This toy looked rather different from the character in the books and television series, and carried the letters NW on its side tanks, which stood for "No Where" according to Awdry.

Awdry selected a real locomotive for Payne to work from to create authenticity: a Billinton designed 0-6-0T E2 Class of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.

Payne was not credited for his illustrations at the time, and it is only since the publication of Brian Sibley's The Thomas the Tank Engine Man that he has received recognition.

[12][13] The television series would continue to be fully narrated until the release of the feature-length special Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails (2009), in which all of the characters had individual voice actors once more.

"[‡ 3] Thomas arrived on Sodor shortly after he was built in 1915, when The Fat Controller bought the locomotive for a nominal sum to be a pilot engine at Vicarstown.

In the early 1940s, Wilbert Awdry built a wooden push-along model of Thomas from a broomstick for his son Christopher.

This model was significantly different from the character in the books and television series, and was based on an LNER Class J50, with small side tanks and splashers.

Thomas was one of Stewart Reidpath's standard models with a heavy, cast white metal body, and was fitted with his "Essar" chassis and motor.

He is, as you might expect from his age, a temperamental old gentleman, and has to be driven very carefully indeed.The first Thomas model was retired with its passenger coaches in 1979.

After Hornby Railways produced the LBSC E2 tank engine, Awdry adapted one in 1980 as the third Thomas model on his layout of the Ffarquhar branch.

Thomas was the only fictional character included in The Independent on Sunday's 2009 "Happy List", recognised alongside 98 real-life adults and a therapy dog for making Britain a better and happier place.

[18] In 2011, Thomas the Tank Engine featured on a series of 1st class UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail to mark the centenary of the birth of its creator, Reverend Wilbert Awdry.

"[‡ 5] In 2009, he appeared in "The Official BBC Children in Need Medley" where he was voiced by Ringo Starr, who narrated the first two series of Thomas & Friends.

[22] In the British comedy show Bobby Davro's TV Weekly, a spoof was created titled "Thomas the Tanked Up Engine" involving Jeremy, a pink recolour of James.

[‡ 7] The 2015 Marvel superhero film Ant-Man features a Bachmann HO scale model of Thomas.

An accident during the fight results in Thomas suddenly growing to the size of a real train and demolishing a large portion of Ant-Man's daughter's house before landing on top of a police car.