The Clickity Clack Podcast | Episode 1 | A Conversation with Christopher Noulton

#thomasandfriends

On the afternoon of December 6th, I've had the absolute honor of sitting down for a 30 minute interview with former Thomas the Tank Engine and Clearwater Features model maker, Christopher Noulton, who has recently become an artist based in South London.

As a child, Noulton grew up with many of the Gerry Anderson shows like Thunderbirds, Space: 1999 and Captain Scarlet. By the late 1970's he had become a colleague and friend of former Thunderbirds Pyrotechnic, David Mitton with his Battersea based company, Clearwater Features, which was sadly defunct in late 1990. During his time there, he would often help model and produce many of the company's most well-known commercials produced for British Television (KP Nuts, Smith's Crisps, Ever Ready Batteries, Lego, Prize Guys Yoghurt).

In early 1983, he and along with some other Clearwater crew members were given the task on producing a little pilot on what would become one of Britain's most iconic shows in Children's Television that would become a global icon around the world based on a series of Railway Books written by an Anglican Clergyman.

Noulton helped model some of the figures and buildings as seen in the pilot titled, "Down the Mine", and helped refurbished Martin Gill's model of Gordon the Big Engine.

When it was completed and presented to ITV investors in May 1983, the rest was history!

During pre-production and the modeling process on Series 1 of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends began in late 1983, Christopher helped with creating and modeling some of the show's most recognizable figures, buildings, faces, including The Viaduct!

By the time Noulton stepped down during production on Series 2 between 1985 and 1986, he had only refurbished most of the engines to get them prepared for filming.

As of 2025, Christopher has made a career in art and painting, and on his website, he often posts and promotes many of his most beautiful paintings that I highly recommend you check out.

In this interview, I discuss with Noulton on his introduction to television, his work at Clearwater, working on the Down the Mine Pilot, his involvement on Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, and many more!

Process on getting prepared took a few weeks, and in the end, I had a wonderful time speaking with him!

I really hope you enjoy this, as I hope to interview more in future who worked on the show! Thank you so much Christopher for the opportunity of speaking with you!

Christopher's Website: https://www.christophernoulton.co.uk

Music by: S.A Music