Couple unpopular Thomas opinions.
1. I thought seasons 7 and 3 were the weakest seasons of the classic series. 7, because many of the characters were super ooc that season (looking at you, Rheneas). At least it had a good finale for the classic series. 3, because many of the episodes were adapted from stories that didn't even really need to be developed and as a result, some ruin continuity, others had to be stretched out. Not only that, but it really started to show some of Britt Allcroft's true colors. She never gave any credit to Andrew Brenner for some of the story adaptions she made into episodes. For years, it was assumed they were all original stories. You could also tell season 3 had a low budget because only 4 new characters were introduced (Mavis, Bulgy, Oliver and Toad) and the Flying Scottsman could only be made into tenders. It occured to me later on that Thomas was really only intended to have 2 seasons, cause when you think about it, they never brought the show back to attention until it was brought to America, and the only reason more episodes were made for a third season was to show more episodes for Shining Time Station.
2. I thought season 4 was overrated. Like 3, it also had issues of adapting stories that had no purpose of really being adapted (*cough* Bulls Eyes *cough*) and some ended up ruining continuity (another good example being Paint Pots and Queens). I liked the narrow gauge and Stepney stories, but then up until fish, it felt like all the episodes were just made to fill up the remainder of season 4. But anyway, I think this season gets too much praise and while I like the sets and lighting it had, I feel like it gets so much hype because of the narrow gauge stories.
3. I thought season 1, as much as a good season it was, had some slow pacing. But, given that they were adapting stories from the first 8 volumes where not a whole lot of action was going on, it's understansable.