Thomas The Tank Engine: The Classic Library

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Toby and the Skateboarders – A boy has a near miss when he falls off the station platform while skateboarding near Toby. In the United States, this book was published with the title Thomas and the Naughty Diesel. A later version with illustrations similar to the My-First models was released under the title Thomas and Diesel. The first edition of The Three Railway Engines was illustrated by the artist William Middleton, with whom Awdry was deeply dissatisfied. The second artist to work on the series was Reginald Payne, who illustrated Thomas the Tank Engine in a far more realistic style. Despite an early disagreement as to how Thomas should look, Awdry was ultimately pleased with the pictures produced. Gordon's Express is given a name in this book. It is called "the Wild Nor' Wester", an allusion to the fact that the Fat Controller's railway was properly known as the North Western Railway at this time. This was the first time that the name of the railway had been used in the books, and it reappears later in the form of the initials "NW" on the Spiteful Brake Van. Although no new regular characters appear in this book, it features the only appearance of engines from The Other Railway, namely: Jinty, Pug and the Foreign Engine.

Tribute: First-glass locomotive". 29 August 2003. Archived from the original on 10 January 2019 . Retrieved 31 October 2022. The Real Stories Database – book 23, story 2". (Real life events that inspired the Rev W Awdry). The Real Lives of Thomas the Tank Engine. Archived from the original on 14 December 2017 . Retrieved 22 October 2010. The first book, The Three Railway Engines, was published in 1945. Awdry wrote 26 books in The Railway Series, the last in 1972. Christopher subsequently added further books to the series.The book was originally to be titled The Fat Controller's Engines, but the publishers insisted on a Thomas link in the title. From the 1980s onwards, the Awdrys permitted the Talyllyn Railway to repaint one of their engines in the guise of its Skarloey Railway "twin". The first engine to receive this treatment was No. 3, Sir Haydn, repainted to resemble the character Sir Handel. The second was No. 4, Edward Thomas, which became Peter Sam. In 2006 No. 6, Douglas ran in the guise of Duncan. As well as paint schemes and names taken from the books' artwork, these locomotives are fitted with fibreglass "faces". These characters' appearances have been written into The Railway Series by Christopher Awdry in the form of visits by the fictional engines to the Talyllyn Railway. Thomas was described in the opening to "Thomas and Gordon", the first story in book number two, Thomas the Tank Engine, as: [11]

Successive books would introduce such popular characters as Annie and Clarabel, Percy the Small Engine and Toby the Tram Engine. a b c d e f g h i j k l m Sibley, Brian (1995). The Thomas the Tank Engine Man. London: Heinemann. ISBN 0-434-96909-5. Emneth hosts 100th birthday celebration for Thomas the Tank Engine author". edp24.co.uk. 14 June 2011 . Retrieved 9 January 2019. In The Adventure Begins which is a retelling of Thomas's early days on Sodor, he is a bluish-green colour when he first arrives on Sodor, his tanks are lettered "LBSC" (for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway) with the number 70 on his bunker. The 70 is a reference to 2015 being the 70th anniversary for The Railway Series, while the LB&SCR E2 class were actually numbered from 100–109. The real life LBSC no. 70 is an A1 class. Toby's Seaside Holiday' is set in and around Great Yarmouth on the London & North Eastern Railway. As well as Toby himself, this story features an appearance by one of his brothers and two other engines from the old Great Eastern Railway.This book features a number of cameo appearances by Neil, an engine from the Sodor & Mainland Railway. From Hero of the Rails until Series 18, Thomas was voiced by Martin Sherman (US) and Ben Small (UK). [13] From 2015-2021, Thomas was voiced by John Hasler in the UK, and by Joseph May in the US. Both ended their roles after the 24th series was produced. The role was taken by child actors in Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go. Meesha Contreras voices Thomas in the US [1] and Aaron Barashi voices him in the UK. David Kolsmith later took over from Contreras before getting replaced himself by Kai Harris for the third season. Gordon Goes Foreign" was originally going to be adapted for television, but it was cancelled due to the budget being too high.

This was the last volume to be illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby. Awdry did not like the way Dalby portrayed Percy, saying that he made the engine look like "a green caterpillar with red stripes". Outraged, Dalby resigned from the Railway Series after this book. Brian Sibley notes that, despite the friction between author and illustrator, Dalby's work in this volume can be ranked among his best. [1] This was the first book to include a foreword, a feature that would appear in every subsequent book in the Series. In Toby's Megatrain, Toby has two faces. It is unknown if this depiction is intentional or by mistake. Thomas & Friends (originally known as Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends and later Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!) is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on The Railway Series books by Rev. W. Awdry and his son Christopher, the series was developed for television by Britt Allcroft. The series follows the adventures of Thomas, an anthropomorphised blue steam locomotive on the fictional North Western Railway on the Island of Sodor, and many other anthropomorphised locomotives on the North Western Railway, including Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, and Toby. They work for Sir Topham Hatt, primarily known as the " Fat Controller". This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. ( January 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)

There are several references to guest characters from previous volumes. City of Truro and Flying Scotsman are both mentioned twice. Awdry, Rev. W.; Awdry, George (1987). The Island of Sodor. Its People, History and Railways. London: Kaye and Ward. p.129. ISBN 0-434-92762-7.

Thomas the Tank Engine speaks for the first time". Metro. 24 September 2009. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012 . Retrieved 31 May 2010. The story "Triple Header" was the first to be written, and was based upon an incident related to Christopher Awdry at the Nene Valley Railway. The real engine involved was a blue 0-6-0 tank engine called Thomas, which was named by Wilbert Awdry and is now permanently disguised as its Railway Series namesake. This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. ( April 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) For the first time ever in the series, the electric engines that work the Peel Godred branch are mentioned in the text. How Thomas the Tank Engine ended up in Ant-Man". Digital Spy. 27 July 2015 . Retrieved 27 December 2022.

Wilbert Vere Awdry OBE (15 June 1911 – 21 March 1997), often credited as Rev. W. Awdry, was an English Anglican minister, railway enthusiast, and children's author. He is best remembered as the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine and several other characters who appeared in his Railway Series.