The franchise revolves around an ensemble cast of anthropomorphic steam locomotives, including the main protagonist Thomas the Tank Engine as well as other vehicles, who work on the Island of Sodor.

The status of the project seemed uncertain, and while Stanley Pickard, Kaye & Ward's managing director at the time, told Awdry that he was "maintaining personal contact with Andrew and still had a slight hope that there might be a way out", Wilbert remained apprehensive, saying that "Once the Americans get hold of it the whole series would be vulgarised and ruined."

In the end, after several years of searching and having to place a second mortgage on her home, Allcroft raised sufficient funding from her local bank manager.

In October 2020, Mattel Television formed a new co-production partnership with Corus Entertainment's Nelvana and greenlit two new seasons for the Thomas & Friends series, consisting of 104 11-minute episodes and two hour-long specials.

Executive producer Christopher Keenan stated that it was, "crafted to appeal to contemporary audiences' sensibilities while maintaining Thomas' core brand ethos".

The land features several themed attractions, including an interactive dark ride and a roller coaster built by Sansei Technologies.

However, in late 2010, Six Flags began the process of renaming and re-theming non-Warner Bros. licensed attractions, including Thomas & Friends.

[citation needed] Manufacturers produced Thomas-branded items after the television series was broadcast in the United States and Japan.

[citation needed] In January 2011, Thomas & Friends ranked as the number-one preschool toy property in the U.K. for the 11th year in a row.

[35] HiT Entertainment and later Mattel licenses "Day out with Thomas" events all over the world, at which visitors to heritage railways can ride on a train hauled by replicas of the series' characters.

[36] at the Mid-Hants Railway The Strasburg Rail Road in Lancaster, PA (USA) adapted Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal 15 in 1999 and introduced a replica of Percy at the "Day Out With Thomas" event on 13 September 2014.

[37] Due to the increasing licensing fees and restrictions imposed by HiT including the need forSir Topham Hatt toundergo a Criminal Records Bureau check, some heritage railways in the UK and overseas no longer run "Thomas" days.

A near life-sized Thomas carried Sophie Dahl to the stage to meet Sir Topham Hatt (Jonathan Ross) at the beginning of the show.

[citation needed] The Japanese Ōigawa Railway has five locomotives that appear Thomas, Hiro, Percy, James, and Rusty, based at Shin-Kanaya Station.

[41] In 2001, the British National Autistic Society conducted a survey of 81 parents of children with autism and Asperger syndrome to investigate their relationship with Thomas.