Egged on by a crowd of feast revellers, the ever-smiling Thomas the Tank Engine inched forward through a puff of smoke, successfully establishing a new national record at the Tarxien feast.

At 8.53 metres long, it is officially Malta’s largest mechanised train propelled by fireworks, covering a distance of 32.9 metres.

Children looked on excitedly as they watched their favourite fictional character aglow as part of the pyrotechnic display during the feast of Our Lady of Holy Doctrine on Sunday.

Almost more excited than the children were the members of the Għaqda Soċjali Madonna tad-Duttrina, who jumped and shrieked in delight as they watched their creation come to life.

The model train propelled by fireworks delighted the audience at Tarxien’s feast. Right: A representative from The Malta Records hands the team their certificate. Photo: Marco Aquilina

Members from the group’s pyrotechnic section spent the past six months painstakingly constructing the train out of recycled material.

Member Roland Agius explained to Times of Malta that the idea was born a month after last year’s feast.

“In 1991 we had constructed a train, and we thought it was a good idea to have one as part of this year’s programme. A team of four members from the pyrotechnic section, aided by other members, worked on Thomas day in, day out, including weekends.”

The group also got in touch with The Malta Records, who supervised the process and handed the ecstatic team their national record on Sunday.

Thomas was made from wood, thin sheets of metal and fibreglass and was bedecked with 304 little bulbs and 214 pyrotechnic gases.

The train’s carriages were installed with a mechanism enabling an electric current to be passed through a main, ensuring fireworks in all four carriages ignited simultaneously and pushed it forward.

The 42.7 metre railway was made of metal and parquet.“Quite classy, aren’t we, using parquet for our railway?” Mr Agius laughed.

The train spent the past few days as a stationary attraction in Palm Street, where children gathered to snap a picture alongside it and ring the little bell at the train’s front.

“Thomas proved to be such a hit that we’ll definitely bring him out next year.”