Atomic Systems

On the fictional Island of Sodor in The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry, the Skarloey Railway is a narrow gauge railway which runs from the main line at Crovan's Gate to the passenger terminus at Skarloey. Beyond Skarloey the line continues to a slate quarry.
In the stories, the railway is run by the Thin Controller. Its chief engineer is Mr Ivo Hugh.
The line was inspired and based on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales, where Rev. W. Awdry worked as a volunteer guard in the 1950s. The railway was originally owned by Sir Haydn Jones MP who became Sir Handel Brown in the books.
The railway was central to the books Four Little Engines, The Little Old Engine, Gallant Old Engine, Very Old Engines, Great Little Engines and New Little Engine. It played a significant supporting role in Mountain Engines and Duke the Lost Engine.

What a fun route to build It would nice to get a few of us together and have ago

Regards

John

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skarloey_Railway

I seem to remember reading somewhere a while ago, that we really couldnt make and distribute a Thomas themed railworks route? Something to do with Copyright or general Rights wasnt it?

Or, now, due to the fact that HiT Entertainment no longer own Thomas, would we be able to do this now?

It'd be interesting to see something like the IoS in RW, would draw alot of the TTTE fans into the Game...however, with TS2012's current, ah, predicaments, would this be justifyable?

I bet even though HIT is about to drop Thomas, it'll still be a copyright problem.

Though I don't know, maybe the new hands will be more flexible on the product like before the rights and laws were altered. Hopefully it'll bring back Thomas events on preserved railways before they all disappear. I'd much rather see news items of Thomas back at Swanage rather than the Family Fun week they put in his place

Things are looking up now actually, a new story writer is penned for forthcoming series, animation is set to improve and indeed a new brand taking up the franchise.

There were the Thomas models for MSTS presumably until the rights were changed, so maybe with a new brand, most activities should be free again.

The copyrights surrounding TTTE are notorious for being heavily enforced. I believe I am right in saying that several preserved railways have stopped running Thomas days citing the costs and difficulty of doing them without breaching copyright. I think as well there was a whole lot of stuff available for Trainz but it disappeared and I think that was copyright reasons.

Although as the above has said now HiT are not involved in may be easier.

Well for many Thomas fans HIT has been the reason for Thomas' downfall in series storylines and withdrawal of events in recent years, so I hope this new brand helps him back to his roots.

There is one thing for sure, the rail network on the Isle of Sodor is no weekend work.

Remembering that the Isle of Sodor stretches from Barrow to the Isle of Man.

For fear of copyright I don't think I can upload a map of Sodor however here a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodor_(fictional_island)

Anyone wanting to have a go have a look here aswell http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/mapsection.htm

I would love to get a small group of us and build something fun in narrow gauge

Regards


John

I'm sure that many members would John, but we aware that unless the current copyright restrictions change (unlikely in my view) you'd not be able to upload it here.

Ash

The brilliant authors of the Trainz version didn't seem to have a problem with copyright?

Anyone can make a route and call it The Island of Sodor, since names and titles cannot be protected by copyright. You would get into difficulties if you started to infringe upon the intellectual property of the Awdry family

So what is the property owned by the Awdry Family? You could alway's make a Island Based on it, missing out the things that would infringe copywright couldn't you?

As long as existing copyright restrictions are observed, anyone may build what they want. However,it's important to note that it's up to individuals to satisfy themselves that routes, models, etc, comply completely with any copyright restrictions - UKTS will not do this for you.

Ash

I have some re-skins I did for a friend I also said I would build the route but that was 6 months ago!
So I will post some screenies if you want me to.

I often wonder how we would stand if someone attempted to make a route based on Middle Earth, as not only do you have the original author/publisher rights you now have the additional rights granted to Peter Jackson (no relation to Paul?) for the movies. A Class 40 heading out of Rivendell over the Misty Mountains would be a stirring sight, as would arriving in Minas Tirith off the overnight from Isengard.

Sadly I think it will remain a dream, along with the TTE stuff.

Here comes Ivor, toot toot.