How BBC’s Thomas The Tank Engine pilot hit the buffers

IT WAS the botched television pilot episode that derailed the BBC’s chances at making Thomas The Tank engine one of their own series.

Disaster struck during the corporation’s initial episode of the story in 1953, it has been revealed. A letter from the book’s creator Reverend Wilbert Awdry says the BBC used a model railway to bring characters in The Sad Story of Henry to life – but live on air one train derailed and a crew member’s hand shot on to screen to rectify it.

It forced the narrator to change track – Rev Awdry claims she ‘tried bravely to adapt the script to suit what was happening’. His letter is the response to one from a disgruntled viewer. He wrote: ‘The fundamental trouble was that the BBC thought that it is child’s play to operate a model railway and did not allow enough time before programme day for the models (a) to be made and tested properly and (b) for very careful rehearsal of their programme.’

He disallowed the BBC to continue after the pilot unless it guaranteed no further mistakes. A BBC spokesman said at the time: ‘We should have had a child in the studio to keep the electric trains running.’

The letter, estimated to sell for at least £300, was found in a charity shop and will be put up for sale by Bellman’s Auctioneers of Wisborough Green, West Sussex, on July 14. The next TV adaptation was not until ITV’s in 1984, narrated by Beatle Ringo Starr.