Thomas the Tank Engine History chugs its way to the top!

Who would have known that the start of Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends began from a bedtime story told to a small boy just recovering from sickness? Unbeknownst to most, this incident actually happened.

Rev. Wilbert Awdry

Christopher Awdry. Christopher had scarlet fever but he was just recovering when his father first told him about Thomas. Christopher loved the stories so much, that he never became sick of anecdotes involving Thomas.

He was such an avid listener, he would pick up on the discrepancies of his father’s story. This forced Wilbert to write down his stories on pieces of paper so he wouldn’t make a mistake in his retelling. Eventually, Thomas began to have locomotive friends. Wilbert’s wife overheard these stories and encouraged him to send the stories to publishers. The first book was published in 1945. The title of the book was The Three Railway Engines.

FACT AND FICTION?

As a hired illustrator, C. Reginald Dalby drew the illustrations based on Reverend Wilbert Awdry’s imagination on how the locomotions would look like. However, he also combined Wilbert’s imagination with the actual British steam engines used in 1946.

Hard to believe, but many stories in Thomas the Tank Engine are based on true occurrences. There was an actual incident where a locomotive vanished into a tunnel in Furness Railway and was rotated on a turntable by the force of a gust of wind. Another true fact is that a character was based of a real person named Terry Boston who was also a reverend. Since Terry saved steamrollers to be included in his collection, Wilbert based the character of the vicar on him. In one of the stories, the vicar rescues Trevor from being destroyed and dumped into the scrap heap.

THE END?

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Wilbert Awdry decided to end his writing career after 26 books about Thomas. However, the saying “Like father, like son” is not lost on the Awdry family. The family tradition continued. The boy who demanded more Thomas the Tank Engine stories picked up his father’s pen. Christopher wrote more Thomas the Tank Engine anecdotes for his son.

Look at all the Thomas The Tank Engine books and Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs and Videos.

LEARNING CURVE PICKS UP THE TREND

Founded by John W. Lee, Learning Curve teamed up Thomas the Tank Engine to create toys for children. The toys from Learning Curve allow kids to interact creatively with them. Some of the products that they produce are multiple train sets and even live trains for children to ride on! It is through Learning Curve that Thomas the Tank Engine is brought to life.

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