World of Sodor

Following on from a comment in the GCR event thread; I wonder why we've never had a really big-scale "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" mega-event?

Lots of lines host their own approximations with various locos, but I've never seen a gala that's tried to represent a really large collection of Sodor's stuff. Is it just unlikely to make money? I don't know how much it would cost to cart over a dozen locos to say, Barrow Hill or the NRM for something really big. Just too impractical? But I'd have thought most of Sodor's railway stock could be fairly well approximated by visiting standard gauge stock somewhere without the need for costly repaints.

If the NRM did it, of course there's already space for Duke on the 2ft and something from the very small railway on 15"... and something on the back of a lorry from Snowdon...

I don't know what sort of cut the licence owners demand these days - but this could be a bit of a blockbuster gala for the host railway, I'd have thought.

 

Cov 1, HC1800, 47298, Jessie and Gothenburg? Sounds a decent gala lineup, that!

 

Could be the cost of the licences and percentage of gross profits charged by the licensor to the heritage line(s). In some cases the income due to the licensor is greater than that earned by the railway whilst all expenses are charged against the railway's share rather than that of the licensor.

A classic case of Killing the Golden Goose methinks hence the increasing appearance of "Peppa the Pig" and "Wallace & Gromit" events at many lines.

 

Got a suspicion a mega-Sodor gala has more value as a fun thought exercise for us grown-up losers wondering about a potential line-up than it would have for the core family audience in reality. Imagine that for non-enthusiast families the presence of Thomas alone is enough, and having the whole Sodor roster represented isn't a big enough additional draw to justify the expense involved. Plus it would be hard to sell as the 'complete' line-up as last time I looked the modern TV series seemed to have about three dozen characters (where did that 9F and Stirling Single come from??). Fun one to ponder, though. Does anyone know if the Mid-Hants Thomas takings increased significantly as a result of lashing up a 'real' James as well?

A BoCo and Bear diesel running day on the Lancs would suit me fine when the Cl.28's finished, though...

 

Probably true. In any case, a really authentic Sodor lineup would, at the very least, require an LBSCR E2. The idea of batch-building new SG steam locos for preserved lines has been floated before - I reckon a new batch of E2s would be snapped up like hot cakes!

 

That was my understanding. The Bluebell stopped doing them a few years ago because, AFAIK, the licence owners wanted a percentage of the gross takings, not the net profits. Also, they added to the cost by making certain things mandatory, one of which was requiring that any characters (The Fat Controller etc) had to be from a list of approved actors, rather than from your own volunteers. So you had to employ people who added to the bottom line cost but often knew relatively little about your railway when asked questions by the public. Whereas your own volunteers were knowledgeable about that, but often knew the Thomas stories inside out as well!

In the end, the numbers didn't stack up, especially not the risk if you had a quieter than expected event but were still expected to hand over a percentage of the gross takings. We started doing "Family Fun Days" which had most of the non-Thomas attractions, but without the additional costs or the hired in engine. Overall takings dropped a bit, but the net profit went up because the cost base was so much lower.

Given that, a mega-event is a non-starter unless the financial model has changed markedly in the intervening years. Every extra visitor you attract by laying on a spectacle (at increased cost to you) just adds to the amount you have to give the licence owner!

Out of interest, how many officially-sanctioned "Thomas" locos are there now operational on standard gauge? Have any owners of little blue 0-6-0Ts just decided to take the faces off, paint them black and have them as standard locos for hire? If I owned a suitable engine, I think I'd rather take my chances on finding a suitable railway prepared to take it on long-term hire for the year at a certain rate, than have to go gadding round from one place to another each weekend for a possibly quite limited season!

Tom

 

Plus probably have it come back at the end of the season in a poor state of repair due to the varying regimes it's encountered during it's non-stop tour as the blue one.

 

I can just about remember when the MHR managed to have Thomas, Percy, James and Diesel at one event. I think they might have had Daisy (DMU) there too?
I recall John H. Bird had a picture of Percy and James at Ropley in The Railway Magazine. IIRC the loco that was Percy became Douglas?

 

The WSR are, again, having a Thomas event over two weekends in July (5-6 and 12-13). This event is growing in popularity, hence the need to spread over the two weekends. I gather a quite acceptable profit is made. So it seems Thomas events are good news for the WSR so no complaints here!

Like other heritage railways, the railway also hosts "meet the character" days - in 2014 folks can meet Wallace and Gromit, Mike the Knight, the Octonauts, Peppa Pig and George (for the third year in a row) and Fireman Sam.

Steve
www.wsr.org.uk

 

As far as I know, the austerity converted into thomas on the MHR was recognised as being the one most faithful to the tv show character as quite a few modifications were incorporated. There have been a number of repainted industrials and jintys over the years, and last year I briefly spoke to the owner of either 'Jessie' or 'Jennifer' on the llangollen, who had recently completed the sex change by fabricating new side tanks for the loco - the saddle tank was on a flat wagon in the yard. He said it was for his retirement fund! At the time, the loco was being prepared to be shipped off to Belgium for an event.