Shining Time Station Trains

[free2rtmey]

I would like to know what kind of railroad equipment was used on the show and were there actual steam trains shown on Shining Time Station or just trains in general. The opening and end credits with the Union Pacific 8444 don't count.

[Norge]

I believe the steam trains you're referring to are model trains based off the Rev. W. Awdry's The Railway Series. The books were best known in Britain but the characters gained popularity in the United States through Shining TIme Station and the likes of narrators Ringo Starr, George Carlin, and later Alec Baldwin. The series is now Thomas and Friend, a widely popular preschool program that has strayed far from the original Shining Time Station and texts of Awdry, featuring little realism.

I grew up with Shining Time Station and it was my absolutely favorite show when I was a kid, and the complete collection of Awdry's Railway Series books was my favorite book growing up. It's easy for me to say that Thomas the tank engine and his friends ignited my interest in railroading

[Engineer Spike]

I remember going to a local rail museum, and getting one of Rev. Awdry's books. This must have been in the 1970s, so apparently the books were sold in the US, and not just the UK.

[Allen Hazen]

Re:
"what kind of railroad equipment was used on the show and were there actual steam trains shown on Shining Time Station or just trains in general?"

The Reverend Awdry was British, and the "characters" in his books are based on British railway equipment. I'm not sure to what degree they are "generic": someone who knows both his books and British prototypes better than I do will have to say whether the steam locomotive characters are based on recognizable specific prototypes. Certainly the diesel locomotive character Boco is immediately recognizable (by its/his unique wheel arrangement) as a British Rail Class 28 unit.