series, despite not speaking in all of them. However, starting from Big World! Big Adventures! and the twenty second series onwards, Thomas himself takes over the role of narration, telling it from his point of view. In 2004, Robert Hartshorne took O'Donnell and Campbell's place as composer, while Ed Welch became the show's songwriter from Series 8 to The Great Discovery. Welch left after The Great Discovery. Hartshorne took his place as songwriter from Series 12 and onwards. From Day of the Diesels/2011-2016, Robert's son Peter Hartshorne helped him with the music.Thomas has been referenced, featured and parodied in popular culture. In 1988, he was parodied on ITV's Spitting Image where he was portrayed as a drunk who went "completely off the rails." [18] In 2009, he appeared in " The Official BBC Children in Need Medley" where he was voiced by Ringo Starr, who narrated the first two series of Thomas and Friends. [19] In the British comedy show Bobby Davro's TV Weekly, a spoof was created titled "Thomas the Tanked Up Engine" involving Jeremy, the pink engine. Bobby Davro provided the narration by impersonating Ringo Starr. Mark Moraghan ( UK/US narrator for Series 17–21, re-dubbed one Series 13 episode, two Series 14 episodes and two Series 15 episodes; 2013–2018) The series started production in 1984, produced by Clearwater Features Ltd. (Mitton and Cardona's company) and ITV's Central Independent Television region. [12] The series was originally shot and produced with live action models at the Clearwater in-house studio in Battersea, a suburb of London, for Series 1. Production was later relocated to Shepperton Studios, Surrey, southwest of London, for subsequent series. The use of moving models was seen at the time of the series' conception as an effective method of animating the stories. Locomotives and other vehicles were operated by radio controls, while humans and animals were static figures. Stop motion was occasionally employed for instances in which a human or animal character would move. Hand-drawn animation was used in Series 3 to create bees (as seen in the episode "Buzz Buzz").