Mm, yeah I was thinking that too.. But it was just around Brighton itself, not specifically the works afaik. Just briefly saw it on one site during research for the last part of the video.
8:18 That's surprisingly simple, having tried to figure out what the whole "lost in service" bit even meant. It's not said anywhere, but I almost imagine that Thomas might've been built _early_ in 1915 as the original 105, and the 105 in our timeline was 106, and so on. Then when Thomas got lost, they took the numbers down one and replaced him. Given it was done with Gordon, the Scottish twins, and some others, having some additional numbers doesn't seem like the most unbelievable thing out there. (I mean, if BR can order 117 Claytons at just the drawing stage, then I'm sure this is easier to suspend your disbelief for.)
Just came across your channel, this was such an interesting puzzle you pieced together. Pretty funny having Thomas not being uncoupled is why he is on Sodor and how his official debut followed that theme.
I’ve often thought of Thomas as 105 because it was built a few months earlier than 106. That gives him more time to be put to service, go to war, escape war, and make it to Sodor. However that thing about trucks is genius. Well done! Also there are other details to help solve Thomas’s origins: In the adventure begins Thomas is numbered 70. That is not a number ever worn by an E2. On Cristopher Awdry’s original wooden Thomas model he has the letters “NW” painted on his side. It was originally meant to mean “No Where” but eventually was changed to mean north western. Here’s my theory: soon after Thomas was built, he was put into war service. He became badly damaged (most notably on his back buffer beam and running board area) and he and his crew escaped. They repaired him, but since they lacked expertise and time they had to just make his running board flat at the back resulting in the offset buffers. They couldn’t just go around with his current number and livery, they might be recognized. They opted to paint Thomas green and gave him a fake number (70) and painted the letters “NW” on his tanks as a disguise. A railman misinterpreted the NW to mean North Western and pointed them in the direction of Sodor. Upon arrival he told Topham Hatt that he was sent to help build the railway
What a very interesting history of our beloved No. 1 tank engine! So Thomas is actually a LBSCR No. 106, now that was something. Glad that he managed to get to Sodor safely before the air raid by Germany during WW1. Can’t wait for part 2 though. Good job.
3:07 Personally, I prefer to think that only its running board was placed lower (making him less tall) to make it more stable at high speeds, explaining its splasher characteristic, and it is also easier and cheaper to modify his chassis, instead of giving him bigger wheels
It's so nice to learn the fact that Thomas is 106 it finally puts a mystery to rest! Well done and I can't wait to see the next video where you explain what happened to Thomas Who knows you might explain why he doesn't completely look like an E2
also if im being real, i think thomas is neither the real 105 or 106. in my head he was built as 105 but mysteriously left after only a couple months of service. the lbsc built a new 105, the real 105 was built later to replace him. as him knowing boxhill err... tunbridge at some point? lmao
The wording I remember reading in the origins of the railway I'd to defend against "possible danger from Ireland". At the time Ireland was a constituent part of the United Kingdom although prior to the first World War it was moving towards civil war. I would say the idea was defend against raids by rebels and insurgents or even German forces taking advantage of possible trouble in Ireland to use it as a base of attack rather than an Irish invasion.
@@Sammy1234568910 There was fear the Irish might side with Germany and launch a naval invasion from the sea. Sodor would’ve been the first line of defense against an Irish invasion. Armored trains would’ve patrolled up and down the coast from Harwick to Arlesburgh. There would’ve been forts installed on the northern shores of the island, and Harwick itself would’ve had a naval base to house and refuel British warships patrolling the Sudrian waters. Shit could’ve gotten real… if it did happen…
I don't think so, couse edward and james had also shorter wheelbased than his real basis, and nobody complain about that. And they are like that becouse they simply weren't ilustrated as accured to they real basis as duck oliver, toby, donald and Douglas for example.
*Ok.* I don’t know what am I seeing. I had never seen a theorist (like you) just to dug a lot more of real Thomas’s origins. I don’t know what to say, you done great with the “technical history” video. 👍
On Thomas being No. 106 since he “hadn’t pulled trucks before”: wouldn’t Thomas have to have pulled trucks when he was building the mainline of the NWR? It would be, in my mind, a waste to not utilise every locomotive on hand in conveying materials to build the railway, and I feel they would have done so. This would render Thomas’s claim of not pulled trucks false/inaccurate and thus retconned, because I doubt Thomas would have said he didn’t pull trucks when he did/likely would have done so, and additionally reduce the gravity of the story due to inaccurate information. The story could still be achieved, but with Thomas having mostly forgotten how to handle trucks outside of shunting, thus mistakenly not checking the train on the hill and streaking into Wellsworth yard.
@@S.L._isODD It’s likely Wilbert had not considered the backgrounds of the possible E2’s Thomas was when writing the books. Scripture (the Railway Series stories) have a lot of inconsistencies with the lore, which was written some 30 years or so after the original publications. Discrepancies such as the Coffeepots being tram engines when the Fat Controller realized he needed tram engines, Duke being the “first engine” on the MSR when the company already inherited a few engines from the tramway prior, etc. are prevalent. Thomas himself likely stayed in the yard shunting as it was found that having him pull any trains in his original shape would be impractical, considering his shy steaming and braking issues. It’d be better to get other engines to handle trains out of the yard until Thomas could be modified to run better.
RailUK. Old database website sharing info about engines, like BRDatabase but has pre-nationalization info. It’s down now but you can be able to access parts of it via Archive.
Come to think of it, if Boxhill served as the shunter at Brighton Works around 1915, he could have seen Thomas being built.
Mm, yeah I was thinking that too.. But it was just around Brighton itself, not specifically the works afaik. Just briefly saw it on one site during research for the last part of the video.
8:18 That's surprisingly simple, having tried to figure out what the whole "lost in service" bit even meant. It's not said anywhere, but I almost imagine that Thomas might've been built _early_ in 1915 as the original 105, and the 105 in our timeline was 106, and so on. Then when Thomas got lost, they took the numbers down one and replaced him. Given it was done with Gordon, the Scottish twins, and some others, having some additional numbers doesn't seem like the most unbelievable thing out there. (I mean, if BR can order 117 Claytons at just the drawing stage, then I'm sure this is easier to suspend your disbelief for.)
Just came across your channel, this was such an interesting puzzle you pieced together. Pretty funny having Thomas not being uncoupled is why he is on Sodor and how his official debut followed that theme.
I’ve often thought of Thomas as 105 because it was built a few months earlier than 106. That gives him more time to be put to service, go to war, escape war, and make it to Sodor. However that thing about trucks is genius. Well done!
Also there are other details to help solve Thomas’s origins:
In the adventure begins Thomas is numbered 70. That is not a number ever worn by an E2.
On Cristopher Awdry’s original wooden Thomas model he has the letters “NW” painted on his side. It was originally meant to mean “No Where” but eventually was changed to mean north western.
Here’s my theory: soon after Thomas was built, he was put into war service. He became badly damaged (most notably on his back buffer beam and running board area) and he and his crew escaped. They repaired him, but since they lacked expertise and time they had to just make his running board flat at the back resulting in the offset buffers. They couldn’t just go around with his current number and livery, they might be recognized. They opted to paint Thomas green and gave him a fake number (70) and painted the letters “NW” on his tanks as a disguise. A railman misinterpreted the NW to mean North Western and pointed them in the direction of Sodor. Upon arrival he told Topham Hatt that he was sent to help build the railway
That actually works pretty well. Nice job!
What a very interesting history of our beloved No. 1 tank engine! So Thomas is actually a LBSCR No. 106, now that was something. Glad that he managed to get to Sodor safely before the air raid by Germany during WW1. Can’t wait for part 2 though. Good job.
The average tank engine was not meant to have this amount of lore. Loved this video man! Really good work
3:07 Personally, I prefer to think that only its running board was placed lower (making him less tall) to make it more stable at high speeds, explaining its splasher characteristic, and it is also easier and cheaper to modify his chassis, instead of giving him bigger wheels
That’s some really good research man! Using the line where he hasn’t pulled trucks before to determine him to be 106 is genius.
It's so nice to learn the fact that Thomas is 106 it finally puts a mystery to rest!
Well done and I can't wait to see the next video where you explain what happened to Thomas
Who knows you might explain why he doesn't completely look like an E2
also if im being real, i think thomas is neither the real 105 or 106. in my head he was built as 105 but mysteriously left after only a couple months of service. the lbsc built a new 105, the real 105 was built later to replace him. as him knowing boxhill err... tunbridge at some point? lmao
8:18 I would LOVE to see someone make this theory into a Trainz short or something, I think it would make for a pretty cool video
Wow, never thought about thomas being 106. Great stuf Nic!!!
The wording I remember reading in the origins of the railway I'd to defend against "possible danger from Ireland". At the time Ireland was a constituent part of the United Kingdom although prior to the first World War it was moving towards civil war. I would say the idea was defend against raids by rebels and insurgents or even German forces taking advantage of possible trouble in Ireland to use it as a base of attack rather than an Irish invasion.
@@Sammy1234568910 There was fear the Irish might side with Germany and launch a naval invasion from the sea. Sodor would’ve been the first line of defense against an Irish invasion. Armored trains would’ve patrolled up and down the coast from Harwick to Arlesburgh. There would’ve been forts installed on the northern shores of the island, and Harwick itself would’ve had a naval base to house and refuel British warships patrolling the Sudrian waters. Shit could’ve gotten real… if it did happen…
I think thomas was a mix between an e2 and a terrier tank engine because his short wheel base, but extended side tanks
I don't think so, couse edward and james had also shorter wheelbased than his real basis, and nobody complain about that. And they are like that becouse they simply weren't ilustrated as accured to they real basis as duck oliver, toby, donald and Douglas for example.
Thomas Being 106, I like that seing as the evidence is there
8:33-9:04 Is see some story potential
Amazing sound track! I’ve been trying to find the Ffarquhar run theme to no luck, can you send a link please?
soundcloud.com/jamzdabrainz5/ffarquhar-run?in=nictrain123/sets/technical-history-of-thomas/s-U0vD0ZEWZ73&si=97111fb62c0e44afad6e976ec7df41ec&
*Ok.* I don’t know what am I seeing. I had never seen a theorist (like you) just to dug a lot more of real Thomas’s origins. I don’t know what to say, you done great with the “technical history” video. 👍
Great job on the video ❤
well done
On Thomas being No. 106 since he “hadn’t pulled trucks before”: wouldn’t Thomas have to have pulled trucks when he was building the mainline of the NWR? It would be, in my mind, a waste to not utilise every locomotive on hand in conveying materials to build the railway, and I feel they would have done so.
This would render Thomas’s claim of not pulled trucks false/inaccurate and thus retconned, because I doubt Thomas would have said he didn’t pull trucks when he did/likely would have done so, and additionally reduce the gravity of the story due to inaccurate information.
The story could still be achieved, but with Thomas having mostly forgotten how to handle trucks outside of shunting, thus mistakenly not checking the train on the hill and streaking into Wellsworth yard.
@@S.L._isODD It’s likely Wilbert had not considered the backgrounds of the possible E2’s Thomas was when writing the books. Scripture (the Railway Series stories) have a lot of inconsistencies with the lore, which was written some 30 years or so after the original publications.
Discrepancies such as the Coffeepots being tram engines when the Fat Controller realized he needed tram engines, Duke being the “first engine” on the MSR when the company already inherited a few engines from the tramway prior, etc. are prevalent.
Thomas himself likely stayed in the yard shunting as it was found that having him pull any trains in his original shape would be impractical, considering his shy steaming and braking issues. It’d be better to get other engines to handle trains out of the yard until Thomas could be modified to run better.
@@Nictrain123 easy answer… wilbert didn’t know the REAL history until he wrote the IOS book 😜
Amazing man!
I like tank engines they are smol
Wasn’t number 106 built before that bombing
9:10 What site is this?
RailUK. Old database website sharing info about engines, like BRDatabase but has pre-nationalization info. It’s down now but you can be able to access parts of it via Archive.
Let's goooooo!!! Finally
What if there were two 105's? Thomas being the first one and him being written off as "lost in the war" they built another.
why was thomas completely fine with passengers? real answer: thomas is fucking cool and the rest of the e2s were squares
Facts 😂😂😂
In my gead canon thomas was just a prototye thats why he work so well
Where did you get the whistle sound effect from?
soundcloud.com/andrew-tyler-zachary/realistic-thomas-whistle?si=91a76ebbfbf7499ba80c5d6ee0fb94cc&
Where does the illustration from 4:45 come from?
It was actually an edit by SleeperAgent01. www.deviantart.com/sleeperagent1/art/Mixed-Traffic-Engine-678780341
Dunno the source of the original.
When is part 2 coming out?
How many parts are there gonna be?
Good question. Depends on how much info I can fit into certain parts.
Wow
2:04 where is that from?
I've been waiting months for this. I'm excited for tomorrow! :D
Thomas faked his death. Has anyone ever written a story about that?
Maybe Thomas is a e2 hybrid
The iOS book says he was an E2 when he arrived.