A Day Out With Thomas

Last weekend we were very lucky that Ethan’s Nana and Pappy took us to see Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends at the East Anglian Railway Museum.

The day started with a bit of a queue to get into the museum as everyone was buying tickets to enter. Ethan doesn’t like queueing and Nana has already purchased tickets online, but there were no signs to say they you didn’t have to queue if you had pre-purchased tickets. The waiting caused Ethan to get a little distressed as he doesn’t understand the concept of queueing, this is an autistic trait and one that some places are starting to accommodate. Unfortunately when I commented on the fact that we had to wait and it was causing some distress I didn’t get a very understanding response. It was more along the lines of that children have to learn how to wait. Now I’m not expecting everyone in the world to be autism aware, I do think it is something we should really aim for, but we had pre-purchased tickets to minimise Ethan’s distress and I don’t think that the museum had really made allowances for this choice.

The East Anglian Railway Museum is situated on a siding of a real working train track, and they run four trains on Thomas days, Thomas, Percy, Toby and Daisy. You can ride all of the trains as many times as you wish, but because of the amount of track the museum has the trains just go up and down the tracks a few times for each ride. You do have to wait for the trains, as running all four trains has to be timed perfectly, and the rides are short and sweet but its perfect for toddlers and small children.

When we arrived we spotted Toby first and is wasn’t long before he was going to set off so we got on the train ready to go.  

East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
Daisy was running from the same platform as Toby so we went on her next. 
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With ThomasEast Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
After a quick pit stop for something to eat we decided to make our way to see the main man. 
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
As expected Thomas was very popular so there were lots of people waiting for their turn, thankfully we were able to fit on to the next ride. 
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum
The last train to see was Percy. 
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
East Anglian Railway Museum A Day Out With Thomas
Not only can you ride all the trains during a Day Out With Thomas there are also lots of activities for the children to take part in. There are magic and circus skills, Punch and Judy Shows, storytelling and enactments. There is also an Imagination Station where children can colour, play, read and even have temporary tattoos. 


We knew that Ethan wouldn’t benefit from any of the activities but he did take a look around the imagination station and really enjoyed looking at all of the books and playing with the toy train sets.

After four hours we decided to call it a day as we were all getting tired from the heat. As we left Ethan was given a goody bag and he was even given a certificate during the day to say that he had been to visit Thomas.

We all really enjoyed our day and Ethan coped really well with all he the waiting that he had to do. As long as he is kept moving and has lots to look at we can normally cope with the queueing issues. I think we would visit Thomas again.

A very big thank you to Nana and Pappy for taking us to see Thomas and his friends.

16 thoughts on “A Day Out With Thomas”

  1. What a great day out. Think Toby would be my favourite. It is a shame when you pre-pay not to have a quick entry. We have a similiar issue at Blenheim with an annual passes – always end up in a long queue when it seems there should be a quicker way to just zap our cards as we pass through.

  2. That is such a lovely post. I’m glad Ethan enjoyed it, though not very good about how unsympathetic they were about the queueing 🙁
    Thomas used to come to a steam railway near us and I used to love taking the boys. I think I was as excited as them to Actual Thomas coming down the line!

    1. Jane - Our Little Escapades

      It really was a great day out. We may look at doing this again at a different location as I know some places Thomas does take you to a different location for the day. It’s on our list of things to do, as well as saving up for it of course lol.

    1. Jane - Our Little Escapades

      There was kids of all ages, and they all looked like they were having fun. I loved seeing the steam engines, a totally different way to travel :0)

  3. What a super day out for Thomas mad children! Such a shame about the waiting considering Nana had pre-purchased the tickets. I can see Ethan had a great day and you have some lovely family photos to cherish. Thanks for linking up and sharing your train adventures with Country Kids.

  4. This sounds great, for a Thomas mad kid it must be heaven! Love the photos of you all with Ethan, lovely memories. #CountryKids

  5. Ah we keep meaning to go there, with our train-mad toddler and his little brother. Reading this has definitely inspired me to get a date in the diary for it 🙂

  6. awww how lovely. Sounds a fabulous day. He looks so happy bet he was on a high after meeting so many of the Thomas gang. I’ve seen rides on tracks with Thomas advertised across the country and would love to take my girls. Think I may have to now! x

    1. Jane - Our Little Escapades

      It really was a nice day, we have been looking at the different places you can do it as they all offer different things.

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