CARDIFF - A railway that was the inspiration for the Thomas the Tank Engine character is defying the threat of legal action after encountering a commercial equivalent of the Fat Controller, the autocratic station master in the children's stories.
The Talyllyn Railway in Gwynedd, North Wales, was adored by the Rev
Wilbert Awdry, the creator of Thomas. Awdry was one of its first volunteers before writing his stories and based at least four characters on locomotives there.
The 1921 locomotive on which Awdry's Peter Sam character is based has been running on the line as an attraction under his fictional name for more than 10 years.
The Britt Allcroft company, which bought the Thomas copyright in 1998 for sterling 13.5 million ($41 million), is demanding that Talyllyn Railway pay it the same licence fee to continue using the name as other steam railways pay to run Thomas the Tank Engine events.
But true to the spirit of Thomas, the volunteer-run Talyllyn is refusing to fall into line and this weekend is again rolling out Peter Sam - the locomotive it bought for sterling 25 in 1951 - for his public duties.
"They are threatening us with legal action," said the railway's managing director, David Mitchell, "but we have taken advice and are told that legally this is our locomotive. It was ours long before Thomas."
A spokesman for Britt Allcroft said: "They are not in possession of a licence to hold a Thomas event."
Thomas remains remarkably big business for Britt Allcroft. A sterling 9 million film starring Alec Baldwin is expected mid-year, a theme park is planned for the US and Britt Allcroft is securing about 5.5 million hits a month on its Thomas Website, on which a copyright warning is featured.
