This month’s Royal Mail’s special issue features the famous tank engine. We find out how he sprang from Reverend Awdry’s mind to physical reality

It all started as an attempt to keep a poorly child amused. As Christopher Awdry recounts: ‘In the autumn or 1942, I caught measles, and my father tried to enliven my bed-bound quarantine with a rhyme he remembered from his own childhood: “Early in the morning, down by the station. See the littlie engines all in a r0w’, Along comes the driver, pulls a little lever. Peep, peep, chuff’, chuff, off we go.” He drew me a picture to illustrate the verse, giving each engine a different facial expression, which prompted me to ask questions about the unhappy-looking engine: “what’s his name’” and “why is he sad?” Explanations were given – the sad – faced engine was called Edward. And so stories incorporating the many facets or the engines began to form, but because each time he told the stories the details would always be that little bit different, I began to criticise the changes. So, my father, perhaps in self-defence, decided to write down the three stories he had created, “That,” he may have thought, “might keep the boy quiet!’” 

Building the dream, But the Reverend didn’t leave it there. As well as writing 26 books in total – including drafts of illustrations for artists to work from – he built his own model version of the railways of Sodor. ‘Officially’ known as the Ffarquhar Branch, Thomas’s Branch Line runs from the fictional towns or Knapford to Ffarquhar via Elsbridge.

Wilbert Awdry made his first proper model of this line in 1955, for display at the 1956 Wisbech Trades Fair, and it was exhibited until 1965. The second version was begun in 1966, and was built in what he called ‘the railway room’ at his house in Stroud. After the Reverend’s death, it was restored by members of the North-Western Area Group or the TaIyllyn Railway Preservation Society and housed in the reconstructed Awdry Study in the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum at Wharf Station in Tywyn. The Reverend Awdry’s other model railway, the Mid-Sodor Railway, was until recently located at Cadeby Rectory, the home of the late Reverend Teddy Boston (who appeared as ‘The Fat Clergyman’ in the Railway Series), It is now in the care of Christopher.

From reality to fantasy Part of the reason for Thomas’s enduring appeal is the stories’ attention to detail. As Wilbert once said, ‘”Whatever happened to Thomas, Gordon, Henry and the others had to have actually happened and have a railway-like explanation which fitted.’ The Reverend was a train enthusiast and Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends are modelled on real trains.

Regarding the trains themselves, this is where the inspiration came from:

Thomas the Tank Engine (1st Class stamp) is a 0-6-0 tank locomotive, based on the LB&SCR E2 Class, built in 1913, He is painted blue with red lining and is number 1 in the North Western Railway fleet.

James the Red Engine (66p) is a mixed-traffic 2-6-0 tender engine, built in 1915. Painted red with gold stripes and dome, he is number 5 in the north Western Railway fleet.

Percy (68p) the Small Engine is a saddle tank engine of indeterminate origins, He is painted green with red stripes and is number 6 in the North Western Railway Reel.

Daisy (76p) is a unique diesel railcar, painted green with yellow lining, similar to the livery of British Railways DMUs (Diesel Multiple Units) in the 1960s. Daisy’s number is D1.

Toby (£1) the Tram Engine is a 0-6-0 steam tram engine of the type built in 1903. He is painted brown and blue and is number 7 in the fleet.

Gordon the Big Express Engine (£1.10) is a 4-6-2 tender engine, He is painted blue with red stripes and is number 4 in the NWR fleet.

Sadly, such interesting trains are rarely seen outside specialist museums these days. But Thomas continues to travel the world on his adventures with his friends – and now will grace envelopes all over the globe.

Source: Royal Mail

published June 21st, 2011