Thomas and Friends

[GreatNortherner]

That's all well and good however the question is does it belong annoying me every time I start up my serious simulator with its childish theme? How about a picture of Bugs Bunny and Porky?

I don't know if this still works or if I'm even remembering it correctly, but if you disconnect from the internet before launching TSC, none of the advertisments should show up at all.

I get that it's not everybody's cup of tea, but I'm glad that there have been the occasional not-at-all-serious offerings like Trains vs. Zombies, Count of Monster Disco, etc. One of my own numerous "vaporware" projects was a Lunar colony route which I wanted to build in 1950s/60s Sci-Fi style. Alas, I quickly ran out of talent, ideas and utimately motivation.

Here in Czechia, we even have a real-world toy train. It's the Cyklohráček, a set of old DMUs and coaches converted to a playground on wheels which runs on weekends and holidays from Spring to Autumn. One car is full of toys, one full of games, one full of balloons... and one is for bicycle transport. It looks the part, too (images courtesy of Czech Railways):

[spartantrain32]

Apparently (thread on Dovetail Forum) one is able to use TSW content in Thomas and friends

because realistically that's all it is...but Thomas and Friends

[buzz456]

Anybody know how to get rid of the Thomas page without going off line every time I restart the sim?

[AmericanSteam]

If this old brain can remember correctly, you can customize the splash screen. Open Steam/Library/Train Simulator Classic/Properties/Customization and follow the instructions. You can use your own images. You will need to resize your images and I can'r remember if .pny or .jpj were used.
I also found this:
To change the splash/loading screen in Train Simulator Classic, replace the ui_splash_railsim.tga file located in the RailWorks\\data\\textures\\frontend folder with your new image, ensuring it is in .tga format and has the same name. You can also change the main menu background by replacing background.jpg in the same folder.
Steps to Change the Main Menu Background (Splash/Loading):

Locate Files: Navigate to ( or the drive where TSC is stored) C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common\\RailWorks\\data\\textures\\frontend.
Backup: Rename the original background.jpg to background_old.jpg.
Prepare Image: Create a new JPEG image (suggested 1920x1080 resolution).
Replace: Rename your new image to background.jpg and place it in the folder.