Leicester Mercury - William Middleton

I came across this article quite a while ago but completely forgot to post it here. The title incorrectly proclaims that William Middleton was the first to illustrate Thomas the Tank Engine but, as well all know, this was actually done by Reginald Payne. You can read our previous article on him here. 

ThomasTankCollectables Archives 2014

Rev T Robin Martin wrote into the Leicester Mercury to share a lovely little anecdote involving the highly mysterious artist William Middleton. Unfortunately very little is know about William Middleton or his successor Reginald Payne. Each of them illustrated books that were improved by C. Reginald Dalby shortly after publication. Furthermore they were not credited for the illustrations they provided. Nicholas Jones, producer of "The Thomas the Tank Engine Man" Bookmark documentary (1995), told me that they tried to research both Mr. Payne and Mr. Middleton to no avail. 

Anyway the anecdote shared by Rev T Robin Martin is provided below, thanks to the Leicester Mercury. 

"My uncle, the late Gordon Tipping, whom many will remember as the dapper station master at Rothley, Loughborough Central and the first station master at Leicester North, told me the following story.The very first illustrator of the Thomas the Tank Engines stories was a William (Bill) Middleton, had his studio from before the war and into the 1950s on Halford Street." 

He is of course referring to the Railway Series here, William Middleton only provided illustrations for The Three Railway Engines, which did not feature Thomas the Tank Engine.

"As he was my grandfather's friend, I knew him as 'Uncle Bill' and remember visiting his place of work on upper floors, over a shop, about halfway down from Dunn's hat shop, now a Café Nero. Bill was given the job of the drawings for The Three Railway Engines and Thomas, but, as he thought stories of what were, by then, dirty old locomotives would not be a success, he didn't try very hard over the illustrations." 

Again, Thomas did not feature in this book! 

"I remember them, as my younger cousin Henry had the very first in the series and I read them. The locomotives were somewhat crudely illustrated, with flat faces on the smoke box doors. The stories were, of course, a great success, so Ward Locke, dissatisfied with Bill's attempts, gave the commission to whom I now know to have been Reggie Dalby. This was for the subsequent books and reprints of the earlier ones. If anyone still has a first edition illustrated by Bill Middleton, they will see what I mean."

The commission was in fact given to Reginald Payne for the next book Thomas the Tank Engine (1946). Reginald Payne was not available to illustrate the next book (James the Red Engine), this is the point at which C. Reginald Dalby was employed. 

This anecdote gives us a tantalising insight into the man we all know so little about. It would be great to see a picture of William Middleton or find out some more about him. 

You can read the full article on the Leicester Mercury website here: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/city-artist-illustrate-thomas-tank-engine/story-26820311-detail/story.html 

You can see the original illustrations of the Three Railway Engines by William Middleton on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtGilLqROo3vASDVWeJ_EVR6W8r89RtiF 

You can read our original blog post on William Middleton  here: http://thomastankcollectablesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/the-three-railway-engines-william.html 

If you have any corrections or comments, please feel free to comment below or send us an email: thomastankcollectables@hotmail.co.uk

Thomas the Tank Engine VHS Collection Update

Since my complete VHS collection back in March I have managed to acquire a few more videos for my ever expanding collection. You can read the blog post about the previous video here. This post will be having a closer look at the videos featured in the latest collection update. 

Experienced collectors will have been able to work out almost every VHS featured in the update from the promo released yesterday. Did you work it out?

Tomica World Videos 

Most of you will remember the days long before Trackmaster when TOMY produced sets under the "Tomica World" name. At this time you could get generic trains and vehicles alongside the normal Thomas and Friends range we are familiar with today. The videos were released as promotional items in boxes that featured a 'Free Video' sticker as seen in the pictures below. 

Picture credit: eBay

Picture credit: eBay

The Thomas Adventure set appears to be the most common one to feature the video and, correct me if I am wrong, but I believe I have seen sets featuring a blue sticker. I assume the colour of the sticker corresponds to the colour on the label of the video, as you will see below.

First release (Red Label) VHS 0619

The first video has Mr. Tomica (Mr. T) giving a tour of Tomica World, including a look at Thomas and Friends, regular Tomica World trains, quizzes, and rail safety tips. The video also includes one song and first season episode.

• Thomas Anthem
• Thomas and Bertie

Picture credit: ThomasTankCollectables

Second release (Blue Label) VHS 0700

In the second video, Mr. T brings a boy named Kevin (David in the US version) to look and play around Tomica World. The video includes footage of real trains in action plus one Thomas song:

• Thomas Anthem

Picture credit: ThomasTankCollectables

Information thanks to the Thomas Wikia. You can watch the contents of the TOMY videos on YouTube, VHS 0619 and VHS 0700 (US version). 

Thomas Video Collection VCI1636

This video will have been released as a free video back in 2002. However other than the Chad Valley logo we do not have any clues as to which set it would have been released with. If anyone has any pictures of the exact set it was released with, please send your pictures in to thomastankcollectables@hotmail.co.uk or message us via Facebook/twitter. 

Picture credit: ThomasTankCollectables

My guess is that this would have been released with an ERTL set because Chad Valley produced a few ERTL sets around that time, such as the examples below. 

Picture credit: eBay

Picture credit: eBay

The second ERTL set above included a free video, however the video did not feature the Chad Valley logo. Pictures of the video found in the set above can be found on the Wikia.

The episodes featured on the Thomas Video Collection video (more commonly referred to as the 'Chad Valley Video') are as follows: 

1. Thomas, Percy and the Coal
2. Toby and the Flood
3. Edward's Exploit
4. Henry's Forest
5. Donald's Duck

My Little Volume 1 - Treat Size tapes VCI1653

Now for the pièce de résistance of the update video. This video box set was released in 2002 by the Video Collection. We are all familiar with the 'My Little' video series that originated in the mid 1990s. This title continued into the early 2000s, but I have never seen them as a collection like this before. 

Picture credit: ThomasTankCollectables

The copy I have acquired is still packaged so unfortunately I cannot reveal if there are any differences in the packaging of the videos inside. I thought that they may not have individual bar codes as they have been released as a set in this instance. The videos included in this box set are: 

1. Thomas and Percy Adventures
2. Thomas and Bertie Adventures
3. Thomas and Toby Adventures

Interestingly the front of the box says 'Volume 1', was there ever a Volume 2? It does seem unlikely because there was only ever four videos in this set anyway, not enough to make another box set. Nevertheless this is an excellent addition to my collection and a box-set that I have never come across before. 

A previously unseen box set was also featured in the complete VHS collection video, the Peep! Peep! Party gift set featuring a block puzzle set. See the full video below. 

As always thank you for reading and please e-mail or message if you have any correction(s) or extra information that I have not provided above. 

thomastankcollectables@hotmail.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/ThomasTankCollectables/

https://twitter.com/TTCollectables 

Thomas the Tank Engine - Vintage View-Master

Since the debut of the TV series back in 1984 various deleted scenes and rare stills have emerged from a wide array of sources, including books, magazines, posters and all sorts of miscellaneous merchandise. The View-Master reels are no exception - they include an intriguing selection of unusual images from the first and second series. In addition to the actual reels themselves, the boxes (top 1984, bottom 1990) are covered in colourful images from the classic series. 

ThomasTankCollectables Archive 2016

View-Master allows the viewer to see a 3D image. The images are composed of two separate images, one showing the left perspective and the other right. These culminate to produce a seemingly three dimensional picture. When viewed through an actual View-Master you can see the depth of the picture, however this affect is not captured when photographed. 

We have gone through the reels provided in the two View-Master sets above and two separate packs of reels, pictured below. In order to capture what is featured on the reels a digital camera was set up, looking through one of the two eye-pieces. Unfortunately some of the images appear distorted, however most of them are of good quality. You can judge for yourself, by watching the video below! 

ThomasTankCollectables Archive 2016 

We do not have all of the View-Master reels available from that time (1984-1986), but there is a good selection of them shown on the video. Please feel free to comment below, or get in touch via e-mail. Please do not use any of the images made available without seeking permission. 

Read more: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View-Master 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscope

http://www.view-master.com/en-us

The Mysteries of Merit - The Forgotten Brand

Many of you will be familiar with Merit, after all it was, along with ERTL, one of the first brands to manufacture Thomas the Tank Engine merchandise. That said there is little known about this mysterious brand of the 1980s and all that exists is the toys! A follower of ThomasTankCollectables, Mike Jones got in touch and sent us pictures of his extensive collection of Merit merchandise. 

Picture: Mike Jones

Some of the items here you may recognise from our video of the 'Merit Big Big Set', in addition to that set Mike has also got a smaller scale set, Percy and some interesting rolling stock. 

Note that once again the set is dated 1983.

Picture: ThomasTankCollectables

We have established where Percy and the yellow truck came from, as you will see in the leaflet below. However we have yet to find how Annie and Clarabel were released.  

Picture: Mike Jones

As you can see the blue and yellow troublesome trucks came with the Percy set featured in the bottom right. There was also an orange troublesome truck released with the pull-along Percy. As for the boxed pull along Percy, Mike has one of those as well! 

Picture: Mike Jones

This was where Mike found the leaflet shown above. Note the date above the 'Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends' logo - 1983. Hence why it is believed Merit were the first manufacturers to produce 'Thomas' merchandise. Is there a Thomas one of those? 

Picture: Found on eBay (ThomasTankCollectables) 

This one is slightly different to Percy, in that Thomas is a shape sorter toy. The Thomas for the Big Big Set also has shape spaces, clearly left over. It seems they just added a motor and a battery compartment for the motorised version. 

Picture: ThomasTankCollectables (Thomas Magazine, Issue No.1, 1987) 

Here you can see that that battery powered Thomas released with the Big Big Set was also released as a pull-along version, as was Thomas with Annie and Clarabel. Note that both engines have spaces to insert shapes despite not being provided with shapes to put in! 

As for the smaller scale Thomas set, we have pictures of that as well. 

Pictures: Top/R: Ricky (@ThomasTankMerch), L: found on eBay (ThomasTankCollectables)

To the best of our knowledge there was only ever one set like this produced, again dated 1983. However Thomas with Annie and Clarabel was also released separately. 

Picture: ThomasTankCollectables

This Thomas is exactly the same as the Thomas released with the previous train set. Note the customised logo on the front and the interesting box art! 

If anyone wants an alternative form of transport: 

Picture: Found on eBay (ThomasTankCollectables) 

Note the logo missing the '& Friends' and 'Based on the Railway Series by the Rev. W.Awdry'. 

This baby walker Thomas comes with a Troublesome Truck. This is the only time this has been found with a truck. Aside from the truck, Thomas appears the same as above. 

Picture: ThomasTankCollectables (Thomas Magazine, Issue No.1, 1987)

Merit were potentially taken over by ERTL, but this is just an observation. 

Picture: ThomasTankColletables

This is a page from the ERTL catalogue of 1993, given to shop owners in the UK. Clearly the models featured here are very similar to those released by Merit in the 1980s. These toys are not featured in the ERTL catalgue of the previous year, 1992. Perhaps Merit were dormant after the 1980s and later bought by ERTL. But this is just speculation. 

The Thomas, Percy and Toby models with rolling stock are very saimilar to models that were relesed under the name of 'Nylint' in America. These have also been seen in Shining Time ERTL packaging, clearly suggesting a link between Merit (possibly called Nylint in America) and ERTL. 

All of the sets features here show a Union Jack and say they were made in Great Britain.

Argos 

Argos appear to have been quick in adopting the Merit range as indicated by the clippings below. The first set to appear in Argos was the small scale set in the Autumn/Winter 1985 catalogue. This set was joined a couple of months later by the pull-along shape-sorter Thomas in Spring/Summer 1986. By Autumn/Winter of that year the small scale set had already been retired and was replaced by the Merit Big Big Set. This set remained for sale in subsequent catalogues until Spring/Summer 1989. The baby walker joined to form a trio in Spring/Summer 1988 and was the final Merit item left for sale by Autumn/Winter 1989. Further catalogues no longer feature Merit items. 

Argos Catalogue Clippings:Prepared by ThomasTankCollectables

These clippings were taken from catalogues kindly provided by RetroMash, sadly he does not have catalogues for the year 1987 (Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter). You can look through the catalogues yourself here. 

These clippings suggest that Merit was last sold in the UK in 1989, however this is based purely on Argos, the toys may have still be available in other retailers. 

So what have we established? 

• Merit was a toy manufacturer that produced large plastic Thomas the Tank Engine toys during the 1980s, generally aimed towards younger Thomas fans. 
• They seem to have been in operation between 1983 and 1989. It seems unlikely that toys would have actually been released in 1983? 
• They appear to be one of the first manufactures for 'Thomas' merchandise and only seem to have produced the following characters: Thomas, Percy, Annie, Clarabel and various troublesome trucks. 
• They were potentially taken over by ERTL, but this is not substantiated. 
• There appears to be a link between Nylint and Merit. 
• The sets were made in Great Britain. 

A big thank you to Mike Jones for providing pictures of his extensive collection of Merit items. 

If anyone has any further information regarding Merit, please get in touch! 

Email: thomastankcollectables@hotmail.co.uk

Thomas the Tank Engine VHS Collection

Those of you that are familiar with my old channel (Cyrill227ify) will know that one of my main collections is my VHS collection. I only collect videos released in the UK and I do not own every video produced in the UK, but I am not far off. Video tapes were one of the first things I started collecting and ultimately they were the reason I joined YouTube. It was exciting discovering the different videos that had been released over the years and trying to track them down, which was not easy! 

This video shows every UK video I own, most of them are photographs but some of them are scans. In addition to the video I have also produced a spreadsheet of the videos I own in year order with rarity ratings based on my experience. I would be interested to hear if people agree or disagree with my rarity ratings. 

Email: thomastankcollectables@hotmail.co.uk

The History Behind Thomas the Tank Engine

The Railway Series got off to a shaky start with three different illustrators in as many books. William Middleton was the first illustrator commissioned by Edmund Ward to illustrate The Three Railway Engines, as we know the Reverend W. Awdry was not at all happy with these illustrations. So a different illustrator was required for the second book Thomas the Tank Engine, this is where Reginald Payne comes in. 

Original cover - provided by ReproJackets.co.uk

Reginald Payne produced some of the most iconic and most frequently used illustrations of the Railway Series and essentially created the appearance of Thomas the Tank Engine. Originally the Reverend W. Awdry wanted Thomas to resemble a model he had designed for his son Chsristopher, but Reginald Payne went against this and based Thomas on an E2 0-6-0 tank engine. The Reverend W. Awdry was pleased with this so allowed him to continue; thus Thomas as we know him today was created. Reginald Payne may have changed the appearance of Thomas, but other than that he did painstakingly follow the sketches provided by the Reverend W. Awdry. This explains why some illustrations use the same angle of Thomas, the Reverend W. Awdry would often trace over previous sketches in order to re-create the engine accurately and relatively easily. 

Woman's Weekly 1985 - ThomasTankCollectables Magazine Archive

Despite Mr. Payne's significant impact on The Railway Series and the appearance of Thomas the Tank Engine in particular, he remains uncredited to this day and in fact new versions of the book credit C. Reginald Dalby, as seen below. C. Reginald Dalby was requested to "improve" the original illustrations by Reginald Payne for a new edition of the book released in 1950, although he did make some notable changes, the book was still primarily illustrated by Reginald Payne, so it is sad that he is not credited for his work. Reginald Payne was due to be asked to illustrate James the Red Engine, but sadly suffered a nervous breakdown and was unable to proceed in illustrating another book. Very little is known about Reginald Payne and he proved to be un-contactable, Britt Allcroft also tried to find his family to no avail. 

The 2015 Edition of Thomas the Tank Engine credits the illustrator as C. Reginald Dalby

In the 70th Anniversary slipcase edition of Thomas the Tank Engine it says that the book was illustrated by Reginald Payne, so it seems that Egmont are aware of this, yet they still credit C. Reginald Dalby. It seems a shame that the man who created some of the most widely recognisable illustrations remains uncredited for his work. In our latest video we compare the original illustrations by Reginald Payne to the 'improved' illustrations released in 1950. 

Please let us know what you think and if we have missed anything out in this article, leave a comment below or send us an e-mail to: thomastankcollectables@hotmail.co.uk 

You can watch the video below:

Merry Christmas from ThomasTankCollectables

We would just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year. A big thank you to everyone that has subscribed to our channel, liked our Facebook page and followed us on Twitter this year. Your support makes our effort worthwhile!  

As with previous years we will be releasing a Christmas special and many of you will have already seen the promo picture on social media. Any guesses as to what we are releasing this year? 

This will be our final farewell to to the 70th Anniversary year of the Railway Series.

Below you can have a look at our previous Christmas videos. 

Christmas 2012

This was our first year on YouTube so we made a video montage of Series 1 and 2 footage with music from Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas. 

Christmas 2013

In this year we released all of the Ladybird Audios one day at a time in the lead up to Christmas with the final story being The Missing Christmas Tree which was released on Christmas day. 

Christmas 2014

Last year we released all of the illustrations from the early editions of The Three Railway Engines by William Middleton, along with narration by The Rev.W.Awdry and Johnny Morris. 

Have a good Christmas and if you have any questions or comments please feel free to comment below or send us an email: thomastankcollectables@hotmail.co.uk