This episode premiered in the UK on the same day that the US DVD release Salty's Secret and Other Thomas Adventures was released.

Awdry, Christopher (2005). Sodor: Reading Between the Lines. Spalding, UK: Sodor Enterprises. ISBN 0-9549665-1-1. OCLC 931417954. Skit From MadTV: Thomas The Unstoppable Tank Engine. Ryan21hw. 2 October 2011. Archived from the original (YouTube) on 28 January 2019 . Retrieved 21 June 2018. Thomas was described in the opening to "Thomas and Gordon", the first story in book number two, Thomas the Tank Engine, as: [11]

You don’t have javascript enabled.

Thomas the Tank Engine speaks for the first time". Metro. 24 September 2009. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012 . Retrieved 31 May 2010. In 1996, the Thomas stories were segments for Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales, again featuring George Carlin. Alec Baldwin portrayed Mr. Conductor in the first theatrical film, Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000), and narrated the series for the US from 1998 to 2003. Michael Angelis narrated the series from 1991 to 2012 in the UK, while Michael Brandon narrated the series from 2004 to 2012 in the US. From 2013 to 2017, the series was narrated by Mark Moraghan. From 2018, the episodes were told from Thomas's point of view.

Despite becoming the most popular character in The Railway Series, Thomas was not featured in the first book, The Three Railway Engines. Thomas's on-screen appearances in the TV series were developed by Britt Allcroft. The first series of 26 stories premiered in October 1984 on the ITV Network in the UK, with former Beatles drummer/vocalist Ringo Starr as storyteller. The stories were featured as segments as part of Shining Time Station in the US beginning in 1989 with Starr as the show's Mr. Conductor character. From 1991 to 1993, George Carlin replaced Starr as both the storyteller and as Mr. Conductor for Shining Time Station. Carlin also told the Thomas stories for Shining Time Station in 1995. The first episode to prominently feature Thomas' gauge 3.5 model, constructed during the fifth series but never primarily used to portray Thomas (only used in close-ups of his wheels) until this episode. As a result, Thomas' model has some noticeable differences in its appearance compared to prior episodes. The first episode that was not released on VHS in Australia, although it was featured on the DVD version of Thomas and the Jet Engine. When Awdry based Thomas on a wooden toy made for his son Christopher. This toy looked rather different from the character in the books and television series, and carried the letters NW on its side tanks, which stood for "No Where" according to Awdry. [5]All of the vehicles in The Railway Series were based on prototypical engines; Thomas's basis is the LB&SCR E2 class. [3] Thomas first appeared in 1946 in the second book in the series, Thomas the Tank Engine, and was the focus of the four short stories contained within. In The Railway Series and early episodes of Thomas & Friends, Thomas's best friends are Percy and Toby, though he is also close friends with Edward. Later episodes of Thomas & Friends have Thomas in a trio with James and Percy, and Percy is known as his best friend.