WANTED - Hornby Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends
Pete Crook
after some Hornby Thomas Engines for my son namely:
R852 James - the Red Engine
R383 Gordon - the Big Express
R382 Duck - the Great Western
prefer second hand - nothing too battered, but new considered.
I figure there bust be people out there who now have childrens who's
interest in model railways have moved on from Thomas.
Regards,
Pete
Anthony New
These are occasionally seen at swapmeets but the prices are usually
quite high - particularly for the unfavoured ones like diesel. If you
want to DIY cheaply, you can order faces as Hornby spares (they're all
different BTW) and stick them on locos and repaint them yourself:
For James, get a Triang 3F model (around £20)
For Gordon, get an old Hornby Princess (one with see-through wheels,
around £20)
For Duck, a Triang/Hornby or Hornby Pannier tank (around £15)
For my daughter I also did a Jinty tank for Thomas. Interestingly
enough, although the Current Hornby Thomas is different, Awdry's
original Thomas was a Jinty, so it's actually closer than the Hornby
one!
Anthony
The biggest problem today is that people don't recognise
a reductio ad absurdam when they see one.
--------------------------------------------
Swap "no junk" with "co uk" for e-mail reply
Mark Fielder
> For my daughter I also did a Jinty tank for Thomas. Interestingly
> enough, although the Current Hornby Thomas is different, Awdry's
> original Thomas was a Jinty, so it's actually closer than the Hornby
> one!
I can't believe I've actually looked this up, but in the original 1946 book
with the C. Reginald Dalby illustrations, Thomas is definitely not a Jinty.
The footplate is curved at either end and the cab, tanks and bunker are
different. More like the E2 which Hornby use as a basis.
Maybe you have a coarse scale Thomas where just getting the chimney in front
of the cab is a real achievment?
I'll get me coat!
Mark.
Mark Fielder
John Sullivan
sgrifenodd Pete Crook <li...@the-crooks.co.uk>
>I realise this is not the usual level of request on the news group but I'm
>after some Hornby Thomas Engines for my son namely:
>
> R852 James - the Red Engine
> R383 Gordon - the Big Express
> R382 Duck - the Great Western
>
>prefer second hand - nothing too battered, but new considered.
>
>I figure there bust be people out there who now have childrens who's
>interest in model railways have moved on from Thomas.
>
>Regards,
>
>Pete
>
>
>
>
It is Hornby R.351, bought a long time ago from Hobbytime of West
Wickham (before they went bust, obviously). The copyright date on the
packaging is 1984.
The thing I want to point out is that this loco has a sprung rear
coupled axle, with "hinged" coupling rods (actually there are two
coupling rods on each side, coupling two wheels each). The centre
drivers are flanged and have traction tyres, and pickup is from the
other four wheels. I have no idea what the body looks like, except that
it is not a Jinty.
Yes - Hornby, in the 1980s with springing. They could do it then on what
is obviously a toy aimed at younger children, why can't they do it now
for other models?
--
John Sullivan
-------------
Die dulci fruimini, o vos omnes!
remove the dots from the first three (Welsh) words for my real address
Andrew J Grantham
There is a book by Rev Awdry on the history of the island and railways of
Sodor. That says Thomas is a loco from somewhere in the south east, but I
don't remeber exactly what. I think the idea was that he went up to Sodor
in WWI, and stayed afterwards.
I think it's time I got out more....
--
Andrew Grantham Pembroke College, Cambridge
Bill Bedford
>
> For my daughter I also did a Jinty tank for Thomas. Interestingly
> enough, although the Current Hornby Thomas is different, Awdry's
> original Thomas was a Jinty, so it's actually closer than the Hornby
> one!
That can't be right -- Thonas never had a Keyhole in the tanks..........
I just happen to have one of the original books here and Thomas does
look a lot like a Brighton E1
--
"It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever," he
said. "Have you thought of going into teaching?"
Bill Bedford mailto:bi...@mousa.demon.co.uk
Anthony New
>
> Anthony New <a...@wsi.no.junk> wrote:
>
> >
> > For my daughter I also did a Jinty tank for Thomas. Interestingly
> > enough, although the Current Hornby Thomas is different, Awdry's
> > original Thomas was a Jinty, so it's actually closer than the Hornby
> > one!
>
> That can't be right -- Thonas never had a Keyhole in the tanks..........
>
> I just happen to have one of the original books here and Thomas does
> look a lot like a Brighton E1
>
I was referring to Awdry's original model, not the books, but it is
possible I have been misinformed. In any case, since many of the
children refer to any green loco with a tender as "Edward" and a blue
one as "Gordon", I don't feel it matters much!
> --
> "It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever," he
> said. "Have you thought of going into teaching?"
"Or better still, teaching in a teacher training college."
>
> Bill Bedford mailto:bi...@mousa.demon.co.uk
--
Mick Bryan
Anthony New wrote in message <388C49...@wsi.no.junk>...
>Bill Bedford wrote:
>>
>> Anthony New <a...@wsi.no.junk> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > For my daughter I also did a Jinty tank for Thomas. Interestingly
>> > enough, although the Current Hornby Thomas is different, Awdry's
>> > original Thomas was a Jinty, so it's actually closer than the Hornby
>> > one!
>>
>> That can't be right -- Thonas never had a Keyhole in the tanks..........
>>
>> I just happen to have one of the original books here and Thomas does
>> look a lot like a Brighton E1
>>
>
>I was referring to Awdry's original model, not the books, but it is
>possible I have been misinformed. In any case, since many of the
>children refer to any green loco with a tender as "Edward" and a blue
>one as "Gordon", I don't feel it matters much!
>
>--
>Anthony
Henry is the green one with a tender, Edward is the inside cylindered blue
4-4-0 and James is the red 2-6-0 (SR N Class or similar) and Thomas is an
E2, with the characteristic small steps in the running plate front and back.
Mick
Anthony New
Sounds like the SSPP chassis. Still had coarse wheels, though!
For those of us who haven't yet managed to get our baseboard / track
joints ideally synchronised, coarse wheels definitely are a benefit to
running. Testing a layout under construction the other day, I found my
Bachmann Warship continually derailed over joints the Black 5 (an
conversion from an old Triang-Hornby Princess) traversed happily . . .
Michael Coldsmith Briggs III
> >Anthony
>
> Henry is the green one with a tender, Edward is the inside cylindered blue
> 4-4-0 and James is the red 2-6-0 (SR N Class or similar) and Thomas is an
> E2, with the characteristic small steps in the running plate front and
back.
>
> Mick
Henry was as far as I am aware, something akin to a Great Central 4-4-2
(but in a 4-6-0 arrangement) but came out from Crewe (after the incident
with the airborne smoked herring) looking more like a LMS mixed traffic
4-6-0
Chris Brown
<mi...@bryan20.freeserve.co.uk> writes
>
>Anthony New wrote in message <388C49...@wsi.no.junk>...
>>Bill Bedford wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> That can't be right -- Thonas never had a Keyhole in the tanks..........
>>>
>>> I just happen to have one of the original books here and Thomas does
>>> look a lot like a Brighton E1
>>>
>>
>>I was referring to Awdry's original model, not the books, but it is
>>possible I have been misinformed. In any case, since many of the
>>children refer to any green loco with a tender as "Edward" and a blue
>>one as "Gordon", I don't feel it matters much!
>>
>
>Henry is the green one with a tender, Edward is the inside cylindered blue
>4-4-0 and James is the red 2-6-0 (SR N Class or similar) and Thomas is an
>E2, with the characteristic small steps in the running plate front and back.
>
>Mick
The authority on all these questions is "The Island of Sodor, Its
People, History and Railways" by the Rev Awdry.
Thomas is definitely an E2, Edward is thought to be a much reworked
Sharp Stewart "large Seagull" obtained from the Furness Railway. James
is recorded as a L&Y Hughes class 28 experimentally altered with a pair
of leading wheels to counter a nose heavy tendency. There is also a
discussion of the mystery of the two Henrys, which confirms that the
second engine was indeed a Stanier class 5MT, the earlier having a
Pacific wheel arrangement.
My N-gauge Thomas was a Graham Farish "standard" tank, with the tanks
extended with milliput.
--
CB
Bill Bedford
> Anthony New wrote in message <388C49...@wsi.no.junk>...
> >I was referring to Awdry's original model, not the books, but it is
> >possible I have been misinformed. In any case, since many of the
> >children refer to any green loco with a tender as "Edward" and a blue
> >one as "Gordon", I don't feel it matters much!
Did Awdry have models that the drawings were based on?
If so they seem a umm 'eclectic' selection
I seem to remember something about the original illustrator being shown
a photo of a GN atlantic as the model for Henry and not beliving locos
could be ;ike that so he drew it (him?) as a 4-6-0
> Henry is the green one with a tender, Edward is the inside cylindered blue
> 4-4-0 and James is the red 2-6-0 (SR N Class or similar) and Thomas is an
> E2, with the characteristic small steps in the running plate front and back.
Edward is a Furness 4-4-0
James is either G&SWR or GS&WR -- not really alot of inside cylinded
2-6-0s to choosw from.
--
"Luck is my middle name," he said, indistinctly. "Mind you, my first
name is Bad."
Bill Bedford mailto:bi...@mousa.demon.co.uk
Anthony New
>
> Anthony New wrote in message <388C49...@wsi.no.junk>...
> >>
> >> Anthony New <a...@wsi.no.junk> wrote:
> >>
> >> >
> >> > For my daughter I also did a Jinty tank for Thomas. Interestingly
> >> > enough, although the Current Hornby Thomas is different, Awdry's
> >> > original Thomas was a Jinty, so it's actually closer than the Hornby
> >> > one!
> >>
> >>
> >> I just happen to have one of the original books here and Thomas does
> >> look a lot like a Brighton E1
> >>
> >
> >possible I have been misinformed. In any case, since many of the
> >children refer to any green loco with a tender as "Edward" and a blue
> >one as "Gordon", I don't feel it matters much!
> >
>
> >Anthony
>
> Henry is the green one with a tender, Edward is the inside cylindered blue
> 4-4-0 and James is the red 2-6-0 (SR N Class or similar) and Thomas is an
> E2, with the characteristic small steps in the running plate front and back.
>
Of course. I can only have been suffering from a momentary brain-fade
brought on by staring at a computer screen too long.
--
Tim Hammond
Tank Engine & Friends.
In 1989 I had a long period of correspondence with the Rev. Awdry about
the origins of each of the characters in his books and I kept his
letters. At the time I was writing an article on his own modelling for
the TCS and was curious to know what models he had used when recreating
his book characters on his exhibition layouts. In some cases the
illustrator was given models to work from.
I can confirm that James was based on a G&SWR Drummond 2-6-0. His first
Thomas was a Stewart Reidpath model and I seem to remember having a
Reidpath 0-6-0T in Southern livery at one time. On Awdry's layouts this
was replaced, first by a Jinty and then, later, a repainted Hornby LBSC
E2.
My full article on the origins of the Rev. Awdry's characters was
published in the Train Collectors Society Newsletter No.63. This gives
a very full account. Some of this information is contained in the
second part of my article on the Hornby Thomas Series in the January
2000 issue of Model Railway Collector.
Pat Hammond
In article <1e4xnr1.exh2271m2yv9aN%bil...@mousa.demon.co.uk>, Bill
Bedford <bil...@mousa.demon.co.uk> writes
>Mick Bryan <mi...@bryan20.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Anthony New wrote in message <388C49...@wsi.no.junk>...
>
>> >I was referring to Awdry's original model, not the books, but it is
>> >possible I have been misinformed. In any case, since many of the
>> >children refer to any green loco with a tender as "Edward" and a blue
>> >one as "Gordon", I don't feel it matters much!
>
>Did Awdry have models that the drawings were based on?
>
>If so they seem a umm 'eclectic' selection
>
>I seem to remember something about the original illustrator being shown
>a photo of a GN atlantic as the model for Henry and not beliving locos
>could be ;ike that so he drew it (him?) as a 4-6-0
>
>> Henry is the green one with a tender, Edward is the inside cylindered blue
>> 4-4-0 and James is the red 2-6-0 (SR N Class or similar) and Thomas is an
>> E2, with the characteristic small steps in the running plate front and back.
>
>Edward is a Furness 4-4-0
>James is either G&SWR or GS&WR -- not really alot of inside cylinded
>2-6-0s to choosw from.
>
--
Hammond Publishing - Magazine Editing, Web Design, Photographic Services,
Articles in Railway Modelling and Collecting.
Tel/Fax: 01723 506326 Address: PO Box 199, Scarborough, YO11 3GT.
http://www.mremag.demon.co.uk/hpsite - Great new online model railway magazine
http://www.mremag.demon.co.uk/mre - The MRE support site managed by Hammond
Publishing.
Andrew J Grantham
http://www.itstoys.com/thebeginning.html
has a briefy history of The Railway Series.
Personally I prefered Ivor :)
Chris Brown
<T...@mremag.demon.co.uk> writes
>I was interested to read the newsgroups correspondence on Thomas the
>Tank Engine & Friends.
>
>In 1989 I had a long period of correspondence with the Rev. Awdry about
>the origins of each of the characters in his books and I kept his
>letters.
>I can confirm that James was based on a G&SWR Drummond 2-6-0.
Interesting.
Rev Awdry's own book describing James as an experimental Hughes engine
from the L&Y was published in 1987. Does anyone know of a later edition
of the book (The island of Sodor) which might have changed this?
My N-scale James was to have had the body of a Farish 2P with new
splashers, the 4-4-0 chassis becoming Edward using a Langley "Director"
body kit. The worst job of all this conversion was getting "Ffarquhar
Quarry Company" along the side of a Drewry Shunter for "Mavis", closely
followed by painting her eyelashes on.
--
Chris Brown