''Shining Time Station'' is an American

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television show, television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during ...

jointly created by British television producer

Britt Allcroft Britt Allcroft (born Hilary Mary Allcroft, 14 December 1943) is a British writer, producer, director and voice actress. She is the creator of the children's television series ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' (later re-titled ''Thomas & Friend ...

and American television producer Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by Quality Family Entertainment (the American branch of

The Britt Allcroft Company Gullane Entertainment PLC was a British independent production company which produced children's programming, including ''Thomas & Friends'' (1984–2021), '' Shining Time Station'' (1989–1993), and '' The Magic Adventures of Mumfie'' (1994–1 ...

), in association with Catalyst Entertainment in seasons 2 and 3, for New York City's PBS station

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...

, and was originally taped in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

during its first season and in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

during the rest of its run. It incorporated sequences from the British television show ''

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...

'', which was in turn based on the books of ''

The Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. Tw ...

'' written by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry. The series aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

from January 29, 1989, until June 11, 1993, with four hour-long "Family Specials" premiering in primetime throughout 1995. Reruns continued to air on PBS until June 11, 1998. It aired on Fox Family from 1998 to 1999. Reruns of the show aired on

Nick Jr. Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Gr ...

to promote the theatrical release of ''

Thomas and the Magic Railroad ''Thomas and the Magic Railroad'' is a 2000 children's fantasy adventure film written and directed by Britt Allcroft and produced by Allcroft and Phil Fehrle. It is the only theatrical live-action/animated ''Thomas & Friends'' film in the fran ...

'' beginning June 5, 2000, and continuing until August 11 that same year, when it was replaced by ''

Dora the Explorer ''Dora the Explorer'' is an American children's animated television series and multimedia franchise created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes and Eric Weiner that premiered on Nickelodeon on August 14, 2000, went on hiatus on June 5, 20 ...

'' beginning the following Monday. The series also aired on Canadian television networks such as APTN and SCN. Elements from the show were incorporated into the 2000 Thomas and Friends film ''Thomas and the Magic Railroad''. The initial 1989 season featured a cast that included Ringo Starr as Mr. Conductor,

Didi Conn Edith "Didi" Conn (née Bernstein; born July 13, 1951) is an American actress. She is best known for her work as Frenchy in '' Grease'', Denise Stevens Downey in '' Benson'' and Stacy Jones in '' Shining Time Station''. Early life Edith Bernst ...

as Stacy Jones, Brian O'Connor as Horace Schemer,

Leonard Jackson Leonard Jackson (8 April 1848 – 21 March 1887) was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire from 1877 to 1882. Jackson was born at Holme Hurst in Norton Woodseats, on the border of Yorkshire and Derbyshire. He first played cricket ...

as Harry Cupper,

Jason Woliner Jason Woliner is an American director, writer and a former child actor who directed the 2020 movie '' Borat Subsequent Moviefilm''. He was the non-performing member of the comedy group Human Giant and directed the bulk of their output. After th ...

as Matt Jones and

Nicole Leach Nicolle Rochelle (born May 10, 1979), often credited professionally as Nicole Leach, is an American actress, dancer, and jazz singer, best known for her appearances on television including ''Shining Time Station'', '' The Babysitters Club'', a ...

as Tanya Cupper. The show was retooled for the second (1991) and third (1993) seasons, with only Conn and O'Connor reprising their prior roles.

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercu ...

replaced Starr as Mr. Conductor, while

Erica Luttrell Erica Luttrell is a Canadian actress. Personal life Luttrell was born in Toronto, Ontario to a Tanzanian mother and an American father. Luttrell is the youngest of four sisters. She can speak some French and Swahili. In August 2019, Luttrell ...

, Ari Magder, Danielle Marcot, and Tom Jackson joined the primary cast in newly created roles. In addition to the three main seasons, a Christmas special featuring the original cast, aired in 1990, and four "family specials" aired in 1995 featuring the second cast. Providing the musical numbers for the show was "The Jukebox Band", a group of puppets. In 1996, only Carlin appeared in a spin-off series called ''Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales'', which featured only six episodes with five Thomas stories and one Music video each. The station Interior was kept for the spin-off.

Background

After the success of ''

'' in the United Kingdom, Britt Allcroft and her production company teamed up with PBS station WNET in New York City to produce and distribute the sitcom-esque ''Shining Time Station'', every episode of which would include a couple of episodes of ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends''. The series starred Ringo Starr,

, Brian O'Connor, and the Flexitoon Puppets. Ringo Starr, who had already been providing the narration for the British series, agreed to extend the role to include the on-screen character called Mr. Conductor in ''Shining Time Station''. He left the show after its initial season to focus on his musical career and was replaced by

. ''Shining Time Station'' received critical acclaim. In a review for ''Entertainment Weekly'', Ken Tucker states that, compared to the faster paced '' Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'', "'Shining Time Station' wants to slow things down. It's an old-fashioned show that creates a gentle, lulling atmosphere to convince children that life is fun and that trains are the way to travel." It was a ratings success as well. In its first season, the show averaged a 0.9 Nielsen rating, translating to about 1.2 million viewers on average. At the peak of its popularity, the show brought in up to 7.5 million viewers per week.

Overview

The Shining Time Station is a train station on the Indian Valley Railroad in an unknown part of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It is managed by Stacy Jones. Its workshop is run in the first season by Harry Cupper, and thereafter by Billy Twofeathers. A local named Horace Schemer, simply referred to as Schemer, runs the station's arcade and serves as the series' comic relief. He often comes up with tricks and schemes (hence his surname) to get his ways, although they usually backfire on him as a result of his foolishness. The narrative is driven by regular and incidental visitors to the station. Mr. Conductor is a tiny man who lives in a signal house inside the station's mural and tells the stories taken from ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' to the kids. He also introduces songs to the kids in The Anything Tunnel. Sometimes, he may present a magic bubble to the kids that has the song inside as a way of introducing it. On occasion, the kids may look through a film viewer to see the song or film.

Cast

Series regulars (1989–1995)

– Stacy Jones * Brian O'Connor – Horace Schemer

Season 1 regulars (1989)

* Ringo Starr – Mr. Conductor *

– Henry "Harry" Cupper *

– Matthew "Matt" Jones *

– Tanya Cupper

Christmas Special characters (1990)

* Ringo Starr – Mr. Conductor *

– Stacy Jones * Brian O'Connor – Horace Schemer *

– Matthew "Matt" Jones *

– Tanya Cupper *

Ardon Bess Ardon Bess (born 1941) is a Canadian actor best known for appearing in a Heritage Moment television commercial about the 1958 Springhill mining disaster portraying survivor Maurice Ruddick. Early life and education Bess was born in Kingstown, ...

– Tucker Cooper (Harry's cousin) *

Lloyd Bridges Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, includi ...

– Mr. Nicholas * Judy Marshak – Claire *

Rachel Miner Rachel Anne Miner is an American actress. She first came to prominence for her portrayal of Michelle Bauer on the television soap opera ''Guiding Light'' (1990–95). She made her film debut in Woody Allen's ''Alice'' (1990), and later earned cr ...

– Vickie

Seasons 2 & 3 regulars (1991–1993)

– Mr. Conductor *

– Kara Cupper * Ari Magder – Daniel "Dan" Jones * Danielle Marcot – Becky (recurring in season 2) * Tom Jackson – Billy Twofeathers

Recurring characters (full series; 1989–1995)

* Jerome Dempsey – Mayor Osgood Bob Flopdinger * Mart Hulswit – Mr. J.B. King, Esq. *

Bobo Lewis Barbara "Bobo" Lewis (May 14, 1926 – November 6, 1998) was an American comedic actress of film, musical theatre, stage and television. Born in Miami, Florida, Lewis studied acting and won a Drama Desk Award in 1978 for portraying a teacher ...

– Midge Smoot

Recurring characters (Seasons 2 & 3; 1991–1993)

– Matthew "Matt" Jones (Season 2 only) *

– Tanya Cupper (Season 2 only) * Jonathan Shapiro – Schemee *

Gerard Parkes Gerard Parkes (October 16, 1924 – October 19, 2014) was an Irish-Canadian actor. He was born in Dublin, and moved to Toronto in 1956. He is known for playing "Doc" on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television series ''Fraggle Rock'' and ...

– Barton Winslow * Barbara Hamilton – Ginny Johnson * Aurelio Padrón – Felix Perez *

– Mr. Conductor's Evil Twin

1995 Family Specials characters

– Mr. Conductor *

– Stacy Jones * Tom Jackson – Billy Twofeathers (All but ''Queen for a Day'') *

– Kara Cupper * Ari Magder – Daniel "Dan" Jones (''Once Upon a Time'' and ''Second Chances'') * Danielle Marcot – Becky * Brian Edward O'Connor – Horace Schemer * Barbara Hamilton – Ginny Johnson *

– Midge Smoot * Jerome Dempsey – Mayor Osgood Bob Flopdinger (''Once Upon a Time'' only) * Mart Hulswit – Mr. J.B. King, Esq. * Bucky Hill – Kit Twofeathers (All but ''Once Upon a Time'') *

Jonathan Shapiro Jonathan Shapiro (born 27 October 1958) is a South African cartoonist, known as Zapiro, whose work appears in numerous South African publications and has been exhibited internationally on many occasions. He is the nephew of British magician ...

– Schemee (''Second Chances'' and ''One of the Family'') * Aurelio Pardón – Felix Perez (''Second Chances'' and ''Queen for a Day'') *

– Henry "Harry" Cupper (''One of the Family'' only) *

Teri Garr Teri Ann Garr (born December 11, 1944) is an American former actress, dancer, and comedian. She frequently appeared in comedic roles throughout her career, which spans four decades and includes over 140 credits in film and television. Her accola ...

– Sister Conductor (''One of the Family'' only) * Jeannette Charles –

The Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

(''Queen for a Day'' only)

The Jukebox Band

* Steve Horelick – Composer and Music Producer * Jonathan Freeman – Tito Swing The Piano Man * Olga Marin – Didi The Drummer * Wayne White – Tex The Guitarist (1989) * Alan Semok – Tex The Guitarist (1990–1995) * Craig Marin – Rex The Guitarist *

Peter Baird Peter Baird (February 25, 1952 – July 16, 2004) was an American film actor, puppeteer and the son of puppeteer and actor Bil Baird and Cora Baird a theatre actor, dancer and puppeteer. Personal life Baird married Mavis Humes in early 2004, th ...

/Alan Semok/

Vaneese Thomas Vaneese Yseult Thomas (born August 24, 1952) is an American R&B, jazz and soul blues singer, best known for her 1987 US ''Billboard'' R&B chart hit single, "Let's Talk It Over". In addition, in more recent times, she has supplied backing vocal ...

– Grace The Bass Player (1989) *

/Kenny Miele – Grace The Bass Player (1990–1995) The songs were arranged and performed by Steve Horelick with Larry Wolf. They featured vocal performances by Rory Dodd, Vaneese Thomas, Emily Bindinger and Jonathan Freemen.

Segments

The intro to each episode consists of the main theme song of the show, played to footage of the Union Pacific Steam Locomotive 844 and the credits of the series' characters. Only the first verse is sung for the beginning theme. The closing credits contain more shots of the Union Pacific 844, in addition to the full ''Shining Time Station'' theme song. For the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

special "'Tis A Gift" the footage used for the opening and closing sequences were filmed at the

Grand Canyon Railway The Grand Canyon Railway is a heritage railroad which carries passengers between Williams, Arizona, and the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. The railroad, built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, was completed on September 1 ...

in Williams,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and features their locomotive #18. * Flexitoons Puppets & Marionettes – The Jukebox Band – the show's station band that performs a song inside the jukebox. They consist of pianist Tito Swing, drummer Didi, guitarists Tex and Rex (who control the guitar together), and bass guitarist Grace Bass. JJ Silvers is the manager of The Jukebox Band. * ''

'' – Storytellers, Ringo Starr and George Carlin. * The Anything Tunnel – Inside the anything tunnel, which is the tunnel on the station mural, there is a song with a cartoon, a stop motion clip, or a live action clip. Sometimes instead of the anything tunnel, Mr. Conductor would show a magic bubble or one of the kids looks through a film viewer.

Episodes

Merchandise

VHS

The beginning of each VHS release (except for ''Tis a Gift'', ''Shining Time Station Singsongs'', ''Schemer Presents: The World According to Me'', ''The Jukebox Band: A Day in the Life'', and ''The Jukebox Band: Lullaby'') featured a model scale of a typical 1950s drive-in movie theater called the "Shining Time Drive-In Movie Theater" with parody commercials before the episode started. Then, after the episode of ''Shining Time Station'' was shown, a short segment known as " Schemer Presents!" was shown. Each segment featured Schemer teaching the viewers how to do something, with one of the other regular characters helping him. Afterwards, the announcer wishes everyone a safe drive home. The Drive-In segments were created by

Chip Lord Chip Lord is an American media artist and Professor Emeritus, UC Santa Cruz and residing in San Francisco. He is best known for his work with the alternative architecture and media collective known as Ant Farm, which he co-founded with Doug Michels ...

& Mickey McGowan. * ''Tis a Gift'' * ''Sweet and Sour'' * ''Stacy Cleans Up'' * ''Schemer Alone'' * ''Bully for Mr. Conductor'' * ''Becky Makes a Wish'' * ''Billy's Party'' * ''Schemer's Special Club'' * ''Mr. Conductor's Evil Twin'' * ''Shining Time Station Singsongs'' * ''Schemer Presents: The World According to Me'' * ''The Jukebox Band: A Day in the Life'' * ''The Jukebox Band: Lullaby''

Books

* A book, titled ''This Old Band'', was written by Britt Allcroft and Rick Siggelkow. It featured the Juke Box Band and was published by Quality Family Entertainment in 1994.