In today's video, I'm going to run every one of my Thomas & Friends model trains...
In a series of drag races on my back patio.
I've got Winston, Percy, Thomas, James, Emily, and Toby all running on the layout today.
And we're going to figure out once and for all how fast each one is.
And even though I've raced all of these trains before...
The results of some of the races even surprised me.
So, if you like Thomas & Friends, keep watching.
Because you're going to love this video!
It is a beautiful Spring day in my neighborhood today...
Just a few hundred feet from the Columbia River in Southeastern Washington.
Great conditions for playing with model trains today!
And look at how beautiful the lawn greened up once Spring arrived...
Did you see that video I did in February where it was buried under a foot of snow?
My neighbor, Gavin, and his cousin helped me set up and test the layout today.
And we are ready for our first race.
On the left, we've got Winston, the track inspection car...
With Sir Topham Hat in the driver's seat.
And on the right, the green locomotive is Percy.
Just like that, they're off and running in the first race of the day.
Winston was fast getting off the starting line...
But I'm telling you right now, there's no way he's going to win.
Winston is not built for speed, he's just the track inspector.
Nice view from a little GoPro mounted on top of Winston...
Right behind Sir Topham Hat's shoulder.
Yeah, there goes Percy passing Winston already, at the first curve.
In this shot, you can see that little GoPro that's mounted on Winston.
I think I own four GoPros. That's my smallest one.
Here's that track-level view from the GoPro again.
You can see that my maple trees haven't quite got their leaves yet.
But I bet they'll have all sorts of leaves by the next time I shoot a video out here in the yard.
I think it's a cool view from the GoPro...
Makes you feel like you're riding in the car with them...
As Winston scoots down the tracks alongside my lawn.
With the camera riding so low like that, it makes the grass look so tall!
Oh, you can see that Percy's got a huge lead over Winston now.
It's not really fair to race little Winston against a big engine like Percy.
Winston did make a quick jump off the starting line...
But he never really had a chance after that.
Here he comes... finally making it to the finish line.
I promise, the rest of the races will be better matchups.
It's Percy vs Thomas The Tank Engine in our second race of the day.
I expect that this will be a very close race.
There they go! Both pulling away from the starting line at the very same pace.
These two model trains are nearly identical except for a few little exterior styling differences.
I suspect that under their plastic exteriors...
The motors and electronics are probably exactly the same.
So, I think this will be a very close race, right up to the finish line.
All these Thomas & Friends model trains are made by Bachmann.
The locomotives sell in the neighborhood of $200 each...
And the cars behind them about $70 each.
That makes them about the most affordable G-scale model trains out there.
Yeah, you can see, it's still a very even race here between Thomas & Percy.
Nice view from the GoPro as we head towards that final turn before the home stretch.
Oh, wow... look at that!
Thomas has pulled ahead by about one train length now as they head to the finish line.
I imagine there are a lot of kids cheering right now.
Thomas has a LOT of fans!
So, Thomas The Tank Engine is going to win this matchup by a fairly slim margin.
Let me know in the comments who you are rooting for in these races.
I'll race Thomas against James, The Red Engine... After a quick break.
And later, we'll get to my fastest locomotives like Toby, and Emily.
Stick around, there is much more still to come. We'll get to all that, right after this!
Thomas and James are ready for the third race of the day.
Thomas will pull two passenger cars... Annie & Clarabel.
James will actually be pulling a much heavier load...
A tender full of coal, plus another car full of coal...
As well as a tank car full of milk...
And a tank car full of gasoline.
Sounds dangerous! If that gas tank car were to explode next to the milk tank car...
That would be one powerful milkshake!
Let's get the race started.
Oh! Thomas had kind of a slow start!
And James took off like a rocket!
Here's the view from the GoPro on top of Thomas.
This might be a bit of a mismatch.
Look at James take a big lead going in to the first curve!
Thomas is moving pretty fast, too, but James is really moving!
I guess I forgot how fast James was.
Look at him race down that track like it was the Indy 500.
He is so far out ahead of Thomas right now we still don't even see Thomas.
He's making the final turn, and already heading in to the home stretch.
No doubt about this one. James will be heading to the next round.
Oh, fantastic, my neighbor fired up his leaf blower.
Quite appropriate, since this race is a blowout!
Race #4 for the day: It's James versus Emily.
This should be a very even match.
And for this very special occasion...
I've got Emily set up to pull two very special passenger cars behind her...
The custom-made Jim Zim passenger cars.
Let's get this race started.
Looks like a good start!
Hmm... I can't quite see Emily... only a little bit of her shadow.
So she's just a little bit behind James as they head in to the first curve.
Emily and James tied in the time trials.
And they look pretty even here, too.
Oh, wait, now I see once they got straight in front of the camera…
James did have a bit of a lead over Emily.
That's not what I would have expected based on those time trials a year ago.
Well, it's going to be all about who comes out of this last curve first. Let's see.
Yep, there it is.
James has got all the lead he needs right now.
This is kind of a surprise... James is going to be the winner of this race! How about that!?!?
That was the best race of the day, so far.
There is just one last race to go.
James is on the top of the heap right now.
But I'm going to put him up against Toby in the final race of the day.
Toby was the fastest train a year ago...
So, it's going to be Toby versus James, for the whole enchilada.
Right after this!
There's James... lined up and ready for the big event.
James is going to take on the reigning champion.
In that video I did about a year ago where I did time trials... Toby was the fastest train in my collection.
And he was blazing fast in that time trial video.
So, I'm actually going to do something to help give James some possibility of keeping up with Toby today.
In the time trials, Toby ran solo without having to pull anything behind him.
So for this race, I'm going to help James out by making Toby pull just about everything I've got!
I've hooked up eight different cars behind Toby, to hopefully give James a chance in this race.
So, let's race!
Oh! Toby got off to a slow start with all those cars behind him.
And in this shot, you can really see how unfair I've made it!
James is only pulling his own tender plus one extra car...
And Toby seemed to be straining to pull the eight cars I hooked up to him.
Yeah, you can see James has a decent lead here.
Well, I guess we'll just see what happens when they come out of this final curve coming up here.
Has Toby narrowed the gap at all?
No! Oh I am so sorry! I was trying to give James a chance against what I thought was a much faster Toby...
And I gave Toby too much of a handicap.
He never recovered from his slow start at the beginning of the race...
And James wins this race...
But it was totally my fault!
Let's do it again, but fairly this time.
Just two passenger cars behind Toby this time.
Yeah, from the GoPro on top of James, you can see they're neck and neck now.
Approaching the first turn, these two seem very evenly matched.
A year ago, in that video where the trains were racing against the clock...
James did the course in 40 seconds.
And Toby did it in 37.
But Toby wasn't pulling any cars along behind him in that race, and...
Right now he's got the Jim Zim passenger cars in tow.
So, I'm thinking this race right here will be decided by a very small margin.
Oh, wow! Look at that! Toby is ahead by one train length.
Removing all those other cars after the last race made all the difference.
Toby is the big winner today!
As my neighbor, Gavin, and his cousin prove to themselves that they are faster than Toby...
I want to just suggest that, if you enjoyed this video, please hit the thumbs-up button...
To let YouTube know that this is a good video that they should be recommending to other people.
And please leave a comment with your thoughts on this video and my model trains.
I read all the comments and I really enjoy reading what people have to say.
Sometimes I even reply.
I'm Jim Zim. Thanks for watching!