Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway (known to many fans as Thomas Wooden Railway) is a wooden railway system designed and created by Learning Curve. It is one of two Wooden Railway lines that feature the characters from Thomas & Friends. The other is BRIO. However, this line is the only line to feature characters from The Railway Series.
Video Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway
Learning Curve
Learning Curve created the line in 1992. This line was created with the help of Roy Wilson. The first set was the 22 piece starter set. This set and many of the earlier sets had generic track until 1995, which is the year that Learning Curve patented the "Clicketyclack" track design.
The models at this time were made from painted wood, with plastic being added for the wheels and faces. Metal was used for the magnets and axles. These models got upgraded. The wooden smokeboxes were replaced with plastic smokeboxes. These also include more realistic funnels. These models would not last long because they got revamped again in 2002. These models had more detailed, newer faces.
The battery-powered line of characters were first released in the 1990s. The second version of these models got released in the 2000s. Learning Curve created new track in the 2000s, so that this line of characters could use the track.
Learning Curve, like many other brands, faced a recall around the time of the economic downturn. The models involved in this recall had red or yellow paint, and were sold between January 2005 and June 2007. Tests with these models indicated there was the presence of lead. Hence, there was a risk of lead poisoning.
Learning Curve was also responsible for the creation of the Talking Railway Series in 2008. This series of engines and destinations could interact with each other through gold magnets found on the engines.
In 2009, this line was affected by the takeover of the Thomas franchise by Mattel's preschool division Fisher Price. Now, this line was creating the new characters from the CGI series, and rereleases of the originals with CGI faces. Learning Curve (RC2) got acquired by TOMY who continued making the line until they gave up the rights to Fisher Price.
Maps Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway
Fisher Price
In 2013, Fisher Price acquired the Thomas Wooden Railway line from TOMY. The models from TOMY would continue to be made although over time these models began to evolve. They introduced rounder corners to the models, so that children would not injure themselves.
Mattel reintroduced most of the battery powered line as well as adding new characters.
In 2017, they altered the models again.
Thomas Wood
In 2018, this line changed to become Thomas & Friends Wood. Much less paint has been applied to the models. Some characters even have compartments for figures (which come with said characters). The track is redesigned, and can connect to previous Thomas Wooden Railway track or other manufacturers' track using adapters.
A YouTube stop motion series has been created to promote this line.
In media
In June 2008, Keekre24, a YouTuber who has been known as ThomasWoodenRailway since his first account got hacked, created the channel that largely focuses on a series of videos called "Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends: Wooden Railway Adventures," and has made a total of 14 seasons (210 episodes as well as some movies and documentaries) from 2008 to 2017. Season 15 is planned for release sometime in 2018. ThomasWoodenRailway has also made various remakes of different episodes from different seasons of the television series.
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments