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Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia
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Ertl Company

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The Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends ERTL models are a line of 1/64 scale die-cast models of the characters from the Railway Series and Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. The range originally consisted of only the main characters, but it eventually extended to include almost all the characters.

Overview

ERTL created their first Thomas model in 1985. It came with a sticker sheet so you could alter Thomas' face to make him have a different facial expression. That year they also released a larger, motorised version of Thomas.

Later during the year, James and Henry were released, both with a happy face. The stickers were soon replaced with fixed plastic faces.

The ERTL range has made new engines nearly every year since then, tallying up to over 100 models, until the range was replaced by Take-Along.

During the range's popularity, the ERTL company made miniature models of each engine, as well as Gold Rail models.

ERTL ceased production for the US market in 2001, and for the UK market in 2004. The model range has now been discontinued.

All packaging from 1993 to 1999 featured an illustration of the character, drawn by Owain Bell.

For a time, a keyring series was available from the miniatures. A carry case was also released to house 11 models.

Normal range

The numbers in round brackets show what number each model was on the portrait card. The numbers in the 'set' brackets, ie. { }, show what number each model was on the Shining Time card. The numbers in the square brackets show what number each model was on the cartoon card.

1985

The card of these models is mostly the same colour as the model with a white oval in the centre, containing an image of the character. The smoke cloud that normally contained "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" held the name of the character and was above the oval. A blue stripe across the bottom contained the ERTL logo and the Thomas logo.

These models came with a grey bufferbeam and sticker faces. The sticker face was the same as the face of the character's image in the oval.

Three packs of Thomas, Annie and Clarabel or Percy, Annie and Clarabel were available for a short time.

1988

1989

In 1989 the range was released in the US. There were no new models this year.

1990

1990 saw the release of new models with 3-D faces, as the original sticker-face models were prone to losing their faces.

1991

1992

A twin-pack with Donald and Douglas was briefly available in the "Shining Time" range.

1993

The ERTL brand was revamped - the UK models featured a "portrait card", while the US models featured a Shining Time Station card.

The portrait card was an image of the character towards the right hand side of the card, passing a push of flowers on the right and a mound of grass on the left. Between the character and the grass, aspects of a British village can be seen in the background. Depending on the character, there were rails, road, or water between the flowers and the grass. A collectors card appeared on the reverse side of the portrait and contained a paragraph on the character, and a paragraph of Historical Information; often containing the specifications of the real-life locomotive counterpart and when they were in service.

The Shining Time Station card is an aerial image of countryside with many fields and a few bridges. There is track coming along the left-hand side of the image which turns and comes across the card. Behind the model is a white box that joins to the typical smoke cloud and contains the model's name and sometimes a small detail. The Shining Time Station logo is situated above the image, and uses a frame to encompass most of the image. The back of the card features a large illustration on the model, with a small statement beneath about the model's character and a collectors card number to the left.

1994

1995

A special gold-plated Thomas was released to celebrate the Railway Series' 50th anniversary.

Two different portraits of George exist: one where he is similar to the model, and one where he is entirely green (as depicted in the RWS).

Culdee, Godred and "City of Truro" were marked as "Special edition engines" for the "Shining Time" range.

1996

1997

1998

This was the first year that metallic engines were released.

Bulstrode's portrait card is the only exception to the scene in the background. It is set at a dock with him tied to the right-hand side of the dock. There is a cottage, cliff face, lighthouse, and fishing charter along the left-hand side and background.

The metallic engines do not have a portrait collector's card number.

1999

The back of Bluebell's portrait card is divided in half between English and French. The same is true for the Crane and soft-side truck.

2000

These models were the last to feature the "portait card". The packaging changed to a predominately blue background with a yellow rectangle behind the model which had a red boarder. There was a face-on image of Thomas in the top left had corner with the "Thomas and Friends" smoke cloud beneath. The name of the model was found above the model, centered between the new Thomas logo and the bar on the right, which was made of five circles displaying a "T", right-hand arrow, clock, two flags, and a number "1". There was no collector card with this change.

Special packaging was used for Lady, Diesel 10, Splatter, Dodge, Thomas, Percy and Bertie to celebrate the release of "Thomas and the Magic Railroad". This packaging was similar to that of the redesign. The rectangle behind the model was a cloud-like render with a yellow-sparkle render for the background, and the bar on the right featured small cartoons of Diesel 10, Thomas, Splatter, Lady, and Dodge. An image of Thomas appeared in the bottom left corner.

2001

2002

The US had now stopped making models, but the UK were still making them.

The packaging changed again, now with the engine's name in red, a cartoon of the character in the top right-hand corner, and rails drawn under the model. The collectors card returned to this style of packaging; but had only a brief paragraph of the character's personality, not any factual historical information.

The coupling style now changed from the basic "hook and eye" style to a U-hook, believed to be sturdier and longer-lasting.

2003

The models were rescaled to TT scale.

2004

Playsets and Accessories

The track was originally made of grey plastic with rails etched into it. It was eventually replaced by green plastic with a sticker of rails on top.

  • Starter set
  • Deluxe set with branchline, water tower, crane and turntable
  • Branchline
  • Water tower
  • Crane
  • Windmill
  • Tunnel
  • Quarry
  • Crossing
  • Turntable
  • Station house
  • Real sounds
  • Construction
  • Bridge
  • 2x Straight Track
  • 2x Points Track
  • Thomas Playset, including Thomas, Percy, and two Express coaches; released 2001.
  • Skarloey with two points
  • Duncan with two points
  • Diesel with four points
  • Oliver with four curves
  • Stepney with four curves
  • Rheneas with four curves
  • Toby with four curves
  • Percy with four straights
  • Sir Handel with four straights
  • Viaduct Bridge Playset

Multipacks

A small portion of packs containing multiple different trains, vehicles, and stock were released, mostly commonly for Shining Time Station.

  • Gift Set - containing Thomas, Diesel, Scruffey and a truck (released 2002)
  • Gift Set - containing Thomas, Troublesome Trucks and a Fire Engine.
  • Three pack of Bertie, James, and Henry
  • Three pack of Thomas, Annie and Clarabel
  • Three pack of Thomas, James and Henry
  • Five pack of Thomas, Bluebell, Annie, Clarabel and Godred
  • Six pack of Thomas, Toby, Bertie, Terence, Rheneas and Duncan
  • Six pack of Thomas, Toby, Bertie, Percy, Terence and Harold
  • 'Five Piece Value Pack', including Thomas, Terence, Old Slow Coach, Derek and a carry case.

Special Edition

There have been a few special edition toys.

  • Metallic Engines set – Metallic Thomas, James and Henry
  • Metallic Engines set - Metallic Thomas, Percy, Rheneas and Duncan (released 1998)
  • Thomas with Mr. Conductor to celebrate the release of "Thomas and the Magic Railroad"
  • Melody and Motion Thomas with a wind-up Fat Controller
  • Thomas and the Chirstmas Tree Gift Set - Thomas with Christmas hat and scarf, flatbed with Christmas tree and the Fat Controller dressed as Santa
  • Christmas Thomas and grey or red "Toybox" Scruffey

Miniatures

Around 1991, ERTL started to produce several miniatures of Thomas and his friends. These versions had sticker faces and were packaged with random parts of a railway. Once all were collected, the parts formed a playset.

In later years most of the models were adapted into keyrings.

  • Thomas with station
  • Edward with water tower
  • James with signalbox
  • Percy with sheds
  • Toby with signals and sidings
  • Duck with watermill
  • Bill with part of a viaduct
  • Ben with viaduct
  • Diesel with tunnel
  • Bertie with level crossing
  • Trevor with windmill
  • Harold with airport
  • Henry
  • Mavis

There were also two playsets:

  • Four-corner set with Thomas, Annie and Clarabel
  • Six-corner set with Thomas, Trevor and the Troublesome trucks

Multipacks released for Shining Time Station include:

  • Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel
  • Thomas, James, and trucks
  • Edward, Bertie, and Trevor
  • Edward, James, and Percy

Other multipacks were:

  • Diesel, Harold, and Toby

The background imagery of these packs continued the landscape from the normal series.

A re-release of the range introduced Henry and Mavis. The new range had some changes, with 3-D faces and "Lego-like" bases. A Lego-like set included Toby and Harold

Gold Rail

ERTL also made another short-lived line in the 90's called the "Gold Rail" Series. The models had magnetic couplings and tracks. The models in this range were a bit smaller than an HO scale train, and were extremely similar to the Bandai Tecs range made in Japan. The back of the model's boxes featured the same illustration as those on the Shining Time collectors cards of the normal range

  • Thomas
  • Edward
  • Gordon
  • James
  • Percy
  • Toby
  • Bill
  • Ben
  • Annie
  • Clarabel (released 1993)
  • Truck 1
  • Truck 2
  • Harold

Playsets were also made:

Other ERTL merchandise

Motorized

By 1985, 1/32 scale models of Thomas and Percy were released with motors.

Remote Control

In 1988, a remote control Thomas was released.

Pull Back and Go!

Thomas, Percy, Toby, and, Bertie models with wind up motors were released for Shining Time Station, that could be operated by dragging the model backwards along the floor so their wheels could "wind up" and letting go to "unwind".

Wind up

A large wind up Fat Controller with large feet was released. It was commonly released with Shining Time individually, and also came with the Melody and Motion Thomas.

Bend-Ems

Under the Shining Time range Just Toys released bendable characters, under the slogan: 'Bendable, Poseable, Collectible'

  • Mr. Conductor
  • Schemer
  • Stacy
  • Didi
  • Music Band, as a five piece gift set

ERTL Collectibles

There was also an ERTL Collectibles series in 2001, which featured a 1/64 scale Ford, which appears to be the Fat Controller's car.

Trivia

  • ERTL used to sell an eight pack of collector's card.
  • In the normal series, misprints exist such as the name "George" appearing on the card of Lorry 2, "Splatter" appearing on the Magic Railroad card of Thomas, Duck put in Diesel's packaging, and Donald in package with Douglas' Nameplates on the sides and still maintaining his Number 9.
  • The Christmas Thomas and grey or red "Toybox" Scruffey were packaged under "Chad Valley" instead of ERTL.
  • Catherine has no buffers, but on the packaging she does.
  • Percy's ERTL model was used as a toy in one scene of the episode Flour Power.
  • The spiteful brakevan is just called "brakevan".
  • Bluebell and Flying Scotsman's models are just modified versions of the ERTL Thomas and Gordon models. Bluebell's prototype model was accurate and even included a driver in the cab window.
  • Bertram's name is misspelled as "Bertrum".
  • The ERTL Lady prototype was originally to be a modified ERTL Rheneas, but it was decided to use her actual shape.
  • Before he was cut from Thomas and the Magic Railroad, P. T. Boomer was set to be released as an ERTL model, under the name "Pete Boom".
  • Derek's model has a BR logo with the words "Thomas Tank" written instead of "British Railways".
  • Some Henry models have red siderods.
  • Diesel 10 is incorrectly depicted as a 1Co-Co1.
  • Smudger's model has his nameplate incorrectly placed on the sides of his coal bunkers.
  • BoCo's bufferbeam is black instead of red.

Gallery

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