Advantages: Great stories, good engines, educational experience
Disadvantages: The new stories aren't as good

...I am now 17 years old, but I do still love watching the odd Thomas The Tank Engine story very ocassionly. I grew up watching it and I had, and still do have, most of the videos and story books. I was pleased to discover that the programmes and concept is still going strong. They are continuing to make new stories and introduce more characters, both of which have some positive and negative costs. I will write everything that I know about Thomas The Tank Engine and try and gives those of you who haven't seen it before, a good idea of what it all involves. Thomas The Tank Engine (and Friends), is a childrens programme about the trains that operate on the island of Sodor. It follows them through their ups and downs and also their funny moods and strops that they get into. Each story tends to have a message at the end... Read review

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Advantages: Great for small hands
Disadvantages: So many to collect

...This is where it all started. The starter set was my son's first exposure to Thomas the Tank Engine - First things first - there are at least 5 different styles of Thomas toys - none which interact with each other so sticking to 1 type would be recommended. This is a My First Thomas range which are ideal for children aged 1 and above.The toys are brightly coloured and accurate copies of your favourite Thomas characters. There are plenty to collect! The trains all have non marking rubber wheels, are hard wearing, dishwasher safe and most importantly are battery free. A great and affordable gift for a 1 plus year old boy - My son, now 2 cannot get enough of his collection - he has 35+!!!! You can also purchase a track which the trains will interact with. So to conclude - an ideal purchase for any young boy... Read review

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Advantages: Likeable little characters, Simple stories
Disadvantages: Only really appeals to children 6 and under...

..., at the exclusion of others, and often in succession. We watched it on our own, with my niece and nephews, and with a couple of Master Two's little friends. All the children, with the possible exception of my eight year-old niece, loved it. This veritable binge of Thomas viewing has certainly taken its toll, however, and Master Two actually seems to have tired of the DVD. In fact, he hasn't asked to watch it for a couple of days now, and seems more than content to play with his train set instead. Which is quite a relief. FINALLY: Once upon a time, the fame of Thomas The Tank Engine and his friends extended no further than a rather quaint little series of wallet-sized books with the name of the rural Vicar who had written them printed discreetly across the front. I suspect the poor Reverend Awdry would probably toss in his grave at some... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Very sturdy unbreakable toys., Quite inexpensive., Easy to clean.
Disadvantages: none that i can think of

...Before my son Callum's first birthday, he is now 2 1/2 years old, we bought him the My First Thomas range of toys. These are chunky plastic engines and carriages etc. They are unbreakable, Callum throws them so hard sometimes and also they have been stood on and not broken too! The prices start at £4.99 and i think they are well worth every penny, seeing as he still has them all in working order. My son has all the main engines, Thomas Edward, Henry, Gordon,James and Percy and also he has Toby the tram engine and Harold the helicopter as well as a troublesome truck, Annie and Clarabel (Thomas's Carriages) an express coach, Bertie the Bus and a lorry. There is such a good range and you can even get a nice plastic track for Thomas and his friends to go along. You can obtain all these toys from mothercare, Toys R us, Tesco... Read review

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Advantages: A good programme for the kids
Disadvantages: none

...As a child growing up in the 80's (well some of it), my viewing pleasure was enlightened in the afternoons by a short 2 or 3 minute cartoon about a small steam engine and hisa fellow trains. The Cartoon was of course, Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas was actually written many years before by the Reverend W Awdry in 1945, who provided the stories that entertained generations for his son, Christopher. Out of interest, he lived with a Transvetite in Roxwell, a small village outside of Chelmsford, for a long time! It was not until the 1980's however that we got to see them on TV. The stories Follow a small Blue Tank Engine who is called Thomas. Thomas, like all of the tank engines, has a smiley face on the front of his boiler with large eyes. Its based in a ficticious location caled Sodor. Thomas and all of his friends have... Read review

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Advantages: Everything
Disadvantages: None

...When my son was younger he had a nasty habit of drawing on the walls and settee with pens and crayons. Most children do it at some point and gradually stop it after a while, once they realise that they have to draw on paper and colour the pretty pictures on their colouring books not redecorate your living room and settee for you. Maybe the little one was trying to tell me that he didn't like the décor in the house or maybe he was practicing interior design. Either way the drawing on the walls had to stop and it had to stop fast because I was getting sick of touching up the paint in the living room to hide his little scribbled marks. The little boy's a big Thomas The Tank Engine fan and has loads of Thomas related toys and DVD's so when I spotted the Thomas The Tank Engine Aquadraw mat in Woolworths one day I had to buy... Read review

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Advantages: entertains the children, only 5 minutes per episode
Disadvantages: too much merchandise to be conned into

...Thomas the Tank Engine – kids love it, parents are made bankrupt by it. Let me explain about good ole Thomas. He “lives” on the Island of Sodor, which my sources inform me is near/like the Isle of Man. Thomas has many friends, in the original books, he had just 5 friends – James, Henry, Gordon, Edward (all Tender engines) and Percy (who was the only other Tank engine). Shortly after other characters started to appear; such as Duck, Bertie (the bus), Harold (the helicopter) and Terence (the tractor). In the late 1980s, Thomas (as I’m sure you know), was made into a television series read by Ringo Starr, kids loved his reading voice and parents loved him because “he was the bloke from the Beatles” (who their kids had never heard of…) After a few series, Ringo passed the voiceover baton to Michael Angeleo (although I recently read... Read review

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Advantages: Colourful, Range, Availability
Disadvantages: Can be expensive

...If your like me then you will be only to aware that there are as so many different toys available within the Thomas the tank range. Within this review I will cover my son's two favourite Thomas toys. I will also cover the cost, pros, cons, , and my own thoughts. **The Background** If you have not heard of Thomas the tank and friends then where have you been, this year especially has seen the Thomas market boom. Every shop you go in to has something with the Thomas logo on it. Thomas the tank engine and friends was first brought to our attention back in 1965 when a book was released and then in 1984 the first ever television version was aired. Within only a few months of the first television series being broadcasted audience figures reached a massive 8.5million. To date Thomas and friends is shown in over 130 countries worldwide... Read review

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Advantages: great fun toys to collect
Disadvantages: can be expensive

...For those of you who aren't too sure who Deagostini are, let me explain. They are the company who are behind many of the collection sets available either online or from your newagents every 2 weeks. The first issue is usually at a special price and then it's a set price for the remaining parts in the series. This can be a great way of building up a special collection for a reasonable amount every month. In this case the first issue was £1.99 followed by £4.99 for each part after that so for the whole set it's just over £255 as there are 52 issues. Seems a lot when you say it like that but we don't miss it so much when it's paid monthly and this set is produced in conjuction with Hit Entertainment who make the Thomas series. Of course people would have to have lived on a remote island not to have heard of Thomas the Tank Engine... Read review

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Advantages: Kids just love him
Disadvantages: Wacky prices

...with his younger brother George inherited their fathers love of trains and as a child would listen to the trains running along the Great western railways line near Middle Hill, Wilshire, where he lived. He often imagined they were talking to themselves. Wilbert was ordained to an Anglican clergyman, after a spell of teaching in Jerusalem. He married Margaret Whale, whom he met in Palestine and together they had three children, two girls and a boy...christopher. So we come back to the beginning of a phenomina.....It was his wife Margeret who encouraged Wilbert to print his stories and so in 1945 we saw the first series published. As I mentioned earlier it was indeed Edward not Thomas who was the first engine to be written about. Thomas infact didnt appear until a year later. After the first series of books, children kept writting... Read review

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