Model Railroading on the Cheap

   Thomas the Tank Engine visited the Yardley and Hillton Railroad and brought two small coaches along with him. Are these coaches Annie and Clarabel?

The photographer was able to get some pictures of the event, here are few to enjoy.

   The Thomas train from the Island of Sodor toured several stops on the Yardley and Hillton with an all day-long adventure. Here are a couple of pages with some of the pictures we have taken of this enjoyable event. Sometimes it is hard to tell that all this is HO scale models.

   After Thomas and his train stopped at all the stations along the mainline, they headed up the branch to Hillton. Then the train turned around by backing over the ‘Y’ track at Hillton before heading back to Yardley.

   Maybe Thomas can visit the Yardley and Hillton Railroad again soon. It is good that he brought his coaches for passengers to ride in comfort.  People often like to ride a train. Young children especially like riding with Thomas after hearing the stories about him and watching his adventures on video.

   Even Grandpa enjoyed painting this old locomotive blue. He used the computer-printer-scanner to scan the side of a car get the proper colors into the computer, and then printed the new signboards on paper (for white lettering) for attaching to the coaches.

Things can get quite busy on the Y&H. Here Thomas leaves the town of Hillton after waiting for a freight train to arrive and clear the branch line track. Above we see two freight trains pulled by steam engines at Wallbridge.

Re-Visiting Thomas the Tank Engine

   The stories about little railway trains in England by Reverend Awdry  written in the 1940s with wholesome lessons about life and sharing found new values to younger generations via television and DVD videos with perky little musical tunes. I was happy to see my grandchildren entertained over 50 years later. Thomas the Tank Engine acquired popularity in the US in the 1990s about the same time as my grand boys were growing up. Grandpa made sure the boys had some Thomas trains on their train table and were able to start a collection of their favorite Thomas wooden trains.

   As the boys grew older and liked computers and video better than wooden trains they got interested in making their own videos on grandpa’s train layout in addition to their own wooden track layout. They had acquired some Thomas HO trains by Bachmann with faces and moving eyes and tried making a few of their own videos with a home digital camera, lights and a tripod. I recall them setting up collision scenes and writing script for their home-made movie. One featured Bertie the Bus. We tied a thin fishing line to Bertie and dragged him slowly through the scene with Thomas at the station:

My writings do not embrace movies so I will attempt to support these activities with still pictures:

   Some folks my age may be unfamiliar with Thomas the Tank Engine and the wooden trains and cars with magnets for couplers that are pushed around on wooden tracks by toddlers little more than 2 years old. It is amazing that this whole industry is built upon those stories of 50 years ago now entertaining this generation of youngsters via TV movies, colorful wooden trains, and even a “Day out with Thomas” that brings a genuine full size live steam 0-6-0T locomotive to our community for a weekend of fun and excitement for kids that can’t help but like trains. Grandpa & Grandma made sure their daughter and kids were able to get a ride and see the festivities under the circus tents in the spring time rain.

   These recent photos have been taken with a greater resolution camera, a reprinted bus station sign to correct for color fade and a ticket man in the British right hand drive bus. The two previous pages were done over 8 years earlier. Grandpa has been so impressed with the many hours of fun and enjoyment my boys have had with the Thomas trains and videos that I felt that I should include mention of them in my writing. He believes that if the Thomas trains are as important in their lives as my hobby and the Yardley & Hillton has been to mine — it is not time wasted. Watching my boys make movies and script for their stories has been very rewarding.   Grandpa feels that it is worth mentioning in his writings.