The Pilot first came around after Britt Alcroft got the rights to produce a television series based on The Railway Series books by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry.  Britt Alcroft had to mortgage her home to afford to pay for it. Sometimes smoke would come out of the engines eyes due to being poorly built. ​ 

 

 

 

The Engines

 

 

 

​Thomas Thomas was built in 1983 and was one of or the first props built. His chassis was originally scratch built, his buffers were from a company called LocoSteam, his brakepipes and possibly his coupler were from Tenmille. He was built out of black acrylic, some wood I believe, styrene, and tube from EMA. His pinstripe was also from EMA. His chassis was scratch built and possibly used parts from Basset Lowke.