And
> Thomas gives those impressionable young
> minds a warped view of railroading. If we
> did things like the British on this side of
> the pond, it would be one thing -- but we
> don't.

Actually, I've always felt that for children's literature, Thomas gives a suprisingly accurate view of railroading. Rev. Awdry knew his stuff, and while I prefer the original to Britt Alcroft's version, I was very pleased with the overall faithfulness to protoype practice and look I found when I started watching the Thomas tapes with my young son.

He still loves Thomas, but his current favorite tape is an old promo for the WMSRR I had lying on back shelf somewhere. Now he asks me "Mountain Thunder?" "Mountain Thunder?" meaning "Let's watch 734 on Helmstetter's, Dad!" And so with the help of Thomas, we bring them up right and move them along...


eledbetter@rypn.org