The Rev. Wilbert Awdry Thomas -- that famous little blue tank engine -- hits retirement age this year, but the plucky, imaginary locomotive shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Thomas was created by Rev Wilbert Awdry when his son Christopher was suffering from measles and asked him for stories. 2. In Christmas that same year, Awdry made a toy tank engine called Thomas ...

The beloved blue locomotive was first imagined in the 1940s — he starred in stories Rev. Wilbert Awdry told his son. ... James and Percy, all chuffing along on the imaginary island of Sodor.

Wilbert Awdry was inspired by hearing the sounds of trains whilst laying in bed as a young boy. ... Reverend Wilbert Awdry with the model railway set he used to help plan his stories.

It's just as well the Rev. Wilbert Awdry's name is nowhere to be found on the credits of "Thomas and the Magic Railroad," as the author of the '40s British kidtomes from which this is a feature ...

On December 25 1942 a two-year-old boy named Christopher received a model steam locomotive for Christmas. Handmade by his father, the Rev Wilbert Awdry, the blue-painted train incorporated a sawn ...

So, the Rev. Awdry wrote them down. One Christmas, the Rev. Awdry made a model of the engines named Thomas and Edward. In 1945, the Rev. Awrdy’s wife urged him to write a book.

Mr Awdry’s daughter, Hilary Fortnam, told the Daily Telegraph she was “dismayed” by the story. In a letter to the paper, she said: “It is not what my father, the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, wrote.

The TV producer was behind bringing the beloved children's series to life in the 1970s after securing the rights to adapt Reverend Wilbert Awdry’s Railway Series. In 1984, the series aired as ...

First published in 1945, Wilbert and Christopher Awdry's The Railway Series books have been popular in Japan ever since first appearing on these shores in 1973, with a life-sized Thomas train even ...

The daughter of Thomas the Tank Engine author the Reverend Wilbert Awdry has criticised "political correctness against Christian belief" after reports that... Wednesday, 4 June 2025 Newsletters ...