Reportedly overheard by a friend of a friend at the EBT's Thomas event. Two little boys, having just gotten off the Thomas train: "Dad, can we go ride behind the real one now?"

LOL! I've been heavily involved with a DOWT event for 8 years now and this is pretty rare actually. As far as most small kids are concerned, it IS the real Thomas.

At the risk of spoiling potential sardonicism: I don't think Mr. Mitchell was talking about another Thomas anything when he quoted the boy saying 'the real one' ...


RME

My son was about eight we were standing in Old Forge when Thomas came in to the station and he said dad it's fake let's go home.
Al

Kids ain't dumb. IMHO, they weren't referring to another Thomas as " the Real One " , but # 15 and the normal EBT passenger consist.

Not surprising for an eight year old, but rare for a kid that is 2-4 years old.

Yes, the Thomas ages are two through four and maybe five. I see this at the DOWT my Museum hosts. The parents seem to enjoy this and sometimes the older sisters and brothers (10+) that have to make the trip can also enjoy seeing the young ones excited. But other than that, by seven or eight Thomas is "little kid stuff." [there are some exceptions]

Years ago, I'd gone to Steamtown with Jim Boyd and some others to (among others things) watch Milwaukee Road 261 run. Waiting in Moscow, PA for the train to pass, I noticed a little boy with his dad. The little boy was wearing all kinds of Thomas regalia, hat, bib overalls, backpack.

261 thundered past, deafening, its whistle blowing and as the sound subsided I noticed the little boy crying. His dad picked him up and asked, "What's wrong?"

Between sobs the little boy said, "You didn't tell me Thomas grew up!"

Between sobs the little boy said, "You didn't tell me Thomas grew up!"--Doug Bailey

Oh, that's a classic!

Not Thomas, but in the "kids say the darndest things" department, I was once talking to a fellow about trains, and he mentioned how he had taken his boy, then five years old, to both a drag race and to the Strasburg Rail Road. He said his boy didn't like the drag race, asking his father, "Daddy, why are those cars so angry?" His reaction to what was apparently the much larger (and at least equally loud) No. 90 was anything but fearful, though. According to his father, the boy could approach the locomotive, walk around it, even touch it, and he wasn't afraid of it. The locomotive was "like a big, friendly horse" to the boy.

There has got to be a marketing angle to that. . .

Happy Fathers' Day!

Hello,

My daughter now 18 has fond memories of Thomas as a child (we have about every original video!). In addition, she remembers her excitment when she and her best friend were able to sit inside the steam dome cover of full size Thomas sitting on a low boy trailer at a truck stop in north central PA one weekend.

If you compare venues that capture children's imagination, Thomas has to be one of the better quality options.

Something tells me the boy who was sad about Thomas growing up....in a few years or less will want to get out and see the "grown up" again!

For me, when I was about 2 years old, when my parents took me to see a Reading Ramble pass near my home close to Peach Glen, PA ......that was it.

Kudos to Thomas!

Regards,

Randy

Of course, it's an Iron Horse"! It even breathes through its air compressor, and snorts through other technical parts.

Along with fond memories of Thomas as a child is she a railfan (grown up) now at age 18?