Author: Stuart Butler

I was inspired by reading about Rev Awdry and the first two books in the Railway Series.  How he eventually wrote the stories after telling them to Christopher, especially when he had measles etc; Thomas really first appears in the second book.  Thomas to me, was/still is a great metaphor for how we have to bide our time for our chance to get in the team, get on the road/train/plane etc. To break free  and be what we long and want to be in  an Incredible String Band Gandhi  type way

It’s written to the rhythm of the train in ‘From A Railway Carriage’ by R.L Stevenson (1885) which my grandmother used to read to me and which follows the poem; I’m sure you know it well).

Crispin

Thomas The Tank Legend

Thomas the legend where do we start ?

drove his blue train into the heart

Thomas the engine never will fade

how did he get here where was he made ?

the person who made him lived in this place

gave us a hero a smile on his face

to Awdry and Christopher trains were alive

characters breathing burning with life

Wilbert loved trains so did his son

when he had measles stories were spun

first there were Edward, Henry and Gordon

crowds on the platforms waiting there for them

children all waved whenever they saw them

railway enthusiasts loved and adored them

three railway engines* chugging along

pulling those coaches singing their song

huffing and puffing their smoke to the sky

rivers and fields went thundering by

Thomas was diff’rent Thomas had plans

Thomas was dreaming of racing the land

Thomas just longed to get out there one day

stuck at the station they kept him at bay

but Thomas was cheeky and painted in blue

did what they told him the way engines do

finally one day the moment arrived

Thomas the Tank Engine burst into life .,…..

2.

… endless adventures out on the tracks

off in the morning and all the way back

short stumpy boiler short stumpy funnel

six little wheels steam though the tunnel

past all the stations the guards and the porters

past all the grown ups their sons and their daughters

past all the villages past all the towns

past all the passengers waiting around

on past the trees on a long winding track

past all the places until he was back

back to the station back to his home

back to the place and the life that he’d known

when we’re all little it’s new and it’s true

longing and yearning of what we can do

there on the platform ready to go

dreaming of going to where we don’t know

to Awdry and Christopher trains were alive

characters breathing burning with life

’cause Wilbert loved trains and so did his son

when he had measles stories were spun

tales of an engine who fought to be free

longing for something like you and like me

taking his chance with his face on the train

something about him you cannot explain

smiling with joy as he climbed up the hill

and that’s why the children all love him now still

c Crispin Thomas April 2025 (*Three Railways Engines: First Thomas The Tank Engine book).

From A Railway Carriage

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;

And charging along like troops in a battle,

All through the meadows the horses and cattle:

All of the sights of the hill and the plain

Fly as thick as the driving rain;

And ever again, in the wink of an eye,

Painted stations whistle on by.

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,

All by himself and gathering brambles;

Here is a boy who stands and gazes;

And there is the grass all covered in daisies

Here is a cart run away in the road

Lumping along with a man and his load;

And here is a mill and there is a river:

Each a glimpse and gone for ever!

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;

And charging along like troops in a battle,

All through the meadows the horses and cattle:

Robert Louis Stevenson

From A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885)

Rev W. Awdry 1911-97

(Jottings made from a reading of The Thomas the Tank Engine Man Brian Sibley

The Story of the Reverend W. Awdry and his Really Useful Engines 1995)

In the Beginning was the Word,

But there was also a tunnel at Box,

Where a young child christened Wilbert

Lay awake in his bedroom, dreaming

Of steam-coal railway conversations

Between sleek express and workaday tank engines.

Twenty-odd years later, in wartime,

Wilbert reprised this conceit

With stories to Christopher,

His measles-stricken son, in 1943;

Stories jotted down on odd bits of paper,

With a devoted father’s drawings too –

A format that Margaret thought worthy

Of seeking some sort of publication,

But relentless wartime austerity,

And a national shortage of paper,

Resulted in a series of rejections,

Until a new format was decided upon:

Four tales per book with the Reverend

Also providing draft illustrations

As a guide for the eventual artist:

“We should require eight illustrations, oblong in shape,

with appropriate text matter of about 80-90 words for each of the drawings.”

And so, Edward, Gordon and Henry were born:

The book sold well and then along came Thomas,

Not just in text and illustration,

But also at home in the Awdry household:

A bit of a broomstick and metal tube,

A paper-fastener, too, of course,

Finished off with some carpet pins and screws:

Lo and behold!

Thomas the Tank Engine!

Meanwhile, over in the real world,

The Railway Gazette proved invaluable –

Providing inspiration for further stories,

A branch line to Wilbert’s imagination;

But relationships with the artist,

Clarence Reginald Dalby

Finally hit the buffers in 1957,

On seen as a slightly fastidious pedant,

And one seen as slightly cavalier;

But Wilbert’s brother, George, was a God-send:

Fellow cartographer and historian

Of the mythopoeic Island of Sodor

(Sodor’s original provenance lay

In Wilbert’s mapping of the race between

Bertie the Bus and Thomas the Tank,

To show Christopher it was fair and square),

But what of devoted wife and mother, Margaret?

A busy life as a ‘railway widow …’

For Wilbert had his parish duties,

His time-consuming model railway,

His commitments to preserved railway lines,

His research for further railway stories,

And yet …

“If I hadn’t had the books to write, I should have gone crackers”

Although …

“I had no sooner finished the manuscript for one volume … than I had to start thinking about possible stories and looking for new characters for the next book. There was a gap in parish life, between the end of July and Harvest Festival, and it was then that I would start getting things down on paper.”

John Kenney took over as artist in 1957

(Dalby: “I was sorry to give up … but …my patience became exhausted”;

Awdry on Kenney: “We got on splendidly. He was as different from Dalby as chalk from cheese. He was interested in the work and used to go down to his station and draw railway engines from life.”)

And back in those still Imperial days

The books and associated merchandise –

Including an LP with the Rev’s voice –

‘Precise’ and ‘slightly singalong’ according to Sibley –

Made their way across five continents;

But, just like Steam, Empire was ending too,

And despite the famous City of Truro

Appearing in the illustrations,

With ‘The Thin Clergyman’ alongside,

So did Diesels …

“I keep thinking about the Dreadful State of the World, Sir. Is it true, Sir, what the diesels say?” “What do they say?” “They boast that they’ve abolished Steam, Sir.” “Yes, Gordon. It is true.” “What, Sir! All my Doncaster brothers, drawn the same time as me.” “All gone, except one.”

With this dystopian melancholy,

Was industry as much as imagination

Now driving the Reverend’s writing?

There was no Christopher now to test a tale upon,

But Margaret and a tape recorder helped,

But declining eyesight sadly meant

That Gallant Old Engine was Kenney’s swansong;

But the Reverend liked the new artist:

Peter Edward’s depictions of engines,

People and landscape were just the ticket,

As was an appearance on Desert Island Discs;

Choosing two records of steam trains and Johnny Morris

Recounting the Edward and Gordon story

Blew Roy Plumley’s mind in 1964.

1964 and 1965 were signal years:

First of all, retirement and then the decision

To move across the country to Stroud.

The Move to Rodborough Avenue

Stroud was ideal: on the railway line

To ageing parents in London and Worcester,

With a house big enough for a model railway;

So, with the gift of a front gate from Emneth,

A determination to clear the back garden

(“You couldn’t see out the back windows”),

The addition of LMS bridge plate number 30,

The renaming of the house as ‘Sodor’,

All meant that Rodborough Avenue became home,

And with joint involvement with Margaret

In the busy life of the local community,

And with a joint definition in text and picture

Of The Tin and The Fat Clergyman,

All was sweetness and light in Stroud …

But, alas, nothing lasts forever …

‘I felt I was getting rather stale … it was uphill work’ …

And in 1972 came the last of that wonderful series –

But we’ll now jump on a decade again,

To the era of Britt Allcroft’s drive and funding:

Here she is, speaking about a new medium:

“Television … could offer children and their grown-ups an experience that is similar to that which they have when they sit down to read a book together”,

And then, of course, along comes Ringo Starr

With that half-mythologised visit

To the Rev Awdry and Margaret in Rodborough Avenue:

Ringo and the Rev in Rodborough

https://radicalstroud.co.uk/ringo-and-the-rev-in-rodborough/

or at

https://sootallures.wixsite.com/topographersarms/post/ringo-and-the-rev-in-rodborough

But we jump on another decade:

What did Wilbert care for his entry in Who’s Who,

Grieving for Margaret who had died the year before,

‘I and our children are still in something of a daze at the suddenness of it’,

‘Margaret was a wonderful wife for a diffident author to have. It was entirely due to her, when The Three Railway Engines existed only in pencil on the back of old circular letters, that they ever got off the ground at all…’

Wilbert took flowers weekly to Margaret’s grave,

But Wilbert had to use a taxi,

But then fell and fractured a hip –

It was obviously a difficult time

Both for him and the wider family,

But he recovered to visit Didcot

For a ‘45^th Thomas Anniversary’

And then the National Railway Museum,

Where his work was acknowledged as having

‘Played an enormous part in arousing children’s interest in railways’;

1994 was a watershed year,

With Wilbert President of the Dean Forest Railway,

And an engine named after him as well,

Christopher writing Wilbert the Forest Engine,

Where Thomas the Tank Engine and Wilbert meet:

So, a watershed year but also one

Effecting a certain circularity.

But then, in October, George died.

The final paragraph in the book

Concludes with an interview with Wilbert:

‘How would you like to be remembered?”

‘I would like my epitaph to say,

“He helped people to see God in the ordinary things of life,

and he made children laugh.”’

I’m so glad I got the book out of the library rather than off Amazon. A previous reader had written in neat pencil beneath the above ‘Amen 23/3/97

I thought the epitaph was almost William Blake-like:

‘To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.’

Ringo and the Rev

Song to be sung roughly to the tune of Octopus’ Garden

It’s strange but true

In Rodborough Avenue

A big car arrived with Ringo Starr

(Big car arrived with Ringo Starr),

Church tower and steeple

Gazed upon the Beatle

As he had a drag upon his usual fag

(Drag upon his fag)

His partner, Barbara,

Looked in the Awdry’s larder,

While staring at a railway mag –

SHE couldn’t find a bite to eat,

And so, bored, she almost fell asleep;

I’d like to be with the Reverend Aw-d-ry

With Ringo in that garden in the shade

I’d ask my friends to come and see
That meeting in the garden

That changed history –

Oh, what joy for every girl and boy
With Ringo in that garden in the shade

We would be so happy, you and me
Seeing Wilbert telling Ringo what to do;

I’d like to be with the Reverend Aw-d-ry

With Ringo in that garden in the shade

With Ringo in that garden in the shade

My notes from Brian Sibley’s biography are quite extensive but when I get to pages 23-24 in my note-book I can’t remember which bits are from Brian Sibley’s commentary and which bits are from the Daily Mail reporting on the meeting and whenever I’ve popped into the library to have a reacquaintance with the text, the book, alas, has been out on loan … so I’m not quite sure which bits are which in the section coming up … but I think the bits in quotation marks are mostly from the Mail on Sunday.

Ringo arrived in Rodborough Avenue clad in a blue satin jacket; the car was equally flamboyant: a bronze Mercedes, hotfoot from some Berkshire mansion or other, and so to Stroud with ‘Its soft Cotswold features scarred and pitted by roadworks’. He was accompanied by his wife, Barbara Bach. What happened next?

Wilbert ‘began to demonstrate the first part of the timetable of the Knapford-Ffarquhar branch line … a cream-lined jacket over his spare, slightly stooping frame. Round his neck hung a small wooden control-box from which he governed the movement of his engines … “Tell me when you’re bored” … “Not yet,” said Ringo.

Mr Awdry detached a couple of trucks from a line of goods-vans at the touch of an electrode. “Cool” said Ringo.

What happened next? They went out into the back garden. Ringo pulled out a packet of fags and asked Mr Awdry if he fancied ‘a ciggy’: the Rev, of course, was a pipe-smoker. He declined. He then had to correct Ringo on something far more important: Ringo unfortunately referred to the famous engine as ‘Tommy’.

And then this tantalising meeting of two very different worlds began to draw to a close: Wilbert ‘Reminiscing … in that gentle spell-binding way of all good story-tellers, when Ringo said he was sorry, but he had to go. His wife roused herself from a state of almost catatonic boredom … Mr Awdry bade them a courteous abstracted farewell.’

What is about the Style of the Awdry Books?

Here is Brian Sibley in his biography The Thomas the Tank Engine Man:

‘So what is the reason for the success of these books? Is it their text: sharp and tightly written with sly little jokes and rhythmic sounds but, nevertheless, always true to railway lore? Or is it the illustrations: capturing the hustle and bustle of the station and shed and those trackside scenes – embankments of spring flowers, rolling meadows of summer lushness, whirling autumn leaves, brooding clouds of winter rain and frosted Christmas-card landscapes – depicted in vivid, iridescent colours? Or is it because of their size – or rather, lack of it.’

And here is Brian Sibley with Marjery Fisher who described the successful style suitable for children as artfully artless: a prose style that might seem simple to read and be enthralled by but which was by no means simple to write.

What did I notice on a re-reading in 2025?

The artfully artless conversational tone that runs through the stories. The Rev addresses the reader in an engaging companionship:

‘Have you guessed about Stuart and Falcon? Yes, you’re quite right.’

And another example: ‘But we must say no more, or we’ll spoil the next story.’

And another: ‘Now, have you remembered that in those days he was called Falcon. And painted blue? You have? Now we can begin.’

And for those of a certain age, note the Listen with Mother reference at the end of the final example above.

The artfully artless use of ellipsis for humour:

‘They were excited to hear that the Duke was coming to Skarloey’s and Rheneas’ 100^th birthday, but most disappointed with the Duke who actually came. For he was only a man …’

The artfully artless use of Alliteration:

For example: Trevor the Traction Engine

The artfully artless fact that these stories stand at the Interface between Oral and Textual Culture:

They are read by individuals and to individuals.

The artfully artless conjoining of Page of text and illustration:

Even though each story has a narrative arc whereby each page contributes to the narrative’s progression, each page is complete within itself and is embellished by the illustration opposite. Each page and illustration simultaneously both stand alone in their completeness and yet contribute to the totality. A bit like a train, on reflection …

The craft of 80-90 words per page and each page, as it were, a chapter in itself …

And Wilbert didn’t have a typewriter until 1953 – and yet he redrafted and redrafted – it was artful composition.

The artfully artless use of Old School vocabulary:

For example: Impudent, scallywag, impertinent, ruefully, indignantly, imperiously, sagacity, impudence, and so on and so and so on …

The artfully artless use of Embedded narratives:

For example: ‘Here is one of the stories that Peter Sam and Sir Handel told about Granpuff!’

And another example:

“Are you writing another book, Sir?”

“Yes,” said the Thin Clergyman, “but not about you …but, if you’re good, the artist might put you in the pictures.”

“Ooooooh! Thank you, Sir!”

The artfully artless use of Hats as a motif:

Bowlers and top hats run like a motif through the stories.

The artfully artless use of Onomatopoeia

The artfully artless use of Self-referentiality:

The revelation that the story is a conceit.

For example: in the introduction to Percy the Small Engine, the author appears in the text beside the characters – ‘we were afraid (The Fat Controller and I) that if he had a book to himself, it might make him cheekier than ever … But Percy has been such a Really Useful Engine that we both think he deserves a book. Here it is.

’

The artfully artless use of the self-mocking authorial voice:

See above.

It’s all a bit meta: ‘The People of England read about Us in their Books; but they do not think that we are real …”

“Shame!” squeaked Percy … ‘so … I am taking My Engines to England to show them.’

“I’m not really clever … I was just drawn like that.”

See the introduction to number 21 Main Line Engines for post-modernist self-referentiality meta etc where the characters attempt to wield the pen and become the authors – I immediately thought of Flann O’Brien and At Swim Two Birds when I read that introduction.

The author appears in both text and illustration in number 22.

Small Railway Engines: The fat and the thin clergyman who ‘writes books.’ “The Thin One’s writing about me in a book. He promised he’d write about you too. Think of that!”

The bantering go at the editors and how an engine becomes a sentient being who lies outside and not just inside the story’ (see introduction to 24)

The artfully artless use of the rule of three:

For example: ‘If you worked more and chattered less, this Yard would be a sweeter, a better, and a happier place.’

The artfully artless use of the Oxford Comma:

The Oxford comma is the comma placed before the final conjunction in a list of three or more items.

The artfully artless use of Anthropomorphization:

‘There are seven engines, one of whom …’

The artfully artless use of Imagery:

‘so with 7101 growling in front, and Henry growling in the middle, the long cavalcade set out for the next Big Station.’

The artfully artless use of an Old School outlook:

“Excuse me,” enquired Duke. “Are you a Vandal? Driver told me Vandals break in and smash things.”

The Fat Clergyman ruefully felt his bruises. “Bless you, no!” he laughed. “I’m quite respectable.”

“Pay Percy Out.”

‘The nasty smell of bad manners.’

‘The Duke smiled … Duck thinks that Dukes were Great Western engines, but Dukes are really people …

“I am a real-life Duke …”

“Thank you, your Grace …”’

The artfully artless use of Adverbs:

“Don’t put that silly story in,” said Thomas crossly.

Ruefully, indignantly, imperiously (see above for Old School Vocabulary)

The artfully artless use of Short sentences

And yet – The artfully artless use of a Varied Authorial Tone

The artfully artless use of Free Indirect Expression: ‘In literature, “free indirect expression,” also known as free indirect discourse or free indirect style, is a narration technique where a third-person narrator subtly conveys a character’s thoughts and feelings, blending the narrator’s voice with the character’s internal perspective.’

The artfully artless use of Rhythm and Repetition:

For example: ‘Rock and Roll in the railway lines.’

The artfully artless use of similes:

‘The passengers buzzed out like angry bees.’

‘Diesels baying and growling like hounds.’

The artfully artless use of Italics and Exclamation marks and Capitalisation for emphasis

The artfully artless use of Jokes:

“Not by the smoke of my chimney, chim, chim!”

“I’ll chuff and I’ll puff, and I’ll break your door in!”

“All ship-shape and Swindon fashion.”

Duck crashes into a barber’s shop: “that was a very close shave.”

‘Pop goes the Diesel.’

Daisy the Railcar: “I’m highly-sprung and anything smelly is bad for my nerves.”

‘Train stops play.’

“That’s one in the headlamp for old Diesel!”

“Perhaps that went to his smokebox and made him conceited.”

‘He soon got too big for his wheels.’

“I think that Duck was pulling your wheels.”

“Show us a wheel.”

‘Coughs and sneezles spread diseasels’

“Pulling your wheel”

‘Before you can say Small Contoller.’

‘boiler ache’

‘DONALD’S DUCK’

“What right has Oliver poking his funnel in here?”

The artfully artless Avuncular tone:

An older and wiser head speaks to his young readers in a tutelary but friendly manner. The epistolary introductions create this feeling of belonging to a club – we all know it’s a conceit but we like being taken in and want to be taken in.

The artfully artless use of Dickensian Repetition:

‘Duke’s story soon spread. The engines told Mr Hugh; Mr Hugh told The Thin Controller; The Thin Controller told the Owner; the Owner told His Grace; His Grace told The Small Controller; The Small Controller told The Thin Clergyman, and The Thin Clergyman told the Fat One.

That is why, one morning, the two clergymen and The Small Controller were looking at maps.’

The artfully artless use of semi colons:

For example: see above.

Conclusion

Given that the stories could appear repetitive and formulaic, the bantering conversational tone and content that runs seamlessly between writer, reader, and engines prevents that appearance of formulaic repetition becoming an obvious reality. The triumph of artful artlessness.

Let’s finish with some content rather than comment on form and style:

‘Sometimes, on Market Day, Ruth, Jemima and Lucy were so full of people that the Guard would allow third-class passengers to travel in Agnes. She didn’t like that at all, and would grumble. “First – class – coach – third – class – people.”

“That made me cross. ‘Shut up,’ I’d say and ‘or I’ll bump you!’ That soon stopped her rudeness to my friends.”’

Duck GWR 5741

“Duck, explain this behaviour.”

“Beg pardon, Sir, but I’m a Great Western Engine. We Great Western Engines do our work without Fuss; but we are not ordered about by other engines.”

18.Stepney, The “Bluebell” Engine 1963

The sadness of page six:

“…engines on the Other Railway aren’t safe now. Their Controllers are cruel. They don’t like engines any more. They put them on cold damp sidings, and then,” Percy nearly sobbed, “they … they c-c-cut them up.”

“Ye’re right there,” agreed Douglas. “If I hadn’t escaped, I’d have been cut up too. It’s all because of yon diesels. They’re all devils,” he added fiercely.

“Fair play, Douglas, “reminded Percy. “Some are nice. Look at Rusty and Daisy.”

“Maybe so,” answered Douglas, “I’d never trust one myself.”

In a prominent place in the Rodborough churchyard, the ashes of Wilbert, Margaret and Wilbert’s brother George, have been laid close to one another. Wilbert’s epitaph, cut in stone is: “He helped people see God in the ordinary things in life and he made children laugh.”

It’s strange but true

In Rodborough Avenue

A big car arrived with Ringo Starr

(big car arrived with Ringo Starr)

Sir Topham Hatt

(aka The Fat Controller)

Apparently, Master T. Hatt started his railway career in 1894 at the GWR Works in Swindon as an apprentice. I imagine he was quite slim then. I also imagine that his father probably worked ‘inside’ in the factory and that Topham might well have been born a Swindonian. There’s food for thought as you ruminate upon social mobility.

My great grand-father, Charles Butler, moved to Swindon from Clerkenwell after the carriage & wagon works was opened In Swindon; in 1886, I think it was. So, there is the tantalising possibility that my great grand-father knew this fictive young cove, Master Topham Hatt. And, of course, correspondingly, Master Topham Hatt knew my great grand-father. This is almost on a par with the Great War song chanted as troops marched to the front: “Lloyd George knew my father, Father knew Lloyd George.”

I have my great grand-father’s plane. Stamped GWR and stamped with Charles Butler’s name, it sits proudly on the bookshelves in ‘the study’ upstairs that also serves as a bedroom for our grandson. I also have my gramp’s GWR Swindon Works clocking-in token. Perhaps the young Topham had something similar. ‘All ship-shape and Swindon fashion’ as Wilbert put it.

The young Topham might also have come across Alfred Williams, the ‘Hammer-Poet’ who wrote Life in a Railway Factory. Have a look at this link if you are interested in Alfred: https://radicalstroud.co.uk/life-in-a-railway-factory-alfred-williams-the-hammerman-poet/

In conclusion, I grew up with the sound of the factory hooter: morning, early afternoon and early evening. So that’s something I also share with the Fat Controller. My brother, Keith, has written about the factory hooter and you can hear it at http://www.thewheatsheaf.info/hooter2.html We hear its ghost still.

The Reverend Awdry and Desert Island Discs and the Johnny Morris Recording

The Rev appeared on Desert Island Discs in 1964 in ‘The Swinging Sixties’, choosing Robinson Crusoe as his book (‘apart from the Bible and Shakespeare’). Three of his chosen records involved railways and one was a reading by Johnny Morris of ‘Edward and Gordon’.

Here is a brief descriptor of the voices ascribed to the engines by that very accomplished versatile mimic children’s entertainer:

Thomas: ‘young, bright and full of cheeky enthusiasm’

Percy: ‘rather perky and public school’

James: ‘a lilting Welsh accent’

Henry: ‘evidently comes from the faded upper class’

Toby: ‘a soft, slow, west-country voice’

The coach, Henrietta: ‘a pathetic, despairing tone’

Gordon: ‘sounds like a pompous, northern alderman in a play by J.B. Priestly’

The trucks: bump into each other ‘with a rapid succession of startled “Oh!” sounds, each hitting an individual note on what might be described as a musical scale of surprise’

The Rev: “He was a steam buff and so was I. He was highly technical and reserved.”

Willie Rushton from That Was the Week That Was and Private Eye finished the recordings a few years later. He recounted how there was nervousness about the Rev being there at the recordings but “he turned out to be a sweetie”.

(Jottings made from a reading of The Thomas the Tank Engine Man Brian Sibley

The Story of the Reverend W. Awdry and his Really Useful Engines 1995)

The Books

As I said before, I didn’t come across any of the series until I read the Ladybird books to my children at bedtime. I have, however, just read a boxset in the past month of January, 2025. The books in this boxset were published in 2021 by Farshore, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, and printed in China. But before I read a word, I felt compelled to deconstruct, as it were, the pictorial frontspiece.

This pictorial frontspiece is from an age of innocence before we had eaten of the apple of knowledge with the consequent discovery of irony, cynicism, and knowing post-modernism.

Town and country sit side by side in happy harmony (no scruffy ‘edgelands’ here), as do road and rail: there is little threat of a Titfield Thunderbolt argument here.

Despite the trucks of coal at the COAL & COKE depot (and the one dead tree) and the plumes of smoke from three locomotives, there is no threat of pea-soup smog or polluted air or blackened buildings in this idyll in summer in Sodor.

A porter pushes a trolley on one of the spotless platforms; passengers look to be patiently content (no-one glancing at a watch); all wear overcoats as a precaution against a change in the weather (one gentleman with an umbrella), while one man is forever frozen in time in the act of donning his coat with his right arm thrust horizontally through the sleeve: this is an Ode on a Sodor Urn.

There is a modicum of advertising: traditional railway billboards at the platform and waiting room – but there is, alas, a threat of modernity in the large hoardings by the footbridge: an advertisement for a car and aan advertisement for something NEW.

And this hints at what might become Titfield Thunderbolt trouble – lurking around the corner beyond those neatly trimmed hedgerows, the yew-lined churchyard, the sheep, the dog, the farmer and his tractor … Thomas might be puffing along with his freight train during peak passenger-travelling hours, but look at the lorries and the van motoring towards Dr Beeching, and what happens when said passengers decide to continue their journeys by car rather than leave their vehicle in  the station car park?

But for now, we can forget all that and enjoy this limned age of Edenic innocence: a madeleine moment rather than a bit of the apple of the tree of knowledge. Austerity, the Cold War, the End of Empire, Beeching: all these lie in a future far away from the Never-Never Land of Sodor.

The Books

Here you will find summaries of the books as written by the Rev at the front and by others on the back of my boxed edition. I’m hoping that this synopsis might encourage the (re)reading of these books for many reasons. But I’ll focus on this piece from The Guardian about contemporary reading habits and the importance of reading,

The article notes the rising popularity of audio books amongst young people and children. John Mullan, professor of English at UCL commented on this trend after saying that he and his children listened to audio books themselves: “But it’s something very different from having your parents read a book to you, which I think is a really, really good thing if at all possible. An audio book is unresponsive and implacable. There’s no possible exchange or rapport, however brilliantly read it is … Listening to an audiobook is better than not having any interest in a work of fiction at all, but I don’t think it’s a substitute.”

1. The Three Railway Engines 1945

The tale of ‘Edward, Gordon and Henry who lived in the same shed and who were always boasting and quarrelling amongst themselves until, after a series of adventures, they found that it best to be good friends and to help each other.’

2. Thomas the Tank Engine 1946

‘DEAR CHRISTOPHER,

Here is your friend Thomas the Tank Engine. He wanted to come out of the station-yards and to see the world. These stories tell you how he did it.

I hope you will like them because you helped me to make them.

YOUR LOVING DADDY’

And on the back: ‘Thomas is a fussy, cheeky little tank engine … He proves to be such a Really Useful Engine [however] that he is given a branch line all to himself.

He is never lonely, because there is always some engine to talk to at the Junction.’

3. James the Red Engine 1948

‘DEAR FRIENDS OF EDWARD, GORDON, HENRY AND THOMAS,

Thank you for your kind letters; here is the new book for which you asked.

James, who crashed into the story of Thomas the Tank Engine, settles down and becomes a Useful Engine. We are all nationalised now, but the same engines still work in the Region. I am glad to tell you that the Fat Director, who understands our friends’ ways, is still in charge, but is now the Fat Controller.

I hope you will enjoy this book too.

THE AUTHOR’

And on the back: ‘In these stories, James, who has been given a shining new coat of paint to cheer him up after his accident, gets hiccoughs, needs a bootlace, has trouble with his trucks and pulls the Express after Gordon loses his way.’

4. Tank Engine Thomas Again 1949

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

Here is news from Thomas’ Branch Line. It is clearly no ordinary line, and life on it is far from dull. Thomas asks me to say that, if you are ever in the Region, you must be sure to visit him and travel on his line. “They will never have seen anything like it,” he says proudly.

I know I haven’t.

THE AUTHOR

And on the back: ‘We meet Annie and Clarabel, the coaches: ‘Annie can only take passengers but Clarabel can take passengers, luggage and the Guard … Thomas sings them little songs, and Annie and Clarabel sing too.’

5. Troublesome Engines 1950

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

News from the line has not been good. The Fat Controller has been having trouble. A short while ago he gave Henry a coat of green paint, but as soon as he got his old colour back again, Henry became conceited. Gordon and James, too, have been Getting Above Themselves.

I am glad to say, however, that The Fat Controller has, quite kindly but very firmly, put them In Their Place and the trains are running as usual.

I hope you will like meeting Percy; we shall be hearing more of him later.

THE AUTHOR’

And on the back: ‘This book tells how Henry met an elephant and James spins round like a top, how The Fat Controller deals with the bigger engines who are Getting Above Themselves and being troublesome, and how a new engine called Percy comes to the rescue by running away.’

6. Henry the Green Engine 1951

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

Here is more news from the Region. All the engines now have numbers as well as names … I expect you were sorry for Henry who was often ill and unable to work … Now Henry has a new shape and is ready for anything. These stories tell you all about it.

THE AUTHOR’

And on the back: ’Henry the Green Engine has now recovered from his silly habit of staying inside tunnels when it rains. But he is still causing trouble to that strict but kind-hearted Fat Controller. All turns out well, however, and Henry has new and refreshing adventures with his fellow engines, Thomas, Gordon, Edward, James and Percy.’

7. Toby the Tram Engine 1952

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

Poor Thomas has been in trouble, so The Fat Controller asked Toby to                    come and help run the Branch Line. Thomas and Toby are very good friends.

Toby is a funny little engine with a queer shape. He works very hard and         we are all fond of him. We hope you will like him too.

THE AUTHOR’

And on the back: ’With Henrietta and some trucks rattling behind him, Toby ran along beside roads and through villages and fields with passengers and goods for the Main Line. Then suddenly his line was closed. Here you will read how he was helped.’

8. Gordon the Big Engine 1953

‘DEAR IAN,

You asked for a book about Gordon. Here it is. Gordon has been naughty, and The Fat Controller was stern with him.

Gordon has now learnt his lesson and is a Really Useful Engine again.

THE AUTHOR’

And on the back: ’Gordon, that proud and pompous Express Engine, appeared in all the earlier books in the series, but this is the first time he has had a book named after him.’

My thoughts: This book was written in the year of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth the Second: the final story features the Queen and a Royal Train.

9. Edward the Blue Engine 1954

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

I think most of you are fond of Edward. His Driver and Fireman, Charley Sand and Sidney Hever, are fond of him too. They were very pleased when they knew I was giving Edward a book all to himself.

Edward is old, and some of the other engines were rude about the clanking noise he made as he did his work.

They aren’t rude now! These stories tell you why.

THE AUTHOR’

And on the back: ‘Edward, who appeared with Gordon and Henry in The Three Railway Engines (the first book in this ‘Railway Series’) here has a book all to himself. He is once more joined in his adventures by Gordon and Henry together with James the Red Engine, Bertie the Bus, and a new friend called Trevor, who is a Tractoin-engine. And, of course, The Fat Controller is here too!’

10. Four Little Engines 1955

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

Sir Handel Brown is the owner of a little Railway which goes to Skarloey and Rheneas. Skarloey means “Lake in the Woods”, and Rheneas means “Divided Waterfall”. They are beautiful places, and lots of people visit them.

The Owner is very busy, so Mr Peter Sam, The Thin Controller, manages the Railway.

The two engines, who are called Skarloey and Rheneas, grew old and tired; so the Owner bought two others.

These stories tell you what happened.

THE AUTHOR’

11. Percy the Small Engine 1956

DEAR CHRISTOPHER, AND GILES, AND PETER, AND CLIVE,

Thank you for writing to ask for a book about Percy. He is still cheeky, and we were afraid (The Fat Controller and I) that if he had a book to himself, it might make him cheekier than ever, and that would never do! But Percy has been such a Really Useful Engine that we both think he deserves a book. Here it is.

THE AUTHOR’

And on the back: ‘Percy the Small Engine is a saddle-tank with a lively personality who has many adventures. Some of them are described in these stories, in which we also meet a newcomer – the Duck; and, as usual, there is much activity on the Line, especially when Harold the Helicopter comes on the scene!’

• The Eight Famous Engines 1957

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

The Fat Controller’s engines are now quite famous. They have been on the Wireless, and many other adventures. But he had another plan too, for his engines, and this book will tell you what it was.

THE AUTHOR’

And on the back: ‘All of The Fat Controller’s eight famous engines appear in this book. Cheeky Percy is taught a lesson, Gordon takes a trip to London, and then all of the engines are shown in an exhibition. How proud they were too, especially The Fat Controller.’

• Duck and the Diesel Engine 1958

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

We have had two visitors to Our Railway. One of these, “City of Truro”, is a very famous engine. We were sorry when we had to say “goodbye” to him.

The other visitor as different. “I do not believe,” writes The Fat Controller, “that all Diesels are troublesome but this one upset our engines, and made Duck very unhappy.”

THE AUTHOR’

And on the back: ‘Duck, the saddle-tank [my italics: Duck is a pannier-tank] engine has appeared earlier in the series, but this is the first time he has had a whole book to himself. As usual, he has fun with other engines, and a newcomer, the Diesel Engine. Diesel is a troublemaker and soon after his arrival makes Duck unpopular with the other engines.’

• The Little Old Engine 1959

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

You remember in Four Little Engines that Sir Handel Brown, The Owner, sent Skarloey away to be mended. The stories tell you what happened when the “Little Old Engine” came home.

Skarloey is not real. You can only see him in these books. But there is a real engine just like Skarloey. He is very, very old, and has been mended. His name is Talyllyn, and he lives at Towyn in Wales. You would all enjoy going to see him at work.

THE AUTHOR

The author gratefully acknowledges the help given by fellow members of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society in the preparation of this book.’

15.The Twin Engines 1960

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

The Fat Controller has just been having a Disturbing Time! He ordered one goods engine from Scotland, and was surprised to receive two! They had both lost their numbers, and no one knew which was which so he didn’t know which engine to keep.

THE AUTHOR’

And on the back: ‘… called Donald and Douglas … they had lost their numbers, and they were identical twins. You can imagine the confusion they caused …’

16.Branch Line Engines 1961

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

We never have a dull moment on our Branch Line. Thomas was silly and got into trouble, so a Diesel Rail-car called Daisy came. She caused trouble, but has now promised to be good, so The Fat Controller has kindly given her another chance.

Meanwhile, Toby chased a bull, Percy got into a predicament and …

But you must read the stories for yourselves.

THE AUTHOR’

17.Gallant Old Engine 1962

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

On the second page of Four Little Engines Rheneas was taken away to be mended. He was away for a long time, but now has come home.

All the little engines are together at last. They are delighted. Rheneas is their hero. He had saved the Railway…

There is a real engine like Rheneas. His name is Dolgoch and his home is at Towyn in Wales.

Some years ago he saved the Talyllyn Railway. We are proud of our gallant old engine.

THE AUTHOR

The author gratefully acknowledges the help given by fellow members of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society in the preparation of this book.’

18.Stepney, The “Bluebell” Engine 1963

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

Percy is a kind-hearted little engine. He feels sad because many fine steam engines are cut up on the Other Railway (B.R.). Percy’s ideas, however, though natural for an engine, are a little muddled. British Railways Officials are not cruel. They are sad to lose faithful steam friends, and glad to help engines to go to places like the Bluebell Railway at Sheffield Park in Sussex, where they can be cared for, and useful, and safe.

THE AUTHOR

The author gratefully acknowledges the help given by fellow members of the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society in the preparation of this book.’

And on the back: ‘Duck, Edward, Thomas and all the engines on The Fat Controller’s line are all delighted when Stepney comes to visit them from the famous Bluebell Railway -a real railway where old engines can find a Use and a Happy Home. They are all soon firm friends, and before he goes Stepney shows a scornful big Diesel just what an old engine can do!’

19. 19. Mountain Engines 1964

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

A Railway climbs the mountain called Culdee Fell. Lord Henry Barrane is Chairman of the Railway Company. Lots of people travel on it in the summer.

Mr Walter Richards, the Manager, does not have an easy time. There are seven engines, one of whom, No. 5, is still away being mended. Another, No. 6, was named Lord Harry. This was a mistake. It made him conceited and … But you must read the stories for yourselves.

I hope you will enjoy this book about a different kind of railway.

THE AUTHOR

The author gratefully acknowledges the help cheerfully and willingly given by members of management and staff of the Snowdon Mountain Railway Co.in the preparation of this book.’

And on the back: ‘…a mountain railway, not far from Skarloey’s Line. The Mountain Line is steep, and there is trouble when Lord Harry becomes conceited and takes too many risks … But he learns his lesson and he, too, helps to prove that, whatever the weather, mountain engines Will Get Through.’

20. 20. Very Old Engines 1965

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

One hundred years ago, when Skarloey and Rheneas first arrived on their Railway, they were young and silly. Skarloey was sulky and bouncy. He and Rheneas quarrelled …

But they learned sense, and the Owner has just given them a lovely 100^th birthday.

Tallyllyn and Dolgoch, at Towyn, are 100 too.

How about going to wish them “Many Happy Returns”?

THE AUTHOR

The author gratefully acknowledges the help given by fellow members of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society in the preparation of this book.’

21. 21. Main Line Engines 1966

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

Bill and Ben are a shameless pair. I meant to write about Main Line Engines, and give the twins a treat by letting them into the first story, but I couldn’t keep them in order! Before I knew it they had crept into the others. They even wanted me to change the book and make it about them!

But I have been very firm. I am still calling it Main Line Engines. That will serve Bill and Ben right for ragging Gordon so disgracefully. He hasn’t got over it yet!

THE AUTHOR’

And on the back: ‘On The Fat Controller’s Railway trunks disappear, some bees escape and a green hat is mistaken for the Guard’s flag! Two new mischievous twin engines, Bill and Ben, are introduced to the system and BoCo the diesel is a newcomer too, but how useful he proves to be.’

22. 22. Small Railway Engines 1967

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

Some leadmines up in the hills have long been closed, but their waste-heaps still spoil a lovely valley.

The Fat Controller has now found that the waste is good weed-killing railway ballast. He talked to the Owner and The Thin Controller of the Skarloey Railway, and other Important People. They “went shares” and built a Small Railway to fetch it away.

The Small Engines are managed by a Controller. They call him The Small Controller, but that is only in fun! He is bigger than either of the “others”!’

THE AUTHOR

The author gratefully acknowledges the help given by fellow members of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Preservation Society in the preparation of this book.’

And on the back: ‘This book introduces the new Controller, called The Small Controller; a new branch line called the Small Railway; and new engines, Rex, Bert and Mike.

23. 23. Enterprising Engines 1968

‘DEAR RICHARD,

Do you remember the photographs you took of what happened to your train on the way to Waterloo in April 1967?

Your Mother, very kindly, gave me a set, and they helped our artist to draw at least two of the pictures for “Super Rescue”.

Anyway, “Super Rescue” is the story which your pictures told me. I hope you will enjoy it, and the other three stories as well.

THE AUTHOR

The author gratefully acknowledges the ready help given by the Flying Scotsman’s owner, Mr. A.F. Pegler, and his assistant, Mr. E. Hoyle, in the preparation of this book.’

And on the back: ‘Flying Scotsman visits The Fat Controller’s Railway and Henry is jealous because he has two tenders. Duck makes Henry look silly, but it is Henry who rescues the passengers when the diesels break down. Douglas helps Oliver escape from the Other Railway, and Duck’s branch line gets a new name.’

The next book’s title followed the request from the publishers that the title, once more, should involve a name as in the old days. The M at the beginning is Margaret.

24. 24. Oliver the Great Western Engine 1969

‘DEAR M,

We both wanted to call this book Little Western Engines; but Publishers are stern men. They did not approve. They, of course, don’t know the trouble we’ve had with Oliver. We hope he has learnt sense, but goodness knows what will happen when he finds he has a book all to himself …

I know! If Oliver gets uppish, we’ll set Messrs. Kay & Ward on to him. That’ll teach him!

W

And on the back: ‘The Fat Controller has re-opened a Branch Line, on which Duck works, and is joined by Oliver, a Great Western Engine who is saved from the scrap heap.’

‘READERS may like to know that “Olivers” and “Ducks” still work on the Dart Valley Railway in Devonshire and “Small Railway Engines” are at Ravenglass in Cumberland.’

25. 25. Duke the Lost Engine 1970

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

An engine lost in the South American jungle was found after 30 years. A tree had grown through its chimney and hornets nested in its firebox. When mended it gave good service for 30 more years. “The Duke” was lost too; not in the jungle but in his own Shed which a landslide had buried. Not long ago he was dug out and mended. His own Railway had been pulled up, so he is now at The Thin Controller’s.

THE AUTHOR

‘“Duke” looks like a real engine called PRINCE. You can see PRINCE running on his own railway at Portmadoc in Wales.

“Small Railway Engines” can be seen at Ravenglass in Cumberland.’

And on the back: ‘Introducing the engine called Duke, who was lost in his own shed for twenty-two years because of a landslide. He looks like a real engine called Prince which runs at Portmadoc in Wales.”

26. 26. Tramway Engines 1972

‘DEAR FRIENDS,

Thomas has been pestering me to write about his Branch Line. “After all,” he said, “we are the important part of the whole Railway.”

“What can I write about?” I asked.

“Oh, lots of things – Percy’s Woolly Bear, Toby’s Tightrope and…”

“ … your Ghost,” I added.

“Don’t put that silly story in,” said Thomas crossly.

I will all the same. Thomas has been much too cocky lately. It will serve him right.

THE AUTHOR’