ERTL 1:64 Scale Range

## Range Guide:

The **ERTL 1:64 Scale Range** is a *Thomas & Friends* die-cast toy range produced by ERTL.

## History

The Thomas line was first announced in November 1984 but it wasn’t released until February 1986. Their first model was Thomas with a sticker sheet of different facial expressions. He was joined by Henry and James later that year.

The following year, the characters were updated and a die-cast model of Percy was released, followed by the release of coaches Annie and Clarabel the following year. The ranges were released in the US in 1989 following the premiere of the series on *Shining Time Station*.

Because the sticker faces peeled off easily, they were soon replaced with fixed plastic faces in 1990.

New vehicles, destinations and playsets were produced for the die-cast range on a near yearly basis, tallying up to over 100 models. Due to the franchise's popularity, other ranges were made such as miniatures, keyrings, larger Gold Rail vehicles, pull backs and wind-up toys. ERTL also produced other non-Thomas ranges, such as *TUGS*.

Due to complications with the upcoming Take Along Thomas range from Learning Curve, retail of the ERTL Thomas ranges ceased in markets outside the UK, Ireland and Australia in 2001. The 1:64 scale range was rebranded as the ERTL Collection in 2002.

Despite the models mostly being 1/64 scale, the scale is rarely consistent, with smaller engines being enlarged to make them easier to handle and larger engines scaled down somewhat to fit size restrictions.

## Trivia

* Despite the basic "hook and eye" coupling system being in use from the range's debut until October 2003, certain models were updated slightly over the years. For example, the depth of the eye couplings on Thomas and Henry were made thicker around 1990 to make them easier to stay coupled onto rolling stock.
* Some vehicles were released bundled with VHS and DVDs. They would later be replaced by the Wooden Railway vehicles.
* The narrow gauge engines's models (apart from Rusty) bear a closer resemblance to their Talyllyn and Ffestiniog Railway counterparts than to their Television Series models. As a result, Peter Sam's funnel is a proper Giesl Ejector like in The Railway Series and the later CGI series.
* Some models are reused for multiple characters who share the same basis:
	+ Diesel 10 uses the same model as 199 Diesel with an added claw, which isn’t accurate as they are not the same class.
	+ The Old Coaches use the same models as Annie and Clarabel despite not being the same class in the show.
	+ Bluebell and Flying Scotsman are modified versions of the Thomas and Gordon models, respectively, which are also inaccurate (even if the latter are the same class). Ironically, Bluebell's first prototype was accurate to the real-life counterpart.
	+ Mr Conductor reuses the Porter's tooling.
	+ Several non-twin characters who share the same basis also reuse moulds, namely: Rheneas/Smudger, Duke/Bertram, Wilbert/Sixteen and Diesel/'Arry and Bert/Splatter and Dodge.
* Many ERTL models appear in *10 Years of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends*.
* Despite Oliver, Bulgy, City Of Truro and the Sodor Fuel Tankers being originally dated 1993, moulded on their chassis underneath the models, they were actually released in 1994. It is likely that they were planned for release in late 1993, but were delayed until the start of 1994.
	+ Said discrepancy above also applied to the Silly Trucks and Brakevan, which were dated 2001 on their chassis, despite not being released until 2002. It is likely that they were planned for release in 2001, but was delayed until 2002.
	+ Until 2001, a similar discrepancy also applied to most of the models that reused toolings from previous models. Although 'Arry and Bert were correctly dated 1999 despite reusing Diesel's tooling due to sharing the same basis, Splatter and Dodge who also shared the same basis as Diesel were dated 1999 due to reusing the chassis of 'Arry and Bert.
* All models released before 2001 had their chassis updated in 2001 to the said year dated on them and the Britt Allcroft copyright being changed to Gullane.
* The track pack sets featured a cut-out picture card at the back of the blister pack, much like the cut-out collector cards that the engines had.
* The range was distributed by Bandai in Germany from 1996 to 1998.