Thomas the
Tank Engine was created by Reverend Wilbert Awdry and first published in
1945. The Reverend was born in 1911 in Hampshire (Great Britain). Both
he and his younger brother George inherited their father’s love of
railways. In fact, young Wilbert’s childhood home was so close to the
main Great Western Railway line, that Wilbert would fall asleep
listening to the engines making their way up a hill to a nearby tunnel.
Wilbert was ordained in 1936 and married Margaret Wale, a teacher he had
met in Palestine. In 1940 they had a son and named him Christopher Awdry.
At the age of two years, Christopher was plagued by the measles and had
to be isolated. It was during this illness that Reverend Awdry gave his
son a small, simple, wooden model train, later christened Thomas. To
entertain Christopher as he recovered, the Reverend made up stories
about Thomas the Engine. Reverend Awdry wrote the first stories on
available scraps of paper. He also drew simple pictures of steam
locomotives to illustrate the stories. Early drawings show a row of
locomotives standing in an engine shed with a human face and expression
on each locomotive’s smokebox door. These original drawings capture
the essence of the Thomas the Tank’s look today.
Mrs. Awdry believed that the Reverend’s stories had merit and urged
her husband to “do something about them”. A small publisher, Edmund
Ward, printed his first book, “The Three Railway Engines” in 1945.
“Thomas the Tank Engine” was actually the title of the second book
which was published the following year in 1946. Although Thomas the Tank
Engine is the most famous engine, many of the books that followed were
about Thomas the Tank’s friends, who also happen to be railway
engines. The illustrator for the first dozen publications was C.
Reginald Dalby, who incorporated the look from the Reverend’s sketches
and by looking at real steam engines in use in Britain at that time.
Thus an 0-6-0T Class E2 shunting engine guilt in the Victorian era for
the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway became the model for Thomas
the Tank Engine.
A new book title was published almost every year until 1972. After
twenty six books, Reverend Awdry stopped writing Thomas the Tank Engine
books. In 1983, his son, Christopher Awdry, began to write a group of
“Thomas” stories for the amusement of his three year old son,
Richard. Interestingly, Richard was about the same age Christopher was
when his father made up the original railway stories. Christopher’s
first book, “Really Useful Engines” was published in1983. From 1983
to 1996, Christopher wrote fourteen books, one a year.
In 1984, the Thomas the Tank Engine television series was made and a new
generation of children were introduced to Thomas the Tank Engine. In
1998, Reed Publishing sold the copyright of the Railway Series to Britt
Allcroft Ltd (now Gullane Entertainment), who already held the TV
rights. Unfortunately, there have been no new Thomas the Tank Engine
books published since 1996.
Interesting trivia about Thomas the Tank engine:
 | In
the early 80’s, Britt Allcroft, founder of Gullane Entertainment
persuaded ex-Beatle Ringo Starr to be the first storyteller on
Thomas the Tank & Friends’ first television series.
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| By
2001, over 25 million Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends books had
been sold in the U.S. and close to 80 million books had been sold
worldwide.
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| Thomas
the Tank Engine & Friends Wooden Railway System has been rated
one of the top selling specialty toys year after year. The system
includes hardwood train tracks, trains and accessories to re-create
the world of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.
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| Gullane
Entertainment has scheduled “Day Out with Thomas events” in
2001. Children in the U.S. and U.K. can ride a train pulled by a
Thomas the Tank engine and have their picture taken with Sir Topham
Hatt, the Controller of Thomas the Tanks' Railway. In addition, each
event includes a viewing station for Thomas the Tank & Friends
videos, Thomas the Tank story time, and a large selection of Thomas
the Tank & Friends merchandise.
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| Gullane
Entertainment is scheduled to launch “The Thomas Club”, a Thomas
the Tank engine fan club, in July 2001.
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| Yoplait
Yumsters Yoghurts is featuring a Thomas the Tank engine promotion in
2001. Thomas the Tank yogurts will be available at local grocery
stores.
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| Thomas
the Tank & Friends music cassette and CD are now available.
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| A
Thomas the Tank interactive CD Rom by Hasbro is now available in
stores.
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| A
full length Thomas the Tank motion picture titled, “Thomas and the
Magic Railroad”, starting Mara Wilson, Peter Fonda and Alec
Baldwin is now available on video.
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| Kids
can now read along with Alex Baldwin, as he narrates three tales of
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends in “The Cranky Day and Other
Thomas the Tank Engine Stories”, a read-along book and cassette.
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