Toy Review: Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends

A Resurgence in Popularity of an Old Favorite

I'm not sure I really understand the recent surge in popularity of the Thomas the Tank Engine series but now it seems to be everywhere. Maybe that's because I have a three year old son who lives for these trains and their accessories. He studies the catalogs containing dozens of trains personified. Every engine, coach, caboose and associated modes of transport such as a bus and helicopter have a name and a personality. It seems odd to me this series is so popular since many of these kids growing up today who are fascinated with it will never realistically be able to work the trains as a profession or possibly even ever ride a train in the future. I suppose there is just an inherent appeal to the world of trains and Thomas and Friends fills the bill.

Thomas started out as simple little wooden train engines and coaches that the child pushed around on a simple wood track. Each train car has a magnet on each end with opposing polarity so that they can be easily coupled in any combination desired. These toys go back 50 years to a time when they would seem to have been more relevant. Nothing fancy… just little wooden trains.

Today the series has morphed into a whole world of marketing mania that includes die cast versions, battery powered variants and complete track and scenery sets. There's Thomas and Friends VHS and DVD movies with dozens of stories taken from the pages of the books written many years ago by the original author Reverend Wilbert Awdry who wanted to share his love of trains with his son.

Some of the Thomas trains are now being released as "60th anniversary" versions in an attempt to give them collector appeal. These are generally the original wooden type given some spiffy paint jobs to make them look more special than standard regulation.