Britt Allcroft, Creator of TV’s ‘Thomas the Tank Engine,’ Dies at 81 

Britt Allcroft, the British writer, director and producer who steered the animated locomotive Thomas the Tank Engine to television 40 years ago en route to launching a beloved, lucrative franchise, has died. She was 81.

Allcroft died on Christmas Day in Los Angeles, her daughter, Holly Wright, told The New York Times.

Thomas the Tank Engine was created by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry in a series of 1940s children’s books (he based the train on a wooden toy made for his son). Allcroft’s first adaptation, which she financed by mortgaging her house, was a 26-episode series that bowed in 1984 on ITV in the U.K. as Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.

Allcroft picked Ringo Starr to serve as Mr. Conductor, the gentle show’s first narrator, and the Beatles drummer would be followed by the likes of George Carlin, Alec Baldwin and Pierce Brosnan.

Thomas rolled into the U.S. on PBS in 1989 as the spinoff Shining Time Station, created by Allcroft and American producer Rick Siggelkow. In 1996, she created another spinoff, Mr. Conductor’s Thomas Tales.

Allcroft also was behind Magic Adventures of Mumfie, an animated series about an elephant that was inspired by books written by Katharine Tozer. It bowed in 1994.

Born on Dec. 14, 1943, in West Sussex, England, Hilary Mary Allcroft landed a job with the BBC when she was 19. She went on to work for Southern Television and form her own production company to launch TV and stage shows.

She discovered Thomas in 1979 while she was making a documentary on British steam trains, and it would take her five years to get her show with the character up and running.

British company Hit Entertainment bought her company in 2002, and Mattel in turn acquired Hit in 2012 as part of a $680 million deal. Allcroft later wrote, directed and produced the 2000 film Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

Survivors also include her son and her grandchildren.