Thomas+the+Tank+Engine

By: Mackenzie Callahan

Reverend Wilbert Awdry came up of the stories and ideas of Thomas the Tank Engine in 1945 trying to entertain his son, Christopher. He was also recovering from isolation from having the measles. After a while of singing the little chorus tune repeatedly, he started to draw the story for Christopher. In the drawings he gave each character a different face, one happy, one sad, one mad, etc. The sad one caught Christopher's eye and he decided to ask his father about it. //'Why is he sad, Daddy?' // //'Because he's old and hasn't been out in a long time.' // //'What's his name, Daddy?' // //'Edward!' // Edward was the first character to be made and then, the first story was created, 'Edward's Day Out!' As the stories carried on Gordon and Henry were created as well and they were each given their own human-like personalities. Eventually, Awdry's wife decided these stories need to be told to other and found a small publisher who could create his stories into a book. In 1945 four stories were published in one book called, //The Three Railway Engines.// As more stories were created, so were books and characters. In the second series, the famous Thomas the Tank Engine was created. Since Thomas has a very perky personality he brought interest to children and parents. Thomas the Tank Engine was built by Christopher using a broomstick and dowel pieces. Wilbert then painted a number '1' on Thomas and each and every character soon got numbers painted on the too. In the second series the book was called // Thomas the Tank Engine // with for short stories in it, published in 1946. By 1972 Wilbert wrote twenty-six books and retired after that. Christopher followed in his fathers footsteps and started writing and telling railway stories to his son, Richard. Between 1983 and 1996 Christopher wrote fourteen books, a total of forty books between Wilbert and Christopher. During the mid-1980's Thomas was made into a childhood television show, recreating the stories in a whole new way. Making the stories come to life even more and having children of younger ages being able to watch instead of read. Now, Thomas the Tank Engine has sold over 25 million books in the US and 80 millions books worldwide.