Prior to going into detail about Douglas, a little of our own "Thomas" history... As first time grandparents, my husband and I wanted to start some type of collection for our grandson that he could possibly pass along to his own kids one day. Our grandson was 2 1/2 at the time, and had been talking a lot about a certain train named Thomas (a little fella whom - now hard to believe! - we'd never heard of.) After doing some research, it seemed the Take-n-Play line might be the perfect investment to engage and encourage his active imagination, as well as provide a fun way for us to interact with him. What a rewarding decision... we've had SO much fun together with this quality line of trains, vehicles and playsets! As he approaches 4, a large portion of our basement has become a wonderful Sodor land of make believe that we all enjoy visiting - and continues to hold his interest, which is quite a feat given the tendency at that age to move in and out of toy phases so quickly!
Donald & Douglas are twin Scottish mixed traffic engines, painted in British Railways black with red and white lining, their names printed in gold on nameplates on both sides of their engines, and their number ("9" for Donald, "10" for Douglas) printed in yellow on both sides of their tenders; they each have a total of 12 black wheels - 6 on their engines and 6 on their tenders. They enjoy jokes, and are level-headed and practical. They first appeared in TV Season 2 (1986), Episode 16 ("Donald and Douglas"), and on Take-n-Play's 2011 Collector Checklist. Fisher-Price recently (March 2012) raised their MSRP from $8.00 to $9.00 each (well worth the $9.69 each I paid for my grandson's.)