Thomas the Tank Engine: My love for the franchise and its toys

 Hey all,

I have loved Thomas the Tank Engine my whole life! I fell in love with the show as a small child. My daddy bought me a bunch of the ERTL die cast engines when he was still alive and he even taped the show on beta max! Eventually he even bought me some Thomas VHS tapes! My daddy passed away when I was a pre teen. I have maintained my love of Thomas. It is special because of my daddy, but I also genuinely love the show (esp. seasons 1-7 as this is the classic era!)

I will always love Thomas. Often, adult autistic people still love Thomas. I am an adult autistic who loves Thomas. I primarily collect ERTL Thomas diecast engines and Thomas Wooden Railway items. I have quite a collection! I even have track to set up a railway! Some of the track is official TWR track and others are non Thomas wooden track that is still compatible with the TWR line.

I have a fascination with trains and locomotives. I am not really knowledgeable about real life locomotives or how railways operate, but I love seeing trains and locomotive engines, and I love seeing pictures of them past and present. It is a stereotypical thing for autistic people to love trains, but I do and that's ok! Trains are fascinating!

What are my favorite characters, seasons and fave episode of all time of Thomas?

My favorite characters are Henry (my most fave) Gordon, Duck, Boco, Percy, Mavis, Diesel, Daisy. I like the other core characters too but these are my absolute top faves. I also really like James and I suppose Edward because he's older and wise.

My favorite season of Thomas and Friends is Season 2, and I really also like Season 5. Both are darker and grittier.

My favorite episode of all time of Thomas and Friends is one of the best of the series, and is season 1's The Flying Kipper.  

There is a HUGE online community of autistic adults that love Thomas! I follow a lot of Thomas fans on Twitter. 

Right now, I have a bunch of my wooden Thomas engines as well as my ERTL Thomas engines in clear bins in my bedroom, but I'm hoping to display them on a bookshelf sometime when I figure out where I am putting them.

The older seasons of the show were the best ones and the ones I go back to rewatch. They feel like real railway engines are on the show and the crashes are super suspenseful. The narration is also really good for the first five seasons.

Back to ERTL and Thomas Wooden Railway, I have been collecting both for years. My daddy bought me ERTL Thomas engines as a kid, and as an adult, I collect the ones I didn't have as a kid. I bought quite a few hard to find ones at the thrift store location I now work at, years before I started working there. Wooden Railway my mom has bought me quite a few engines and I've bought a few of the engines myself as well. I try to buy extra track at work when I can, but it goes really fast, even if it is Melissa and Doug brand or Brio, which is still compatible with the Wooden Railway track.

Both the Wooden Railway and ERTL engines are really well made, especially 90s and 2000s Wooden Railway, as opposed to the Wooden Railway items made by Fisher Price. Even so, the lower quality wooden railway items are still decent, I just prefer the older ones because they have more details and more charm.

As mentioned earlier, Thomas is huge for the autistic community, even autistic adults. I am freshly 35 and I will always love Thomas. It brings me joy. I'm not just a fan of the show, esp. in it's prime, but I am a collector of some of the better toys in the franchise.

curlyalicia