The Nene Valley Railway at Peterborough in England was the very first railway in the world to possess a full-scale replica of Thomas. This was an industrial tank engine built by Hudswell Clarke in 1947. It has been nicknamed "Thomas" due to its bright blue livery and resemblance to the famous tank engine. In 1971, the Rev. W. Awdry made the name official. Later HiT Entertainment tried unsuccessfully to sue the Nene Valley Railway claiming that this locomotive was breaching their trademark. However, as the name was given by the Rev. Awdry, it has been allowed to remain. Since then other tank engines around the world have been dressed up as Thomas. Some heritage railways, most notably the Strasburg Rail Road and Mid Hants Railway, built working locomotives from original engines. This caused some controversy among railway preservationists who claimed it disfigured historic locomotives and trivialized the preservation movement. However, those in favor claimed the new projects would draw much-needed visitors and would help associate interest into steam and diesel engines and historical train travel with young children. Since then, railways experienced an increase of income with appearance fees for "Thomases" to railways that do not have a Thomas replica of their own. From 2008 onwards, many heritage railways in the UK have withdrawn their "Day Out With Thomas" events due to HiT's revised licensing conditions, which includes the requirement for enhanced criminal records checks on all the railway's staff and volunteers.R. Jones: Major lines pull out of Thomas. Heritage Railway magazine, Issue 106, Dec. 2007, page 26 However, the "Day Out With Thomas" events have thrived in the United States and Canada.
Many heritage railways up and down the UK have hosted Day Out With Thomas events over the years; some events feature just Thomas himself, whilst others, such as the Watercress Line, Llangollen Railway, East Anglian Railway Museum, Kirklees Light Railway, Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway and the Caledonian Railway also feature some of Thomas' friends such as Percy, Diesel, Mavis and Daisy. As of 2020, 14 Heritage Railways in the UK host Day Out With Thomas events. As a result of the licensing costs and other demands imposed by Mattel/HiT, some railways have replaced their Thomas events with similar ones which also feature engines with faces. For example, the East Lancashire Railway has created "Jimmy the Jinty".
In the United States there are seven traveling Thomas engines: one that is a "real" steam locomotive, and the other six that are dummy engines. All were built or rebuilt by the Strasburg Rail Road, with the steam engine being rebuilt from Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal No. 15. The dummy engines usually consist of a steam or diesel locomotive operated as a pusher, with an unpowered Thomas engine at the opposite end. Thomas's whistle is powered by the train's compressed air system. Two are narrow gauge, while the other five are standard gauge. While in transit between events, Thomas' face is covered. The standard gauge replicas are transported from location to location via flatbed truck. Thomas appears in full dress at Day Out With Thomas events hosted by railroads in arrangement with HiT Entertainment. Many of the larger railroad museums and tourist railroads across the United States host Day out with Thomas events periodically. The same trains are also used for the three Canadian events. The National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin was the first railroad museum in the United States to host a "Day Out With Thomas" event, unveiling a small Thomas replica in December 1996. In 2014, all of the Thomas locomotives had their old faces replaced with an animatronic CGI style face. In September 2014, a full-scale replica of Percy was built. This Percy is also a dummy engine. In 2019, Mavis the diesel engine was introduced at the Strasburg Rail Road's event "Thomas, Mavis, and the Strasburg Spooktacular". Strasburg's SW8 #8618 switcher was redressed as Mavis for the event.
Japan
Japan's Oigawa Railway started running Thomas events in 2014. the JNR Class C11 was decorated as Thomas. Alongside a JNR Class 9600 was decorated as Hiro and was displayed at the station yard of Senzu Station and a diesel locomotive that was decorated as Rusty. In 2015, the JNR Class C56 was decorated as James and operated its own trains alongside Thomas. Also for 2015, a JNR Steam Locomotive that no longer operated on the railway was turned into a Percy replica and sits alongside the Class 9600 that is decorated as Hiro. In 2016, a red bus, decorated into Bertie, was introduced alongside the Troublesome Trucks, which are pulled by the Rusty replica. In 2018, a replica of Winston was introduced and guests can ride and operate him by pedalling. A replica of Flynn was introduced in 2019. Bulgy is announced to appear in the events in 2020.
