Parental discretion advised? :-)

I was looking at the web cams of Thomas the Tank Engine at the Illinois Railway Museum on Sunday (love those web cams, BTW) and I was wondering what is the pulling capabilities of these replica Thomases? At the IRM, Thomas was "pulling" 7 large coaches full of people and a (Devious?) diesel. That had to be really heavy. I was at Greenfield Village when Thomas was there a few years ago and there was no doubt that it pulled those "breezers". That train had to be relatively lighter. I know that there several replica Thomases, including a narrow-gauge version. Does each have their own limits? I guess what I'm asking is: Is the Thomas at IRM actually pulling the train?

It depends on which "Thomas" you're looking at.

There is at least ONE real steam locomotive "Thomas" built/rebuilt by Strasburg RR and owned by them. I can and does "pull" the trains it is coupled to.

There are several other NON-POWERED "Thomas" locos, which are "helped" by another loco (usually diesel) at the other end of the train.

The only steaming Thomas has outside cylinders. If he looks like he does in the book, with inside cylinders, he's not powered and is just pushed around, a dummy in model railroad parlance.

Joshua

"the Thomas was "pulling" 7 large coaches full of people and a (Devious?) diesel." WHAT DO YOU THINK THE DIESEL WAS FOR DUH! THE ANSER IS IT CAN'T PULL JACK almost all of them are fake

All but one of the Thomas's are basically tin cans being pulled by a diesel at the other end of the train. Technically Thomas is at the rear of the train, not the front. They can't even be pulled in the middle of a train. They are built really light so they can be shipped by truck. There is even a warning posted in the cab not to put an engine at one end and a coach at the other for fear of pulling it apart.

Am I correct in assuming the non-powered ones do not have controls for use as an end cab when running Thomas first; just the whistle?

Their only equipment is a cash register!

Whistle, brake gauge and "dump" valve, smoke machine, and eyeball roll control--what else does one need in life?

sc 'doc' lewis

The Strasburg built the non-powered Thomas', too. Pretty neat bit of business considering it was done without the benefit of a drawing set.

The one example I've seen has a Honda generator to power the smoke unit, if trainlined power is unavailable.

DPK

Back to the original question, for another take on it… The first year or two that IRM ran a Thomas event, they used Strasburg's "T-1", the real steam Thomas rebuilt from an ex BETD 0-6-0. I believe they ran three, or four, or possibly five commuter coaches (three Boonton cars and maybe some Rock Island heavyweights). My longtime friend Phil Hehn was engineer at least some of the days, and said it was a fun little engine to run; very responsive, and surprisingly powerful for its size and weight.

However, if you will forgive a story… The Thomas event was loading from a temporary boarding area established away from the depot on one leg of the wye. There was no platform here; loading was via fixed stairways spaced to line up with the car steps, which required that the train berth within maybe +/- six inches, consistently. Phil says that on one of the trips, well, he just blew it, and pulled in about a foot and a half two far, so he immediately reversed… and pushed the train a foot and a half too far in the other direction. Bummer. He told me that he had just thrown the reverse lever over again for his third try at hitting the mark, when he hears booming over the station PA… "Are those BIG nasty coaches giving Thomas a hard time…?"

Those Thomases have great pulling power, bringing in kids from near and far by the hundreds!

Oh, you meant coaches? Well, as others have mentioned, a technical description of Thomas would be in order. A 55 gallon drum nailed to a skateboard pretty much sums it up. ;)

I will admit that I've been a bit disappointed with the "don't ask such stupid questions" responses to this original question. IF, in fact, there is to be a future to this preservation effort, then there can be no question unasked for fear of these types of responses. Enough said.

I once ran a similar size engine, as USATC 50 ton 0-6-0T. We routinely pulled 7 coaches on fairly level track (0.5% grade) without a problem and it really didn't tax the loco any at all. Once we had to move a loaded freight train of 17 grain cars @100tons each, more or less. The little steamer fussed and squawked, but it did get things moving, and kept it moving without much issue.

Bottom line is don't assume that just because it is small it is weak.

Have a good day!

No, Thomas was not moving those 7 coaches. The IRM Thomas train was powered by Wisconsin Central SD45 #7525 this year. 7525 is also "a very useful engine".

Jeff

Not to be a nitpicker, but... for the first year (maybe the first two?) that IRM ran the Thomas event, what was used was a different unpowered "tin can" - the diminutive Thomas replica built (I think?) by NRM in Green Bay on what was some kind of enlarged speeder frame. Following a year or two of using this, IRM switched to the ex-BETD engine for a couple of years, after which the Strasburg-built replicas were put into service. The only photo I can find of the original NRM Thomas is at the bottom of this page:

http://www.irm.org/railwire/rw179a6.html

As can be seen, the NRM Thomas looked a little odd, dwarfed as it was by the coaches.

There's a reason museums and tourist lines call it 'Thomas the BANK engine!'