Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends is an action game, that was developed by Enigma Variations for Alternative Software and released upon the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 in 1990; it is based on the Railway Series, by the Reverend WV Awdry (1911-1997), and was later redeveloped for the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS by PeakStar Software in 1992. The 8-bit versions are infamous for being impossible to complete on "normal" difficulty due to the placement of fallen tree trunks and rocks on the tracks being randomly-generated, Thomas's so-called "friends" who, in the '90 versions, were limited to Duck and Diesel appearing at varying points, and Thomas himself derailing if he tries to turn a corner at high speed - and going back two screens each time he got "repaired" did not help.

Story
This is from the back of the cassette's inlay card, the front of which is shown in the image to the right:

''It's full steam ahead once again for Thomas. He's had a busy week at'' the Station and now it looks likely this week is going to be just as ''busy. The Fat Controller's head is spinning with all the special trips'' ''he has to organise. It is a good job that he has Thomas and his'' ''friends to rely upon. He calls Thomas over:'' "Now Thomas," he says, "I have selected some very important jobs for you to do this week. I know that you will do your best and that you  will be very careful." ''"Oh yes, sir," says Thomas. "You know you can trust me. I want to be a really useful engine."'' ''"These are the jobs you must do," the Fat Controller replies. "Take the children to the seaside, take a tractor over to the station by the  broken bridge, take some medicine to the hospital, deliver some logs  to the sawmill and coal to the power station, deliver the mail and  finally take some oil over to the oil refinery. Now there is a lot to  do so do not waste time. You can do the jobs in any order but each one  must be finished before the sun goes down."'' "All right, sir. I had better get started," says Thomas as he hurries over to the turntable. © Britt Allcroft Limited 1990

This is the first game in the Thomas the Tank Engine series, and it was followed up by three sequels: Thomas the Tank Engine 2 (Commodore Amiga, 1993), Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (1993) (SNES/Sega Genesis, 1993) and Thomas the Tank Engine Pinball (Commodore Amiga CD32, 1995). A NES version of the third game, which was developed and published by THQ, instead of Alternative, was also planned, but was never released, possibly because that console was too dated by that time.