List of Railway Series Books - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A list of the Railway Series
The Railway Series
The Railway Series is a set of story books about a railway system located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first being published in 1945. Twenty-six were written by the Rev. W. Awdry, up to 1972. A further 16 were written by his son, Christopher Awdry; 14...

books by both the Rev. W. Awdry and his son Christopher

Christopher Awdry

Christopher Awdry is an English author best known for his contributions to The Railway Series of books featuring Thomas the Tank Engine, which was started by his father, the Rev. W. Awdry. He has also produced children's books based on a number of other railways, as well as non-fiction articles...

The Rev. W. Awdry Era: 1945-1972

The first 26 books in the series were written by Rev. W. Awdry, who is sometimes mistaken as the sole writer.

The Three Railway Engines

----

Book no.1
Published 1945
Illustrated by William Middleton, later by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories

Edward's Day Out
Edward and Gordon
The Sad Story of Henry
Edward, Gordon and Henry

This is the first book in the Series, and introduces Edward the Blue Engine

Edward the Blue Engine

Edward the Blue Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic steam locomotive from The Railway Series children's books by the Rev W. Awdry, and the related TV Series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. He is a blue 4-4-0 tender engine with red stripes, about the same size as James the Red Engine, and has...

, Henry the Green Engine

Henry the Green Engine

Henry the Green Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic 4-6-0 steam locomotive from The Railway Series books written by the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry, and the spin-off children's television series, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.Henry lives on the fictitious...

, Gordon the Big Engine

Gordon the Big Engine

Gordon the Big Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic tender locomotive in The Railway Series books by Rev. W. Awdry. Gordon is painted blue and carries the number 4. Gordon views himself as the most important engine because he is the biggest and he pulls the Express...

and the Fat Director

The Fat Controller

The Fat Controller is the head of the railway in The Railway Series of books written by the Rev. W. V. Awdry. In the first two books in the series he is known as The Fat Director...

.

Notes

These stories were first told to the young Christopher Awdry
Christopher Awdry
Christopher Awdry is an English author best known for his contributions to The Railway Series of books featuring Thomas the Tank Engine, which was started by his father, the Rev. W. Awdry. He has also produced children's books based on a number of other railways, as well as non-fiction articles...

when he was in bed with measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...

in 1943, but due to wartime
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

conditions were not published until 1945.
These stories were not intended to take place in a single volume, or even on the same railway. Edward, Gordon and Henry was written at the insistence of the publishers, Edmund Ward & Co, to bring the three characters together and to create a happy ending.
The stories were illustrated by William Middleton, and Awdry was unhappy with the toy-like depictions of his characters. When C. Reginald Dalby became the illustrator, he redrew Middleton's illustrations, and it is this version that remains in print.

Thomas the Tank Engine

----

Book no. 2
Published 1946
Illustrated by Reginald Payne and C. Reginald Dalby

Stories

Thomas and Gordon
Thomas' Train
Thomas and the Trucks
Thomas and the Breakdown Train

Thomas

Thomas the Tank Engine

Thomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He became the most popular character in the series, and the accompanying television spin-off series, Thomas and Friends.Thomas is a tank engine, painted blue...

is a small tank engine who works at a big station fetching coaches for the big engines, but who longs for greater things. Unfortunately, his efforts go wrong. But after showing that he can be a useful engine following an accident, he is rewarded with his own branch line

Branch line

A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...

.

Notes

First appearances of Thomas and James
James the Red Engine
James the Red Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic tender locomotive from The Railway Series children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry, and the spin-off TV series Thomas and Friends. James is a mixed-traffic engine, which means he is just as capable of pulling coaches as trucks...

(who is here painted black with red lining).
Annie and Clarabel
Annie and Clarabel
Annie and Clarabel are fictional characters from The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry and the related Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends television series...

also appear in the illustrations, but they are not named.
The big station is not identified but is Vicarstown
Vickerstown
Vickerstown is an area located on the Isle of Walney, near to the mainland town of Barrow-in-Furness, England. Albeit not part of mainland Cumbria, Vickerstown is still regarded as part of the town of Barrow-in-Furness. It is an example of a planned estate built for workers by a company needing to...

.
The Fat Director makes his return in this book, changed from a pompous figure of fun to a more fatherly character.
C. Reginald Dalby is often erroneously identified as the illustrator. The original artist was Reginald Payne, and Dalby modified the illustrations.
This was the first book to include a foreword
Foreword
A foreword is a piece of writing sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the writer of the foreword and the book's primary author or the story the book tells...

, a feature that would appear in every subsequent book in the Railway Series
The Railway Series
The Railway Series is a set of story books about a railway system located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first being published in 1945. Twenty-six were written by the Rev. W. Awdry, up to 1972. A further 16 were written by his son, Christopher Awdry; 14...

.

James the Red Engine

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Book no. 3
Published 1948
Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories

James and the Top Hat
James and the Bootlace
Troublesome Trucks
James and the Express

James has recently been repainted bright red, and is eager to show off. Unfortunately, he is also careless, and gets into a lot of trouble. But by making some troublesome trucks behave and by pulling the Express well, he proves himself.

Notes

The Fat Director is renamed the Fat Controller
The Fat Controller
The Fat Controller is the head of the railway in The Railway Series of books written by the Rev. W. V. Awdry. In the first two books in the series he is known as The Fat Director...

in this book. This is because, like most railways in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, this railway had just been Nationalised and was now part of British Railways.
This was the first volume to be illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby from first publication.
The Rev. W. Awdry often said that this was his least favourite book, as it had been written in a hurry to meet a deadline rather than purely from inspiration.

Tank Engine Thomas Again

----

Book no. 4
Published 1949
Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories

Thomas and the Guard
Thomas Goes Fishing
Thomas, Terence and the Snow
Thomas and Bertie

This book concerns the adventures Thomas has on his branch line, with the bigger engines relegated to cameo appearances. Thomas leaves his guard behind by mistake, he accidentally goes fishing thanks to a broken water column and a bucket of river water, he gets stuck in the snow and he has a race with Bertie the Bus

Bertie the Bus

Bertie the Bus is a small red bus character from The Railway Series books by the Rev. W Awdry and who also appears in the spin-off children's television series Thomas and Friends.-Book character:...

.

Notes

First appearances of Bertie the Bus
Bertie the Bus
Bertie the Bus is a small red bus character from The Railway Series books by the Rev. W Awdry and who also appears in the spin-off children's television series Thomas and Friends.-Book character:...

and Terence the Tractor
Terence the Tractor
Terence the Tractor is a fictional anthropomorphic crawler tractor from The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry, and the spin-off TV series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends....

.
Annie and Clarabel
Annie and Clarabel
Annie and Clarabel are fictional characters from The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry and the related Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends television series...

are named for the first time in this book.
The bridge that appears in Thomas Goes Fishing is based on Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...

's bridge at Maidenhead
Maidenhead
Maidenhead is a town and unparished area within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It lies on the River Thames and is situated west of Charing Cross in London.-History:...

.
Henry's brief appearance in the book caused a great deal of trouble for Rev. W. Awdry, as Dalby depicted him as looking identical to Gordon. The author received several complaints, and developed a stock answer to explain the problem – that Henry had been repaired using Gordon's spare parts.

Troublesome Engines

----

Book no. 5
Published 1950
Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories

Henry and the Elephant
Tenders and Turntables
Trouble in the Shed
Percy Runs Away

The big engines (Gordon, Henry and James) are cross. Since Thomas left, they feel overworked, and some embarrassing incidents for all three of them lead them to go on strike

Strike action

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

. The Fat Controller addresses the problem by buying a new engine to do the shunting.

Notes

First appearance of the popular character Percy the Small Engine
Percy the Small Engine
Percy the Small Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic steam engine from The Railway Series of children's books written by the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry...

. Rev. W. Awdry was unhappy with Dalby's depiction of the character, which he felt did not look like a real engine. This would cause further friction between the author and the illustrator later on.
Henry appears in green for the first time since the end of Three Railway Engines, at the end of which he had been painted blue.
The central theme of this book reflects the fact that, at the time when the book was written, there were labour difficulties on the real British Railways.

Henry the Green Engine

----

Book no. 6
Published 1951
Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories

Coal
The Flying Kipper
Gordon's Whistle
Percy and the Trousers
Henry's Sneeze

Henry has been having a lot of problems. He cannot steam properly, and so is often ill. The Fat Controller tries to solve the problem with Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

. When Henry has an accident, the Fat Controller decides to solve the problems once and for all by sending Henry to Crewe Works

Crewe Works

Crewe railway works is a British railway engineering facility built in 1840 by the Grand Junction Railway. It is located in the town of Crewe, in the county of Cheshire....

. Henry returns with a new shape and a much better outlook on life, and enjoys a number of adventures with the other engines.

Notes

This was the only book to feature five stories instead of the usual four.
This book was largely written because Rev. W. Awdry was unhappy with C. Reginald Dalby's depiction of Henry. It was inconsistent and often looked identical to Gordon. By having the character rebuilt, this problem was solved.
This was the first book in which all the engines carried numbers. Previously, only Thomas had worn a number.
The story Henry's Sneeze was to cause problems for Awdry, because it described some soot-covered boys as being "as black as niggers." In 1972, complaints were made about the use of the term. Despite initially resisting, Awdry was convinced to make the change by a parent who wrote to him on the subject. The line was changed in subsequent editions to "as black as soot".

Toby the Tram Engine

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Book no. 7
Published 1952
Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories

Toby and the Stout Gentleman
Thomas in Trouble
Dirty Objects
Mrs Kyndley's Christmas

Thomas is having trouble with the police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

– by travelling to the quarry

Ffarquhar

Ffarquhar is a fictional town or village on the equally fictional Island of Sodor in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends children's TV series and in Reverend W. Awdry's The Railway Series books on which the TV series was based....

without a cow-catcher and side-plates to cover his wheels, he is breaking the law. The Fat Controller realises that there is a solution. While on holiday, he met Toby the Tram Engine

Toby the Tram Engine

Toby the Tram Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic tram engine in The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry and his son, Christopher; he also appears in the spin-off television series Thomas and Friends...

, who together with his coach Henrietta, has been having problems of his own with his railway in East Anglia

East Anglia

East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...

closing down.

Notes

First appearances of Toby, Henrietta, Mrs Kyndley, Stephen and Bridget. Stephen, seen in this book as a child, would become the third Fat Controller by the time of Really Useful Engines.
The character of Toby was first inspired by a similar engine seen shunting at Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...

by Rev. W. and Christopher Awdry.

Gordon the Big Engine

----

Book no. 8
Published 1953
Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories

Off the Rails
Leaves
Down the Mine
Paint Pots and Queens

Gordon the Big Engine

has an accident through being lazy and careless, and so is taken off passenger train duties. He helps the other engines out when they get into trouble, and is eventually judged to be sensible enough to pull the Royal Train

Royal Train

A royal train is a set of carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of that particular royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages.-Australia:...

.

Notes

This book featured an appearance by Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

, who was crowned in 1953. Rev. W. Awdry had sent copies of the early Railway Series books to the young Prince Charles, the Duke of Cornwall
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...

(later Prince of Wales).
The phrase 'Really Useful Engine' first appears in this book. It was suggested to Awdry by a young fan, who asked if he could write a book about how Gordon was very naughty but then became 'a Really Useful engine'. The expression was later adopted by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

in setting up his Really Useful Company.

Edward the Blue Engine

----

Book no. 9
Published 1954
Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories

Cows!
Bertie's Chase
Saved from Scrap
Old Iron

Edward

Edward the Blue Engine

is old, and long overdue for an overhaul. However, in this book, he shows that he is far from useless, and can teach the bigger engines a thing or two!

Notes

First appearances of Trevor the Traction Engine
Trevor the Traction Engine
Trevor the Traction Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic character from The Railway Series children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry, and the spin-off TV Series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends....

and the Vicar of Wellsworth.
Edward's driver and fireman are identified in this book as being named Charlie Sand and Sidney Hever, the only engine crew to be given names (apart from Henry's driver revealed to be named Ted in the annuals).

Four Little Engines

----

Book no. 10
Published 1955
Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories

Skarloey Remembers
Sir Handel
Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady
Old Faithful

This book features the first appearance of the Skarloey Railway

Skarloey Railway

On the fictional Island of Sodor in The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry, the Skarloey Railway is a narrow gauge railway which runs from the main line at Crovan's Gate to the passenger terminus at Skarloey. Beyond Skarloey the line continues to a slate quarry.In the stories, the railway is run by...

, and introduces four new engines – No.1 Skarloey

Skarloey

Skarloey is a fictional locomotive from The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry. He is one of the oldest engines on the Island of Sodor. Skarloey lives and works on the Skarloey Railway as Engine No.1.-Railway Series history:...

, No.2 Rheneas

Rheneas

Rheneas is a fictional locomotive from The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry and the children's TV series Thomas and Friends. He is one of the oldest engines on the Island of Sodor...

, No.3 Sir Handel

Sir Handel

Sir Handel is a fictional steam locomotive from The Railway Series children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry and its spin-off TV series, Thomas and Friends. Sir Handel lives and works on the Skarloey Railway on the Island of Sodor as Engine No.3...

, and No.4 Peter Sam

Peter Sam

Peter Sam is a fictional steam locomotive The Railway Series children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry and the spin-off TV series Thomas and Friends. Peter Sam lives and works on the Skarloey Railway on the Island of Sodor as engine No. 4....

together with the Thin Controller. Rheneas is away being mended, and the Skarloey Railway has recently acquired Sir Handel and Peter Sam. Peter Sam is naïve but well-meaning, but Sir Handel is rude and arrogant. Skarloey shows Sir Handel how to do things when he rescues the pompous engine's train.

Notes

This book was written at the suggestion of L. T. C. Rolt
L. T. C. Rolt
Lionel Thomas Caswall Rolt was a prolific English writer and the biographer of major civil engineering figures including Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Thomas Telford...

and was based upon the Talyllyn Railway
Talyllyn Railway
The Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge preserved railway in Wales running for from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1866 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow gauge railway in Britain...

, at which Rev. W. Awdry was a volunteer. Some of the illustrations are clearly based on the Talyllyn, including the engine shed at Tywyn Pendre.
The Rolling Stock introduced are Agnes, Jemima, Ruth and Lucy the coaches and Beatrice the guard's van.
The story Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady was inspired directly by an incident when the refreshment lady was left behind on the Talyllyn Railway. Except that in that case, it was the fault of the guard – who was none other than the Rev. W. Awdry himself!
The other three stories in the book are all based directly on accounts of various situations in L. T. C. Rolt's book "Railway Adventure", now a classic in itself, which describes the first two years of operation of the Talyllyn Railway by enthusiasts. Rolt, already an established railway book author, acted as General Manager for these two years, although the character of "The Thin Controller" as manager of the fictional railway is based more on Mr. Edward Thomas, the last General Manager of the railway in its commercial years up to 1951.
The illustration of Glennock Station in the book is based on a photograph of Aberllefenni
Aberllefenni
Aberllefenni is a village in the south of Gwynedd, Wales. It lies in the valley of the Afon Dulas.Part of the ancient county of Merionethshire, it is the location of Foel Grochan, a slate quarry which together with Hen Chwarel and Ceunant Ddu formed the Aberllefenni Slate Quarry, which extracted...

Station on the Corris Railway
Corris Railway
The Corris Railway is a narrow gauge preserved railway based in Corris on the border between Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire in Mid-Wales....

, where the real-life equivalents of Sir Handel and Peter Sam had originated.

Percy the Small Engine

----

Book no. 11
Published 1956
Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories

Percy and the Signal
Duck Takes Charge
Percy and Harold
Percy's Promise

The Fat Controller obtains a new engine (Duck) to do shunting work, and so Percy the Small Engine

Percy the Small Engine

Percy the Small Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic steam engine from The Railway Series of children's books written by the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry...

is sent to work with Thomas and Toby on their branch line. He meets Harold the Helicopter and saves the day during a flood.

First appearances of Duck
Duck the Great Western Engine
Duck the Great Western Engine is a fictional steam engine from The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry and the spin-off television series Thomas and Friends. He is a green 0-6-0 pannier tank locomotive and lives and works on the Island of Sodor....

and Harold the Helicopter
Harold the Helicopter
Harold the Helicopter is a character in the Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry and Christopher Awdry and the television series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends....

.
This was the last volume to be illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby. Rev. W. Awdry did not like the way Dalby portrayed Percy, saying that he made the engine look like "a green caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...

with red stripes". Outraged, Dalby resigned from the Railway Series after this book. Brian Sibley
Brian Sibley
Brian Sibley is an English writer. He is author of over 100 hours of radio drama and has written and presented hundreds of radio documentaries, features and weekly programmes.- Early life :...

notes that, despite the friction between author and illustrator, Dalby's work in this volume can be ranked among his best.

The Eight Famous Engines

----

Book no. 12
Published 1957
Illustrated by John T. Kenney
John T. Kenney
John T. Kenney was an English illustrator who worked on a number of the Railway Series books by W.V. Awdry...

Stories

Percy Takes the Plunge
Gordon Goes Foreign
Double Header
The Fat Controller's Engines

The Fat Controller's engines—Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, and Duck—have become famous through their appearances in books and on the radio. While the engines enjoy a number of adventures and misadventures, the Fat Controller arranges for them to go to London.

Notes

Although no new regular characters appear in this book, it features the first appearance of engines from The Other Railway
The Other Railway
In the children's books The Railway Series, by the Rev. W. Awdry, The Other Railway refers to British Railways , the UK nationalised rail organisation that existed from 1948 until 1997....

, namely: Jinty, Pug, and the Big City Engine.
This was the first book to be illustrated by John T. Kenney, who enjoyed a far better working relationship with Rev. W. Awdry than his predecessor. Although his illustrations are not as well remembered as Dalby's, they are far more technically accurate.
Rev. W. Awdry had intended this as a possible final book in the series. He considered using the title "The Fat Controller's Engines", a title that would later almost be used by Christopher Awdry in the 39th book of the series.
Beatrice makes an appearance in the last illustration of Double Header.

Duck and the Diesel Engine

----

Book no. 13
Published 1958
Illustrated by John T. Kenney

Stories

Domeless Engines
Pop Goes the Diesel
Dirty Work
A Close Shave

Duck the Great Western Engine

Duck the Great Western Engine is a fictional steam engine from The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry and the spin-off television series Thomas and Friends. He is a green 0-6-0 pannier tank locomotive and lives and works on the Island of Sodor....

has settled in well on the Island of Sodor, so much so that the other engines are getting a little tired of his know-it-all attitude and new-found pride in the GWR following a visit from the City Of Truro. They are pleased when a smooth-talking diesel engine – simply known as Diesel – arrives to help out. When Duck shows him up, Diesel vows revenge, and starts spreading malicious lies about Duck (forcing him to be sent away). Luckily, the Fat Controller has a plan to clear Duck's name…

Notes

This was the first book to feature a real engine. City of Truro
GWR 3700 Class 3440 City of Truro
Number 3440 City Of Truro is a Great Western Railway 3700 Class 4-4-0 locomotive, designed by George Jackson Churchward and built at the GWR Swindon Works in 1903. . It is one of the contenders for the first steam locomotive to travel in excess of...

is a visitor to Sodor and, being an engine from the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

, soon makes friends with Duck.
This is the first appearance of Diesel, and the only one within the Railway Series itself.
There is believed to be a subtle in-joke at the beginning of the book, in the first illustration. A vicar and a man in a bow tie are seen looking at Duck. Brian Sibley suggests that these men are supposed to be Rev. W. Awdry and C. Reginald Dalby.
This is the first book to feature a diesel engine. The character was introduced at the suggestion of series editor Eric Marriott, who suggested that Awdry should introduce a diesel character to keep the series up-to-date. At the time, diesels
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

were being increasingly used on British Railways, and would eventually come to supersede steam
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

.

The Little Old Engine

----

Book no. 14
Published 1959
Illustrated by John T. Kenney

Stories

Trucks!
Home at Last
Rock ‘n' Roll
Little Old Twins

More adventures on the Skarloey Railway

Skarloey Railway

. Skarloey returns from being repaired to discover that there are two new engines on the railway. Rusty the diesel is friendly and helpful, but Duncan is boisterous, careless and rude. Sir Handel is still his old self. A television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

crew comes to film a documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

on the railway, and Skarloey tells them about the Talyllyn Railway

Talyllyn Railway

The Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge preserved railway in Wales running for from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1866 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow gauge railway in Britain...

.

Notes

First appearances of Duncan, Rusty and Talyllyn.
The documentary being filmed on the Skarloey Railway is very reminiscent of a documentary filmed on the Talyllyn Railway.
Rolling Stock introduced – Ada, Jane and Mabel the open coaches, Gertrude and Millicent the bogie coaches and Cora the brake van.

The Twin Engines

----

Book no. 15
Published 1960
Illustrated by John T. Kenney

Stories

"Hullo Twins"
The Missing Coach
Break Van
The Deputation

The Fat Controller orders an engine from Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

to help out with goods work, but is surprised when two engines arrive instead. To confuse matters further, the engines claim not to know their British Railways numbers, or which of them should have been sent. The engines are Donald and Douglas

Donald and Douglas

Donald and Douglas are two fictional steam locomotives from The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry. They also appear in Thomas and Friends, the television series based on the books...

, and are twins. As whichever one of them is sent back will be scrapped, they are determined to stay. Despite some misadventures, the other engines convince the Fat Controller to keep both of them.

Notes

First appearances of Donald and Douglas, and only appearance of the Spiteful Brake Van.
This book is the first to allude to the threat of scrapping faced by steam engines on British Railways.
Gordon's
Gordon the Big Engine
Gordon the Big Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic tender locomotive in The Railway Series books by Rev. W. Awdry. Gordon is painted blue and carries the number 4. Gordon views himself as the most important engine because he is the biggest and he pulls the Express...

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 Region
North Western Railway (fictional)
The North Western Railway is the main railway company featured in The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry. Although the company's name has never been specifically stated in the books, it was mentioned as such in tie-in books such as The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and...

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 Brakevan.

Branch Line Engines

----

Book no. 16
Published 1961
Illustrated by John T. Kenney

Stories

Thomas Comes to Breakfast
Daisy
Bulls' Eyes
Percy's Predicament

Thomas

Thomas the Tank Engine

has an accident and has to be sent to the Works. The Fat Controller

The Fat Controller

The Fat Controller is the head of the railway in The Railway Series of books written by the Rev. W. V. Awdry. In the first two books in the series he is known as The Fat Director...

orders a diesel railcar named Daisy to help out in his absence. Daisy is convinced she knows it all, and decides that she is only going to do the work she wants. After a stern talking to and an accident by Percy

Percy the Small Engine

Percy the Small Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic steam engine from The Railway Series of children's books written by the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry...

, she is allowed to stay, a wiser engine.

Notes

First appearance of Daisy, who is the first regular diesel character, and the first female engine in the books.
The events of this book must take place soon after those of The Twin Engines, as Donald and Douglas are seen with their old black paint in a cameo appearance (they decided to be repainted blue at the end of that book).
Thomas' crash into the Stationmaster's house, which takes place in the first story of this book, was partially intended to enable a long-standing illustrators' error to be corrected. Thomas' footplate originally curved down at the front, meaning that his buffers were lower at the front than at the back. When Thomas returns from the Works, his footplate is straight, and this modification is retained from this book onwards.
The top station on Thomas's branch line is shown in illustrations to be called Ffarquhar
Ffarquhar
Ffarquhar is a fictional town or village on the equally fictional Island of Sodor in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends children's TV series and in Reverend W. Awdry's The Railway Series books on which the TV series was based....

for the first time.

Gallant Old Engine

----

Book no. 17
Published 1962
Illustrated by John T. Kenney

Stories

Special Funnel
Steamroller
Passengers and Polish
Gallant Old Engine

Peter Sam loses his funnel in an accident and gets a new one to improve his steaming. Sir Handel has been given new wheels, and gets into a fight with George the Steamroller. Duncan is jealous and feels overworked. Skarloey is shocked at Duncan's attitude, and tells the others about the time when Rheneas saved the railway. At the end of the book, Rheneas returns from his overhaul.

Notes

First appearance of George.
Although this is the third book set on the Skarloey Railway, it is the first to include a story featuring Rheneas as the main character, who had been almost completely absent in the previous two volumes.
This was the final volume to be illustrated by John T. Kenney, whose eyesight was beginning to fail around this time.
There is a blue car seen in one of the last illustrations of 'Steamroller' with a face. This was based upon John T. Kenney's own car, and its numberplate carries the letters "JTK" and "62", the year of the illustration, 1962.

Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine

----

Book no. 18
Published 1963
Illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards

Stories

Bluebells of England
Stepney's Special
Train Stops Play
Bowled Out

Percy is sad to learn that steam engines on the Other Railway

The Other Railway

In the children's books The Railway Series, by the Rev. W. Awdry, The Other Railway refers to British Railways , the UK nationalised rail organisation that existed from 1948 until 1997....

are being scrapped, and so he is glad when he hears that the Bluebell Railway

Bluebell Railway

The Bluebell Railway is a heritage line running for nine miles along the border between East and West Sussex, England. Steam trains are operated between and , with an intermediate station at .The railway is managed and run largely by volunteers...

has saved a number of them. Stepney, from the Bluebell Railway, comes to visit and soon makes friends with the engines, even teaching a boastful visiting diesel a lesson or two.

Notes

This is the first book to centre on a real engine, and was intended to promote the Bluebell Railway. Other Bluebell engines besides Stepney are referred to and appear in the pictures for Stepney's Special. These included Bluebell, Primrose and Captain Baxter. "Adams" and "Cromford" were names applied by Awdry to the Bluebell Railway's Adams Radial Tank and North London Railway
North London Railway
The North London Railway was a railway company that opened lines connecting the north of London to the East and West India Docks. The main east to west route is now part the North London Line. Other lines operated by the company fell into disuse, but were later revived as part of the Docklands...

tank engine respectively.
This book also features the first and only appearances of "the Diesel" and Caroline the car.
The second illustration in the book depicts a group of Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

locomotives being cut up for scrap. This was actually inspired by Peter Edwards' cover illustration for Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...

's novel A Gun for Sale
A Gun for Sale
A Gun for Sale is a 1936 novel by Graham Greene.This novel was made into a film in 1941 and renamed This Gun for Hire, which was also the title of the book's U.S. edition. Alan Ladd was cast as Raven in the film....

, which featured a chase on a railway siding.
Percy's claim that the Controllers on British Railways are cruel and "don't like engines" is a reference to the 1955 Modernisation Plan, under which steam locomotives were to be replaced by diesel and electric traction. The Rev. W. Awdry notes in the foreword that Percy is mistaken, and that the Controllers had been very helpful in preserving steam locomotives. Indeed, it is worth noting that several of the Bluebell Railway's engines had only been saved thanks to the intervention of such Controllers.
This was the first volume to be illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards.

Mountain Engines

----

Book no. 19
Published 1964
Illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards

Stories

Mountain Engine
Bad Look-out
Danger Points
Devil's Back

The Skarloey Railway

Skarloey Railway

engines meet Culdee, a strange-looking engine who climbs a mountain

Mountain

Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

. He tells them all about his railway, and the tragic story of Godred, before returning home. At home, he meets the reckless Lord Harry, who causes trouble through his risk-taking. But when a climber runs into trouble, Lord Harry has an opportunity to redeem himself…

Notes

This is the first and only book to feature the Culdee Fell Railway
Culdee Fell Railway
The Culdee Fell Railway is a fictional narrow gauge rack and pinion railway appearing in the book Mountain Engines written by the Rev. W. Awdry. The stories are based on incidents in the history of the Snowdon Mountain Railway....

(known within the stories as the Mountain Railway). Christopher Awdry
Christopher Awdry
Christopher Awdry is an English author best known for his contributions to The Railway Series of books featuring Thomas the Tank Engine, which was started by his father, the Rev. W. Awdry. He has also produced children's books based on a number of other railways, as well as non-fiction articles...

has written that the reason there have been no new books set on the Mountain Railway is that the limited traffic and stringent safety precautions make it difficult to find suitable material for realistic stories set there.
The Culdee Fell Railway is based on the Snowdon Mountain Railway
Snowdon Mountain Railway
The Snowdon Mountain Railway is a narrow gauge rack and pinion mountain railway in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is a tourist railway that travels for from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon, the highest peak in England and Wales....

, and like many of the Railway Series volumes, was written partly as a promotional device.
See Culdee Fell Railway
Culdee Fell Railway
The Culdee Fell Railway is a fictional narrow gauge rack and pinion railway appearing in the book Mountain Engines written by the Rev. W. Awdry. The stories are based on incidents in the history of the Snowdon Mountain Railway....

for details of the engines and rolling stock.

Very Old Engines

----

Book no. 20
Published 1965
Illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards

Stories

Crosspatch
Bucking Bronco
Stick-in-the-Mud
Duck and Dukes

It is 1965, and Skarloey

Skarloey

and Rheneas

Rheneas

Rheneas is a fictional locomotive from The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry and the children's TV series Thomas and Friends. He is one of the oldest engines on the Island of Sodor...

are getting ready to celebrate their 100

100 (number)

100 is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.-In mathematics:One hundred is the square of 10...

th birthday. Skarloey tells Nancy and other friends the story of his early life on the Skarloey Railway

Skarloey Railway

. The engines enjoy a wonderful centenary party.

Notes

This book was inspired by the hundredth anniversary of the locomotives Talyllyn and Dolgoch
Talyllyn Railway
The Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge preserved railway in Wales running for from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1866 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow gauge railway in Britain...

, Skarloey and Rheneas' real life "twins". The first three stories are based on events from the early history of the Talyllyn Railway and one of the characters, Mr Bobbie, is actually a real life engineer from the company that built the engines.
This is the first, but not the last, book to be told mainly as a flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...

. Skarloey narrates the stories Crosspatch and Bucking Bronco, while Rheneas narrates Stick-in-the-Mud.
This book features a number of cameo appearances by Neil, an engine from the Sodor & Mainland Railway
Sodor & Mainland Railway
The Sodor & Mainland Railway is a fictional railway that existed on the Island of Sodor in The Railway Series books written by the Rev. W. Awdry. In the books it is known as the S&M and was built when railway-mania was still in force, opening in 1853...

.
"Duck and Dukes" would later be one of the main focal points in book 25 'Duke The Lost Engine.'

Main Line Engines

----

Book no. 21
Published 1966
Illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards

Stories

The Dieseasel
Buzz Buzz
Wrong Road
Edward's Exploit

More adventures for the Main Line engines of the Fat Controller's Railway

North Western Railway (fictional)

The North Western Railway is the main railway company featured in The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry. Although the company's name has never been specifically stated in the books, it was mentioned as such in tie-in books such as The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and...

. Readers are introduced to Bill and Ben the tank engine twins, and a new diesel named BoCo arrives. Gordon

Gordon the Big Engine

and James

James the Red Engine

James the Red Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic tender locomotive from The Railway Series children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry, and the spin-off TV series Thomas and Friends. James is a mixed-traffic engine, which means he is just as capable of pulling coaches as trucks...

both run into trouble, but Edward

Edward the Blue Engine

surprises everyone by getting a train home despite breaking down.

Notes

First appearances of Bill, Ben and BoCo.
Despite the book's title, much of the book actually takes place on Edward's branch line.
The characters of Bill and Ben were inspired by Rev. W. Awdry's visit to Par, Cornwall
Par, Cornwall
Par is a town and fishing port with a harbour on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town is situated in the civil parish of Tywardreath and Par and is approximately east of St Austell. Par has a population of around 1,400.....

, where he saw a pair of tank engines named Alfred and Judy. Although the driver of these engines was "a crusty old fellow who did not like parsons" (Rev. W. Awdry, quoted in The Thomas the Tank Engine Man), Awdry was able to impress him with his railway knowledge, and was even allowed to drive.

Small Railway Engines

----

Book no. 22
Published 1967
Illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards

Stories

Ballast
Tit-for-Tat
Mike's Whistle
Useful Railway

The Fat Controller

The Fat Controller is the head of the railway in The Railway Series of books written by the Rev. W. V. Awdry. In the first two books in the series he is known as The Fat Director...

has been using a special new kind of ballast, which Donald and Douglas

Donald and Douglas

Donald and Douglas are two fictional steam locomotives from The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry. They also appear in Thomas and Friends, the television series based on the books...

say is brought by "verra wee engines". Duck

Duck the Great Western Engine

is intrigued, and goes to see what the fuss is about. He discovers a miniature railway with three small engines named Mike, Bert and Rex. The focus then shifts to the small engines themselves, and some of the adventures they have.

Notes

First appearance of the Arlesdale Railway
Arlesdale Railway
The Arlesdale Railway, more commonly known as the Small Railway, is a fictional railway on the Island of Sodor from the Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry and Christopher Awdry....

, better known as the Small Railway, and its engines. This line is based closely on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway
Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway
The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is a minimum gauge heritage railway in Cumbria, England. The line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth Station near Boot in the valley of Eskdale, in the Lake District...

in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

. The names of the Arlesdale Railway engines – Rex, Bert, and Mike – are derived from their R&ER equivalents, which are named after three Cumbrian rivers, the Esk
River Esk, Cumbria
The River Esk is a river in the Lake District in Cumbria, England. It is one of two River Esks in Cumbria, and not to be confused with the River Esk which flows on the Scottish side of the border....

, the Irt
River Irt
The River Irt is a river in the county of Cumbria in northern England. It flows from the south-western end of Wast Water, the deepest lake in England, leaving the lake at the foot of Whin Rigg, the southern peak of the famous Wastwater Screes....

and the Mite
River Mite
The River Mite is a river in the county of Cumbria in northern England.The valley through which the river Mite runs is called Miterdale. The name Mite is thought to be of British origin and related to a root such as 'meigh': to urinate or dribble, possibly a wry reflection of the relatively minor...

.
First official appearance of the Thin Clergyman and the Fat Clergyman. These two are in fact the author, the Rev. W. Awdry, and his friend, the Rev. "Teddy" Boston
Edwin Boston
The Reverend Edwin Richard Boston MA , known as Teddy Boston, was a Church of England clergyman and author. He built a narrow gauge railway in the grounds of his Rectory at Cadeby, Leicestershire, and was immortalized as the "Fat Clergyman" in The Railway Series children's books by the Rev. W...

.

Enterprising Engines

----

Book no. 23
Published 1968
Illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards

Stories

Tenders for Henry
Super Rescue
Escape
Little Western

Gordon is saddened to learn that steam has ended on The Other Railway

The Other Railway

In the children's books The Railway Series, by the Rev. W. Awdry, The Other Railway refers to British Railways , the UK nationalised rail organisation that existed from 1948 until 1997....

. To cheer him up, the Fat Controller brings his brother, Flying Scotsman

LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman

The LNER Class A3 Pacific locomotive No. 4472 Flying Scotsman was built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway at Doncaster Works to a design of H.N. Gresley...

to Sodor. Henry is jealous because of Flying Scotsman's two tenders and is shown up by Duck, but comes to the rescue of two failed diesels. Meanwhile, Douglas saves a steam engine called Oliver and his train from scrap. The Fat Controller announces that Oliver can stay, along with the diesel engine D7101, and that he is reopening a branch line for Duck and Oliver. Furthermore, he announces that he will never, ever get rid of steam engines.

Notes

1968 was the year when British Railways finally abolished steam, and this book reflected that.
This book introduces Oliver, Bear, Isabel and Toad. It features guest appearances by Flying Scotsman and D199.
This book also introduces Duck's branch line, "the Little Western".
"Super Rescue" is based on a real event which happened at Waterloo in April 1967, the year before this book was published, where a steam locomotive rescued two diesel trains. This is also mentioned in the foreword to the book

Oliver the Western Engine

----

Book no. 24
Published 1969
Illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards

Stories

Donald's Duck
Resource and Sagacity
Toad Stands By
Bulgy

Life is exciting on the Little Western. Duck and Donald play practical jokes on each other. Oliver loses the respect of the trucks after an accident, but regains it with the help of Toad. Finally, a lying bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

is put in his place after trying to steal the railway's passengers.

Notes

This book was originally to be called Little Western Engines, but the publishers wanted a book named after an engine. Rev. W. Awdry jokes in the foreword that if the attention goes to Oliver's head, he will set the publishers on to him.
The Little Western is partly inspired by the Dart Valley Railway
South Devon Railway Trust
The South Devon Railway Trust is a charitable organisation that operates a heritage railway from Totnes to Buckfastleigh in Devon, alongside the River Dart...

, according to the Foreword.
First and only appearances of Scruffey, Bulgy and Dilly the Duck.
The foreword is actually written to the author's wife, Margaret Awdry. However, Margaret is referred to as M.

Duke the Lost Engine

----

Book no. 25
Published 1970
Illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards

Stories

Granpuff
Bulldog
You Can't Win!
Sleeping Beauty

Duke was an old engine who ran on the Mid Sodor Railway with Falcon and Stuart, who are better known nowadays as Sir Handel and Peter Sam. Despite his age, Duke was a useful engine, but when his line closed, nobody wanted to buy him and he was left behind in the engine shed. Over the following years, his shed was buried by a landslide and he was forgotten. The Fat Clergyman, the Thin Clergyman and the Small Controller led an expedition to find him, and eventually he is rescued and sent to live on the Skarloey Railway with his old friends.

Notes

First appearance of Duke.
Only appearance of the Mid Sodor Railway
Mid Sodor Railway
The Mid Sodor Railway is a fictional narrow gauge railway on the Island of Sodor in The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev.W.Awdry and Christopher Awdry. The railway was closed in 1947, but three of its engines survive on the Skarloey Railway...

.
Only appearance of Peter Sam as Stuart, Sir Handel as Falcon, and Stanley (known within the stories simply as "Number 2", and the basis for 'Smudger' in the TV Series).
Most of the book is told in flashback, and it fills in some history for the Arlesdale Railway
Arlesdale Railway
The Arlesdale Railway, more commonly known as the Small Railway, is a fictional railway on the Island of Sodor from the Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry and Christopher Awdry....

and characters from the Skarloey Railway
Skarloey Railway
On the fictional Island of Sodor in The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry, the Skarloey Railway is a narrow gauge railway which runs from the main line at Crovan's Gate to the passenger terminus at Skarloey. Beyond Skarloey the line continues to a slate quarry.In the stories, the railway is run by...

.
Duke is based on the engine Prince from the Ffestiniog Railway
Ffestiniog Railway
The Ffestiniog Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park....

, and the book's foreword acknowledges this.

Tramway Engines

----

Book no. 26
Published 1972
Illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards

Stories

Ghost Train
Woolly Bear
Mavis
Toby's Tightrope

This book focuses on Thomas

Thomas the Tank Engine

' branch line. Percy

Percy the Small Engine

Percy the Small Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic steam engine from The Railway Series of children's books written by the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry...

plays a trick on Thomas, but later runs into trouble himself. Meanwhile, the quarry has bought a diesel called Mavis, who is very headstrong and thinks Toby

Toby the Tram Engine

is an old fusspot. She ignores his advice and hits trouble, but eventually comes to Toby's rescue.

Notes

First appearance of Mavis.
In ‘Woolly Bear', Thomas refers to Percy as "a green caterpillar with red stripes". This insult actually dates back to the book Percy the Small Engine. Awdry had long been unhappy with C. Reginald Dalby's depiction of Percy, describing it in exactly those terms.
The Last Book in the Series to be Written by Rev. W Awdry, and the last one until 1983.

Tramway Engines had been a struggle for Rev. W. Awdry, and he was finding it harder and harder to come up with ideas. Although he considered a 27th book, he decided to retire. It would be more than a decade before there would be any new Railway Series books.

The Christopher Awdry Era: 1983-Present

Christopher Awdry

, Rev. W. Awdry's son, had some background in writing when he took the Railway Series over, having written a number of articles for Steam Railway magazine. He was inspired to write some Railway Series stories by a visit to the Nene Valley Railway

Nene Valley Railway

The Nene Valley Railway is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is currently seven and a half miles in length...

, with encouragement from his father. The publishers were eager for new books, as the television adaptation

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends

Thomas and Friends is a British children's television series, first broadcast on the ITV network in September 1984. Until 2003, it was named Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. This series was shot on 35mm film...

was in production at the time, and Christopher Awdry became the new Railway Series author.

All of his books were illustrated by Clive Spong

Clive Spong

Clive Spong is an English illustrator of The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry. He illustrated the books written by Christopher Awdry published since 1983.Books:*Really Useful Engines*James and the Diesel Engines...

, an illustrator who, it was felt, could combine technical accuracy with the appealing, colourful style exemplified by C. Reginald Dalby.

Christopher Awdry wrote his first book in 1983, and 13 further books followed between 1984 and 1996. No books were published between 1996 and 2007; book 40: New Little Engine, and the original books from The Railway Series went out-of-print. This was a source of friction between the Awdry family and the publishers. However, in February 2007, unofficial reports from the publishers, Egmont, suggested that there were plans to put the whole series back into print, in the original format, and that a new Christopher Awdry book (called Thomas and Victoria) was expected to be published later in 2007. This book, number 41 in the series, was published in September 2007, being the first Railway Series book to be published in 11 years. Number 42 in the series, called "Thomas and his Friends", was published in June 2011.

In addition, the fifteen original Christopher Awdry books have been put together into a large, "bumper" edition, in a vein similar to the master collection of Wilbert Awdry's stories.

Really Useful Engines

----

Book no. 27
Published 1983

Stories

Stop Thief!
Mind That Bike
Fish
Triple Header

This book unusually does not focus on any one area of the Fat Controller's Railway

North Western Railway (fictional)

. Thomas helps to arrest a car thief. Percy is able to help out a friend – by accident. Duck, acting as a helper for Henry, has an accident with the Flying Kipper thanks to a lamp falling off. Finally, all three tank engines get together to pull the Express when Gordon is ill.

Notes

Entirely by coincidence, Rev. W. Awdry's planned 27th book was to be called Really Useful Engines.
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
0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...

tank engine called Thomas, which is now permanently disguised as its Railway Series namesake.
This book is dedicated to the Reverend Awdry.
On the cover, Thomas is seen with his front dip. At this time, he has a straight footplate. This was probably because of the illustrator not following directions.

James and the Diesel Engines

----

Book no. 28
Published 1984

Stories

Old Stuck-Up
Crossed Lines
Fire Engine
Deep Freeze

James

James the Red Engine

is one of the only engines who still doesn't trust diesels

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

, which isn't helped by the visit of a pompous diesel engine. He has a number of misadventures, but after a breakdown it is a diesel who helps him out, and he realises that diesel engines aren't so bad after all.

Notes

Guest appearance by Old Stuck-Up. First appearance of the "Works Diesel".

Great Little Engines

----

Book no. 29
Published 1985

Stories

Patience is a Virtue
Peter Sam and the Prickly Problem
Pop Special
Sir Handel Comes Home

Duke has been mended and the Thin Controller sends Sir Handel to the Talyllyn Railway

Talyllyn Railway

to help out while Talyllyn is being mended. While he is away, brambles and hot weather cause problems for the Skarloey Railway engines to solve. Sir Handel returns and tells them all about his adventures.

Notes

This book was inspired by the fact that the Talyllyn Railway had paid tribute to the Railway Series by repainting their engine No.3, Sir Haydn, to look like Sir Handel. Sir Handel's adventures on the Talyllyn are simply retellings of real events that took place involving that engine.
The title alludes to "Great Little Trains", a promotional campaign for the narrow gauge railways of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. The Talyllyn Railway was part of this campaign.

More About Thomas the Tank Engine

----

Book no. 30
Published 1986

Stories

Thomas, Percy and the Coal
The Runaway
Better Late than Never
Drip Tank

This is the third book to be named after Thomas. Thomas and Percy have an argument and fall out. Both Bertie

Bertie the Bus

Bertie the Bus is a small red bus character from The Railway Series books by the Rev. W Awdry and who also appears in the spin-off children's television series Thomas and Friends.-Book character:...

and Harold the Helicopter

Harold the Helicopter

Harold the Helicopter is a character in the Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry and Christopher Awdry and the television series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends....

make appearances as Harold has to help Thomas from a runaway, and Thomas helps Bertie after he breaks down. Finally, Percy rescues Thomas after an accident along the branch line.

Notes

This book is unique in the series, in that it was written especially in order that Britt Allcroft
Britt Allcroft
Britt Allcroft is the multi- award-winning creator of a trio of children's entertainment produced in the 1980s and 1990s: "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends", , "Shining Time Station" and "Britt Allcroft's Magic Adventures of Mumfie".She was born Hilary Mary Allcroft, in Worthing, England and, at...

could adapt it for the television series
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends
Thomas and Friends is a British children's television series, first broadcast on the ITV network in September 1984. Until 2003, it was named Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. This series was shot on 35mm film...

. The stories were therefore written specifically to include popular characters like Harold and Bertie. Despite this, the story 'Drip Tank' was never used in the television series, and 'Thomas, Percy and the Coal' included some substantial differences in the adaptation.
Thomas calls Percy a "drip" in the story 'Drip Tank', an insult meaning "pathetic" or "useless". Christopher Awdry has said that he regrets using this, as the insult has virtually fallen out of use.
He has also expressed dissatisfaction with the book in general, which he feels was unimaginative. He puts this down to the fact that it was put together in a hurry for the television company.
The cattle truck that Percy is shunting in "Drip Tank" is marked with the initials "N.E.", an abbreviation used by the London & North Eastern Railway for its freight stock.
The straight footplate Thomas has by now is back.

Gordon the High Speed Engine

----

Book no. 31
Published 1987

Stories

High-Speed Gordon
Smokescreen
Fire Escape
Gordon Proves His Point

Gordon is jealous when Donald tells him about High Speed Trains

British Rail Class 43 (HST)

The British Rail Class 43 is the TOPS classification used for the InterCity 125 High Speed Train power cars, built by BREL from 1975 to 1982....

on the Other Railway

The Other Railway

In the children's books The Railway Series, by the Rev. W. Awdry, The Other Railway refers to British Railways , the UK nationalised rail organisation that existed from 1948 until 1997....

. He tries to copy them, but ends up slipping helplessly on the rails. He is then blamed for ruining wedding clothes with his smoke, and is well and truly in disgrace. But he manages to get the Express home after his firebars collapsed, and the Fat Controller forgives him. He also apologises – it transpires the spoiled wedding clothes weren't Gordon's fault. He is then allowed to take a special train to Carlisle

Carlisle railway station

Carlisle railway station, also known as Carlisle Citadel station, is a railway station whichserves the Cumbrian City of Carlisle, England, and is a major station on the West Coast Main Line, lying south of Glasgow Central, and north of London Euston...

and a High Speed Train named Pip & Emma arrives to assist while he is away. At last, Gordon is allowed to show how fast he is.

Notes

First appearance of Pip and Emma, who would later return as a Royal Train
Royal Train
A royal train is a set of carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of that particular royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages.-Australia:...

in Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines and ultimately would be purchased by the Fat Controller.
Two diesels, numbered 31 120 and D10751, make appearances in the illustrations of this book.

Toby, Trucks and Trouble

----

Book no. 32
Published 1988

Stories

Mavis and the Lorry
Toby's Seaside Holiday
Bulstrode
Toby Takes the Road

The engines who work at Ffarquhar

Ffarquhar

quarry have a number of adventures. Mavis has an accident, and so Toby and Percy have to help out more than usual. Toby remembers an event from the days before he came to the Fat Controller's Railway. The trucks manage to do a good turn when they accidentally put paid to a disagreeable barge

Barge

A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...

named Bulstrode. Terence does the shunting for Percy and boasts about it, while adding that steam engines ploughed fields and ran on roads in the past. To add to that, on the day Mavis is due back from the Works, Toby has his first accident at the crossing and briefly runs on the road like Trevor.

Notes

First and only appearances of Bulstrode and the 'Old Engine'.
'Toby's Seaside Holiday' is set in and around Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...

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
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia...

.
This book was the first in the series not to include the word "Engine" in the title. Christopher Awdry has observed that while it is in some ways a shame to break with tradition, it has opened up greater possibilities for future book titles.
In 1990, Christopher Awdry wrote the annual story Hosepipes and Shunters to answer readers' questions on how Terence did the shunting for Percy and what was happening with Toby up at the quarry at the same time.
This is the last Railway Series book to have stories converted into a TV Series episode/s.

Thomas and the Twins

----

Book no. 33
Published 1989

Stories

Scrambled Eggs
What a Picture!
Trevor Helps Out
Down the Drain

Repair work on Thomas' branch line means that Thomas

Thomas the Tank Engine

is sent to help on Edward's

Edward the Blue Engine

branch line, which means he has to work with Bill and Ben at the china clay pits. Although the twins tease him at first, he soon earns their respect.

Notes

This book features only the second appearance of Trevor the Traction Engine
Trevor the Traction Engine
Trevor the Traction Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic character from The Railway Series children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry, and the spin-off TV Series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends....

.

Jock the New Engine

----

Book no. 34
Published 1990

Stories

We Need Another Engine
Sticking Power
Jock
Teamwork

The Small Railway

Arlesdale Railway

The Arlesdale Railway, more commonly known as the Small Railway, is a fictional railway on the Island of Sodor from the Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry and Christopher Awdry....

is short of power, and the Small Controller decides that what they need is another engine. The Railway's own workshops build a strong new engine called Jock, who at first thinks himself superior to the others. But the new engine eventually learns the value of teamwork, and all is forgiven.

Notes

First appearances of Jock and Frank.
Frank has an accident when he crashes into the back of the shed. This was inspired by an incident on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway
Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway
The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is a minimum gauge heritage railway in Cumbria, England. The line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth Station near Boot in the valley of Eskdale, in the Lake District...

involving the diesel "Perkins" which took place soon after the book Small Railway Engines was published. People working on the railway joked that this accident was perhaps caused because Perkins was upset at not being included in the book.
The character of Jock was not actually created for this book. In fact, he was first mentioned in the book The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways – this was only the first book in which he put in an appearance.
Jock is based on the R&E locomotive Northern Rock.

Thomas and the Great Railway Show

----

Book no. 35
Published 1991

Stories

Museum Piece
Not the Ticket
Trouble on the Line
Thomas and the Railtour

Thomas is excited because the National Railway Museum

National Railway Museum

The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the British National Museum of Science and Industry and telling the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001...

at York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

have invited him to visit. He makes lots of new friends among the engines of the National Collection and has a few adventures along the way. He saves a train when he spots a landslide, and is made an honorary member of the National Collection.

Notes

This book was written at the request of the National Railway Museum.
This book features appearances by real locomotives Rocket
Stephenson's Rocket
Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in Newcastle Upon Tyne at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson and Company in 1829.- Design innovations :...

, Iron Duke
GWR Iron Duke Class
The Great Western Railway Iron Duke Class 4-2-2 was a class of broad gauge steam locomotives for express passenger train work.-History:The prototype locomotive, Great Western, was built as a 2-2-2 locomotive in April 1846, but was soon converted to a 4-2-2 arrangement...

, Mallard
LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard
Number 4468 Mallard is a London and North Eastern Railway Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive built at Doncaster, England in 1938. While in other respects a relatively typical member of its class, it is historically significant for being the holder of the official world speed record for steam...

, Duchess of Hamilton
LMS Princess Coronation Class 6229 Duchess of Hamilton
London Midland and Scottish Railway Princess Coronation Class 6229 Duchess of Hamilton is a preserved steam locomotive.- Service :...

and Green Arrow
LNER Class V2 4771 Green Arrow
The LNER Class V2 2-6-2 steam locomotive, number 4771 Green Arrow was built in June 1936 for the London and North Eastern Railway at Doncaster Works to a design of Nigel Gresley. The first-built and only surviving member of its class, it was designed for hauling express freight and passenger...

. All except Rocket are illustrated with faces. Boxhill, another member of the collection, is mentioned but not seen.
There are several references to guest characters from previous volumes. City of Truro and Flying Scotsman are both mentioned twice.
In Gordon the High Speed Engine, Gordon mentions that he has a cousin who went at 126 miles per hour – a reference to Mallard.
The reference to Flying Scotsman is particularly prescient – in 2004, Flying Scotsman was acquired by the National Railway Museum.
'Trouble on the Line' was originally intended as a rail safety story, but Christopher Awdry was unhappy with the final result, as the publishers had "watered down" the original story. It is not known how the original story would have run, but Awdry tantalisingly notes in Sodor: Reading Between the Lines that it reflected badly on crowd control at the National Railway Museum.
The Railway Series books are part of the National Railway Museum's library. So in a sense, Thomas really is part of the National Collection.

Thomas Comes Home

----

Book no. 36
Published 1992

Stories

Snow Problem
Washout!
Toby's Megatrain
Thomas Comes Home

While Thomas is away at the National Railway Museum, his branch is left in the care of Percy, Toby and Daisy. Daisy finds herself battling a snowstorm, Percy causes the bridge at Hackenbeck to collapse, and Toby takes more trucks than he can handle. On the day Thomas is due to come home, George leaves his cones at Dryaw Crossing, allowing one to stop Daisy. Nevertheless, everything goes smoothly until Thomas finally comes home.

Notes

The title of this book is somewhat misleading. Thomas himself does not appear until the final page.
There are plenty of flashbacks mentioned in this book. Daisy's driver recalls Thomas's snowdrift from Tank Engine Thomas Again, Percy recalls the flood from Percy The Small Engine, and Toby recalls Thomas's fishing adventure from Tank Engine Thomas Again, Mavis's accident with the lorry, and his roadway incident from Toby, Trucks, And Trouble.
Toby's Megatrain is an incident Toby relives from his past in the 1985 Annual story The Strawberry Special, in which Toby took 48 trucks and almost used up his water in doing so.
This book marks the second appearance of George.
The illustrations of "Toby's Megatrain" show Toby with a face at the rear cab as well as the front cab. This is the only time in the Railway Series that Toby has been illustrated with two faces.

Henry and the Express

----

Book no. 37
Published 1993

Stories

Out of Puff
Overhaul
Sliding Scales
Henry Sees Red

Henry

Henry the Green Engine

is due for an overhaul. Other engines help with his duties while he is away (for example, James

James the Red Engine

hauls The Flying Kipper). But when there is no engine to take the Express, Henry is called back early and proves once again that he is a "Really Useful Engine".

Notes

This book features a brief appearance in one illustration of the Peel Godred Branch, the Island of Sodor's
Sodor (fictional island)
Sodor is a fictional island in the Irish Sea used as the setting for The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry, and later used in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends television series.-Inspiration and creation:...

only electric railway.
The first illustration features a diesel talking to Gordon. According to Diana Awdry, Christopher Awdry's ex-wife, this is a return appearance of The "Works Diesel".
This book features the first appearance of Oliver since Duke the Lost Engine, although he only makes cameo appearances.

Wilbert the Forest Engine

----

Book no. 38
Published 1994

Stories

Percy's Porridge
Cab Over Wheels
Foaming at the Funnel
Wired Up

Donald and Douglas

Donald and Douglas are two fictional steam locomotives from The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry. They also appear in Thomas and Friends, the television series based on the books...

are overworked. The Fat Controller arranges to borrow an engine called Wilbert from the Dean Forest Railway

Dean Forest Railway

The Dean Forest Railway is a long heritage railway that runs between Lydney and Parkend in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. The route was part of the Severn and Wye Railway which ran from Lydney to Cinderford. The society that operates the line started steam locomotive operations in 1971, and...

in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

to help out. He tells Thomas and Toby the story of Sixteen, has his tank filled with milk rather than water and pulls a truck using wire.

Notes

Wilbert is a real engine. He is actually named after Rev. Wilbert Awdry, Christopher Awdry's father and the creator of the Railway Series. Wilbert Awdry was President of the Dean Forest Railway.
This book also features the only appearance of Sixteen, a steelworks shunter.
'Percy's Porridge
Porridge
Porridge is a dish made by boiling oats or other cereal meals in water, milk, or both. It is usually served hot in a bowl or dish...

' was written with the help of the children of Abingdon School
Abingdon School
Abingdon School is a British day and boarding independent school for boys situated in Abingdon, Oxfordshire , previously known as Roysse's School. In 1998 a formal merger took place between Abingdon School and Josca's, a preparatory school four miles to the west at Frilford...

as part of an exercise in creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...

, and the book is dedicated to them.

Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines

----

Book no. 39
Published 1995

Stories

Birdstrike
Edward and the Cabbages
Rabbits
Golden Jubilee

It is 50 years since the first Railway Series books were published, and the Fat Controller plans to celebrate this occasion with a party. Unfortunately, things do not go entirely smoothly in the run-up to the celebration. Gordon has an accident with some birds, Edward loses a wheel, Thomas is derailed by some rabbits and a spider's web shorts out the electrics in the signalbox at Knapford Junction. But everything works out well in the end, and Pip and Emma bring a Royal Personage to enjoy the day with the Fat Controller's Engines.

Notes

This book was actually written to commemorate the very same anniversary the engines are celebrating in the stories.
The book was originally to be titled The Fat Controller's Engines, but the publishers insisted on a Thomas link in the title.
The Royal Personage is not named, but it seems likely that it is Prince Charles.

New Little Engine

----

Book no. 40
Published 1996

Stories

Speedkiller
Sir Handel's Plan
Dirty Water
I Name This Engine…

The Skarloey Railway

Skarloey Railway

needs another engine. The Thin Controller announces that a new one will be built. In the meantime, Peter Sam is sent to visit the Talyllyn Railway

Talyllyn Railway

. The engine is finally completed, and the railway's engineer, Mr Hugh, is to unveil the name. He is surprised to discover that the engine has been named Ivo Hugh – after himself!

Notes

First appearance of Ivo Hugh, Lizzie and Kathy. The railway's second diesel engine, Fred, is mentioned but not seen.
Peter Sam's visit commemorates the fact that the Talyllyn Railway again paid tribute to the Railway Series by repainting their engine, Edward Thomas, to look like Peter Sam.
The name Ivo Hugh comes as a tribute to Tom Rolt, even to the amount of letters in the names.
During Speedkiller Rheneas is drawn as an 0-4-2
0-4-2
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-2 represents the wheel arrangement with no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle...

. Peter Sam is missing half of his running gear, and Duke is drawn without a tender.

Thomas and Victoria

----

Book no. 41
Published 2007

Stories

Overloaded
Avalanche
Eels on Wheels
Toby's Vintage Train

Toby and Henrietta are overcrowded carrying the workmen from the Quarry

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

and a close call at a level crossing shows how desperate the situation is – an extra carriage is needed urgently. Thomas finds the perfect solution when he meets Victoria – a lovely, old carriage. While Victoria is being renovated, she tells Edward a tale from the old days on the Furness Railway. Meanwhile, Daisy discovers that she doesn't like snakes very much when a whole boxful of eels escape on to the platform! Once finished, Victoria is taken over to Knapford Junction and joins Toby and Henrietta as Sodor's Vintage Train.

Notes

First Railway Series book published in over 11 years.
First appearance of Victoria, a blue Furness Railway
Furness Railway
The Furness Railway was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England.-History:The company was established on May 23, 1844 when the Furness Railway Act was passed by Parliament...

4-wheeled coach; Helena, another coach and Albert, a Furness Railway locomotive.
Henrietta is seen in this book with a small rectangular face on her door. This is the first instance in the books where Henrietta is seen with a face.
Thomas only speaks once in the book.

Thomas and his Friends

----

Book no. 42
Published 2011

Stories

Thomas and the Swans
Buffer Bashing
Gordon's Fire Service
Centenary

The Fat Controller welcomes back Pip and Emma to help on his Railway. Thomas is delighted; Gordon is worried that his time as the Express is over. But every engine has its day! Thomas makes an important rescue, Gordon proves himself a hero, and all the engines celebrate a Very Important Event.

Notes:

This book was written to mark the centenary of the birth of the Reverend W. Awdry.
For the first time ever in the series, the electric engines that work the Peel Godred branch are mentioned in the text.
This book marks the first time in the series' history that "The End" was used at the end of a book.

Railway Series-related books

There have been several Railway Series-related books published which were written by the Awdrys, but which are not actually part of the Railway Series proper. Nonetheless, they complement the original books and are considered canon

Canon (fiction)

In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...

The Annuals

----

From 1979-1980 the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends annuals were written by Rev. W. Awdry, and from 1985-1996 by Christopher Awdry

Christopher Awdry

. They included several stories and articles about the characters. In some cases, these stories expanded upon earlier Railway Series books and in others they were entirely new. One, 'The Strawberry Special' in the 1985 Annual, was later rewritten and used in Thomas Comes Home as 'Toby's Megatrain'.

A number of new characters were introduced in the annuals. Perhaps the most notable was Algy the Bus, a friend of Bertie's

Bertie the Bus

Bertie the Bus is a small red bus character from The Railway Series books by the Rev. W Awdry and who also appears in the spin-off children's television series Thomas and Friends.-Book character:...

. Also, Henry's Driver's name is revealed to be Ted in one of the later annuals.

Thomas's Christmas Party

----

Published 1984
Written by Rev. W. Awdry
Illustrated by Clive Spong

A one-off story written especially for the television series – the only Rev. W. Awdry-authored story to be so written. The engines hold a special Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

celebration for Mrs Kyndley.

Thomas Comes to Breakfast

----

Published 1985
Written by Rev. W. Awdry
Illustrated by Clive Spong

An expanded version of the first story from Branch Line Engines, which also summarises the remainder of that book.

Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree

----

Published 1986
Written by Christopher Awdry
Illustrated by Clive Spong

This story was also written for the television series, and was used in the second series. Thomas is sent to fetch a Christmas tree

Christmas tree

The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...

, but runs into a snowdrift. It is up to Donald and Douglas

Donald and Douglas

Donald and Douglas are two fictional steam locomotives from The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry. They also appear in Thomas and Friends, the television series based on the books...

to save the day for him.

Notes

Because this book is a television tie-in, Donald and Douglas appear in black, as they do in the series. In the Railway Series, they had long since been painted blue. It is also notable that the only engines present at the Christmas celebrations are those who had been featured in the television series at that point – Bear, Oliver and Mavis are strangely absent.
The 'Works' Diesel appears briefly in this book, as the engine who brings the Christmas tree from the Other Railway
The Other Railway
In the children's books The Railway Series, by the Rev. W. Awdry, The Other Railway refers to British Railways , the UK nationalised rail organisation that existed from 1948 until 1997....

.

Thomas and the Evil Diesel

----

Published 1987
Written by Christopher Awdry
Illustrated by Clive Spong

When Percy has to go to the Works for repairs, Diesel returns to Sodor and, as expected, causes trouble for the engines by destroying the oldest truck in Ffarqhuar Yards. But two days later, Thomas has an accident when Daisy drips her oil on the track and Clarabel's back wheels come off the rails at the special points at Dryaw, so Diesel comes to the rescue. It seems that even Diesel has some good in him somewhere.

Notes

In the USA, 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.
This book marks Diesel's second visit to Sodor.
Diesel was the only engine available to come to Sodor in this book, a device that Britt Allcroft
Britt Allcroft
Britt Allcroft is the multi- award-winning creator of a trio of children's entertainment produced in the 1980s and 1990s: "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends", , "Shining Time Station" and "Britt Allcroft's Magic Adventures of Mumfie".She was born Hilary Mary Allcroft, in Worthing, England and, at...

would use in the TV series.
This is Clarabel's first accident.
Three of Clive Spong's illustrations from this book would be modified for the Railway Series books Thomas And The Great Railway Show, Thomas Comes Home, and Thomas And The Fat Controller's Engines.
The special points scenario of the book would inspire Christopher Awdry to write the 1991 Annual story Henry And The Trap Points, which would explain to readers why special points are important to the railway.

Thomas and the Hurricane

----

Published 1992
Written by Christopher Awdry
Illustrated by Stephen Lings

A hurricane hits Sodor, causing chaos for the engines.

Bad Days for Thomas and His Friends / More Bad Days for Thomas and His Friends

----

Published 2001
Written by Christopher Awdry
Illustrated by David Anderson

A pair of books written to highlight rail safety using characters from the Railway Series. They were written partially due to Christopher Awdry's frustration at not being able to include a proper rail safety story in his 1991 railway series book Thomas and the Great Railway Show ("published 10 years before").

Bad Days for Thomas and His Friends stories

New Paint for Annie and Clarabel - some boys are caught spraying graffiti around the station and on the two coaches.
A Near Miss for Daisy - some children on Thomas's branch line have been causing trouble throwing rocks at the trains and placing objects on the rails, one of which Daisy almost has a run-in with.
Lucy to the Rescue - A boy named Andrew is riding his bike along the railway when one of his tires gets stuck between two rail joints. His dog Lucy runs ahead and warns Thomas, who was approaching with a train.

More Bad Days for Thomas and His Friends stories

Toby and the Skateboarders - a boy has a near miss when he falls off the station platform while skateboarding near Toby.
Nearly an Unhappy Christmas - a girl named Alysha's new hat blows off and is stuck between some electric railway wires. An engine and his driver stop her just before she reaches out to get it.
Trouble on the Train - Two naughty girls push a girl named Gemma out of Annie and run off just before the train was due to leave. Thomas, Annie and Clarabel think Gemma should report the names of the other girls.

Notes

Policeman Len appears in every story, disciplining or helping the children as needed.
The Peel Godred branch appears in the story Nearly an Unhappy Christmas, as well as one of its engines, who has yet to be named.

The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways

----

Published 1987
Written by Rev. W. Awdry and George Awdry
Illustrated by Clive Spong
Clive Spong
Clive Spong is an English illustrator of The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry. He illustrated the books written by Christopher Awdry published since 1983.Books:*Really Useful Engines*James and the Diesel Engines...

This is a book about the Island of Sodor

Sodor (fictional island)

Sodor is a fictional island in the Irish Sea used as the setting for The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry, and later used in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends television series.-Inspiration and creation:...

, dealing with its history, geography and industry in far greater depth than could ever be discussed in the Railway Series stories themselves. Most of the background information on the places, people, railways and engines in the Railway Series comes from this book.

The book came about as a result of Rev. W. Awdry's desire to create a credible and consistent world for his stories. This began with maps of Sodor, and was then expanded upon. Rev. W. Awdry and his brother George (who was the librarian of the National Liberal Club

National Liberal Club

The National Liberal Club, known to its members as the NLC, is a London gentlemen's club, now also open to women, which was established by William Ewart Gladstone in 1882 for the purpose of providing club facilities for Liberal Party campaigners among the newly-enlarged electorate after the Third...

) worked out details of Sodor, producing between them a comprehensive set of notes. These notes were compiled and published in this book.

The Thomas the Tank Engine Man

----

Published 1995
Written by Brian Sibley
Brian Sibley
Brian Sibley is an English writer. He is author of over 100 hours of radio drama and has written and presented hundreds of radio documentaries, features and weekly programmes.- Early life :...

A biography of Rev. W. Awdry and companion to the series. Although it is not officially a Railway Series publication, it includes a great deal of background information on the series from the Awdrys that is not available elsewhere. Although it is not canon as such, therefore, it contains a lot of information that is.

Sodor: Reading Between the Lines

----

Published 2005
Written by Christopher Awdry

This book is a companion volume to the Railway Series, providing comprehensive biographies of the characters within the books and exploring the origins of the stories. Like The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, it included aspects of the fictional universe

Fictional universe

A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....

that were never featured in the Railway Series stories. It brought the history of Sodor right up to date, describing developments on the railway that had occurred since 1996.

External links

The Real Stories Database gives real life parallels to many of these stories

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.