Thomas The Tank Engine: The Railway Series

Thomas the Tank Engine is a small fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He is the titular character and became the most popular character in the series, and the accompanying television spin-off series, Thomas & Friends.

Thomas is a tank engine, painted blue with red lining, and displays the running number one. All of the locomotives in The Railway Series were based on prototypical engines; Thomas has origins in the E2 Class designed by Lawson Billinton in 1913. Thomas first appeared in 1946 in the second book in the series, Thomas the Tank Engine, and was the focus of the four short stories contained within.

In 1979, the British writer/producer Britt Allcroft came
A wooden push-along toy from the early 1940s, predating Learning Curve by many decades, is the original Thomas made by the Reverend Awdry out of a piece of broomstick for his son Christopher. However, the Reverend was happy to endorse Payne 's account that the locomotive was an LBSC E2, although the first Thomas on the Awdry 's model railway, from Stuart Reidpath, lacked extended tanks. In the 1979 Thomas Annual, Awdry wrote:

"I bought Thomas in 1948 when I was writing "Tank Engine Thomas Again", and wanted to start modelling once more after a lapse of some twenty years. Thomas was one of Stewart Reidpath 's standard models with a heavy, cast white metal body, and was fitted with his "Essar" chassis and motor. Stewart Reidpath is now dead, and his motors, let alone spare parts for them, have been unobtainable for years; but Thomas still keeps going! He is, as you might expect from his age, a temperamental old gentleman, and has to be driven very carefully indeed."

After Hornby produced the LBSC E2 tank in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Awdry gladly adapted one to take the role of Thomas on his layout, the Ffarquhar
Sodor: Reading between the Lines. Sodor Enterprises, Spalding. ISBN 0-9549665-1-1.

References

Jump up ^ Sibley, Brian (1995). The Thomas the Tank Engine Man. Heinemann. p. 291. ISBN 0-434-96909-5. Jump up ^ Awdry (2005), 4 ^ Jump up to: a b Awdry (2005), 29 Jump up ^ Awdry (2005), 1 Jump up ^ Awdry (2005), 5 Jump up ^ Great Green Room: Parents Guide to "Thomas the Tank Engine" Jump up ^ Awdry (2005), 5–6 Jump up ^ The Rev. W. Awdry (1946). Thomas the Tank Engine. Edmund Ward. p. 4. ISBN 0-434-92779-1. Jump up ^ Awdry (2005), 35 Jump up ^ "Thomas the Tank Engine speaks for the first time". Metro. 24 September 2009. Archived from the original on 13 January 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2010. Jump up ^ The IoS Happy List 2009 - the 100

External links
Portal icon United Kingdom portal Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Thomas the Tank Engine.

ThomasAndFriends.com – Official website Thomas the Tank Engine