HIT Entertainment Digital Newsroom

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

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

03/10/2009

Ashwaubenon (Green Bay, Wis.)

Thomas the Tank Engine™ to visit National Railroad Museum, June 10 - 14, 2009

It's a bird! It's a plane ... wait ... it's a train? Thomas the Tank Engine™ is set to roll into Green Bay, Wis. 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 June 10 - 14, 2009, will be hosted by the National Railroad Museum and presented by HIT Entertainment.

For more than six decades, children have been captivated by the courageous adventures of Thomas 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 and video viewing
• Live music featuring performances by local children's favorite Mr. Billy.

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 National Railroad Museum activities will include:

• Exploring the world's largest steam locomotive - the Union Pacific Big Boy - and 50 other pieces of historic railroad equipment.
• Experience a huge operating model railroad.
• Make a sand castle in the giant sand box
• Bounce your way through two inflatable attractions.
• Ride an authentic railroad handcart
• Assemble some of the biggest puzzles you'll ever see

The approximately 25-minute train ride with Thomas the Tank Engine will depart every 45 minutes, rain or shine, with departure times beginning at 9:15 a.m. through 4:45 p.m. 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 will be available starting Friday, February 13, 2009 by calling toll-free 866.468.7630 or logging onto www.ticketweb.com/thomas. For more information and directions contact the National Railroad Museum at (920) 437-7623 or www.nationalrrmuseum.org.

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.

About the National Railroad Museum
Founded in 1956, the National Railroad Museum marked 50 years of preserving America's railroad heritage in 2006. The Museum works to foster an understanding of railroading and its significance to American life. Visiting the National Railroad Museum offers you an opportunity to explore our railroad heritage. Sit in the cab of the Union Pacific Big Boy, the world's largest steam locomotive. View Gen. Eisenhower's World War II command train. Examine the future of railroading in the sleek 1955 General Motors Aerotrain. The Museum is one of the oldest and largest institutions of its kind in the U.S.

The National Railroad Museum is the original U.S. site to host a Day Out with Thomas™ event. Thomas the Tank Engine first visited the Museum in 1994.

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 U.K., U.S., Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. HIT is a part-owner of U.S.-based preschool channel, PBS KIDS Sprout℠, and international preschool channel JimJam, (outside of the U.S., U.K. and China). For more information, visit www.hitentertainment.com.