The Huntley Farmside

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Volume 40 No. 37
Farmside
Your hometown newspaper
Thursday Sept. 14,2000
I 2000 Press-Republican Newspapers
No doubting this Thomas
Tiny Union hosts huge turnout for a celebrity train
by Janna St. James
Huntley-Marengo editor
It was a little like a clip from a toddler production of the film "Field of Dreams," the mini ver¬ sion of the magic phrase "build it and they will come" being "run him and they will come." The "him" bfeirig Thomas the Tank Engine. And come they did. .
.own of Union, sitiiat- eu /iC corn just like the
baseball diamond in "Field of Dreams," looked very much like a daytime rendition of the dusky scene in the movie where enam¬ ored baseball fans from all points travel one road to answer the call of objects of their affection. The sleepy little intersection that is Union, too, was suddenly host to miles of advancing automobiles, all seeking the same thing: Thomas. Their destination: Union's Illinois Railway Museum.
On an average weekend, the railroad museum is something to behold unto itself. Train after train, ride after ride, any rail enthusiast easily goes home thor¬ oughly satiated with all things train. But on Thomas weekends, the great becomes fantastic. The realities of the rails and their his; tory behind to fantasies puffed from the smoke stack of a beloved child's train and his fol¬ lowing. In short: Thomas rules.
If you happened to witness the massive gathering in Union and wonder what it was all about, it's
just that Thomas the Tank Engine is quite a star.
He first appeared in books authored 50 years ago in England by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry as a way to entertain his son Christopher, who was quarantined with scarlet fever. Christopher's constant requests for Thomas sto¬ ries led Mrs. Awdry to keep after her husband the author until he "did something with them." Awdry wrote 26 Thomas stories, and when he put down the pen it was picked up by Christopher, Who continued the series for his son with 10 more volumes allow¬ ing the stories live on today.
Television took hold in 1984, when public television made Thomas the focal point of its "Shining Time Station" series. The casting of the show allowed for interesting parent/child view¬ ing, as Thomas stared with Beatle Ringo Starr portraying the diminutive Mr. Conductor, who later turned over his timepiece to his "cousin" comedian George Carlin after deciding to go to the North Pole.
And as of late July, a full- length feature film entitled "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" hit the theaters, so it is no wonder that a mere month later tiny Thomas fans had a full head of steam and were more than ready for an afternoon with their favorite tank engine.
Strollers stretched for blocks as children and parents from all
Liberty photos by Joel Garretson Thomas the Tank Engine makes his appearance at the Illinois Railway Museum and thousands of tiny Thomas fans turn up in Union to go for a ride.
over Chicagoland converged on the museum for the final two weekends of August, the "Thomas weekends." Tickets allowed visitors to see and ride Thomas, as well as take in the other trains and exhibits at the museum.
"The numbers aren't exact yet, but we estimate the crowd to have been between 8,400 and 8,500 people," said Phyllis Schauer, cashier for the Illinois Railway Museum.
Last year the museum held one long Thomas weekend across a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The success of that event and the
opening of the movie this year made a bigger turnout in 2000 a sure thing. So a day was added to the plans and visits stretched to two weekends.
"Well, we kind of knew we were going to have a crowd," Schauer said. "We could tell by the presale of tickets. They went really fast. And we had lots and lots of phone calls."
According to Schauer, Thomas the Tank Engine is the most popu¬ lar event ever held at the Illinois Railway Museum.
Thomas comes to visit Union on a circuit of railroads and rail¬ road museums.  This year  he
started in Ohio in May and visited Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina before stopping in Union in August. From Union he will travel back through Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Connecticut before retiring for the year in December.
With all the love and admira¬ tion Thomas received from little Illinoisans, he will no doubt return next year. Thete is even talk of perhaps two visits during 2001, at different times of the year. Whatever is decided there is one thing that is certain right now. Bring Thomas to Union iand they will come.
Uncommon in Union, cars stretch for miles (above) as the families they carry converge on the museum for their time with Thomas. Strollers stretched nearly as far as the cars had ear- lier(left),as eager children and their parents get closer to their ride with Thomas and a chance to take In the other trains at the museum