Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends/Walkthrough

You will first have to connect your Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, or Commodore Amiga (and cassette recorder, for all except the Commodore Amiga version) to your television set, then switch all (or both) of them on; you will now have to place the cassette (or disk, in the case of the Commodore Amiga version) of Alternative Software's Enigma Variations-developed (and PeakStar Software-redeveloped in the case of the Commodore Amiga version) 1990 action game, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, into the cassette recorder (or the console itself, in the case of the Commodore Amiga version), type LOAD "" (without leaving a space between the quotation marks), and press Enter to load the program into the console. In the ZX and CPC versions, you shall have to wait until the game's rendition of the show's theme song has finished before pressing 1, 2 or 3 for keyboard, Sinclair joystick or Kempston joystick control, then press 1 again to select "easy" difficulty (pressing 2 for "normal" difficulty in these versions makes it impossible to complete) - but in the C64 version, you will have to press Space to start the game, on "easy" difficulty. However, in the Amiga version, you will again have to press Space to start, but you will then have to press it for a second time to invoke "THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE" itself (as the Thomas-face cursor is already on it); you will now have to use Q and A to move the Thomas-face cursor up and down and select either "NORMAL" or "HARD" difficulty and press Space for a third time to confirm your choice, and use Q and A for a second time to move the Thomas-face cursor up and down to select "MUSIC" and "SOUND FX", the "music" in question being a remix of the show's theme by Paul Tankard and press Space for a fourth time to confirm your choice. The game will then proceed onward to the track selection screen (the ZX and CPC version of which is shown below).

You will then have to use O and P (or Z and X in the C64 and Amiga versions) to select one of the tracks (in the C64 and Amiga versions, their names will be displayed at the bottom of the screen), then press Space to confirm your choice; in the ZX and CPC versions, the track's name will then appear on the screen, but in the C64 and Amiga versions, the text "GET READY" will appear instead. This page is going to cover the "tractor" track first.

Deliver the Tractor to the Farm
The ZX version of this track, which is shown in the image above, contains three 800-point bonuses (which are the only item in it, as well as the CPC and C64 versions); however, the Amiga version of it has one hammer (650 points), two water buckets (1000 points), a spanner (450 points), an oil can (2000 points), two coal buckets (50-2500 points), Percy, and James (without his tender, or 5). Thomas shall also fall into the river if he tries to cross the broken bridge towards the end of this track, in which case the text "OH DEAR THOMAS! THE BRIDGE WAS BROKEN. BACK TWO SCREENS!" will appear on the screen - and once he arrives at the station (with the breakvan), the text "WELL DONE THOMAS! YOU'VE FINISHED THAT TASK" (ZX/CPC) or "WELL DONE. NOW CHOOSE ANOTHER TASK." (C64) shall appear on the screen, and the game will return to the track selection screen. If you try to select a track that you have already completed, the text "SILLY THOMAS. YOU'VE DONE THAT TASK ALREADY!" shall appear on the screen in the ZX and CPC versions; in the C64 and Amiga versions, the text "TASK HAS ALREADY BEEN COMPLETED" will appear at the bottom.

Deliver Coal to the Power Station
The ZX version of this track, shown in the image above, contains three more 800-point bonuses; however, the Amiga version has three more hammers, four more coal buckets, two more water buckets, two fallen tree trunks, one group of rocks, two more oil cans, a bell (5000 points, and, transportation to the Bonus Stage, where you must repeatedly press Space to beat James, Harold and Bertie in a race), Percy, James (again, without his tender or 5), Toby, and Bill (or Ben, as they both look exactly the same). The tracks have also been arranged differently on the Amiga version track selection screen.

Deliver the Logs to the Saw Mill
The ZX version of this track, displayed in the image above, contains three more 800-point bonuses; however, the Amiga version has three coal buckets, one fallen tree trunk, three water buckets, two hammers, one spanner, a bell to the Bonus Stage, Percy, James (once again, without his tender or 5) and Toby.

Take the Children to the Beach
The ZX version of this track, shown in the image above, contains three more 800-point bonuses; however, the Amiga version has two fallen tree trunks, two coal buckets, two oil cans, one pair of sun-bent rails, two spanners, one hammer, one group of rocks, a bell to the Bonus Stage, Percy, James (yet again, without his tender or 5), Toby, and Bill (or Ben). There is also a breakvan instead of a coach - which is not a good idea for transporting children. This is also the track Thomas starts out facing towards on the track selection screen, by default.

Take the Medical Supplies to the Hospital
The ZX version of this track, shown in the image above, contains three more 800-point bonuses; however, the Amiga version of it has two coal buckets, a bell to the Bonus Stage, two fallen tree trunks, one group of rocks, one water bucket, one spanner, Percy, James (for the fifth time, without his tender or 5), Toby, and Bill (or Ben). The next track also introduces another of Thomas's so-called "friends" who is missing his tender (and 4 as well) - Gordon.

Take the Oil to the Refinery
The ZX version of this track, displayed in the image above, contains three more 800-point bonuses; however, the Amiga version has three coal buckets, one fallen tree trunk, two oil cans, one spanner, two hammers, four groups of rocks, one water bucket, Percy, James (for a penultimate time, without his tender or 5), Toby, Bill (or Ben), and Gordon (without his tender or 4). There is also a coach instead of a breakvan - which is not a good idea for transporting oil.

Take the Mail to the Next Town
The ZX version of this track, displayed in the image above, contains three last 800-point bonuses; however, the Amiga version of it has one oil can, two spanners, two hammers, two coal buckets, one pair of sun-bent rails, one fallen tree trunk, one water bucket, one bell to the Bonus Stage, James (for a final time, without his tender or 5), Toby, Bill (or Ben), and Gordon (again, without his tender or 4). Again, there is also a coach (instead of a breakvan), which is unusual, for transporting letters - and, once Thomas has completed all seven tasks, the text "WELL DONE THOMAS. YOU CLEVER ENGINE! THE FAT CONTROLLER IS VERY PLEASED WITH YOU AND YOU'VE COMPLETED ALL THE TASKS ON TIME!" shall appear on the screen (in the ZX and CPC versions), or "WELL DONE THOMAS!" above a picture of him in an engine shed with Gordon and James and the Fat Controller and Percy outside it (in the C64 and Amiga versions). The C64 and Amiga versions will now go into high-score mode; your score will most likely be the highest on the tape (or disk) to date, so you should enter your name at the top of the table with pride. It is also worth noting that even though the score displays for all versions have eight digits, the first two are redundant - and the next page is going to cover the "Memory Game" (that's exclusive to the Amiga version).

However, if you press 2 to select "normal" mode in the ZX and CPC versions or F1 to select it in the C64 version before pressing Space to start the game, it will make the game impossible to win; you will not be able to finish the first task you select because of the fact that the appearances of the rocks, the trees, Percy, Duck and Diesel are randomly-generated (in fact, when you have to reverse onto the previous screen to back away from a rock, you may crash into another one that wasn't there earlier), and Thomas will get sent back two screens every time he gets "repaired", so you'll be lucky if you make it to the breakvan (or coach). When the sun goes down at the end of the day, the text "OH DEAR THOMAS. YOU NAUGHTY ENGINE! YOU'VE WASTED ALL YOUR DAY, AND YOUR TASK IS NOT COMPLETE. FAT CONTROLLER IS NOT PLEASED AND HAS DECIDED TO LET ANOTHER ENGINE FINISH YOUR WEEK. BETTER TRY HARDER NEXT TIME!" will appear on the screen (in the ZX and CPC versions), or "You have run out of time Thomas! If you don't try harder next time then your job will be given to someone else!!" above and below a picture of the Fat Controller (in the C64 and Amiga versions) - and it sheds some light on why Thomas's so-called "friends" are trying to ruin his day in the game (for they probably know that if he can't finish a task before the sun goes down, the others will go to one of them).