Jon,
It’s probably been 35 years, or more, since I’ve been to Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum.
Both fantastic places.
Any more train photos from the village or museum you can post? If so, I’d love to see them.
Ralph
Jack, thanks for the update…would it be too much to ask for a inside view of Annie, would love to see that!
thanks!
cale
That’s a better Thomas than the one that appears in Illinois. Here, they push him with another loco.
Ralph Berg said:Been probably 45 for me. My dad took us there when I was a kid. I don't remember any trains. Maybe they didn't have trains then?
Jon, It's probably been 35 years, or more, since I've been to Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum. Both fantastic places. Any more train photos from the village or museum you can post? If so, I'd love to see them. Ralph
I was there about 5 years ago. VERY disappointed. They used to have one of the premier exhibits of early agricultural items in the country - collected by Henry himself. They’ve recently sold much of it off to make room for pop culture crap.
TonyWalsham said:
Terry. I think you are wrong re the Bachmann mains controller. We have had 240 volt mains controllers in Bachmann sets for many years. Prety junky but.......... I see no reason why the Thomas sets would be any different.As to intellectual property rights. I have no idea, but it would seem to me to be somewhat shortsighted for Bachmann to not have the rights for the EU.
You prolly know more than I do about it, but here in Yoorup Hornby owns the Thomas line of products, which is why we have not seen any of the Bachmann oroducts here.
tac
www.ovgrs.org
I have no idea who has the franchise for Thomas in the UK. I do know, however, that when Thomas appears at an open day on a Heritage railway here the ‘owners’ of Thomas wan’t a good percentage of the take - on virtually everything even if it something not ‘banded’ as Thomas. Some will say its more of a pain in the butt when he is there - especially on a railway with an intensive timetable - but it seems that it is an event you must have.
I often feel that the Rev. Wilbert Awdry would regret seeing the outcome of his delightful books.
Alan Lott said:
I have no idea who has the franchise for Thomas in the UK. I do know, however, that when Thomas appears at an open day on a Heritage railway here the 'owners' of Thomas wan't a good percentage of the take - on virtually everything even if it something not 'banded' as Thomas. Some will say its more of a pain in the butt when he is there - especially on a railway with an intensive timetable - but it seems that it is an event you must have.I often feel that the Rev. Wilbert Awdry would regret seeing the outcome of his delightful books.
Alam, I’m not talking about full-size models of Thomas, but the only 00 scale Thomas stuff we see over here is made and licensed by Hornby. The Bachmann products are based on their H0 scale products, and are NOT sold in the UK - nor have I seen them anywhere else in Yoorup.
But then I have only been to the following countries in the last five years, so I might be mistooked -
France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Republic of Ireland.
tac
www.ovgrs.org
Terry according to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Tank_Engine
Bachmann and Hornby have made Thomas in 00/H0.
Scroll down to toys.
I did follow the Bachmann links and could find no mention of them doing Thomas currently for the UK.
Mr Walsham - Hornby base their licensed Thomas stuff on their 00 scale locos and rolling stock, and Bachmann use their H0 stuff to do the same thing. But they do not compete in the same markets here due to licensing laws.
Bachmann Europe do not distribute their version of Thomas series in the UK, or in any of the countries I noted above. Nor did I mention Portugal, Greece, Albania, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, The Vatican City or any other other parts of what is now called Europe, The former Yugoslavia, Slovenia, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Belarus and the western part of Turkey, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania or Malta as I have no experience of trying to buy Bachmann trains there.
Talking to the dealer in Scotland, a small-time/part-time business - Scottish garden Rail - he is prepared to import items, but not sets, into the UK to sell as individual sales, obtained from a large dealer in St Louis.
Bachmann Europe does not import any Bachmann sets, in any scale, into THIS part of Europe as the electrical control contents do not conform either EU standards or voltages. What they do in Australia, New Zealand and points east is something over which Bachmann Europe has no control.
Suffice it to say that we will not see Bachmann Thomas sets here in UK, at least, until there is either a change in the basic manufacturing process that allows EU conformity of the current non-compliant manufacturing standards of the electrical supply/control items, or the rigourously-maintained licensing laws are changed substantially, allowing two manufacturers who previously made the same range of products in slightly different scales to compete in the stores.
Apart from Lionel [not imported into UK, BTW], there are no other LS models of Thomas genre trains but Bachmann, so the thought that they will not be coming to the land of his ‘birth’ seems short-sighted in the extreme to me. Bachmann really do seem to have peed in their own hat with THIS marketing fiasco.
tac
www.ovgrs.org
Ralph Berg said:Ralph, I think there are more shots from around the village and in the museum on my main picture website. You'll have to look around though, they are spread out into several different sections. A lot has changed in 35 years too. The most recent change was the paving of the streets in the village a few years ago. It's turned away a lot of the die-hard historical people and reenactor groups.
Jon, It's probably been 35 years, or more, since I've been to Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum. Both fantastic places. Any more train photos from the village or museum you can post? If so, I'd love to see them. Ralph
My PBase Picture Site
As pointed out in another response, lots of the really cool stuff the museum and village were famous for have been sold off. This actually started back in the mid 80’s by the then director Scramstead (I don’t know how to spell his name). I went to school with his son and my mom worked for him for a short time. Anyway, he really made a lot of people mad. I know they lost a lot of their business due to his decisions and it still shows to this day.
Jon.
Jon Foster said:
As pointed out in another response, lots of the really cool stuff the museum and village were famous for have been sold off. This actually started back in the mid 80's by the then director Scramstead (I don't know how to spell his name). I went to school with his son and my mom worked for him for a short time. Anyway, he really made a lot of people mad. I know they lost a lot of their business due to his decisions and it still shows to this day.Jon.
That bit of news is depressing as hell. Back in the day, they had disassembled buildings and tons of stuff warehoused.
Hard to believe they let some _______, ____ up one of the most unique museums and displays of history in the world.
I’m crushed.
Thanks for the link to your pictures. When I get a little time, I’ll have a look.
Ralph
Mr Lynch - any comment about the lack of LS Thomas in the land of his 'birth?
Not to sell these products in the UK must be one of the definitive bad decisions ever made as far as model trains are concerned - Thomas is HUGELY popular here in UK and there are many many LS layouts that have younger visitors who would love the chance to see a large scale model like this.
I’m sure that even over where you are, the upcoming spend-fest has some significance.
tac
www.ovgrs.org
I have a small oval on a raised bed around a tree for “excursion” trains. Which means anything seasonal, Disney, Thomas, etc. The scenery is also seasonal. Lionel Thomas and James sets run there from time to time (but not very long as they are not well built.) I bought a non-working Thomas that stays out permanently, along with the windmill, water tower, and station. It’s all about the kids. (…and keeping their hand off the good stuff 
I picked up the Bachmann Thomas set in HO for $20 (Walmart closeout). I can’t see paying full price for a new set in G scale, but I’m sure I’ll end up with a used set a couple years down the road if the reviews are positive.
Well, this was the response from Mr Lynch -
‘I’m just the Communications manager. I have noting to do with licensing decisions, etc…
I would however think that it is up to Bachmann UK as to whether they decide to import and sell the product.’
Guess I’ll take that as a ‘NO’ then, eh? there is not the slightest chance on earth that we’ll see LS Thomas here in time for Christmas.
tac - disappointed for all the kiddie-winkies deprived of a large-scale Thomas on their Granddad’s track.
www.ovgrs.org
Hello Thomas
(http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/files/2009/10/thomas-the-tank-engine-2.jpg)
I’d like you to meet Mr Razorsaw,
(http://indianhobbies.com/shop/images/xacto-saw.jpg)
He’d like to get to know you better…
Victor Smith said:
Hello ThomasI’d like you to meet Mr Razorsaw,
he’d like to get to know you better…
Mr Smith has definite psychopathic tendencies …
I think I shall stay out of dark alleys …
Victor Smith said:
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e377/onechaoticrose/voices-1.jpg)
:lol:
Some things in life are just wrong. Vic this is one of them. Funny tho, but wrong.
