http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ot90wPKy5M

Yay!

I recall a documentary on Sesame Street I saw on PBS a few years ago. The topic of one segment was "Elmo", who, of course, is extremely popular with the age group of children that likely find Thomas appealing as well. The "actor" (muppeteer?) who voices and animates Elmo was recounting some "live" Elmo appearances, and how he was amazed at the young childrens' ability to completely ignore the fact that Elmo was attached the arm of a very tall adult, and that Elmo's voice emanated from this adult, and not Elmo himself. The children were completely captivated by their interaction with Elmo to the exclusion of the reality that he was clearly just a puppet. I'm sure many of them look at Thomas the same way, regardless of what means is used to propel him down the track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl8dDSmDoYo

Does Greenfield Village get the live-steam Thomas? Or do the fakes have REALLY good stack talk? :)

That's the steamer in the video. The steamer is larger and has outside valve gear, whereas the non-steamers don't. A quick click through of various Thomas videos on youtube showed a non-steamer double headed with a railroad's historical steamer and the steaming Thomas with a F-unit helper on the other end.