Just curious if anyone here in North America ever considered importing a tank engine or two from the UK, plus a few bobber coaches and setting up a permanent Thomas the Tank "layout" (for lack of a better word), perhaps on some unused trackage in an area with reasonable tourism flow?

http://test.steamlocomotive.info/vlocom ... splay=4477

http://test.steamlocomotive.info/vlocom ... splay=4208

HIT Entertainment would have to license the use of anything relating to Thomas and Friends, and I doubt they would bite on this idea, because it would compete with the "Day Out With Thomas" festival-type events. Try doing it without HIT's permission, however, and I see an injunction in one's near future...

Does HIT Entertainment function only in the US? How do the numerous UK lines with permanent Thomas locomotives do it?

HIT is actually a United Kingdom company that does business in the US as well--Britain is their home base.

According to the National Railway Museum Web site, there are seven standard gauge ‘Thomas’ replica engines in the UK. They are held at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, the East Lancs. Railway, Embsay, Llangollen Railway, Mid Hants Railway, Severn Valley Railway and Brookes No 1 Locomotive Company.

This compares with 5 Thomases in the US that I know of--the Strasburg BEDT tanker, the 4 unpowered Strasburg-built replicas.

In both the UK and the US, the replicas barnstorm from railroad to railroad doing DOWT events. There are strict contracts governing how these events must be run by the railroad hosting Thomas in both nations. There is also a different contract between HIT and the "home base" railroads where the Thomases stay when not travelling.

There isn't anywhere in the world that you can run an engine and represent it as Thomas without a license from HIT.

It's the same as if someone were to paint a train with Disney characters and call it the Mickey Mouse Express--Disney lawyers would be after you in a New York minute for infringing on their intellectual property rights. HIT is just as determined to defend their intellectual property in Thomas.