Real Fat Controllers
"Day out with Thomas" events are a popular way of raising money for heritage railways. These events are an opportunity for children to meet characters from the books and television series (or at least, engines that have been "dressed up" to resemble them). These events are invariably presided over by a Fat Controller, played by a railway volunteer of appropriate age and build.
The copyright holders are strict about how these volunteers should appear: the South Devon Railway's Fat Controller was forced to either quit or shave off his beard, and it is absolutely forbidden for a Fat Controller to be too thin. In the United States, on the other hand, he is often portrayed by a person in a costume.
Read more about this topic: The Fat Controller
Famous quotes containing the words real and/or fat:
“There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate, upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.”
—George Washington (1732–1799)
“This fat pistache of Belgian grapes exceeds
The total gala of auburn aureoles.
Cochon! Master, the grapes are here and now.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)