Tommy the Tank engine

[Tom W]

Another senseless railroad image. This time, Thomas the Tank engine was sighted travelling down the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad tracks where it was scheduled for a tour on Memorial Day Weekend. The engine was travelling alone, presumably on a shake-down run.

http://www.pbase.com/photosbytom/image/44146562/original.jpg

Thomas the Tank Engine is somewhat popular among the younger crowd, and I was a bit surprised to see it (him) when I was in the Cleveland area last week. I had intended to get some shots of the Cuyahoga Valley railroad train in action, but the regular Summer weekday schedule hadn't quite started yet when I was there last week.

[Ballen Photo]

Now THAT'S a COOL catch! :shock: Is this a real engine? I dont see any smoke or steam coming from the stack. :cool:
-Bruce

[PhotosGuy]

Neat! ;-)

[Belmondo]

Too bad you couldn't get a shot of Sir Topham Hatt or Gordon.

Perhaps the finest television show ever made...right up there with Teletubbies.

[Tom W]

Bruce - it was releasing a bit of smoke from the stack. Very little though. Not sure on the drive system.

Belmondo - I'm not tuned in to the "Teletubbies". Kind of stuck in Bugs and Friends myself. :)

Frank, all - It was cool to catch this engine. It apparently tours the country, and from what I see on the internet, there's one or two that travel around Europe or England as well.

[Skip Souza]

Great capture Tom. Our grandson is captivated by Thomas and his friends.
Thomas will be in Felton, Ca the last weekend of July and the first weekend of August. We're still working on a trip there. Glad to see that they got off the island of Sodor for awhile.

[badrotation]

We are in the process of trying to get Thomas to our railyard (where we restore/operate several steam locomotives, and do excursion runs)

We are trying to get thomas for next summer. (the live steam version as pictured above, and not the 'dummy' engine they also have, that needs to be pushed by another locomotive.)

We even have our own tank engine on site that we run all the time :)

[Ballen Photo]

We are in the process of trying to get Thomas to our railyard (where we restore/operate several steam locomotives, and do excursion runs)

You work at a Rail yard that restores steam locomotives? WOW! That's COOL! :D
Where is this located?
-Bruce

[Tom W]

Badrotation,
Where's your railroad yard? We have one operational steam engine here in Chattanooga that serves a short excursion run. It was one of the last built for use in the US and is fully functional.

Here's a shot of her pulling out of the station:

http://www.pbase.com/photosbytom/image/36847547/original.jpg

[badrotation]

http://www.mstrp.com/

Located in Owosso, MI

[Tom W]

Thanks for the info - if you need to, contact the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad through their web site:

http://www.cvsr.com/index.shtml

They might be able to assist you in securing Thomas the Tank, or at least guide you in how they got the engine available.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum also had Thomas the Tank on May 1st, so they may have some insights on booking if you need them.

See http://www.tvrail.com/

Hopefully, I'll find my way up into Michigan again so that I can visit the Steam Railroad Institute. One has to love those old steam engines.

EDIT - Just noticed from images that the Thomas the Tank engine at Tennessee Valley's 2004 event is the passive engine, not the powered one. Not sure about 2005 since those shots aren't up on their web site yet.

[Chazs]

Too bad you couldn't get a shot of Sir Topham Hatt or Gordon.

Perhaps the finest television show ever made...right up there with Teletubbies.

Yeah, but it was only great when Ringo Star was the conductor. George Carlin just never could pull it off. We still have all the videos (along with everything else ever made) with Ringo, but had to dump Carlin.