Thomas and the Magic Railroad (lost test footage of 3.5" character models for British children's TV series; 1995): Difference between revisions

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After the difficulties of working on a small scale were made apparent during ''Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends''' fourth season with the narrow gauge engines and Britt Allcroft's movie based on the franchise, ''Thomas and the Magic Railroad'' moving further into production, '''the film crew made the decision to run a test of filming with models on a larger scale'''. Models of Thomas and Percy were built by David Eves, who had also built Stepney and the narrow gauge engines. These two models were 3.5" gauge, and built to twice the size of the standard engines used for filming of the show previously, gauge 1. It is unclear if this test also utilized green screens to add in Mr. Conductor from ''Shining Time Station''.
After the difficulties of working on a small scale were made apparent during ''Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends''' fourth season with the narrow gauge engines and Britt Allcroft's movie based on the franchise, ''Thomas and the Magic Railroad'' moving further into production, '''the film crew made the decision to run a test of filming with models on a larger scale'''. Models of Thomas and Percy were built by modelmaker David Eves. These two models were 3.5" gauge, and built to twice the size of the standard engines used for filming of the show previously, gauge 1. It is unclear if this test also utilized green screens to add in Mr. Conductor from ''Shining Time Station''.


==Results==
==Results==
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file:ThomasRollerCoasterbyAnatex.jpg
</gallery>
</gallery>
==See Also==
===Thomas & Friends===
*[[Thomas & Friends "Jack Jumps In" (found Alec Baldwin narration of British children's TV series episode; 2002)]]
*[[Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels (lost original cut of direct-to-DVD film; existence unconfirmed; 2011)]]
*[[Thomas & Friends "Series 7" (partially found original music of American dub of British children's TV series; mid 2000s)]]
*[[Thomas & Friends "Series 12" (partially found Pierce Brosnan narrations of British children's animated series; 2008)]]
===Thomas the Tank Engine===
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine "Season 3" (found Michael Angelis narriation of British children's TV series episodes; 1991)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine "Season 4" (found pre-recorded version of British children's TV series episodes; 1994)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine "Down the Mine" (partially found unaired pitch pilot version of children's TV series; 1983)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine "The Missing Coach" (partially found footage from unfinished episode of children's TV series; 1986)]]
*[[Thomas and the Magic Railroad (found deleted scenes of children's fantasy adventure film; 2000)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine (lost pilot episode of unproduced 2D animated adaptation on "The Railway Series" books; 1976)]]
===Other===
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine (found original illustrated edition of book; 1946)]]
*[[Thomas and the U.K. Trip & Thomas Number 1 (found Japanese "Thomas the Tank Engine" crossover TV special and music video; 1993)]]
*[[Jack and the Sodor Construction Company (miscellaneous lost media of spinoff series; existence unconfirmed; 2002)]]
*[[The Three Railway Engines (found original edition of book; 1945)]]
*[[Barry the Rescue Engine (lost production material on cancelled "The Railway Series" book; 1980s)]]
*[[The Sad Story of Henry (lost live BBC broadcast adaptation of "The Railway Series" books; 1953)]]
==References==  
==References==  
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}

Revision as of 03:43, 3 November 2021

TATMRTestFootageDavidBritt.jpg

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton with the test footage models.

Status: Lost

After the difficulties of working on a small scale were made apparent during Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends' fourth season with the narrow gauge engines and Britt Allcroft's movie based on the franchise, Thomas and the Magic Railroad moving further into production, the film crew made the decision to run a test of filming with models on a larger scale. Models of Thomas and Percy were built by modelmaker David Eves. These two models were 3.5" gauge, and built to twice the size of the standard engines used for filming of the show previously, gauge 1. It is unclear if this test also utilized green screens to add in Mr. Conductor from Shining Time Station.

Results

The crew was left with footage that had a runtime less than a standard episode. It was ultimately decided that it would be too costly to rebuild an entire new fleet of engines. The crew returned back to the Gauge 1 models for the fifth season of the show and Thomas and the Magic Railroad.[1]

Remnants

In The Night Train sing-a-long, shots of the 3.5" Thomas' wheels are used. These shots highlight the different design of Thomas' wheels on this model, with different counterweights and rods to closer match the basis. However this may not be from the test footage as it was not uncommon for previous sing-a-longs to use specially shot footage, especially with this being in Night-time lighting. Alternate angles of this shot appeared in Come for the Ride and Five New Engines in the Shed sing-a-longs.

An image featuring Britt Allcroft and director David Mitton posing with the models and set during the filming of the test footage was uploaded by various crew members.[2] The two engines have unique faces made to match the gauge 1 versions. The platform of Cronk station can be seen in the background.

The 3.5" Thomas was repurposed for the sixth season as a designated model for episodes featuring the pack, and later the spin off Jack and the Sodor Construction Company. The 3.5" Percy would also appear in the spinoff. Both models had many alterations from their initial build, including new faces, new lamps, and Percy's model being repainted to matte colors. The models would also appear rarely in the eight through twelve season of the show and occasionally further being altered from the original design. The 3.5" models are now rotating between locations of various displays throughout Japan.

Like many other faces, a resin cast of the 3.5" Thomas face was sent to one or more toy manufactures for merchandise. This cast was upscaled and appeared on the Thomas Rollercoaster by Anatex dated 1997. This is the same face as the one that appeared in the image with David Mitton and Britt Allcroft. Because the face can be viewed in more detail, it can be confirmed that the same face not appear in the sixth season and implies some of faces were reused during the filming of the sixth season.

The Cronk station would appear in the sixth season, and the spinoff. A signal box, water tower, and various signals that appeared with the 3.5" models in the sixth season onwards may have also originated from the test footage.

Gallery

See Also

Thomas & Friends

Thomas the Tank Engine

Other

References