Rosie, Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway (Tomy)

A pale purple painted wooden "Rosie" tank locomotive, from Tomy's "Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway".

The Rosie character is Thomas' friend, and is recognisably based on a US-built locomotive class.

Although it might seem unlikely at first sight that Thomas and Rosie would ever have met, in fact, the prototype for Rosie was one of the very few American locomotives that did actually run on British track, as part of a batch of locos sent over to Britain to work at Southampton Docks as part of the preparations for the D-Day landings, in WW2.

Rosie and Thomas are very similar "general-purpose" tank engines whose main task is shunting, so they would have had a lot in common.

Location

This is a modern toy that is part of the Museum's "children's play" collection, available for school visits and children's events. It is not normally on display.