The "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" ERTL models are a set of die-cast models of the characters from the Railway Series and "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends". The range originally consisted of only the main characters, but it eventually extended to include almost all the characters.
Overview
ERTL created their first Thomas model in 1985. It came with a sticker sheet so you could alter Thomas' face to make him have a different facial expression. That year they also released a larger, motorised version of Thomas.
Later during the year, James and Henry were released, both with a happy face. The stickers were soon replaced with fixed plastic faces.
The ERTL range has made new engines nearly every year since then, tallying up to over 100 models, until the range was replaced by Take-Along.
During the range's popularity, the ERTL company made miniature models of each engine, as well as Gold Rail models.
ERTL ceased production for the US market in 2001, and for the UK market in 2004. The model range has now been discontinued.
All packaging from 1993 to 1999 featured an illustration of the character, drawn by Owain Bell.
For a time, a keyring series was also available.
There was also an ERTL Collectibles series in 2001, which featured a 1:64 scale Ford, which appears to be the Fat Controller's car.
The range
Normal range
The numbers in round brackets show what number each model was on the portrait card. The numbers in the square brackets show what number each model was on the cartoon card.
1985
The first ERTL model of Thomas
The card of these models is mostly the same colour as the model with a white oval in the centre, containing an image of the character. The smoke cloud that normally contained "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" held the name of the character and was above the oval. A blue stripe across the bottom conatined the ERTL logo and the Thomas logo.
These models came with a grey bufferbeam and sticker faces.
1988
1989
In 1989 the range was released in America. There were no new models this year.
1990
1990 saw the release of new models with 3-D faces, as the original sticker-face models were prone to losing their faces.
- Duck (8)
- Diesel (14)
- Trevor (20)
- Troublesome Trucks (12)
- Brown troublesome trucks
- Sir Topham Hatt and a porter (22)
1991
1992
1993
The ERTL brand was revamped - the UK models featured a "portrait card", while the US models featured a "Shining Time Station" card.
The portrait card was an image of the character towards the right hand side of the card, passing a push of flowers on the right and a mound of grass on the left. Between the character and the and the grass, aspects of a British village can be seen in the background. Depending on the character, there were rails, road, or water between the flowers and the grass.
The "Shining Time Station" card is an aerial image of countryside with many fields and a few bridges. There is track coming along the left-hand side of the image which turns and comes across the card. Behind the model is a white box that joins to the typical smoke cloud and contains the model's name and sometimes a small detail. The "Shining Time Station" logo is situated above the image, and uses a frame to encompass most of the image.
- Oliver (11)
- "City of Truro" (29)
- Daisy (24)
- Boco (23)
- Mavis (26)
- Milk and tar wagons (25)
- Oil tankers (31)
- Bulgy (27)
- Mail coaches (34)
- George (35)
1994
- The old coaches (30)
- The breakdown train (28)
1995
Gold Anniversary Thomas
A special gold-plated Thomas was released to celebrate the Railway Series' 50th anniversary.
- Gold Anniversary Thomas (1)
- Diesel 199 (38)
- Express coaches (44) [52]
- Toad (32)
- Godred (37)
- Culdee (36)
1996
- Rheneas (40)
- Sir Handel (42) [46]
- Peter Sam (43)
- Rusty (39)
- Duncan (41)
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Sir Topham Hatt's car (45)
1997
- Stepney (49)
- Skarloey (48)
- Duke (47) [16]
- Lord Harry (46)
- The Diesel (50)
- Caroline (51)
1998
This was the first year that metallic engines were released.
- Bluebell (63)
- Wilbert (55)
- Sixteen (56)
- Bulstrode (53)
- Scrap Trevor on flatbed (33)
- The Chinese Dragon (54)
- Scruffey and a truck (52)
- Henry's log car (57)
- Metalic Thomas
- Metalic Percy
- Metalic Rheneas
- Metalic Duncan
Bulstrode's portrait card was at a dock with him tied to the dock in the right-hand side. There is a cottage, cliff face, lighthouse, and fishing charter along the left-hand side and background.
1999
- 'Arry and Bert (69 and 70)
- Gunpowder wagons (59)
- Canal boat (58)
- Soft-side truck (62)
- Lorry 2 (67)
- Lorry 3 (68)
- Metalic Duke
- Metalic Sir Handel
- Metalic Rusty
- Metalic Lord Harry
- Crane (60)
- The mail van (61)
- Fire engine (64)
2000
Bertram
These models were the last to feature the "portait card". The packaging changed to a predominately blue background with a yellow rectangle behind the model which had a red boarder. There was a face-on image of Thomas in the top left had corner with the "Thomas and Friends" smoke cloud beneath. The name of the model was found above the model, centered between the new Thomas logo and the bar on the right, which was made of five circles displaying a "T", right-hand arrow, clock, two flags, and a number "1". There was no collector card with this change.
Special packaging was used for Lady, Diesel 10, Splatter, Dodge, Thomas, Percy and Bertie to celebrate the release of "Thomas and the Magic Railroad". This packaging was similar to that of the redesign. The rectangle behind the model was a cloud-like render with a yellow-sparkle render for the background, and the bar on the right featured small cartoons of Diesel 10, Thomas, Splatter, Lady, and Dodge. An image of Thomas appeared in the bottom left corner.
- Lady [62]
- Bertram
- Diesel 10
- Splatter
- Dodge
- Derek (65)
- Cranky
- Thumper
- Old Slow Coach
- Biplane (66)
- Brakevan [11]
- Gordon's special coaches
- Sodor Recovery Unit
- Silver Millenium Thomas
2001
- The pump car
- Slate trucks
- Flying Scotsman
- Smudger
- Lorry 1 on flatbed
- Dyson low-loader
- Sir Topham Hatt and Lady Hatt
- Taxi
2002
Neil
The US had now stopped making models, but the UK were still making them.
The packaging changed again, now with the engine's name in red and a cartoon of the character in the top right-hand corner.
The coupling style now changed from the basic "hook and eye" style to a U-hook, believed to be sturdier and longer-lasting.
- Harvey
- Salty
- Frank
- Elizabeth
- The spiteful breakvan
- The Silly Trucks
- Dowager Hatt and Mrs. Kyndley
- Falcon [9]
2003
The models were rescaled to a TT scale.
The spiteful brakevan
2004
Playsets and Accessories
Track was originally grey plastic with an etched image of rails into it; but eventually changed to green plastic, with a sticker of rails on top.
- Starter set
- Branchline
- Water tower
- Crane
- Windmill
- Tunnel quarry
- Crossing
- Turntable
- Station house
- Real sounds
- Construction
- Skarloey with two points
- Duncan with two points
- Oliver with four points
- Stepney with four points
- Percy with four straights
- Sir Handel with four straights
Multipacks
A small portion of packs containing multiple different trains, vehicles, and stock were released, mostly commonly for Shining Time Station.
- Gift Set - containing Thomas, Diesel, Scruffey and a truck
- Three pack of Bertie, James, and Henry
- Six pack of Thomas, Toby, Bertie, Terence, Rheneas and Duncan
Special Edition
There have been a few special edition toys.
- Metallic Engines Set – Metallic Thomas, James and Henry
- Thomas with Mr. Conductor to celebrate the release of "Thomas and the Magic Railroad"
- Melody and Motion Thomas with a wind-up Fat Controller
- Thomas Christmas Train - Thomas with Christmas hat, flatbed with Christmas tree and the Fat Controller dressed as Santa
- Christmas Thomas and grey or red "Toybox" Scruffey
Miniatures
Around 1991, ERTL started to produce several miniatures of Thomas and his friends. These versions had sticker faces and were packaged with random parts of a railway. Once all were collected, the parts formed a playset.
In later years most of the models were adapted into keyrings.
- Thomas with station
- Edward with water tower
- James with signalbox
- Percy with sheds
- Toby with signals and sidings
- Duck with watermill
- Bill with part of a viaduct
- Ben with viaduct
- Diesel with tunnel
- Bertie with level crossing
- Trevor with windmill
- Harold with airport
- Henry
- Mavis
- Splatter
- Dodge
There were also two playsets:
- Four-corner set with Thomas, Annie and Clarabel
- Six-corner set with Thomas, Trevor and the Troubleome trucks
A re-release of the range introduced Henry, Mavis, Splatter and Dodge. The new range had some changes, with 3-D faces and "Lego-like" bases.
Gold Rail series
ERTL also made another short-lived line in the 90s called the Gold Rail Series. The models had magnetic couplings and tracks. The models in this range were a bit smaller than an HO scale train, and were extremely similar to the Bandai Tecs range made in Japan.
- Thomas
- Edward
- Gordon
- James
- Percy
- Toby
- Bill
- Ben
- Annie
- Clarabel
- Troublesome truck 1
- Troublesome truck 2
- Harold
Playsets were also made:
Trivia
- In the normal series, misprints exist such as the name "George" appearing on the card of Lorry 2, and "Splatter" appearing on the Magic Railroad card of Thomas.