Hi Dark, Ah, that makes sense, and sadly you are right. The shows my son has on DVD and those on PBS don't seem very historically accurate. Although, I'll admit they are still pretty entertaining even for adults. Thanks for the precise history of the books and shows. Now, back to gaming. :D
Cheers! On 6/10/12, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Tom. > > Actually the original thomas books were written by Reverend Raymand audry a > > vicar who was also a railway inthusiast in the late 60's, using trains from > > his model rail way and the rules of the actual 1932 south eastern British > rail company that existed at the time. > > it was first created in book form in the very early 80's, with the original > > series, (still based on Reverend Audry's books), narated by Ringo star from > > the beatles. > > Then of course, like everything else, The series got taken up by the big > cooperations who demanded more books than were written, and started writing > > their own episodes in a third series originally started in the late 1990's, > > first with Michael angeleis as narator, then with other naraters going on to > > peers brosnan. > > One of the sad things, is that Audry himself fell out severely with the > company who licensed thomas, when their stories started losing all the > historical background. For instance, one story "henry's forest" involved > Henry sitting around and looking at the forest mid trip, but Audry stated > (quite rightly), that this would not be possible under the behaviour of a > steam train at that time. This was why the name was changed to "thomas and > friends" rather than the original "thomas the tank engine" as it had been in > > the early 80's, when still based on audry's work. > > That was really the thing about the original Thomas, it was hugely > historically based. Each of the engines is modeled on a real make of > locomotive, Percy for instance is a welsh saddle tanker, and it is > distinctly set in a period of pre second world war british history, just at > > the end of the use of steam trains, when the country still had it's very > large railway companies (actually one of the best examples of companies I've > > ever seen). > > My mum often says it was Thomas that stopped me being autistic. i'd been > extremely ill when I was 1-3 due to birth complications, and was apparently > > losing a lot of interest in things, until! I was introduced to Thomas. Our > local rail preservation society even had thomas days when they'd dress up an > > actual steam engine as one of the Thomas trains, ---- which as you can > imagine is quite an experience for a child. > > indeed, I still am a share holder of some of the stock of the butterly steam > > museum, because when it was threatened with closing it was privatized, and > my parents bought me some shares because I'd got such a lot out of it (I > still remember my mum trying to explain to me at the age of four what owning > > shares in a company meant). > > So yes, thomas has been around for a good long while, it's just such a shame > > that it's completely lost it's realism, ----- not to mention Ringo star of > coourse, who for me is as much a part of Thomas as any of the engines :D. > > all the best, > > Dark. --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
