Thomas the Tank Engine

This morning, I did an interview at a toy store. One of the rooms in the toy store featured Brio wooden train sets, sized just right for the Thomas the Tank Engine line.

Oh, Thomas.

When my little brother was...little, he just loved Thomas the Tank Engine. This was back when Thomas and his little British friends were just gaining their initial fame. Phillip had some of the wooden tracks, and he'd get a couple engines for each birthday or Christmas... when he'd wake up at night and couldn't get back to sleep, Mom (or Dad) would take him downstairs and pop in the dubbed tapes of Shining Time Station (containing Thomas), and that was nearly the only thing to settle him.

So I saw my fair share of Thomas, too. And I can identify him and his friends!

Thomas (blue), Henry (green), James (red), Gordon (blue but longer), Diesel (square), Percy (green but shorter), Edward (another blue one like Thomas that I can never really identify), Bertie (the bus!),

and Harold (the helicopter -- or "Hucka-tucka"). I remember playing with his toy wings. Aww.

Other fun things at the toy store: BrainQuest, Mexican Train Dominoes, 5,000-piece puzzles, ant farms, probably MindTrap, Apples to Apples...