2023

A list of events relating to the Thomas franchise which occurred in the year 2023 AD. The year was preceded by 2022 and was followed by 2024.

January 1st[]

Thomas Fandom member 01Salty reveals additional info obtained from Railway-Series illustrator Clive Spong via email. Spong revealed that the name of the Orange Caterpillar Crane is actually Murphy. He additionally stated that he didn't have a name for The Green Soft Sided Lorry, but expressed interest in christening him Oliver. 01Salty said he sent a follow up Email, wondering if he'd consider any other names, as there are already multiple Oliver's.

January 2nd[]

Thomas Fandom member FlyingPringle shows off some photos of a Season 1 & 3 small-scale Jeremiah Jobling's figures that he is now in possession of.
Thomas YouTuber Drivr3Joe's channel was hacked and all of his videos were deleted. His account was deleted the following day, while YouTube is working to restore it.

January 4th[]

Drivr3Joe's YouTube channel is restored.

January 5th[]

Twitter user Connor The Ertl Addict publishes a document exposing harassment and other behaviors from another Twitter user WoodenRailwayRyan aka Ray, including in the document was a section recalling an incident where Mrs. Kyndley's small scale figure owned by Twitter user HectorFan2008, was stolen during the preparation of the Greenberg Train Show in Edison, New Jersey back in November of 2022, including how Ray was likely the one behind the robbery due to numerous amounts of witnesses and evidence. Thankfully, the thief ended up losing the figure near a dirt patch outside the exhibition and it would be rediscovered and returned to its rightful owner, as well as that, Twitter user FlyingPringle offered to restore the figure due to it being damaged during the ordeal.

January 6th[]

The Season 10 Blooper's Reel is revealed in full HD quality on Twitter thanks to user @media_integer, as well as one new blooper being included of crew members messing around with a Schylling model of the 1993 Napier Cambell Bluebird on the set of "Seeing The Sights"

January 7th[]

The Talyllyn Railway uploads a complete version of Awdry's "Railways of Sodor" lecture, read by Tim Dunn, with some new pieces of information being revealed for the first time.

January 8th[]

Twitter user The Railway Board reveals he is in possession of a Standard Tanker from "Toad Stands By""

January 15th[]

Twitter user ThomasTankMerch reveals they are in possession of an earlier version of Thomas face 2, which appears to be a production made finished version that was sprayed over with primer. You can still see the eyebrows/teeth and writing/black tack on the back. They don’t know whether it was ever seen on screen

January 16th[]

Twitter user ThomasTankMerch reveals they are in possession of the original S1-6 Toby faces. These faces were widened with filler, sprayed with primer and then cast to make the wider Toby faces seen S7 onwards. You can see clearly on the backs where they were widened. Some of the original eyebrows are visible under the primer

January 30th[]

Twitter user ThomasTheorist reveals that he had E-Mailed Ian McCue, who confirmed the idea that Thomas would've visited Hiro and Kenji in Japan in the cancelled Season 25.

February 14th[]

Twitter user NothernStarCA releases scans of the scripts for all Season 1-2 episodes, as-well as the first drafts for Gordon and the Famous Visitor, Thomas, Percy and the Dragon, Henry's Forest, The Trouble with Mud, No Joke for James, and Trust Thomas. Also included were the scripts for every episode of Shining Time Station, Schemer Presents, and scripts for The Jukebox Band, including several early drafts. "A Brief History of the Indian Valley Railroad" was also contained. All of the scripts came from a former Shining Time Station Crew member.

February 16th[]

It is announced on Twitter user Stemy Tenk's profile that Drayton Manor will be closing it's Discover Thomas Exhibition and constructing a new one in the exit building to Winston's Whistle Stop Tours. Alongside the likelihood of Salty's prop or a brass Percy prop being added to the display alongside the return of the original Thomas.

February 23rd[]

FANDOM and Youtube user Monika's Train Yard makes contact with Michael Dixon, editor on the first season of Thomas, asking about a rushes log floppy disk mentioned in his SIF interview, Michael responds stating he still has the disks and is welcome for an attempt at a transfer.
Flying Scotsman marks 100th years since his first passenger run in 1923.

February 28th[]

A user called BlueProporColour proceeds to leak several private images of the original Drayton Manor display from the inside. These images were supposed to be private and were originally shared around by Twitter user StemyTenk on the agreement to be kept private. This is because the one who took the images Twitter user JimmyPrime97, could get in trouble with his boss for taking them as employees are not supposed to take photos from the inside of the layout. Attached to the leaked images was a drive full of the pictures including some unseen ones however the drive is quickly locked to prevent further leaks. This whole ordeal causes drama on Twitter, while many understood the situation, some did not and accused the two of gatekeeping leaving Stemy and Jimmy to briefly private there accounts although they would restore them a few days later.

March 7th[]

With the help of Twitter user ThomasTankMerch, Michael Dixon's floppy disk would be sent over to a tech company to be digitized.

March 15th[]

A leaked photo of Drayton Manor's new prop display surfaces online courtesy of user CheekyULP

March 17th[]

The Unlucky Tug gets his channel falsely terminated for sharing his email address with a suspended account. The backlash was so bad, a staff at Google began looking into reinstating the channel.
Michael Dixon's Thomas disk would be digitized however the assumed data would not be on the disk, instead a short story unrelated to Thomas and a game would be found, likely due to the disk being reused at some point in time, unbeknownst to Michael.

March 20th[]

It is revealed in a Discord server that former Twitter user FlyingPringle is currently in possession of the base figure used to create the moulds for the narrow gauge drivers from Series 4.
The Unlucky Tug creates a new channel and uploada a video entitled "Well this sucks." giving a rundown of the whole situation. He stated that all of his content post-BWBA video would be reuploaded, while some other users such as WTL Network have been kind enough to reupload some of his videos, even pre-2020 videos.

March 22nd[]

ERTL of Sigrid from Theodore Tugboat was discovered in Chinese web-store and later sold in same day. The remains of cancelled die-cast Phillip, Pugwash and Digby were not discovered yet.

March 23rd[]

A production used face cast of Peter Sam is listed for sale by The Prop Gallery for $1023.19, this causes controversy on Twitter for the high price tag.

March 27th[]

Twitter user Hardy20068 reveals he is in possession of an original promotional still slide from TATMR, other user CidrokTheDragon later reveals he is in possession on similar still slides.

March 30th[]

Thomas & Friends: The Movie is finally given a release date of 2024 via a screen rant article. This information seemingly isn't discovered by the fandom until Fandom user ThomasTakeItAlongDuh posts about it on May 3rd.[1]

April 3rd[]

More photos of Drayton Manor's new prop display under construction surface via Drayton Talk.
Twitter user BVSwasGood reveals several behind the scenes images of a model of Shepperton Studio's exterior used as reference to build the exterior of Shepperton during production of Series 2. A photo of the finished exterior at Shepperton was also attached. All images were courtesy of crew member Paul Knight.

April 4th[]

Twitter user StemyTenk starts work at Drayton Manor.
A Percy number decal is listed for sale on The Prop Gallery for $234.22, yet again controversy is caused as a result of the pricetag and how the shop are cutting up larger decal sheets into individual sections and charging them higher to present value.

April 8th[]

Twitter user DinoPercy69 leaks images of Spencer, Bulgy and Terence at Drayton Manor on its new prop display under construction. The reason for there presence was likely for testing. The user accuses StemyTenk of gatekeeping like BlueProporColour did (adding to this Blue would quote tweet Dino's post adding to the mockery likely meaning they are the same user. However Stemy following this would proceed to share a few more images before deleting them. He stated later he intending to release those images anyway as he would be the one taking responsibility not another user like last time as he took them not Jimmy. He also adds the reason he shared them privately was he shared them with friends since he wanted to see there reactions, he says he put to much trust in fandom and now knows to not share images to anyone period until it's safe too. This again causes drama with some supporting Stemy and others not.

April 11th[]

Thomas Wiki user TidmouthStreetlight uploads some new never before seen concept-art drawings for a cancelled TrackMaster set from 2012 called "River Log Jam" and "Bridge Falls" which can work in connection eachother. The concept-art was drawn by Brian D. Lawrence and is dated November 16th 2012. Noticeably, it features a green crane character. The concept of the set would be repurposed in 2014 for the Thomas Wooden Railway set "Lumber Yard Waterfall Adventure". The concept-art was discovered on Brian's website: [2]

April 12th[]

Twitter users JimmyPrime97 and StemyTenk private there Twitters again due to the drama. Stemy also changes his bio to discussing a feeling of dread while he goes to sleep and a slang way of saying it's over the following day. Possibly hinting of something greater happening as a result of the drama. Jimmy's Twitter was now restore in few weeks later, although StemyTenk was unclear.
A book entitled “Words can Describe” is found to contain an extract where actress Meg Ryan's son visited Shepperton Studios during production of Series 6 and saw one of the Percy models without a face. Screaming "they've killed Percy!" He was so upset he had to be taken out the room and shown another Percy model to calm him down with crew members telling him "look Percy's fine" although the son wasn't convinced likely realizing there where too Percy models at the time.

April 14th[]

Twitter user DinoPercy69's account was deleted for some reasons.

April 16th[]

Member of the crew on Project Tiger Moth, Twitter user Cam's Replicas, puts out a long length of racist replies to a POC spreading awareness on a racist tweet, when questioned on this he starts to get defensive and puts out more racist statements as well as blocking POC and others who disagreed with his statements. The controversy was so bad in the end Cam would deactivate his account completely. It was also announced on Discord later in the evening by the rest of the Project Tiger Moth crew Cam would no longer be allowed to participate in future projects. Following this, many users friends with the director of Project Tiger Moth Jacob Jarret aka FlyingPringle would put out statements on his behalf on various troubles crew had Cam on set during production.

April 17th[]

Former model maker on Thomas' first season Tim Staffel uploads a TikTok detailing his time in Thomas recalling an incident at a Christmas party where Wilbert Awdry visited the studio and stated "you made Henry wrong".

April 20th[]

Mike O'Donnell confirms that he considers seasons 6 and 7 to be in the classic era.
Twitter user SkarloeyRailwayAdventure's Wharf Scale Thomas Controller and Bulgy face cast from The Prop Gallery arrives and he gives them a minor clean, he also announces he will no longer be buying from The Prop Gallery due to the prices they are charging for there props.

April 21st[]

Patrick and Nelson's steering and driving remote is listed for sale on The Prop Gallery.
SkarloeyRailwayAdventure reveals pictures of Thomas' controller and Bulgy's face post cleaning, he also announces face casts of his Molly and Bulgy face casts will be available soon.

April 22nd/23rd[]

Tugs The Exhibition's 10 year anniversary event is held.
Patrick/Nelson's remote is sold and later announced by Twitter user TheThomasReviewer that he is the buyer and even shows proof with the item purchased in his basket.

April 24th[]

The Thomas reviewer announces he will be revealing 4 new props soon with 1 coming in 2 months.

April 28th[]

The Unlucky Tug uploads his first new video following his termination, which was Series 6 of the Thomas Retrospective.

April 30th[]

Member of the crew on Project Tiger Moth, Twitter user Gauge 1 Garage releases a script for a cancelled follow up episode entitled "Missing Henry", the episode would of contained subtle references to TUGS as well as be a spiritual successor to episodes such as Something In The Air, Haunted Henry and Duncan Gets Spooked, it was dropped for being to similar to the episodes.
The Talyllyn Railway announces public tickets will go on sale for The Awdry Extravaganza 3 on May 10th with Preservation Society Members getting tickets earlier on May 8th.

May[]

Two Thomas drawings signed by Wilbert Awdry go up for sale on eBay from user perscriptart. One is based upon the eighth illustration of "Thomas Goes Fishing" from Tank Engine Thomas Again, whilst the other is based upon the book's cover illustration. Oddly both drawings are mirrored, compared to the originals. They are listed seperately, but both for $3436.10 USD. The drawings are each 10 2/3 inches by 8 1/3 inches in size.

May 2nd[]

Twitter user @yeenwithgoggles leaks the page from the Character Bios document which shows Grandfather Hatt.

May 3rd[]

The Talyllyn Railway releases a video announcing what events will be featured at The Awdry Extravaganza 3.
The Rusty Prototype Face TheRailwayBoard was originally going to buy is listed and sold on The Movie Reliquary likely showing that TheRailwayBoard failed to pay of the item, for some reason it is relisted after a few hours.

May 4th[]

The Rusty Prototype Face is listed for sale by The Movie Reliquary on Ebay this time selling for over £1000 on auction. TheThomasReviewer later announces he was the original buyer on the Movie Reliquary website but cancelled the order and refunded for it being overpriced at over $800, this explains the relisting.

May 5th[]

The identity of the Board of Trade (B.O.T.) Inspector from the Railway-Series story "Bucking Bronco" in the book "Very Old Engines" was discovered to be Sir Henry Tyler by Fandom user Pizzafan300.

May 7th[]

Twitter user Thomas'No.1Fan! uploads a google-drive of CGI Behind the Scenes content spanning from 2013-2019. Included are a list of character names for the first eighteen seasons, a 118 page Character Bios list from 2013, two versions of a Season 18-19 synopsis', a 2014 synopsis for the PBS Kids Half-Hour blocks, a dubbing list for the Chinese dub of the show for Season 18, a glossary of information for Season 18 and multiple versions for 19, a Season 19 character list, and finally files of the posters seen around Sodor in the CGI-Series,

May 8th[]

The Unlucky Tug discovers via restored RWS Illustrations, that Bulgy actually has a beard in the books.
Awdry Extravaganza 3 tickets go on sale for Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society Members, the tickets for the Tim Dunn lecture alone sell out completely in this time also despite not being listed publicly.

May 9th[]

Thomas'No.1Fan! publicly releases the original file for Thomas' CGI model used from 2015-2018 and some BWBA sets among other production files.

May 10th[]

Awdry Extravaganza 3 tickets go on sale for the public with tickets for the Awdry Exhibition selling out quickly.

May 21st[]

The file for track used in the CGI series is publicly released courtesy of Twitter user RongBlaze.
Twitter user @yeenwithgoogles starts uploading several TATMR storyboards.

May 30th[]

The Duncan Rock N'Roll Roller coaster in Thomas Land Japan is announced to be closing with the 30th being the last day the ride will be in operation. It is unknown why it is closing currently but it is likely to make room for an All Engines Go ride.
Twitter user @Season1Thomas reveals former Twitter user @CamsReplicas is in possession of several face casts which have not been publicly revealed until now.
A first edition of Duke the Lost Engine signed by Teddy Boston fails to get any bids after being listed online by eBay user passengerwork. It is soon-after relisted with a new end date of June 9th.

June 3rd[]

"The Awdry Diorama Challenge" is announced, a competition run by the Talyllyn Railway as part of the Awdry Extravaganza where people could submit photos of there own hand made, digitally made or hand drawn dioramas based on Railway Series illustrations in the chances of winning a special goodie bag.

June 7th[]

After 25 years in operation, the Rock 'n' Roll Duncan ride at Thomas Land Japan permanently shuts down.

July 11th[]

The cancelled Take Along Holiday Gordon appears on eBay, revealing it was gonna be released in 2005 with the blue Holiday Caboose.

July 22nd-23rd[]

The third Awdry Extravaganza was held between 22nd and 23rd July 2023. It featured a talk held on Saturday - at the Magic Lantern Cinema, Tywyn - from Veronica Chambers about her life with Wilbert Awdry followed by further archive material from the Awdry Study read by Tim Dunn. Additionally, visitors were able to ride the Talyllyn Railway trolley, Toby (dressed as Ivo's Flying Bedstead) between Tywyn Wharf and Pendre, while Alf (dressed as Fred) ran shuttle rides at Abergnolwyn. The screen-used props from the original series were featured Rusty's close-up model, Henry's plastic model and the others.

September 3rd[]

After some research, Fandom user Pizzafan300 discovers that Terence's basis is a Caterpillar D2 "J" Series Model. Specifically, he seems to most accurately correspond with the variants produced in 1947.

September 27th[]

Various scans of spare unused decals from the television series are uploaded to Google Drive and shared by former Twitter user FlyingPringle on Discord.

September 30th-October 1st[]

Tugs Exhibition Autumn Event - Midland Railway Centre - Butterley Station and Swanwick Junction, Nottinghamshire, England, UK is held. Henry's plastic model is not present in the exhibition coach as it was brought out to the Awdry Extravaganza 3 event earlier in the year and then returned to storage.

October 1st[]

Roy Wilson, Founder of Thomas Wooden Railway, passes away at the age of 76.

October 2nd[]

01Salty reveals via a correspondence with Robert Gauld-Galliers, that a sentient tractor previously seen in a concept-art for a Season 5 Set, was indeed not intended to be an actual character as believed, and was simply added to the drawing as set dressing (Although Galliers always envisioned the tractor as being red). Despite this, Galliers gave 01Salty permission to name the character. Before making the reveal 01Salty created a Twitter poll on September 20th which read "Urgent and important question! If you were to name a small red tractor, what would it be? The reason will be revealed in the near future...". The choices on the poll were Travis, Titan, Todd, and Ted. Travis ended up winning the poll, and thus that became the character's canonical name.

October 17th[]

The Fandom learns of the passing of Roy Wilson.

October 27th[]

After several months of planning and construction, the new Discover Thomas & Friends exhibition is opened to the public at the exit building of Winston's Whistle Stop Tour at Drayton Manor Resort's Thomas Land.

November 8th[]

Harvey's concerned and sad faces are revealed to be owned by Twitter user Machan of Sodor.

November 27th[]

Peter Sam's small-scale model from season 4 was discovered in after being sold from Vectis in nine years, Twitter user @OGThomasFan came forward as the owner of the prop.
An Unlikely Fandom was released through the theater in Monday, the event was featured creator Britt Allcroft attempting the film's event with the original small-scale of Peter Sam, the model crew replica of Thomas from Shepperton Studios and the replica of Lady are on display.

December 4th[]

Twitter user OGThomasFan announces that Alec Baldwin, former Thomas Narrator, will be attending Steel City Comic Con from the 8th to 10th of December.

December 7th[]

Thomas and Friends Fandom wiki announcements to the plans for the closed the discussions from increase of the toxicity users.

December 13th[]

Twitter user OGThomasFan showcases pictures of former Thomas Narrator Alec Baldwin holding the Peter Sam small-scale model at the Steel City Con.

December 18th[]

Arthur's angry face is revealed to be owned by Twitter user Machan of Sodor.

December 19th[]

Whiff's smiling face (without glasses) is revealed to be owned by Twitter user Machan of Sodor.

December 24th[]

Hank's smiling and sad faces are revealed to be owned by Twitter user Machan of Sodor.

December 25th[]

Twitter and Instagram user ThomasTankMerch reveal the original season 5 models of Annie and Clarabel for the Christmas Day, these models were used till Calling All Engines! Where they were replaced with a newer set of models.

December 27th[]

Blue Train With Friends is announced to be abandoned.