Thomas the tank engine for Railworks?

[Easilyconfused]

The main problem with Thomas is the rights holders. They have been quite aggressive in "protecting" their rights so it would not surprise me to see that site disappear without warning if they are not approving of it's content.

[pspvoyager220]

Isn't that why a lot of preserved railways have ripped their Day Out with Thomas event out of the special event list in the last few years?

[hertsbob]

I think that is the case. I went to a driving day at Quainton Road a couple of years ago and they were having all sorts of bother planning their Thomas days due to copyright issues, or whatever. All in all it's a bit of a shame.


Bob

[rhysicus1989]

One of the contributing factors towards Thomas events being pulled from preserved railways is that the company, HIT entertainment suddenly changed the agreement, which DEMANDED that all volunteers actively involved with the railway during the event, ranging from ticket collectors, drivers, firemen, guards, the fat controller, everyone, had to have a CRB (Or whatever it is,) check done, and most volunteers dont consider this a valuable use of their time.

They also demand that the railway uses the officially approved advertising things, (Which cost about 3 times more than anywhere else) and that everything is checked and up to their standards. because of this back in 2001, this almost bankrupted the PBR and we were literally left with £100 in the bank to buy diesel for our DMU with.

Thomas events on the preserved railways will soon be history I'm afraid,

[Acorncomputer]

Hi

The CRB (Criminal Records Check) I think, is the result of an incident on one preserved railway during a Thomas Event where a child was involved.

[Easilyconfused]

We don't need to explore the CRB element here. That can be done on politics websites but I will say that CRB is being massively blamed for a number of things that are not of it's making in the same way that "Health and Safety" is equally blamed for various things. In both cases it is not the law that is causing the problems but over-zealous application of it and in some cases downright belligerent opposition to it being used for political ends. SWMBO is the CRB person for our church and the volume of paperwork is staggering but not unreasonable.

HIT own the rights and took action against a number of people who were using the likeness of Thomas to generate profit. A number of preserved railways do run Thomas themed days and comply with HIT's requirements. Like it or not HIT own the rights and do protect them so people can't just paint any old tank engine blue and put the Thomas name on it to generate funds.

[Darpor]

I wonder if Reverend Awdry intended it to be this way. I think not, he simply wanted the story to be enjoyed by all.

[hertsbob]

Amen to that.

[Easilyconfused]

I wonder if Reverend Awdry intended it to be this way. I think not, he simply wanted the story to be enjoyed by all.

Good point.

However, the executors of his estate have done their job in realising the best return possible for his work.

You could extend a similar argument to my own example. When myself and my brother were little our mother took us on the bus each week to the library to swap our books and the TTTE books were high on the agenda. So every week she paid the local bus company (way before FirstBus got hold of Bristol) for 1 and 2 half fares for about 5 stops to the library and back. That generated money for whoever ran the buses in those days (I think it was the council or Bristol Bus Company).

I was allowed 2 books - 1 had to be something other than Thomas The Tank Engine.

[alexedwin]

It's part of Puffing Billy Railway in Victoria, Australia.
http://www.puffingbilly.com.au/?id=dayoutwiththomas

It was running while I was there in March 2010.

Oh dear! It's coming.

[rhysicus1989]

We don't need to explore the CRB element here.

Fair enough


HIT own the rights and took action against a number of people who were using the likeness of Thomas to generate profit. A number of preserved railways do run Thomas themed days and comply with HIT's requirements. Like it or not HIT own the rights and do protect them so people can't just paint any old tank engine blue and put the Thomas name on it to generate funds.

Yes I agree, but considering that most preserved railways run as charity's, and considering that HIT and the Thomas franchise is now a MASSIVE multi million dollar industry, they even have their own theme parks for gods sake, you would have thought that they would cut the preserved railways some slack, I realise that they have to protect their assets but the only REAL experience of steam engines, is a preserved railway or museum etc, and by taking the Thomas element away from the kids through preserved railways, they then have absoloutly no idea how real engines or railways work.

Take my little cousin for example, he loves thomas the tank engine on the telly, he knows all the names blah blah, but take him to a real preserved railway and he has no idea what its all about, he's old enough to understand but he still cant grasp the fact that you have to shovel coal onto a fire to make steam.

thats my own opinion of the subject I know its not really related to the simulator,


lastly,

Take Ivor the engine for instance. it cost us £300 a day to steam him, and that includes the copyright stuff. and now the ivor the engine weekends are the most popular on the railway i work on.

rhys

[kirkheath]

I agree Darren, some issues with legislation and political influences are silly these days and some things are just Over the top. Like also, I think that the fat controller during these events have to go on a specialist training course to be taught to say things the correct way or something ridiculous

[UnionPacific7004]

I guess this was gonna happen anyway. Besides, these supposed railworks models look alot better than the repaints I've seen. Check this link for yourselves.

This video is hosted by YouTube, a site which is outside of the editorial control of UKTrainSim and as such Parental Control is strongly advised. To view the video, click on the PLAY button. If you click anywhere else on this video, you will be taken to a YouTube page, where you may find yourself subjected to content that you feel is offensive. If you feel THIS video is inappropriate, please report it to a moderator immediately for prompt action.

[RSderek]

Not sure about Thomas, but do a search on Youtube and Ernie the engine and friends.
Made me laugh.
regards

Derek

[MickeL]

Very cool