The Complete Collection (Thomas the Tank Engine)

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The illustrations by C. Reginald Dalby, John T. Kenney and Peter and Gunvor Edwards helped to cement this feeling, and both the writing and illustrations proved to be very comforting to me. I also enjoyed the fact that most of the stories were based on real railways and incidents which had happened.

The ultimate nostalgic offering for all those who delight in the adventures of this cheeky little engine and his friends and a delightful present for new babies who are sure to grow up to be firm Thomas fans. Children aged 3 and up will love meeting classic characters such as Percy, James, Gordon, and Toby down on The Fat Controller's railway. The short stories and beautiful illustrations are perfect for bedtime reading. You can absolutely tell the Author was a big fan of Trains, and the research done must have been extraordinary to turn seemingly everyday events on the railways of the time into great adventures, must have taken great imagination! It might seem strange adding this one to my list of 'read' books, but this book was literally my entire childhood. I was an absolute Thomas - and train - fanatic, and these stories were my favourite thing ever. The drawings that are included in with the stories are just an added bonus too, and I spent hours pouring over them as a three- and four-year-old kid.

Wilbert Awdry | Johnny Morris | Willie Rushton | Ted Robbins | John Gielgud | Andrew Sachs | Michael Angelis This compilation contains all 26 of The Reverend W. Awdry's "Railway Series" books. It doesn't contain any of this son, Christopher's additions to the series, however, so the claim that this is "The Complete Collection" is slightly disingenuous. Surely someone has done a detailed exegesis? I'll confess that I am, indeed, very curious about the details. For example, the episode my kids liked most when they were at the appropriate age. They unwisely fill Thomas up with water from the river. He comes over feeling all funny, so they look in his storage tank. Another thing is that people should stop harping about the name "The Fat Controller". Yes, it is referring to a man's rotund stature, but all the same it's a children's book, referring to a fictional controller. If you prefer, while reading this, just say "Sir Topham Hatt" (his actual name) in your mind or out loud, if you are reading it. The only minuses there are (which are few), are some very advanced railway terminology, outdated phrases (I've never before heard "Play him out" yet it's mentioned countless times in the book), and the artwork - which while charming, can sometimes also look like nightmare fuel!

The author of the Thomas books was a clergyman, and I'm torn between two thoughts. On the one hand, it's very tempting to believe that they are intended as Christian allegory. On the other, an interpretation along those lines almost inevitably ends with the conclusion that the Fat Controller is God. I'm not a Christian, but even I find this a little blasphemous. Or perhaps it just shows that I will never be a Really Useful Engine. The Japanese version was published in commemoration of the 40th anniversary from the publication of the Railway Series in Japan. With the numerous books written between 1945 - 1972 it was interesting to see how Adwry evolved the series with many new engines introduced over time, whilst the more popular characters like Thomas had additional stories focusing on them.I enjoyed all these new railways and the storylines they brought to the series, but especially liked the stories of the Skarloey and Mountain Railways. Like a lot of young British lads, I absolutely loved Thomas the Tank Engine, and enjoyed the TV series, being the late eighties baby that I was. A sturdy favourite of my youth, and now that of my little boy, having read through this whole collection together many times! He can explain when you need a banking engine, and the difference between mainlines and branchlines and even (thanks to James) why damaged brakes 'leak on'. There is nobody whom I would not hesitate to recommend this to. This is the sort of book that parents could read to their children, and still have a great time reading it. These are the types of stories that those children will read and praise when they are older. These are the stories that those children will tell their children. So like I say when I read the various children books - I still have so much to learn from the classics what ever they are.

So yes, as I've already pointed out a little - I really enjoyed how authentic the stories were (minus the talking locomotives obviously!), and there's enough differing stories to not make them boring (not every story is introducing a new engine etc.) To be clear, the title "The Complete Collection" refers to the fact that these are all of the Reverend Wilbert Awdry's Railway Series books. His son, Christopher, has written several more afterwards. Though the book says "Thomas the Tank Engine" on it, these stories are not only about him, but also the rest of the Really Useful Engines on the Island of Sodor, with No. 1 sometimes not appearing for a full book. On the 1996 edition's dust cover, two illustrations from Gordon the Big Engine and Tank Engine Thomas Again appear twice.This elegant slipcase brings together all 26 books from this famous Railway Series in one stunning volume. So on to the book - this is a gloriously grand collection of all of the original stories along with the artwork that brought the various engines to life. There are a short afterwards which covers of the Rev Awdry along with the two main artists who illustrated (and brought) the island of Sodor and the various engines to life.

This collection has all of the Reverend's original Thomas books, which definitely saves hunting them down individually, as they could be worth a pretty penny by now. The stories make up most of the first couple of seasons of the animated Thomas the Tank Engine series, minus the 'Small Railway Engines' & the 'Mountain Engines' which never made into the animated series to my knowledge? I owned many of these separate story books too, but it's only after finding this collection and rereading them all over again that you realise just how clever these books are. I can’t really name one favourite book in the series as they all offered different things to me, so will give a list of those that I enjoyed the most. I also enjoyed reading the afterwards, adding much info & work I didn't know, that went into these books. One thing that did catch me by surprise was that there was such a large array of engines - now again I thought a lot of the engines were creations of the various TV and toy franchises trying to expand and increase their sales of the various characters but no - a very large number of the engines where originals from the various stories.I enjoyed the earlier books in a different way to the later ones, as they were escapist to me, portraying a world which never perhaps really existed, but also enjoyed the complexity of the later books as well, as the emotions of the situations the engines found themselves in, became more prominent. One of the suprise aspects was Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine - a set of stories focusing on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, I remember visiting that as a kid. This book comprised a large part of my childhood. My dad would read this to me and my brothers before bed and I think the influence it had is considerable. The language of this book is incredible considering its context as a children's book; the vocabulary level raised that of me and my brothers many years beyond our age, in the most subtle and enjoyable way possible. William Middleton | Reginald Payne | C. Reginald Dalby | John T. Kenney | Gunvor and Peter Edwards | Clive Spong | Stephen Lings