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Thomas the Tank Engine gained the hearts of many children since the Railway Series of books first came out back in 1945
which isn't surprising considering Thomas the Tank Engine books have sold about eighty million copies all around the globe. As a celebration of the series' 60th anniversary
here is some history about Thomas the Tank Engine.

Back in 1943
little Christopher Awdry
a three years-old son of an Anglican clergyman named Wilbert Awdry
was suffering from scarlet fever. Due to the nature of the disease he was forced to remain in isolation. As a way to keep him entertained
his father started telling him several stories about a group of trains living out adventures and having fun together
and thus
Thomas the Tank engine was born.

As is to be expected with any child
he demanded his father to tell him the stories over again and again
and of course corrected him each and every time an inconsistency took place. To "protect" himself from his son's corrections
Reverend Awdry started writing down the stories onto pieces of paper to remember every detail.

To add to the storytelling
the Reverend made small sketches and drawings of cute small steam locomotives on the paper
along with the train stories. He drew a set of steam locomotives in an engine shed and added a human face to each of them
thus showing a "human" expression for each one.

One night
while his father was telling him one of the stories
little Christopher noticed a sketch of a small train with a sad face on the paper from which the Reverend was reading. Naturally
he asked his dad why that little train was so unhappy
and inquired what his name was. The Reverend then said the first name that came to his mind: Edward. That was when the first tale came to life. Since then
about a hundred small moral Thomas the Tank Engine tales came out.

The Reverend's wife thought that those stories were good enough to be published
so they started looking for an editor. Soon
Mr. Edmund Ward (a retired businessman) showed his interest in those stories
and since then there has been a Thomas the Tank Engine book released almost every year.

Surprisingly
Thomas the Tank Engine himself did not appear in the Railway Series until the second book came out in 1946!

The books came with colorful designs that were attractive to children. With a size appropriate to fit a little kid's hand
the books contained three stories and the stories were written on the left page
while an illustration of a certain part of the narrated events was on the right page. The first illustrator for the first dozen of Thomas the Tank Engine books was a man named C. Reginald Dalby
who established the appearance of all the characters based on the Reverend Awdry's sketches and the aspect of real steam locomotives.

Many of the stories are based on real happenings and people. For instance
one of Reverend's Awdry colleagues was a steam collector and is known to have inspired the character of the Vicar who saves "Trevor the Traction Engine" from the scrap heap. Being the most famous train of all times
Thomas the Tank Engine continues bringing healthy entertainment and marvelous
timeless magic stories to children around the world.

Copyright ฉ Jared Winston
2006
All Rights Reserved.