Games - The Railway Series

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	Games - The Railway Series

The Railway Series is a set of story books about a fictional railway system located on the fictional Island of Sodor and the engines that lived on it. There were forty books in the series, published between 1945 and 1996. Twenty six were written by Rev. W. Awdry, up to 1972. From 1983 a further fourteen were written by his son, Christopher Awdry. Fourteen of the books remain in print.

Early history

The stories began in 1942. When Christopher Awdry had measles, his father would tell him stories and rhymes. One of Christopher's favourite rhymes was,

Early in the morning,

Down at the station,

All the little engines

Standing in a row.

Along comes the driver,

Pulls a little lever

Puff puff, chuff chuff,

Off we go!

The precise origins of this rhyme are unknown. Wilbert Awdry's answers to Christopher's questions about the rhyme led to the creation of a short story, 'Edward's Day Out'. This told the story of Edward the Blue Engine, an old engine who is allowed out of the shed for a day. Another story about Edward followed, which this time also featured a character called Gordon the Big Engine, named after a rather bossy child who lived on the same road as Christopher.

A third story, 'The Sad Story of Henry', had its origins in a limerick:

Once an engine attached to a train

Was afraid of a few drops of rain.

It went into a tunnel

And squeaked through its funnel

And never came out again.

As with the previous rhyme, the origins of this are unknown, but research by Brian Sibley suggests that it originated at some point prior to the First World War. This story introduced the popular characters Henry the Green Engine and the Fat Director. Encouraged by Margaret, his wife, Wilbert submitted the three stories to Edmund Ward for publication in 1943. The head of the children's books division requested a fourth story which would bring the three engines together and redeem Henry (who had been bricked up in a tunnel in the previous story). Although Wilbert had originally not even intended for the three engines to live on the same railway, he complied with the request in the story 'Edward, Gordon and Henry'. The four stories were published in 1945 as a single volume, 'The Three Railway Engines', illustrated by William Middleton.

Christmas 1942 had seen the genesis of the character who would grow to become the most famous locomotive in the world. Wilbert constructed a toy tank engine for Christopher, which gained the name Thomas. Stories about Thomas were requested by Christopher, and 1946 saw the publication of 'Thomas the Tank Engine'. This was illustrated by Reginald Payne, whom Wilbert felt to be a great improvement over Middleton. Like its predecessor, this book was a success and Wilbert was asked to write stories about James, a new character who had first appeared in 'Thomas and the Breakdown Train', the final story in 'Thomas the Tank Engine'. The book 'James the Red Engine' appeared in 1948, the year in which all the railways in Britain were nationalised, and from this point onwards the Fat Director was known by his familiar title of the Fat Controller.

'James the Red Engine' was also notable as the first book to be illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby, perhaps the most famous of the Railway Series artists, and certainly the most controversial. Dalby would illustrate every volume up to 'Percy the Small Engine' (1956), and would also produce new illustrations for 'The Three Railway Engines' and make changes to those of 'Thomas the Tank Engine'.

Successive books would introduce such popular characters as Annie and Clarabel, Percy the Small Engine and Toby the Tram Engine.

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