Do you remember a “Thomas” scene that terrified you? Let us know below, and check out our video of the Top 10 Childhood Shows That Feel Like a Fever Dream: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qqyEicxqmLjSeas.html

This was one of those kids shows that wasn't afraid to give kids a dose of reality. The Spiteful Brake Van getting crushed was definitely the most brutal scene in the show, I feel. Of course as a kid, the implications went right over my head.

This show was way more than just talking trains. Watching it as an adult, you can really see the complex relationship and social structure of every engine. They act like more of a family unit than most families I saw in kid shows. When one engine does something stupid or mean to the other and has an his comeuppance, the other engine don't instantly feel sorry for him. They'll laugh or pick on him for a bit, but at the end of the day, they're still family. They just made their bed and have to lie in the mess they made.

Season 5 has some of the most darkest episodes in the series. Rusty and the Boulder, Haunted Henry, Stepney gets Lost, and even Duncan gets spooked.

Thomas was a HUGE part of my childhood back in the day. When I was a kid, I had a TON of Thomas VHS tapes & DVDs, including the 2000 Magic Railroad movie.

I loved Thomas the Tank Engine when I was a kid! Ringo Starr & George Carlin were the best narrators!

I can't believe they left out Stepney's near death experience in the episode, "Stepney Gets Lost."

The Ghost Train episode was scary enough with the sinister, creepy intro. Abandoning the usual, happy, bright title sequence, they got straight into a haunting, foggy night-time sequence with ghostly whistles, creepy music and the “ghost train” creeping around the countryside. I rewatched it a few years ago and it still freaked me out, just like when I was a little kid!😱👻💀

As a 26 year old who’s been watching this this their entire life, I’ve never been traumatized by anything in this series, not even Diesel 10

I don’t remember this show traumatizing me as a kid. This show is perfectly fine.

1980's and 1990's Thomas is nostalgic now. Thomas was really funny back then.

I think the scrapyard scenes are creepy. Every time Thomas, Percy, or James go there. It's basically a train graveyard

This is something I’d expect to see on Watchmojo UK

i think it is funny what nowadays counts as “traumatizing”. yes, i felt sorry watching the brick scene but didn’t it kind of teach us a lesson? like showing us which behavior is right or wrong and actions may have consequences?

If you thought the show could get dark at times, read the book series. Many books deal with the concept of death via scrapping, the fear of inevitable obsolescence, prejudice against diesels and to not judge a book by its cover via the diesels, again.

There’s a lot more season 5 episodes that were considered traumatizing, such as “Stepney gets Lost”, “Put upon Percy”, “Toby and the Flood”, etc. All to warm up for “Thomas and the Magic Railroad”. And the CGI specials also had their fair share, such as Thomas being held against his will and almost falling into a vat of slag in “Journey Beyond Sodor”.

Seeing Stepney almost get scrapped always gives me shivers…

I loved Thomas the Tank Engine when I was a little boy. I wasn't scared of anything in it. It was part of my childhood.

never in my life would I have expected a Thomas & Friends list by the team of Watchmojo but I'm glad there is. This was my show as a kid!

Wow!!! Never thought I get to see Ms. Mojo talk about something relating to Thomas!! That was quite the surprise!! Here’s a few examples of what scared me as kid!! 1. Henry and the Elephant when the elephant makes a loud noise and moving its trunk inside the tunnel was quite terrifying!! 2. Stepney Gets Lost, when Stepney got captured by Arry and Bert and nearly got scrapped in a red lit smelting shed!! 3. Thomas, Percy and the Squeak whenever Alicia Botti screamed and her face didn’t help at all! 4. Devious Diesel whenever he growls or even grits his teeth! 5. Thomas, Percy and the Dragon was when the Chinese Dragon first appears and the music made it more scary! That’s some examples that scared me growing up! But I’m over them as I got older! 😅

Thomas the Tank Engine never traumatized me as a kid 🤷‍♂️.

George Carlin’s dubs of Seasons 1-4 and Alec Baldwin’s Season 5 dub will always remain classic! For all the hate he gets for how he narrated Season 6, which was because of how poorly _Thomas and the Magic Railroad_ was received and/or his divorce from Kim Basinger, he had his good moments: Thomas’s wild ride with the jet engine, Diesel careening off the quay as he tried to pull 20(!) freight cars with locked brakes, and that hot air balloon landing in front of James. Michael Angelis was just too loud, and I can’t handle Michael Brandon.

this show and the books it's based on never talked down to the kids who were watching it and that's what I loved about it growing up. it always had a sense of maturity about it. unfortunately the movie they made for it was a financial failure and the rights to the show were bought out by HiT Entertainment, who ruined it. it hasn't been the same ever since tbh

Regarding the last entry, they changed up the context between the UK and US narrations in the UK narration, Henry was planned to be left in the tunnel indefinitely, which is how it went in the Railway Series, but in the US narrations, it was only until he was ready to come out of the tunnel. I am wondering if the ending line "How long do you think Henry will be in the tunnel before he overcomes his fear of the rain and decides to journey out again?" is not as depressing as "He wondered if he would ever pull trains again, but I think he deserved his punishment, don't you?" To answer the narrator's question in the UK narration, I do not think Henry deserved to be kept in the tunnel for always and always and always, and thank goodness he was eventually let out regardless of whether that was the plan. It is moments like that that tell you that Thomas is more than just a children's show, it is a reflection of reality in a way as a lot of the engines' behaviors in the stories are based on real-life events. I don't know if there is a true version of The Sad Story of Henry as trains are not sentient in the real world, but if something like that ever did happen in real life, I wonder how that would have gone? Maybe there was an engine that stopped in a tunnel and no matter what anybody did, they could never get it to move and just left it there? Who knows.

One moment from Thomas that scared me actually isn’t something that was intentional, but it’s the Alicia botti scream in Thomas, Percy & the squeak. It’s loud and the face of the Alicia botti prop is rather unsettling

Thomas and Friends was such a huge part of my childhood growing up. It gave a lot of incredibly great memories that I love but also was the source of my nightmares. And I appreciate it a lot more looking back on it as an adult.

This was my favorite show as a kid, and it still holds a special place in my heart now and forever. But I never knew this show was so traumatizing at a young age. I was just enjoying the show because I loved it. But now seeing this as an adult, it shows me that this show is really one of a kind, not just for being amazing, but for also having all of this traumatizing stuff as well, and I am pretty sure there are a lot more than just these moments in the show that are also traumatizing.

Here is an honorable mention. This moment in Thomas & Friends always rubbed my mother the wrong way, it was from the Season 2 episode “Saved From Scrap”, Edward meets Trevor the Traction Engine, Trevor tells him is backstory, and then Trevor closes his eyes and says “Oh yes. I like children.” Does that weird anyone else out too?

in the original books, there was a story about an engine named godred who fell off a mountain and had his parts used to mend the other mountain engines

We really do appreciate how you referenced the Engines as Engines and not trains, also not mixing up Donald with Douglas and not thinking Henry was left to die in that tunnel

I loved this series as a kid. I was never traumatized by it, but number 7 always kind of creeped me out

This will forever remain, my all-time favorite kids shows. Even as an adult, I still watch the show to simply relive my childhood. This series is also the reason why I love trains

As a long time Thomas fan that grew up with many of these episodes; I have to explain a few things like Edward has in one episode. First of all, episodes like grand puff, toad stands by, pop goes the diesel, and the sad story of Henry / come out Henry are taken right from the source material of the original railway series written by the Anglican Pastor the Reverend Wilbert Awdry. The sad story of Henry was also one of the original stories he came up with with his measles stricken five year old son Christopher Awdry until after World War II when Wilbert‘s wife convinced him to have the stories published and understandably so, the publisher only agreed so long as Henry would come out in a happy ending, which thank goodness happened. Rusty and the Boulder is definitely one of the experimental season five episodes that used to intimidate me to where I did not watch my VHS copy of spills and chills that contains the episode; until I came of age and was ready to face my fears. Pop goes the diesel is also one of the deepest most important and consequential story arcs of the entire railway series in season two that it was released with; along with the other episodes dirty work/diesels devious deed, and a close shave for duck were duck is redeemed as the hero of the story even if he enters a violent crash into a barbershop. A3 act story that was one of the original Wilbert Awdry written railway series books. The commentary from here I would’ve otherwise never thought, yet with all due respect, you miss mojo commentators need to also give the George Carlin US dubs a fair listen. Especially the sad story of Henry that was called come out henry in the US which ends but the narration, “how long do you think Henry will stay in the tunnel until he overcomes his fear of the rain and decides to Journey out again?” Leading in to Henry to the rescue/Edward Gordon and Henry were Henry does come out. I assured my younger cousins this story arc as I read my old railway series book to them across one or two years in order to heirloom these stories to them. Otherwise, let us now call the unlucky tug himself to provide his commentary for this video especially as he revealed his engagement at the beginning of his Star Wars video. It is up to us dedicated Thomas fans to maintain the spirit and originally intended lessons of the railway series in the early model series for future generations to come, so people don’t get the wrong impressions or gossip too much; even if yes, some lessons and visual depictions were blunt. We have the late Director and practical effects specialist David Mitten to thank for that. Even then, there is usually some happy ever after where every character usually endures a humbling or redeeming character arc, or there is something for everyone across this universe. For all non-Thomas fans that have either never seen the series, and only hear the gossip surrounding it, please subscribe to the unlucky tug, listen to his advice, and watch his video of his recommended episodes were even Grandpuff/sleeping beauty are recommended with his commentary.

I always find it amusing that “Duncan Gets Spooked” which depicts a character fall into a ravine to their death, who then returns as a ghost, rarely makes these type of lists. The episode also leaves it up to the viewer to decide if the engine’s fate was true or not. It’s a brilliant episode!

The storm from "Cranky Bugs", the crash from "Snow Engine" and the scrapyard scene from "Stepney Gets Lost" did it for me. I was pretty much traumatized by those scenes.

The moment where Percy gets buried alive messed me up as a kid. Put Upon Percy and Toby and the Flood are great episodes too

Man, Rusty and The Boulder was one of those episodes that used to scare me when I was little.

Omg, this made day! I hope you can do more of Thomas and Friends in the future!!

To be honest, none of these moments from the series traumatized me at all (except Alec Baldwin’ scream in James And The Red Balloon), but you need to know that this show isn’t just made for kids, it’s also made for adults too, a part that it focuses on real life trains and events.

Well I can agree that these episodes could left us traumatized, but there were still other ones that at least should get honorable mentions. For me, Diesel 10's presence in the Calling All Engines movie was one of the most frightening moment from this franchise. In my opinion, the boulder episode sounds more scarier when Alec Baldwin narrates it, especially when he says the final monologue of The Fat Controller. However, if you want to see something more traumatizing than these episodes/moments, than you should look after the Shed 17 creepypasta video. That story has a childhood-memory destroying level I can assure you.

Diesel 10 was traumatizing in Magic Railroad. He had Mr. Conductor hanging above the river, nearly forced James and Junior to their deaths in the Smelters yard, and was looking to put an end to an engine called Lady. In later appearances he was made into more of a bully who led a gang of diesels against the steam engines, like in Calling All Engines and Day of the Diesels.

Thomas the Tank Engine is not just a kids show. It's a slice of life, family friendly drama series based on living trains. The creators of this show don't get enough respect because you actually understand these characters and it's not all this "Chuggington! Clackity Clack! Come on let's play!" nonsense, it's real life and set in a location that actually feels like it's a real location.

No episode of Thomas and friends ever terrified me, but the pounce effect I can see how that’s actually terrifying

Duncan Gets Spooked really terrified me as a child, the bone-chilling soundtrack and the atmosphere of the episode made me feel very "spooked" indeed.

Henry and the Brick wall traumatised me a lot as a kid. You can't help but feel sorry for him, after all his stubbornness.

The descriptions of these episodes show that the writers don’t know the show very well, and they’re stretching some of these “controversial” elements, but as a huge Thomas fan I enjoyed the video anyway 😄

Honestly, what terrified me the most was The Episode, Toby and the flood. The high waters, the dam collapsing, Toby about too go over a waterfall!!! That is what terrified me the most as a child...but now as a adult, what a thrill!!!

Still my Favorite show to this day!

Surprised Stepney gets lost wasn't on the list especially the scene where he nearly gets scrapped

Wow, I wasn't expecting a tackle of Thomas & Friends, one of my favourite kids' shows to this day! I'll say some of the accidents traumatised me...even so that I was covering my eyes whenever one was about to happen. Oh, yeah, and that time James got stung by a bee really frightened me. But I've got used to all of that as years went by. I think it's good to give children some entertainment. Just a shame TV shows these days barely do that. And corporations like Mattel have been trying to tone Thomas down for kids, when older audiences have loved it too.

Top 10 Thomas the Tank Engine Accidents? Include the crashes from stories like Trust Thomas, A Better View for Gordon, Percy Takes the Plunge, Gordon Takes a Tumble, Thomas Comes to Breakfast, Respect for Gordon and Something in the Air.

Very nice. Thomas And Friends is my childhood and still is one of my favorite shows.

Thomas was a big part of my childhood

You can't blame Awdry or Britt for those stories they've made for books and TV show.

This show was part of my childhood. I can talk about this show that it had a level of intelligence. Though the show went downhill so much. I only care for the first five seasons.

Ringo and Michael will always be the definitive voices of my childhood.

The sad story of Henry never scared me as a kid I'd started watching Thomas in the early 2010s when it was in cgi When I watched this episode for the first time I knew that Henry was in the new episodes of Thomas so I knew he was gonna be ok

To be honest when I was a kid I really don't care about the things that happened in the show all I care about is Talking trains do Trains Stuff, but until Season 2 Percy's Ghostly trick traumatize me for so long due to the Theme of it. It still gives me chills down my spine every time I listen to it

Dude, were you guys reading my mind? This series has been my life for the past year.

The thing about Smudger is the large change from the books. He was originally a generator, but was moved to the mines to be a pumping engine. Near the end of the Mid Sodor Railway's life, the mine flooded and he was left down there to rust. Smudger got of easy in comparison.

As a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends since I was 3, almost all of these episodes mentioned werent traumitizing. But, if I remember correctly, Season 5 had way more deadly crashes or traumatizing scenes compared to the other seasons. I literally remember seeing the mine scene in "Put Upon Percy" for the first time as a kid, and watching it gave me both the chills and nightmares, with the creepy atmosphere of the mine, the deadly crash inside, the siren, and the dramatic music. I guess I knew from the get-go that it was perhaps the deadliest crash or better yet the more traumatizing scene of the entire show. Even to this day, I stand by that statement.

Thomas wasn't traumatising, it was realistic. Rev. W. Awdry, and later Mitton and Allcroft, never wanted to talk down to kids (which is what 90% of kids shows do nowadays). They wanted to show the engines of Sodor as actual fleshed out characters that would deal with extreme hardship such as death. For example, in 'Enterprising Engines' when Gordon asks the Fat Controller about his brothers and he is revealed to the fact that 74 of his brothers had been scrapped with the Flying Scotsman being the only A1/A3 to survive. The reason this is brought up is because the book is sent in the late 1960s, which if you care to do a minute of research on Britain's railways in the 1960s, you would see countless photos of locomotives either in scrap lines or being cut up. Another story from the same book is 'Escape' which tackles it with the same realistic lens but instead focuses on steam engines being saved from scrap.

For me, what made me unnerved as a kid was anytime one of the engines made a face that looked something like one of these: 😮😯🫨😱. Percy Runs Away, James Goes Buzz-Buzz, and Percy's Ghostly Trick to name a few. I still think they look kinda creepy, but they don't phase me like they used to all those years ago.

Nothing seems to scare me from Thomas the Tank Engine. But I do enjoy that ride like I did as a kid.

Legend has it smugger’s ghost still roams the land

I can’t believe I enjoyed watching this show when I was young!😨🚂

I’m so glad people are bringing this show back in it’s classic form and recognizing it as the masterpiece it is. I’ve been a tankie for years, Thomas will always have a special place in my heart. Thanks for making this video!

One thing that scared me as a kid when it wasn't meant to be scary was some of the close ups of the character's faces.

*Henry literally gets entombed inside a tunnel* Narrator: You get what you deserve!

Never thought a show for young kids could be terrifying

Fun fact: _The Sad Story of Henry_ was the one of three stories that the Reverend had wrote to entertain his son, and the publisher only agreed to publish them as the first in his series of books on the condition that the Reverend wrote a fourth story in which Henry is freed from the tunnel so as to give the compilation a happy ending.

Never thought that MsMojo would make a video on Thomas the tank engine.

So I’m not the only person who found James being a circus attraction and Percy being a roller coaster ride terrifying as a child😅 good to know

Ah the watch mojo family! Please keep making these they entertain me immensely! 😂 I also appreciate that for once with these type or articles/videos. That whoever wrote this script. Actually watched the show! Credit to them!

5:08 Ringo Must've Been a Bit Dirty-Minded Here. Lmfao

All of these scenes you brought, they never frightened me at all.

Henry we all had coming absolutely, both the demolition of The Spiteful Breakvan and S.C.Ruffey was enough to make me give a glimpse into what what death is and human torture. Duke being buried alive may sound quite depressing but I’m quite shocked that you didn’t mention the events of Stepney gets lost.

Big Thomas fan here: As a kid most of these subtexts went over my head. As an adult, I tend to justify them by saying that the stories (or Seasons 1, 2, 4 and about half of 3) were written in the 1940s-1970s by a Rev. W. Awdry, a clergyman who was, it seems, very big on the “obey your parents and respect your elders” messages. He was a clergyman so that scans. The books are in some cases even more brutal: Scruffy is not put back together in the book and the threat of steam engines being scrapped (something not really mentioned in this video) is never shied away from. Props to Awdry for being willing to show such an unsanitised view of the world in children’s literature. Pop Goes The Diesel, particularly how furious Diesel looks, did unnerve me a bit, which I look back on with laughter. You could get away with a lot more on kids’ telly in the 80s (Season 2 was made in 1986) than now. I never found Diesel 10 all that terrifying despite the implication he’s meant to be: He’s a bit too comedic to be taken seriously as a frightening villain. The entire story of Henry getting bricked in the tunnel is a warning against vanity and the next episode invariably follows it on broadcast and most home media, so Henry does get let out a little over four minutes of screentime, or about five pages, later. Without seeing the next episode/ reading the next story though, it may seem a bit OTT. The like “I think he deserved his punishment”, which is taken from the book, is absent in the US narration. Season 5 is much more cinematic and its story ideas (including the infamous boulder scene) much bolder (hah!) as they were now not adapting the books, could delve into more supernatural themes, which made for some memorable but terrifying episodes. Stepney Gets Lost (where Stepney is nearly killed) and Duncan Gets Spooked also rank up there with unnerving episodes. They really went all-out in Season 5, possibly to prove Thomas could work as a movie, which makes sense as Thomas & The Magic Railroad went into production soon after (and then bombed very hard, but that’s another tale). As for Thomas’ comment about Percy in “Ghost Train”, being annoyed about tardiness is very in-character for Thomas, but he is honestly a bit of a prick throughout Season 2 and this is just an extension of that. The concept of him being Percy’s best friend didn’t really come to the forefront until the 2000s , so looking back at the 80s episodes with the mindset that they’re meant to be besties will be a bit weird. In Season 1, Percy and Thomas share a couple of scenes but don’t speak to each other, so their first interaction is having an extended argument over paintwork and coal in Season 2’s opening story (which they then make up). Not the order it was published in the books, but still. Well, this comment went on for a bit. Basically, a lot of these scenes are less unnerving with the context of the books, their author’s mindset and some production aspects. Without those though, well, what MsMojo says is fair enough really.

Please do more Thomas & Friends topic, I love this series.

I never thought I'd see you cover Thomas on your channel. For me moments that nearly traumatized me were moments where the characters thought their end was near, like when Stepney was about to be scrapped, when Duke was buried, Rusty, Rheneas, & Skarloey getting chased by a boulder with Percy nearly getting crushed, Henry seeing a ghost on the Old Line, Toby fearing the Old Warrior at the Mine, and when Toby was caught in a storm surge.

The only things that ever scared me was Thomas' shocked face in "Percy's Ghostly Trick", the animated bee zooming down at the camera in "James Goes Buzz Buzz" and the loud "A MOUSE!" in "Thomas, Percy & the Squeak".

The whole concept of the trains having human faces on them was creepy enough

What’s really traumatizing is how sanitized and bland the 2D reboot is. The original show timeline launched Thomas and friends into worldwide status, but now… ain’t no crane able to put that derailment back on the track.

I just turned 23 and Thomas the Tank Engine was a huge part of my childhood but some of these scenes still give me chills. I think George Carlin’s voice had something to do with that.

In my case it was a bit of Thomas comes to breakfast cuz of the internal shot of Thomas in house that creeped me out as kid which is kinda why I was bit hesitant to watch that ep growing up on my vhs recording

Ghost stories in Thommas sent chills down my younger spine, but Dessel 10 gave me a few nightmares.

Nice to see more and more people see Thomas as more than a Kids show.

Diesel 10 gave me nightmares as a kid

I’ve loved and always will I truly don’t know how people get traumatized and I like how people understand this isn’t always a happy field island

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends was the biggest part of my life in my childhood.

I'm glad I grew up with the modern computer animated version of Thomas

I don’t get why everyone thinks Henry didn’t deserve his punishment. Imagine if you had to wait on the main line for about 30 minutes just because of an engine’s selfish reasons. Those people had places to get to.

In the RWS S.C.ruffey was SCRAPPED

As a thomas fan Ive only been scared once by this show, and it was in the episode "Flour Power" because Thomas was covered in flour. It's atmosphere and look just creeps me out

To be fair, Thomas & Percy were never originally best friends. It wasn't in their characters to be best friends. It was more like them tolerating/getting along with a coworker than anything

I'm surprised they didn't add more from Season 2 or 5, as honourable mentions.

I remember this show and I loved it!! Nothing really stood out to me except the moving faces that were a little weird to look at when the environment looked so toylike and realistic a little. I actually thought they had faces IRL, but I got over it and got toys for a while.

The first 5 seasons still holds up.

So glad you covered something like this. I’ve been a fan since I was 3 years old but the fact that the show covers topics like this is what makes me enjoy it more. Kids need to confront harsh realities whether they like it or not. Great work.

I do remember that boulder episode now, that face freaked me out. But the one I thought would be on this list was the ghost train bridge. That one scared me every time I watched it 😅