Day Out With Thomas is a trade name, licensed by HiT Entertainment, for tourist events that take place on heritage railways and feature one or more engines decorated to look like characters from the children's TV Show, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.
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History
The Nene Valley Railway at Peterborough in England was the first railway in the world to possess a full-scale replica Thomas. This was an industrial tank engine built by Hudswell Clarke in 1947, that has been nicknamed "Thomas" due to its bright blue livery and resemblance to the famous tank engine. In 1971 the Rev. W. Awdry made the name official. Later HiT Entertainment tried unsuccessfully to sue the Nene Valley Railway claiming that this loco was breaching their trademark. However, as the name was given by the Rev. Awdry it has been allowed to remain. However, this "Thomas" does not come under or cannot be used for any HiT Entertainment's "Day Out With Thomas" events.
Since then other tank engines around the world have been dressed up as Thomas. Some heritage railways, most notably the Strasburg Rail Road and Mid Hants Railway, built working locomotives from original engines producing operational replicas of the characters. This caused some controversy among train preservationists who claimed it disfigured historic locomotives and trivialized the preservation movement. However, those in favor claimed the new projects would draw much-needed visitors and would help rekindle interest in steam engines and historical train travel with young children. Since then, railways experienced an increase of income with appearance fees for "Thomases" to railways that do not have a Thomas replica of their own.
From 2008 onwards, many heritage railways in the UK have withdrawn their "Day Out With Thomas" events due to HiT's revised licensing conditions, which includes the requirement for enhanced criminal records (CRB) checks on all the railway's staff and volunteers. However, the "Day Out With Thomas" events have thrived in the United States and Canada.
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Events by country
Australia
In Australia, several railways have hosted Day Out With Thomas events: in New South Wales the Zig Zag Railway, Lithgow, and the NSW Rail Transport Museum, Thirlmere; in Queensland, the Workshop Rail Museum; and in Victoria the Puffing Billy Railway and the Bellarine Railway.
Netherlands
In the Netherlands annually these events are held at the Simpelveld railway and at Het Spoorweg Museum in Utrecht.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, Mainline Steam's Bagnall tank locomotive has appeared as Thomas on a number of different locations, including at the Britomart Transport Centre in Auckland and has also appeared at the extremely popular biannual "Day out with Thomas the Tank Engine" weekends at the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, south of Auckland.
United Kingdom
Many heritage railways have hosted Day Out With Thomas events; some feature just Thomas himself, and others, such as the Watercress Line, Llangollen Railway, and Spa Valley Railway, feature other dressed-up engines. In Scotland, the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway, Caledonian Railway (Brechin) all host Day Out With Thomas events. As a result of the licensing cost and other demands made by HiT, some railways have replaced their Thomas events with similar ones which also feature engines with faces. For example, the East Lancashire Railway has created "Jimmy the Jinty".
UK Lines that still hold events
Buckinghamshire Railway Centre
Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway
Caledonian Railway
Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway
Colne Valley Railway
Dean Forest Railway
Didcot Railway Centre
East Lancashire Railway
Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
Kent & East Sussex Railway
Kirklees Light Railway
Llangollen Railway
Mid-Hants Railway
Nene Valley Railway
North Norfolk Railway
South Devon Railway
Spa Valley Railway
North Tyneside Steam Railway
East Anglian Railway Museum
Eastleigh Lakeside Steam Railway
UK Lines that no longer hold events
National Railway Museum
Battlefield Line Railway
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
Midland Railway Centre
Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway
Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway
Severn Valley Railway
Churnet Valley Railway
Telford Steam Railway
Wensleydale Railway
Elsecar Heritage Railway
Swanage Railway
Great Central Railway
East Somerset Railway
Gwili Railway
Barry Island Railway
Great Central Railway (Nottingham)
West Somerset Railway
Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway
United States and Canada
In the United States there are seven traveling Thomas engines: one that is a "real" steam locomotive and the other six that are dummies. All were built or rebuilt by the Strasburg Rail Road. The dummy engines usually consist of a steam or diesel locomotive operated as a pusher, with an unpowered Thomas engine at the opposite end. Thomas's whistle is powered by the train's compressed air system. Two are narrow gauge which one has a permanent home operating at Edaville Family Theme Park Thomas Land USA, while the other five are standard gauge. While in transit between events, Thomas' face is covered. Both standard gauge and the one narrow gauge replicas are transported from location to location via flatbed truck. Thomas appears in full dress at Day Out With Thomas events hosted by railroads in arrangement with HiT Entertainment. Many of the larger railroad museums and tourist railroads across the United States host Day out with Thomas events periodically. The same trains are also used for the three Canadian events (in BC, Alberta and Ontario). The National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin was the first railroad museum in the United States to host a "Day Out With Thomas" event, unveiling a small Thomas replica in December 1996, in September 2014 a full-scale unpowered replica of Percy has also been built.
Japan
Japan's Oigawa Railway started running Thomas events in 2014. the C11-type steam locomotive (No. 227) was decorated as Thomas. Alongide a JNR Class 9600 engine was decorated as Hiro and was displayed at the station yard of Senzu Station and a diesel locomotive that was decorated as Rusty.
In 2015, the JNR Class 56 (No. 44) was decorated as James and operated its own trains alongside Thomas. Also for 2015, a JNR Steam Locomotive that no longer operated on the railway was turned into a Percy replica and sits alongside the Class 9600 that is decorated as Hiro.
In 2016, a red bus, decorated into Bertie, was introduced alongside the Troublesome Trucks, which are pulled by the Rusty replica.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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