Peter Sam - Prototype

Prototype

Peter Sam is based on the locomotive Edward Thomas which works at the Talyllyn Railway in Gwynedd, Wales. This locomotive is a modified "Tattoo" class, built in 1921 by Kerr Stuart & Co at the California Works in Stoke on Trent for the 2 ft 3 in (686 mm) gauge Corris Railway in Merionethshire, where it also carried the number 4. After the Corris closed in 1948 it was purchased (and named) by the Talyllyn in 1951. A new "Tattoo" class loco commenced work on the Corris Railway in 2005.

In the Railway Series books, Peter Sam visited the Talyllyn Railway. This was in commemoration of the fact that the Talyllyn Railway repainted Edward Thomas to represent Peter Sam.

This caused some controversy when Egmont, the publishers of the Railway Series books, complained that this was a violation of copyright. A compromise was eventually reached whereby the Talyllyn Railway could run engines as Railway Series characters, but the faces attached to them had to be different from those depicted in the books.