HIT Entertainment Digital Newsroom

Day Out With Thomas™ 2009: The Hero Of The Rails Tour Pulling Into The Medina Railroad Museum

Fans Cheer As Herioc Storybook Engine Takes Over Railroads, Children's Hearts

03/10/2009

Medina, NY

Thomas the Tank Engine™ to visit MEDINA RAILROAD MUSEUM MAY 8 - 10 & 15 - 17, 2009

It's a bird! It's a plane....wait...it's a train? Thomas the Tank Engine™ is set to roll into Medina for the Day Out With Thomas™ 2009: The Hero of the Rails Tour. All Thomas fans are invited to spend the day with their favorite engine that always saves the day! The event, which takes place MAY 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, & 17, 2009, will be hosted by Medina Railroad Museum and presented by HIT Entertainment.

For more than six decades, children have been captivated by the courageous adventures of and his engine friends. Pulling out of the station for its 14th consecutive ride on the rails, the Day Out With Thomas 2009: The Hero of the Rails Tour will visit more than 40 cities in the United States and Canada. Day Out With Thomas is the only place for families to take a ride with a 15-ton replica of everybody's favorite #1 engine, Thomas the Tank Engine, and enjoy Thomas-themed activities at the Imagination Station, including stamps, temporary tattoos and hands-on arts and crafts. Each year the tour grows, traveling to new destinations, adding new activities and welcoming new visitors. In addition, exclusive Thomas & Friends merchandise is available at Day Out With Thomas events including a 2009 Day Out With Thomas passenger car and commemorative t-shirts, pennants, engineer caps, frames, and more.

Thomas the Tank Engine, star of Thomas & Friends™, on PBS KIDS® and PBS KIDS Sprout℠ will be kicking off his Day Out With Thomas 2009: The Hero of the Rails Tour in March and is expected to welcome more than one million passengers through December. During the Day Out With Thomas 2009: The Hero of the Rails Tour, children will ride with Thomas up steep hills, around deep, blue lakes, and help him rescue his engine friends - if only in their imaginations. Day Out with Thomas 2009 activities include:

• A 25-minute (approximate) ride with Thomas the Tank Engine
• The opportunity to meet Sir Topham Hatt™, Controller of the Railway
• A Thomas & Friends Imagination Station; featuring stamps, temporary tattoos, hands-on arts and crafts activities and coloring sheets.
• Storytelling, video viewing and live music.

The tour provides a unique, interactive family experience at every station, offering a variety of entertaining activities that reflect the local flavor of each stop. At Medina Railroad Museum activities will include: Sodor Engine House maze, Thomas jump tent, museum admission, huge model train layout, horse drawn wagon rides and a large food court.

The approximately 25-minute train ride with Thomas the Tank Engine will depart every 45 minutes, rain or shine, with departure times at 9:45 (12:30 on Fridays) am through 5:45 pm daily. Tickets for the Day Out With Thomas 2009: The Heroes of the Rail Tour are $18 plus tax for ages two and up.

Tickets are on sale now by calling toll-free 866.468.7630 or logging onto www.ticketweb.com/thomas For more information and directions contact the Medina Railroad Museum at 585 798-6106 or www.railroadmuseum.net.

For general information or to find a Day Out With Thomas 2009: The Hero of the Rails Tour event near you, visit www.thomasandfriends.com.

For media use only: For high-resolution downloadable artwork or additional information please go to www.hitnewsonline.com and select Day Out With Thomas 2009: The Hero of the Rails Tour Artwork.

Due to the popularity of Day Out With Thomas, advance ticket purchase is highly recommended. It is not uncommon for events (time slots) to sell out. Tickets are valid only for specific date and time selected at time of purchase.

About MEDINA RAILROAD MUSEUM
The Medina Railroad Museum is situated in a former New York Central RR freight depot that is longer than a football field. The Museum, housing over 6000 railroad artifacts from all of the major railroads of Western New York and one of the longest (204 ft long by 14 ft wide) HO scale model train layouts, is open from 11am to 5pm, Tue. through Sun. year round. The Museum also operates excursion train rides through the scenic Erie Canal corridor between Medina and Lockport, NY on scheduled days from May through Dec. Enjoy our special fall foliage trains in October and our Santa Trains in Nov. and Dec.

About Thomas & Friends
Thomas & Friends invites children to enter a world of imagination through the tracks of a train and the words of a story. Thomas the Tank Engine was created by a father for his son more than 60 years ago. Today, families in more than 145 countries enjoy fun and adventure with their engine friends while experiencing timeless life lessons of discovery, friendship and cooperation. Thomas & Friends is making tracks to great destinations on PBS KIDS®, PBS KIDS Sprout℠ and with downloadable episodes available through iTunes. For more information about the world of Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends, please visit www.thomasandfriends.com.

About HIT Entertainment
HIT Entertainment, owned by private equity investment group Apax Partners, is one of the world's leading independent children's entertainment producers and rights-owners. HIT's portfolio includes properties, such as Barney™, Bob the Builder™, Thomas & Friends™, Pingu™, Fireman Sam™, Angelina Ballerina™ and Rainbow Magic™. HIT represents Chapman Entertainment's Fifi and the Flowertots™ and Roary the Racing Car™ in North America and Japan, as well as Wallace & Gromit™, Shaun the Sheep™ and Aardman Classics from Aardman Animations. HIT also acts as a worldwide representative for The Jim Henson Company's library of classic family brands and as representative for The Wiggles® in the UK. Launched in 1989, HIT's lines of business span television and video production, content distribution, publishing, consumer products licensing and live events and has operations in the UK, US, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. HIT is a part-owner of US-based preschool channel, PBS KIDS Sprout℠, and international preschool channel JimJam, (outside of the US, UK and China). For more information, visit www.hitentertainment.com.