machinegeist
Shunting Engine
Captain of Task Force 812 and Task Force 213
Posts: 35
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Post by machinegeist on Jun 23, 2008 13:12:27 GMT
Has anyone got any info about the Little Blue Engine Stories by Ursula Hourihane? Google Fu seems to provide no information(nor anything on the author herself) but I did find few covers... (a bit remicient of Thomas, Terrence and the Snow...) and an annual... While Googling this, I found another locomotive-with-a-face (albeit with the lamps for eyes) ... This one was published around the same time as The Three Railway Engines. and this one... Sorry about all these pictures.
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machinegeist
Shunting Engine
Captain of Task Force 812 and Task Force 213
Posts: 35
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Post by machinegeist on Jun 23, 2008 13:38:00 GMT
Incredibly, despite varying degrees of mechanical damage, the engines make it to London. The Chief of Railways promises them a new home in London where everyone can come to see them. Note the rather suspect depiction of the passengers holding the Plymouth Flyer's funnel on. FS, I'll swap you those suspect depictions for this rather contraversial character... From a 50's book Huffy Puffy The Little Red Engine by Lavinia Derwent.
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Post by Christopher on Jun 23, 2008 13:44:56 GMT
Well, I think the Little Blue Engine and Red Engine were mentioned in the "Thomas the Tank Engine Man" book but know nothing about them. I do remember the Choo Choo book, though. It was published with a few other characters in a massive title when I was a nipper. From what I can remember, Choo Choo is a small "switching" engine who loved seeing the big express engines and longs for the day when he can grow up to be like them. But a haughty Express Diesel laughs at him and says that locomotives can't grow up or bigger, much to Choo Choo's dissapointment. But then one day, the same diesel breaks down and Choo Choo is called to pull his train, where everyone congratulates him. Kinda similar to "James and the Express", in a way. And talking of TTTTEM, I came across a preview of another engine book that was mentioned in it: "Choo Choo: The Story of a Little Engine Who Ran Away", via Google Books: books.google.co.uk/books?id=8tfa6A9rhWIC&dq=choo
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machinegeist
Shunting Engine
Captain of Task Force 812 and Task Force 213
Posts: 35
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Post by machinegeist on Jun 23, 2008 14:53:40 GMT
Well, I think the Little Blue Engine and Red Engine were mentioned in the "Thomas the Tank Engine Man" book but know nothing about them. I do remember the Choo Choo book, though. It was published with a few other characters in a massive title when I was a nipper. From what I can remember, Choo Choo is a small "switching" engine who loved seeing the big express engines and longs for the day when he can grow up to be like them. But a haughty Express Diesel laughs at him and says that locomotives can't grow up or bigger, much to Choo Choo's dissapointment. But then one day, the same diesel breaks down and Choo Choo is called to pull his train, where everyone congratulates him. Kinda similar to "James and the Express", in a way. And talking of TTTTEM, I came across a preview of another engine book that was mentioned in it: "Choo Choo: The Story of a Little Engine Who Ran Away", via Google Books: books.google.co.uk/books?id=8tfa6A9rhWIC&dq=chooThanks for the link and the info about Choo Choo the Little Switch Engine, Christopher, I will have to hunt down TTTTEM (I don't have a copy of it unfortunately; bad me), the illos for The Little Engine Who Ran Away in the link were lovely in a kind of gritty, minimalist way. Looking through that actually reminded me of this other engine book I used to read as a kid, but forgotten entirely, Smokey by Bill Peet. tinylink.com/?SUoekhpZ56Like Huffy the Little Red Engine, it contains rather politically incorrect depictions, only this time of Native Americans.
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Jul 7, 2008 19:52:30 GMT
Some of the Little Red Engine books have been republished. I bought The Little Red Engine Goes to Town recently, and the illustrations are absolutely beautiful in this stylised, semi-abstract 1950s way. There are cameos by an unrebuilt West Country, a streamlined Coronation, an A4 and various other locomotives. The story itself is about an exhibition, clearly inspired by the Festival of Britain, for which the Little Red Engine is chosen as an example of an everyday locomotive. The LRE quickly becomes the children's favourite, even impressing the Royal Family (this was prior to Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, by the way). The story is rather twee by modern standards, but the illustrations are just beautiful. Oh, and to bring things up to date - Chuggington is making progress. chuggington.com/
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Post by 01Salty on Oct 27, 2008 9:32:08 GMT
Whilst there aren't any trains in this, I couldn't find any other thread to put this related kids show. At any rate, there's an alive rail hopper truck. Video about a Norweigen show about a Rescue Boat called Elias: au.youtube.com/watch?v=8fGdgzPGhPA&feature=relatedThe animation is rather well done in some of the segments too. Pity it's not available in English.
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Dec 7, 2008 19:06:34 GMT
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Post by Aidan on Dec 7, 2008 20:50:01 GMT
I remember that, Flying Scotsman! It's interesting how Disney worked in some of those obstacles, such as the train travelling through water and the cow on the line. I noticed the ending was different, too, because in the actual crash Casey Jones died.
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Dec 20, 2008 2:07:55 GMT
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=c3DcChXNyYQ&feature=relatedA Magic Roundabout episode in which the Train plays a major role. With one of the over-the-kids'-heads-jokes ever - see if you can spot the one I mean. One that I've been trying to find is a short CGI film from the late '80s/early '90s called Locomotion, and an internet search has turned up nothing.
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Post by Christopher on Dec 20, 2008 11:33:47 GMT
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Dec 21, 2008 20:20:03 GMT
Whoa, nice one! That's exactly it. I haven't seen that in years. I remember thinking it was absolutely amazing at the time - I'd never even heard of CGI. As I recall, it was shown as part of Rolf's Cartoon Club on CITV (anyone remember that programme?).
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Post by captainmodesty on Dec 22, 2008 0:05:23 GMT
Ivor is such a charming series, utterly daft but the fact it doesn't try to educate and just tells a story makes it ones of my favourites. Pssstakoft is such a fun thing to do too.
Oliver Postgate will be well missed, I'm surprised there haven't been more tributes to him on television. (longest one i saw was at the end of last weeks screenwipe).
anyway, back on topic.
I had the little engine that could when i was younger, the book is good but i don't like the film version
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Post by Chris on Mar 23, 2009 9:44:12 GMT
Not exactly trains, but still in the realm of anthropomorphic vehicles...
Someone's put up a selection of episodes from the original Jay Jay the Jet Plane series, which was done with models. On the whole, it comes across as much more charming than the CGI incarnation, perhaps due to the cheap and cheerful animation techiniques. It's interesting to watch and see the obvious influences of Thomas, right down the use of static action figure toys for the human characters. There's a bit of Theodore Tugboat in there too, as the narrator has a hint of Denny Doherty about him.
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Post by 3panda94 on Mar 23, 2009 15:31:57 GMT
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Tayhan
Passenger Engine
Nothing but blue skies and clear tracks, and a good head of steam.
Posts: 554
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Post by Tayhan on Apr 3, 2009 15:21:44 GMT
I had the little engine that could when i was younger, the book is good but i don't like the film version I saw the film on Youtube once. I thought it was alright, needs some work on it though. Still, Tillie was adorable Ok, has anyone heard of these. The first is by a man called Laurence Hutchins, about a little engine called Nero (great rembles a Hunslet Quarry Tank). I only ever read the first one, but I remember the illustrations as being epic. Anyways, here's a book of it I found on Amazon www.amazon.co.uk/Nero-Laurence-Hutchins/dp/009968201X/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238771145&sr=1-11Another one, many of you have probably heard of Graham Green yes? He wrote many books, mainly murder mysteres and love novels, but he also wrote a range of children's books about different forms of transport, i.e. the Little Steam Roller, the Little Horse Bus etc. The only one I ever read The Little Train, but it was a very good story. It bears strong resmbelence to Thomas, in that it's a little engine who wants to see the world where the big expresses go, and it features some engines that look a lot like Flying Scotsman. A very good book www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/graham-greene/little-train.htm
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Apr 3, 2009 19:10:24 GMT
My little bro had Nero and Nero the Hero. He absolutely loved them. Were there any more than those two? I also remember The Little Train - it featured Flying Scotsman as a sort of mentor, portrayed with a Scottish accent. The illustrations made it clear that it was definitely FS, but as I recall in the text he was identified as "the Big Jock" or something along those lines.
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Tayhan
Passenger Engine
Nothing but blue skies and clear tracks, and a good head of steam.
Posts: 554
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Post by Tayhan on Apr 3, 2009 19:53:37 GMT
I don't think so, but I remember them as being epic books. I liked them not only because it was about a train, but the fact that it was written by a man called Laurence (same as my name) was a bonus!
As for the Little Train, I may purchase one on Amazon soon (they can range from £00.09 to over 2000 quid!), but it's been ages since I've read one, although Big Jock sounds familiar. It also reminds me a bit of how Gordon came to Thomas's rescue in 'Down the Mine', hhow he comforted the Little Train once he'd pushed him back to his shed.
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Apr 17, 2009 21:27:55 GMT
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Tayhan
Passenger Engine
Nothing but blue skies and clear tracks, and a good head of steam.
Posts: 554
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Post by Tayhan on Apr 17, 2009 21:48:15 GMT
Japan's answer to Chuggington perhaps? (on the subject of which, what is everyone's opinion on that?)
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Post by SnowflakeTH on Apr 18, 2009 1:48:13 GMT
You just released years of stress of my back! I could not for the light of me figure out who that "yellow car" was that haunted my memory!
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