Shining Time Station

Shining Time Station
The Shining Time Station title screen with UP 844
Created by	Britt Allcroft Rick Siggelkow
Based on	The Railway Series by The Rev. Wilbert Awdry
Directed by	Matthew Diamond Gregory Lehane Stan Swan Wayne Moss John Ferraro Steve Wright Frank Vitale
Starring	Ringo Starr Didi Conn Leonard Jackson Nicole Leach Brian O'Connor Jason Woliner George Carlin Erica Luttrell Ari Magder Danielle Marcot Jonathan Freeman
Theme music composer	Joe Raposo
Opening theme	"Shining Time Station Theme" sung by Kevin Roth
Composers	Joe Raposo Paul Derrick Mason (season 1) Stephen Horelick Stacey Hersh (seasons 2–3 and specials)
Country of origin	United States Canada (seasons 2 & 3)
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	65 + 5 1 hour specials
Production
Executive producers	Donald Johnson (1989) Angus Wright (1989) Britt Allcroft (1991–1995) Rick Siggelkow (1991–1995) Jerry Hamza (1995)
Producers	Britt Allcroft (1989–1990) Rick Siggelkow (1989–1990) Nancy Chapelle (1991–1995) Jim Corston (1995)
Running time	28 minutes 60 minutes (1990 & 1995 specials)
Production companies	Quality Family Entertainment WNET-TV Catalyst Entertainment (seasons 2 & 3) YTV Canada (seasons 2 & 3)
Original release
Network	PBS (USA) YTV (Canada; seasons 2 & 3)
Release	January 29, 1989 (1989-01-29) – June 11, 1993 (regular series) 28 February 1995 (1995-02-28) – 20 November 1995 (1995-11-20) (1995 specials)
Related
Thomas & Friends Noddy
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Shining Time Station is a children's television series jointly created by British television producer Britt Allcroft and American television producer Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by Quality Family Entertainment (the American branch of The Britt Allcroft Company), in association with Catalyst Entertainment in seasons 2 and 3, for New York City's PBS station WNET, and was originally taped in New York City during its first season and in Toronto during the rest of its run. It incorporated sequences from the British television show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, which was in turn based on the books of The Railway Series written by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry. The series aired on PBS 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.^[1][2] Shining Time Station reruns aired on Fox Family from 1998 to 1999, and on Nick Jr. from June to August 2000 to promote the theatrical release of Thomas and the Magic Railroad. The series also aired on Canadian television networks such as APTN and SCN. Elements from the show were incorporated into the 2000 film Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

The initial 1989 season featured a cast that included Ringo Starr as Mr. Conductor, Didi Conn as Stacy Jones, Brian O'Connor as Horace Schemer, Leonard Jackson as Harry Cupper, Jason Woliner as Matt Jones and Nicole Leach 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 replaced Starr as Mr. Conductor, while Erica 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.