It only took me a while to realise this, & by the time I did realise, the video was already done. But this isn’t ALL the railway series narrators; in fact there’s just one I missed & that’s Alison Draper. Now, although she didn’t read any of the books in there entirety, she DID read snippets of the railway series for Brian Sibley’s ‘The Thomas The Tank Engine Man’ audiobook which can be found on his SoundCloud. from the 6 clips we are given it’s enough to see, or rather hear, what Alison is like as a storyteller, even if it isn’t on full display. & honestly, I really enjoy her! She has a nice motherly, storybook voice filled with warmth & excitement; like a female Perkins, in that sense. It would be pointless to do a follow up video ranking all the narrators again with fresh eyes, as my views on everyone haven’t changed. Regardless, I’d place her just above Wilbert with an 8.5/10. A really lovely fit to the series, even if it was in short bursts.
Another honerable mention goes to Tim Dunn. The man sounds extremely overjoyed reading the stories he did & this energy certainly pays off. With bubbly character voices & joyful line deliveries, Tim a fantastic storyteller & would definitely be in my top 5
For anyone who likes (my favorite narrator) Willie Rushton's voice, I also highly recommend the Trap Door. It's an old tv show entirely on RUclips and he voices just about every character in the show. It's an absolute treat to watch and listen to.
Great video as always I’m honestly surprised more people haven’t talked about this. My personal favourite narrator would have to be Johnny Morris. I’d love to see more ranking videos in the future
Me who didn’t know there were more than 3 narrators: A surprise to be sure, but a welcome For me personally: wilily Ruston is my Favorite, He did a perfect job, his voices fit perfectly, always hated jonnys voice for Henry, it’s to groggy, but still a good video!
You raise a good point. The way I see it for Henry’s voice is that for Henry l, Johnny’s voice fits as he’s always ill & for Henry ll, Rushton’s voice fits as he no longer has steaming troubles.
Why did you have to do my boy Ted Robbins dirty like that? I really like his narrations, his voice literally fits the stories perfectly and I feel like they really should have brought him onto the TV series after Ringo left. Ol' Teddy was really given the shaft in my opinion, he didn't even get to finish narrating all of the Christopher Awdry books!
This is the first time I've seen one user rank the RWS narrators since most narrator rankings usually focus on the TVS narrators. Here's my ranking: 1. Willie Rushton (Needn't I have to go further in depth, he is my go-forth narrator!). 2. John Gielgud (He may've sounded a little too fast, but still amazing and at least he stayed consistent with the narration and I like his theatrical tone to them). 3. Ben Forster (His time as narrator may've been short, but still enthusiastic). 4. Wilbert Awdry (Wish he could've narrated more aside from the first two stories he'd written). 5. Ted Robbins (I agree about him being average. Not as good as narrator, but not as bad). 6. Michael Angelis (while he does have charisma, but is very bland). 7. Johnny Morris (yeah I know, but he's my least favorite of the bunch in my opinion mostly b/c while he is okay, but he can be too whiny and repetitive at times, and not to mention his sound effects drag the narration and story here. And in terms of character voices, while he has a few good gems for some like Gordon, Percy, TFC, Henry, Toby, Trevor, Duck, Sir Handel, the coaches and trucks, but for his Thomas voice, I cringe in some stories he narrated. Much prefer John Gielgud). And also, since the RWS is getting another audiobook release coming soon with Bruce Alexander as the new storyteller, what are your first thoughts of it?
ThomasFan261 brought this on with his video on what you just said (this isn’t an attack on him btw). He said in the video “railway series narrators like Johnny Morris don’t count.” Knowing he wasn’t gonna rank such, I said fuck it & played ball. I’m surprised I’m the first tbh because, honestly, the railway series needs more recognition & I’m more than overjoyed to see what Luke, Tim, Dan & everyone at the Talyllyn are doing. Yes, we love the lore. Yes, we love the artstyle. But I sometimes feel like 90 percent of the fandom just look at the books as ‘that series of books that the show is based on’. Despite the consistency both historically & in technicality. & it’s what started it all. Without the railway series, there’d be no TV series. Went on a tangent there lol. Anyway, as for Bruce, we haven’t heard him yet, so I can’t say what he’s like. One thing to bring up however, I’m hoping that it’s just him reading the stories & not the AEG voice actors doing the dialogue. Doubt that’s the case, but you never know with Mattel these days.
Here's My Ranking Of The Railway Series Narrators: 1. Wilbert Awdry 2. Michael Angelis 3. Mark Moraghan 4. Ted Robbins 5. Sir John Gieguld 6. Willie Rushton 7. Johnny Morris 8. Andrew Sachs 9. Ron Haddrick 10. Ben Forster 11. Kevin Jonas 12. Bruce Alexander
What did you think of Nigel Pilkington as the Railway Series narrator? Yes, the same guy who voiced Percy for the UK dubs for Seasons 19-24 is the narrator of the books.
I'll give my opinions about who my best narrator voices are, both from the book stories and for the TV show. I have to admit on Johnny Morris being a great narrator in the books. Although the way he repeatedly made the characters' dialect and the sound effects he made for 'em is quite annoying. But overall, his narration wasn't bad, considering he was a children's entertainer. Willie Rushton on the other hand was spot on fantastic. His storytellin' narration in the books felt like he narrowed it down to a earnest delivery point. It also felt like it made me wanna eat something. It's a home stretch between the two men, but Willie definitely earned my opinion of best narrator voice choice, with Johnny a tight close second. I also wanna give that Ted Robbins guy some creds for his storytellin' narration as well. It sounded like I wanted to take a fresh, simple drink of water. Although he did sounded a lil' boring but in a interesting way. As for the TV show narrators, there is one narrator that would give it his all, being George Carlin, and then there's one that almost gave it his all, hence Michael Brandon, for the American dub - most considerably because they can make the characters have different voices impressions. I have watched _Thomas & Friends_ since childhood, and I gotta say, through all my years of watching the show there a number of narrators that were outstanding. Ringo Starr was a chill narrator for the British dub (on the contrary, he's not a best narrator in my opinion). Michael Angelis wasn't bad, especially since he held the record of being the longest-running narrator for the show, but he couldn't really make different voices for the characters like Ringo neither. But he wasn't too much bad. Alec Baldwin was also pretty alright for the American dub. Some of his voice impressions for the characters are funny but when it comes to doing a voice for a specific character with an accent, he couldn't give that accent for that character to sound right, depending on who the character was. George and Michael B. are a photo-finish tie when it came to narrating. Although the overusage of Michael B.'s narrating in that _Hero of the Rails_ movie was too gotdamn much to bare hearing. Like, dude, STFU! After that, ol' Mike seemingly wasn't much of a alright narrator to me the way I thought he was, especially when it came to him doing wrong voice impersonations for certain characters that were supposed to sound what they're portrayed as from the Railway Series, etc. (**cough** Toby, Skarloey, etc.)
I’ve heard a few people say that Ted Robbins would be a good narrator for the tv series. Idk about that but I he might be a good voice actor for one of the characters.
What if Ron Perlman, Don Cheadle, Tim Daly, Frances McDormand, Diane Kruger And F. Murray Abraham Narrated The Railway Series And Audiobooks Version Of The Railway Series Books Would Been Released On United States Of America And Having Famous Actors
And Then Ted Robbins Would Been Narrated Audiobooks Version Of Thomas And The Fat Controller's Engines, New Little Engine, Thomas And Victoria And Thomas And His Friends (Which They Would Been Real)
I personally don’t count Ringo Starr, as he only narrated TV Series versions of The Stories for Audiobooks. (No offence). But if I was to rank them in order mine would be. 7. Johnny Morris. 6. Sir John Guildgood. 5. Michael Angelis. 4. Ben Forster. 3. The Rev W Awdry. 2. Ted Robbins. 1. Willie Rushton.
I personally cant stand Johnny Morris. The constant noises he made are pretty annoying, and the voices weren't that better, especially with Henry still sounding sick, even after he gets better with the welsh coal and especially when he got rebuilt. Willie Rushton is without a doubt the best.
If you cut out all of the noises Morris made in his narrations, they actually aren't that bad. The only other problem I have is that he sometimes repeated certain lines a few more times than necessary, and it gets a little annoying. I also didn't like his narrations when I first heard them back in the day, but I've warmed up to them quite a bit now.
What if Julie Andrews, Freddie Prinze Jr. And Ricky Berwick Narrated Thomas & Friends And The Railway Series And Julie Andrews Would Been Narrated Thomas & Friends And Freddie Prinze Jr. And Ricky Berwick Would Been Narrated USA Dub Of Thomas & Friends
No one really. I know that’s probably unhelpful to say, but I honestly don’t think there is a worst railway series narrator. Even though I ragged on Ted a bit, like I said in the video, he wasn’t terrible
It only took me a while to realise this, & by the time I did realise, the video was already done. But this isn’t ALL the railway series narrators; in fact there’s just one I missed & that’s Alison Draper. Now, although she didn’t read any of the books in there entirety, she DID read snippets of the railway series for Brian Sibley’s ‘The Thomas The Tank Engine Man’ audiobook which can be found on his SoundCloud. from the 6 clips we are given it’s enough to see, or rather hear, what Alison is like as a storyteller, even if it isn’t on full display. & honestly, I really enjoy her! She has a nice motherly, storybook voice filled with warmth & excitement; like a female Perkins, in that sense. It would be pointless to do a follow up video ranking all the narrators again with fresh eyes, as my views on everyone haven’t changed. Regardless, I’d place her just above Wilbert with an 8.5/10. A really lovely fit to the series, even if it was in short bursts.
Another honerable mention goes to Tim Dunn. The man sounds extremely overjoyed reading the stories he did & this energy certainly pays off. With bubbly character voices & joyful line deliveries, Tim a fantastic storyteller & would definitely be in my top 5
@@ScrapyardStudios You forgot Mark Moraghan
TSL doesn’t count
@@ScrapyardStudios What does TSL MEAN?
Thomas Story Library. & I know he read Missing Coach, but it wasn’t the railway series story. It was altered for TSL
1:18-1:26
I don’t care what people say about Chris’s books. I will forever love all of The Railway Series books
For anyone who likes (my favorite narrator) Willie Rushton's voice, I also highly recommend the Trap Door. It's an old tv show entirely on RUclips and he voices just about every character in the show. It's an absolute treat to watch and listen to.
"Oh globbits" 😬
My father grew up listening to the Vinyl records of Johnny Morris when he was a child, and he absolutely loved them
I can imagine
What was his thoughts on the show when it first came out? Seeing as he grew up with just the Railway Series
Great video as always I’m honestly surprised more people haven’t talked about this. My personal favourite narrator would have to be Johnny Morris. I’d love to see more ranking videos in the future
I’m so glad Rushton is on Uberduck, his narration is amazing and now I can make him narrate my own stories using it
Me who didn’t know there were more than 3 narrators: A surprise to be sure, but a welcome
For me personally: wilily Ruston is my Favorite, He did a perfect job, his voices fit perfectly, always hated jonnys voice for Henry, it’s to groggy, but still a good video!
You raise a good point. The way I see it for Henry’s voice is that for Henry l, Johnny’s voice fits as he’s always ill & for Henry ll, Rushton’s voice fits as he no longer has steaming troubles.
@@ScrapyardStudios Same here!
Why did you have to do my boy Ted Robbins dirty like that? I really like his narrations, his voice literally fits the stories perfectly and I feel like they really should have brought him onto the TV series after Ringo left. Ol' Teddy was really given the shaft in my opinion, he didn't even get to finish narrating all of the Christopher Awdry books!
This is the first time I've seen one user rank the RWS narrators since most narrator rankings usually focus on the TVS narrators.
Here's my ranking:
1. Willie Rushton (Needn't I have to go further in depth, he is my go-forth narrator!).
2. John Gielgud (He may've sounded a little too fast, but still amazing and at least he stayed consistent with the narration and I like his theatrical tone to them).
3. Ben Forster (His time as narrator may've been short, but still enthusiastic).
4. Wilbert Awdry (Wish he could've narrated more aside from the first two stories he'd written).
5. Ted Robbins (I agree about him being average. Not as good as narrator, but not as bad).
6. Michael Angelis (while he does have charisma, but is very bland).
7. Johnny Morris (yeah I know, but he's my least favorite of the bunch in my opinion mostly b/c while he is okay, but he can be too whiny and repetitive at times, and not to mention his sound effects drag the narration and story here. And in terms of character voices, while he has a few good gems for some like Gordon, Percy, TFC, Henry, Toby, Trevor, Duck, Sir Handel, the coaches and trucks, but for his Thomas voice, I cringe in some stories he narrated. Much prefer John Gielgud).
And also, since the RWS is getting another audiobook release coming soon with Bruce Alexander as the new storyteller, what are your first thoughts of it?
ThomasFan261 brought this on with his video on what you just said (this isn’t an attack on him btw). He said in the video “railway series narrators like Johnny Morris don’t count.” Knowing he wasn’t gonna rank such, I said fuck it & played ball. I’m surprised I’m the first tbh because, honestly, the railway series needs more recognition & I’m more than overjoyed to see what Luke, Tim, Dan & everyone at the Talyllyn are doing. Yes, we love the lore. Yes, we love the artstyle. But I sometimes feel like 90 percent of the fandom just look at the books as ‘that series of books that the show is based on’. Despite the consistency both historically & in technicality. & it’s what started it all. Without the railway series, there’d be no TV series.
Went on a tangent there lol. Anyway, as for Bruce, we haven’t heard him yet, so I can’t say what he’s like. One thing to bring up however, I’m hoping that it’s just him reading the stories & not the AEG voice actors doing the dialogue. Doubt that’s the case, but you never know with Mattel these days.
The Narrators Of Thomas & Friends
Railway Series Narrators
1. Rev W Awdry (Three Railway Engines)
2. Johnny Morris (First Eleven Books)
3. Willie Rushton (Books 9 - 26)
4. Ted Robbins (Books 27 - 38)
5. Andrew Sachs (Minibooks 7 & 8)
6. John Gielgud (First Twelve Books)
7. Ronald Haddrick (Minibooks 1 - 6)
8. Michael Angelis (Railway Stories CDs By BBC Audio)
9. Ben Forster (Mr Perkins Segments)
10. Mark Moraghan (Mr Evans Segments: Thomas & The Guard)
11. Kevin Jonas (US: Thomas The Tank Engine)
12. Bruce Alexander (Books 1 - 26)
13. Bobby McLoughlin (42 Books, Railway Stories, 9 Minibooks)
Television Series
1. Ringo Starr = Series 1 / 2 (UK: 1984/6, US: 1989/90)
2. George Carlin = Series 1 - 4 (US: 1991 - 6)
3. Michael Angelis = Series 1 - 16 (UK: 1991 - 2012 w/ S3 - S16)
4. Alec Baldwin = Series 5 / 6 (US: 1998 - 2003)
5. Michael Brandon = Series 6 - 16 (US: 2003 - 12)
6. Pierce Brosnan = Series 12 (2008), 13, 14 & 15
7. Mark Moraghan = Series 17 - 21 (UK: 2012 - 8), US: S13 - S21
8. Bobby McLoughlin = Series 1 - 20 (2025 - 2058)
9. Brendan McVeigh = Series 21 - 40 (2058 - 2078)
Narratresses
Julia Lang (BBC Adaptations Of The RWS)
Gwyneth Paltrow (The Great Discovery)
Willie rushton has to be my favourite he did a show my mum watched actually called trapped door
I know & he was great in that too!
At 7:38 Johnny sounds like donald abit 😂
Duh. He’s a duck
rip Michael
Would Ringo Starr really count as a RWS narrator? Those narrations from him were from Ladybird books, weren't they?
Well yes but I counted him because there’s the added dialogue FROM the railway series in there
@@ScrapyardStudiosfair enough...
Another Narrator not mentioned was Bruce Alexander who did the first 8 book, have you heard of him?
His recordings weren’t released when I made this video
Here's My Ranking Of The Railway Series Narrators:
1. Wilbert Awdry
2. Michael Angelis
3. Mark Moraghan
4. Ted Robbins
5. Sir John Gieguld
6. Willie Rushton
7. Johnny Morris
8. Andrew Sachs
9. Ron Haddrick
10. Ben Forster
11. Kevin Jonas
12. Bruce Alexander
My favorite is easily Willie Rushton. I base some of my voices (fully or partially) on his for Henry, Duck, Donald, Douglas and Skarloey.
I wonder which audio did the railway series theme came from.
It was Ted Robbins’ recordings
I like Willie Rushton,Ted Robbins,Wilbert Awdry,Michael Angelus and Ringo Starr
What did you think of Nigel Pilkington as the Railway Series narrator? Yes, the same guy who voiced Percy for the UK dubs for Seasons 19-24 is the narrator of the books.
I'll give my opinions about who my best narrator voices are, both from the book stories and for the TV show.
I have to admit on Johnny Morris being a great narrator in the books. Although the way he repeatedly made the characters' dialect and the sound effects he made for 'em is quite annoying. But overall, his narration wasn't bad, considering he was a children's entertainer.
Willie Rushton on the other hand was spot on fantastic. His storytellin' narration in the books felt like he narrowed it down to a earnest delivery point. It also felt like it made me wanna eat something.
It's a home stretch between the two men, but Willie definitely earned my opinion of best narrator voice choice, with Johnny a tight close second.
I also wanna give that Ted Robbins guy some creds for his storytellin' narration as well. It sounded like I wanted to take a fresh, simple drink of water. Although he did sounded a lil' boring but in a interesting way.
As for the TV show narrators, there is one narrator that would give it his all, being George Carlin, and then there's one that almost gave it his all, hence Michael Brandon, for the American dub - most considerably because they can make the characters have different voices impressions. I have watched _Thomas & Friends_ since childhood, and I gotta say, through all my years of watching the show there a number of narrators that were outstanding.
Ringo Starr was a chill narrator for the British dub (on the contrary, he's not a best narrator in my opinion).
Michael Angelis wasn't bad, especially since he held the record of being the longest-running narrator for the show, but he couldn't really make different voices for the characters like Ringo neither. But he wasn't too much bad.
Alec Baldwin was also pretty alright for the American dub. Some of his voice impressions for the characters are funny but when it comes to doing a voice for a specific character with an accent, he couldn't give that accent for that character to sound right, depending on who the character was.
George and Michael B. are a photo-finish tie when it came to narrating. Although the overusage of Michael B.'s narrating in that _Hero of the Rails_ movie was too gotdamn much to bare hearing. Like, dude, STFU! After that, ol' Mike seemingly wasn't much of a alright narrator to me the way I thought he was, especially when it came to him doing wrong voice impersonations for certain characters that were supposed to sound what they're portrayed as from the Railway Series, etc. (**cough** Toby, Skarloey, etc.)
And he also forgot the person that narrated on the radio which I'm actually kinda disappointed
I aggre with your list lad
I’ve heard a few people say that Ted Robbins would be a good narrator for the tv series. Idk about that but I he might be a good voice actor for one of the characters.
0:12
I think Julia Lang narrated the 1953 pilot.
Which is lost to time
@@ScrapyardStudios
I know
Although I like most of the narrators I think Wilbert Awdry is the definitive narrator of the series.
What if Ron Perlman, Don Cheadle, Tim Daly, Frances McDormand, Diane Kruger And F. Murray Abraham Narrated The Railway Series And Audiobooks Version Of The Railway Series Books Would Been Released On United States Of America And Having Famous Actors
And Then Ted Robbins Would Been Narrated Audiobooks Version Of Thomas And The Fat Controller's Engines, New Little Engine, Thomas And Victoria And Thomas And His Friends (Which They Would Been Real)
2:59
I thought you were only going to talk about The Railway Series narrators
I did. Ringo’s recordings has him reading dialogue from the railway series
@@ScrapyardStudios
Oh
For me, Angelis, Ringo, Wilbert, Rushton & Robbins are my favourites. Morris is just annoying.
I personally don’t count Ringo Starr, as he only narrated TV Series versions of The Stories for Audiobooks. (No offence).
But if I was to rank them in order mine would be.
7. Johnny Morris.
6. Sir John Guildgood.
5. Michael Angelis.
4. Ben Forster.
3. The Rev W Awdry.
2. Ted Robbins.
1. Willie Rushton.
How would that offend me lol?
I only counted him because he reads lines from the books, so fair enough
@@ScrapyardStudios Force of Habit I guess. I just do that whenever I am voicing a different opinion.
I personally cant stand Johnny Morris. The constant noises he made are pretty annoying, and the voices weren't that better, especially with Henry still sounding sick, even after he gets better with the welsh coal and especially when he got rebuilt. Willie Rushton is without a doubt the best.
If you cut out all of the noises Morris made in his narrations, they actually aren't that bad. The only other problem I have is that he sometimes repeated certain lines a few more times than necessary, and it gets a little annoying. I also didn't like his narrations when I first heard them back in the day, but I've warmed up to them quite a bit now.
What if Julie Andrews, Freddie Prinze Jr. And Ricky Berwick Narrated Thomas & Friends And The Railway Series And Julie Andrews Would Been Narrated Thomas & Friends And Freddie Prinze Jr. And Ricky Berwick Would Been Narrated USA Dub Of Thomas & Friends
Because Ricky Berwick Was Making So Many Videos Of Thomas & Friends
CAN YOU DO THOMAS DVD FACT
How can you say Ted Robbins was the worst? He's my favorite!
Oh don’t take it like that. He’s probably my least favourite but that doesn’t make him the worst by any means
@@ScrapyardStudios Oh Okay. I wasn't angry. I was just suprised!
Yeah I know you wasn’t, but I couldn’t help feel bad all the same lol
@@ScrapyardStudios But, who is the worst?
No one really. I know that’s probably unhelpful to say, but I honestly don’t think there is a worst railway series narrator. Even though I ragged on Ted a bit, like I said in the video, he wasn’t terrible
I cannot stand Johnny Morris and that damn steam noise. so obnoxious. LOVE WILLIE RUSHTON
Where’s George Carlin??
This is on railway series narrators, pal
@@ScrapyardStudios same he didn't read any of the rws books