The Railway Series is a British series of children's books written by both the Rev. W. Awdry and his son Christopher Awdry. In Toby's Megatrain, Toby has two faces. It is unknown if this depiction is intentional or by mistake.

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.In partnership with his brother George (the librarian of the National Liberal Club), he gradually devised Sodor's history, geography, language, industries and even geology. The results were published in the book The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways in 1987. In addition, the sixteen 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. [ citation needed] Really Useful Engines [ edit ] Awdry, Rev. W.; Awdry, George (1987). The Island of Sodor. Its People, History and Railways. London: Kaye and Ward. p.129. ISBN 0-434-92762-7. The second illustration in the book depicts a group of Victorian locomotives being cut up for scrap. This was actually inspired by Peter Edwards' cover illustration for Graham Greene's 1936 novel A Gun for Sale, which featured a chase on a railway siding. [1]

Thomas - Engine Profile & Bio: Thomas & Friends". Mattel. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Christmas 1942 saw the genesis of the character that grew to become the most famous fictional locomotive in the world. Awdry constructed a toy tank engine for Christopher, which gained the name Thomas. Stories about Thomas were requested by Christopher, and 1946 saw the publication of Thomas the Tank Engine. This was illustrated by Reginald Payne, whom Wilbert felt to be a great improvement over Middleton. Like its predecessor, this book was a success and Awdry was asked to write stories about James, a character who first appeared in Thomas and the Breakdown Train, the final story in Thomas the Tank Engine. The book James the Red Engine appeared in 1948, the year in which the railways in Britain were nationalised, and from this point onwards the Fat Director was known by his familiar title of the Fat Controller.This book was written at the suggestion of L. T. C. Rolt and was based upon the Talyllyn Railway. [ citation needed] Awdry, Christopher (2005). Sodor: Reading Between the Lines. Spalding, UK: Sodor Enterprises. ISBN 0-9549665-1-1. OCLC 931417954. In 1988, his second Ffarquhar model railway layout was shown to the public for the final time and was featured on an ITN News news item. He was again featured on TV-am for Thomas's 40th anniversary in 1990. During all this, Awdry faced many battles– health problems, depression, and the death of his wife, brother and close friend Teddy Boston. Five years later, he was interviewed by Nicholas Jones for the Bookmark film The Thomas the Tank Engine Man, which first aired on 25 February 1995 and repeated again on 15 April 1997 shortly after his death. Ant-Man granted Thomas the Tank cameo as long as train wasn't evil". The Independent. 30 July 2015 . Retrieved 27 December 2022.