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   Thomas the Tank Engine and his Sodor Railway friends have chuffed out from the
   pages of Rev. Awdry's best-selling styoybooks and onto television screens around
   the world, courtesy of Britt Allcroft. The translation has been deceptively simple.
   The tv engines are remote control Hornby-style models with interchangeable faces
   operated against train set scenery, with paper mache hills and sponge and wire
   trees - just like the tracks and sets you'd find in rail enthusiast's lofts and garages.

   Initially former Beatle Ringo Starr narrated the railway stories, but from the third
   UK season he was replaced by another scouser, Michael Angelis. Meanwhile,
   in America, the concept was tweaked a little with new live-action wraparounds
   and cultural changes to the stories and characters. "Shining Time Station", as the
   series was known there, was just as successful as the UK original. And boy,
   what a hit it was and still is. Briit Allcroft's team have so far filmed 146
   steam-filled stories, and even imported a Hollywood legend-or-two for a Thomas
   the Tank Engine feature film, "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" (2001).

   Not quite animation in its truest form, perhaps, but the Sodor Railway and the
   engines, trucks, helicopters and associates all participate in a uniquely-realised
   world that's more real than many traditionally animated efforts you might care to
   mention.
   
   Thomas' producers, Robert Cardona and David Mitton went on to bring us the
   series Tugs, this time featuring radio controlled model boats...

    

    Sodor Railways

    Rev. Wilbert Awdry's Sodor Railway books have been in print for 40 years. He
    created 26 original works, all published in an engaging A6 landscape format,
    just right for tiny hands and appealing to collectors too because of their
    "miniature" feel.

    The stars of the first few books were, of course, Thomas the Tank Engine,
    Henry the Green Engine, James the Red Engine etc, with the Reverend's tales
    evocatively illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby. Then John T. Kenney brought his own
    twist to the artwork in books like "The Twin Engines", but personally, The Hound
    gets a kick out of the later works. "Small Railway Engines" (above), "Mountain
    Engines", "Duke the Lost Engine", etc - these explored lesser known realms of
    Sodor Island and its railway life and afforded artists Gunvor & Peter Edwards the
    oppurtunity to create ever more atmospheric artwork to accompany Wilbert's
    tales - tales which had become more poignant as each latter work was published
    and the great age of the railways passed its peak.

    Wilbert's son Christopher took up the pen when he died, creating 14 new 
    Railway Series books between 1983 and 1996, whilst Brit Allcroft's series
    steamed from television to videos to licensed products and on...

    A Fat Fact

    The infamous Fat Controller, so berated for his plump name, was originally
    known as The Fat Director. It wasn't until Book Three, "James the Red Engine",
    that Rev. Awdry revealed how his title changed to the more familiar version
    with the nationalisation of the Sodor Railway. It's also interesting to note how
    much press space was devoted to the American alteration of The Fat Controller's
    title to Sir Topham Hatt, but this in fact, was Rev. Awdry's original name for
    the man, who is namechecked thus in Book 6 - "Henry the Green Engine".


    Calling All Engines!

    In October 2005, the Sodor railway returned to our screens, courtesy of a
    feature-length DVD special. When the Fat Controller/Sir Topham Hatt begins
    development of Sodor's new airport, those old rivals, the diesel engines
    are once more pitched against our chuffing heroes in an escalating feud
    that threatens the Island's very future!

 

     

    Thomas the Tank Engine on DVD

    VCI have released the first five original series, in their entirety, as a rather
    desirable box set, as well as the first two series separately, for collectors with
    a smaller budget...

    Thomas and Friends: Classic Collection - Series 1 To 5  
    Series 1 - 5 box set / R2 / VCI / November 2004

    Classic Collection - Series 1
    all 26 episodes / R2 / VCI / January 2005

    Classic Collection - Series 2
    all 26 episodes / R2 / VCI / April 2005

    Then there's the recent special:

    Thomas and Friends: Calling All Engines
    Film + extras  / R2 / VCI / October 2005

    Meanwhile, for more general fans (or completists!), there are at least 12 further
    UK DVD compilations to look out for. These feature various episodes from across
    the different series...

      Bumper Party Collection                         Happy Little Helpers
      12 episodes / R2 / VCI / May 2005                 8 episodes / R2 / VCI / October 2003

      Peep! Peep! Hurray!                                The Very Best of...
      7 episodes / R2 / VCI / February 2005            16 episodes / R2 / VCI / August 2003

      It's Great to be an Engine                       Brave Little Engines
      7 episodes / R2 / VCI / October 2004              8 episodes / R2 / VCI / June 2003

      Pulling Together                                        The Chocolate Crunch and Other Stories
      8 episodes / / R2 / VCI / August 2004               8 episodes / R2 / VCI / March 2003

      Steam Team                                               The Fogman and Other Stories
      6 episodes / R2 / VCI / May 2004                     8 episodes / R2 / VCI / October 2002

      Engines to the Rescue                             Seasonal Scrapes
      8 episodes / R2 / VCI / March 2004                 17 episodes / R2 / VCI / October 2001


 

     Thomas and the Sodor railway engines created by Rev W Awdry

    director:       David Mitton
    producers:    David Mitton, Briit Allcroft, Robert Cardona
    writers:         Rev W Awdry, Christopher Awdry, Britt Allcroft
    narration:     Ringo Starr
                       Michael Angelis

 

      On the web


       Thomas The Tank Engine
       http://www.thomasthetankengine.com
       HIT Entertainment's official Thomas site, now getting up to speed...

       Randomhouse 
       http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/thomas
       This one is from Randomhouse in the States, and again it's a licensing
       promotion. All the latest tie-in books are indexed (priced in $s of course),
       plus there's some wordsearch fun for youngsters to download and a slim 
       additional biography page for the late great Rev. Awdry and his son
       Christopher, and a corporate profile of tv-series developer Britt Allcroft....

       Jedi's Paradise
       http://www.jedisparadise.co.uk/
       Jedi Man gives us two fine choices: One link leads to info and pics of
       the Thomas original at a kids tv exhibition held in Dudley a few years back.
       T'other gives us a splendid page of screen grabs from the series to drool over...

       Shining Time Station
       http://www.angelfire.com/nc/shiningtime/
       Now this is interesting, it's a fan site detailing the american version of
       Thomas, known as Shining Time Station. There's show info, details on its
       musical content, episode guides and a pictures page of home-made gifs -
       confusing though at first, for us Brits....

       Awdry Family Home Page
       http://www.users.waitrose.com/~dawdry/index.html
       With the continuing runaway success of the Thomas series and its
       associated licensing it's all too easy to forget about the actual origins of
       these little Sodor Railway engines. That's why you should pop by the
       Awdry Family Home Page. Rev. Awdry's son Christopher now writes the
       Railway Series, and these pages keep you up to date on his whereabouts
       and happenings.....


 
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