Thomas pulls in at station to greet youngsters
THOMAS the tank engine was on hand to greet children and parents when they visited him in Winchcombe.
The blue train was at Winchcombe station to entertain fans of the children's tale.
A creation of the late Reverend Wilbert Awdry, the tank engine took over the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway during a Day Out with Thomas.
Organiser Andy Smith said he had been avid Thomas fan since he was a youngster.
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He said: "Visitors managed to see many of the extraordinary Thomas and friends stories being acted out for real.
"For instance, when Thomas feels unwell, the Fat Controller will investigate." Not all children were left amused though, as the train failed to pull into Cheltenham Racecourse station as expected.
Baden Russell took his grandchildren to the Cheltenham station only to be disappointed by news that Thomas would not be turning up because it was "ill".
He ended up taking them to the Evesham park instead.
He said: "On hearing the news on arrival at the ticket office, a number of children were distressed and left disappointed.
"They wished to ride with Thomas as advertised, and not just view him in a stationary capacity."
Comments
by TIMONLINE2010
Monday, September 24 2012, 2:07PM
“Abolustely Jane - it was a great day and with lots going on and a great opportunity for children to go inside the engines including Thomas and Diesel, although our 3.5 and 2 year olds were somewhat nervous and our 3.5 year old said "I don't like Thomas - he's too big and noisy"!”
by janeinsitting
Monday, September 24 2012, 1:09PM
“Actually, in my opinion, Thomas being at Winchombe station the whole day meant all the children (including my 3 year old) could stand on the foot plate or at the front and have photos actually with Thomas; as opposed to just seeing him pull a train. He was constantly moving in and out of Winchombe station the whole day and everyone I spoke to had a fantastic day.”
by janeinsitting
Monday, September 24 2012, 1:07PM
“Actually, in my opinion, Thomas being at Winchombe station the whole day meant all the children (including my 3 year old) could stand on the foot plate or at the front and have photos actually with Thomas; as opposed to just seeing him pull a train. He was constantly moving in and out of Winchombe station the whole day and everyone I spoke to had a fantastic day.”
by AndySmith
Monday, September 24 2012, 12:29PM
“As the event organiser we do apologise that people weren't able to ride behind Thomas as advertised, however safety on the GWR is the number one priority and therefore if an engine, be it Thomas or any other loco, has a fault which leads to a risk of a major failure on the line, we will never take that risk of releasing the loco into service. We amended the plans to make Thomas as accessible as possible at Winchcombe during both days and spoke with as many parents and children as we could over the very busy weekend and everyone of them said they had a great time and particularly enjoyed being able to get up really close to Thomas and even climb up onto the engine .”
by TIMONLINE2010
Monday, September 24 2012, 10:33AM
“it was a little disappointing that Thomas was 'ill' but there was nothing to stop people travelling to see him in Winchcombe (all part of the day) where most of the activities were happening later in the day and it gave the opportunity to go on-board.”