As a railway museum member who has helped out on the "Thomas Photo Line" and been the "aide de camp" for "Sir Topham Hatt", I am reminded of the time my older daughter (who worked in retail sales as a manager for many years) volunteered for the Thomas merchandise mart. After spending all day running parents' and grandparents' credit cards through the data terminal, and seeing some rather eye-opening charges racked up, she said to me, "Aren't you glad they didn't have Thomas when [my sister and I] were little?"
Some of our members tend to look askance at the whole Thomas business, and make themselves scarce when that "little blue so-and-so" arrives on the property. In their eyes, a TV cartoon character has little to do with railway preservation, and they'd just as soon not be around when the museum is full of "rug rats". But those of us who do believe in Thomas, and answer questions about "Does he really pull the train?" with "Yes he does, but he has get some help from the diesel locomotive on the other end. He's used to pulling two or three lightweight English-style carriages, and he needs some assistance with those heavy North American cars" welcome Day out with Thomas as a chance to show our museum to guests who might not have heard of us, and who are otherwise not interested in historic railway operations. The money we net from the Thomas program is used for capital improvements, making the museum more attractive for visitors during the rest of the year. And one never knows, but among the young families who bring their kids out to see their "Hero of the Rails" there may be those who will find a calling to restore and operate vintage railway equipment, and keep the museum going when us old-timers have gone to the "Big Rock Candy Mountain".
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