Wilbert Awdry

"The creator of these stories, sometimes wonders whether he dreamt up Thomas, or Thomas dreamt up him. But the Reverend Awdry is destined to be remembered, as the Thomas the Tank Engine Man" - Hilary Fortnam.

Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry was a Anglican clergyman, railway enthusiast, and the creator of The Railway Series and it's many characters . He wrote the original twenty six volumes of The Railway Series. His creation would later be adapted into Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends in 1984 by Britt Allcroft. He is known as The Thin Clergyman, and The Author, in The Railway Series.

Biography

Wilbert Awdry was born in Romsey Hampshire, on 15th June 1911, at 5:22 PM, to Lucy and Vere Awdry.

Interview Quotes

TV-am Interview:

"Well I think Ringo's done an excellent job!" - After being asked how he thought Ringo Starr was doing as far as narrating the new television series.

"I've been asking myself that question for the last 40 years!"

- Awdry after being asked why he created the franchise.

Thomas the Tank Engine Man:

"The first two sets of videos were, in my mind quite good, because they stuck, in the main to the stories. There a success i think. Made the producers, somewhat big-headed and in the third series they thought that they could right my stories for... for them. And so doing, they only revealed their lamentable ignorance of Railway Practice. For instance the video called 'Henry's Forest' the story was about Henry, an engine. Henry is in there, in that story is enraptured by the forest which he goes through. Now what interest does a loco... a steam locomotive have in scenery? On one occasion in the story the driver says to Henry "We've made good time over the last section, let's stop for a bit". Well what responsible driver would stop as if it was in a in a roadside lay-by? You can't do it! They've show a lamentable ignorance of Rule 55!"

- Awdry references the classic series.

"The children and their parents are buy, still buying these books in, in thousands. Above an age that he's gone! I want to power Billy Bunter or William! Nobody uh, Nobody goes to schoolers place like Billy Bunter and nobody lives nowadays, you know in a sort of suburban house, like Richmal Crompton's William, but there it is!"

- Awdry refers to Thomas' lasting popularity.

"I'd like to be remembered as the author who perhaps understood children. Perhaps in a small sense understood perhaps how their minds work, i don't know"

- Awdry on how he would like to be remembered.

News Interview "Retirement" 1988:

"First train of the day is a tram train pulled by Toby, who has come up through the villages" - Referring to Toby on his Ffarquhar layout.

"Get your finger out! Further back please. Impossible to operate." - After a child tried to touch the layout, beyond the display.

"You got to remember who your writing for. Your not really merely writing for children, your writing for the unfortunate people, who've got to read the stories over and over, and over again".

The Making of Thomas the Tank Engine (1995):

"Oh, this is the story I've been telling for the last thirty or forty years. I'm sick of it! But your all behind the times, my books are best sellers in Australia, New Zealand, for the past thirty years!"

- After being asked where and when the series all started.

"Yes you should, Not waited until I'm in my dotage"

- After his interviewer said that perhaps he should have done the interview thirty years ago.

"Well their talking rubbish. I've got no idea how much!"

- After being asked if he's actually rich, like the newspapers claim.

"Good in parts. First two series were alright. They nearly stuck to my stories. But in the success of them, they, the producers, get what i call big-headed. They show their lamentable ignorance.

- Thoughts on the television series.

Other Quotes

“Having told stories about engines, we had to have models of them too. During the war years materials were hard to get, but I managed to make, out of odds and ends of wood, a push-along model of Edward with coaches and trucks to match. I never got far as making Henry or Gordon, but I did make a tank-engine which we called Thomas. Once we made Thomas, I had no peace until there were stories about him too!”

- Awdry on Thomas' creation in 1961.

"Railways and the church have their critics, but both are the best ways of getting a man to his ultimate destination"

- Quote about Railways and Churches.

"There so obsessed with the popularity of Thomas; that they have, what I can only call, crane shunted Thomas to all sorts of unlikely places, in order to get him into or force him into a particular story, whether the story was written with Thomas in mind or not"

- Quote expressing views on the Television Series.

"Thomas is the eternal child! Thomas is given a prohibition; naturally, as all children do when they’re told not to do something, they want to know why, and they find out why by doing it"

- Awdry on Thomas' everlasting popularity.

"There is no doubt in my mind that steam engines all have definite personalities. I would hear them snorting up the grade and little imagination was needed to hear in the puffings and panting of the two engines the conversation they were having with one another: "I can't do it! I can't do it!" "Yes you can! Yes you can!"

- Quote about how watching steam-engines on the GWR as a child would later help inspire The Railway Series.

"Whatever happened to Thomas, Gordon, Henry, and the others had to have actually happened and have a railway-like explanation which fitted"- Quote on the importance of railway realism in his stories

"And electrics, especially the London Underground (Trains), they live in holes, and you have got the feeling that like a worm you could cut it in half and it wouldn't mind. It would grow a seperate end each way" - Quote while describing the 'personality' of Diesel and Electric engines during a BBC Interview on August 4th 1981.[1]

Letter Regarding The Sad Story of Henry (1953) Broadcast

Dear Mrs Adams, Thank you very much for your letter, written on 22nd. As you will have seen from the papers (June 23rd) the matter has been one of almost national concern!!

I agree with you that the narrator was much too B.B.C. in the tone of voice, but she must, poor girl, have had rather a trying time. When things went wrong, she tried bravely to adapt the script to suit what was happening - but events were too much for her in the end!

The fundamental trouble was that the B.B.C. thought that it is child's play to operate a model Railway and did not allow enough time before programme day for the models (a) to be made and tested properly (b) for very careful rehearsal of their programme.

However they have assured me that this will be done next time. With good wishes and many thanks for your letter, Yours sincerely, W. Awdry."

Books Published

All Original 26 volumes of The Railway Series. (1945-1972).
Our Child Begins to Pray (1951).
Railway Map of the Island of Sodor (1958).
Belinda the Beetle (1958).
The Little People (1960).
Belinda Beats the Band (1961).
The Railway Series: Surprise Packet (1972).
Thomas' Christmas Party (1984).
The Island of Sodor: It's People, History and Railways (1987;Co-Written with George Awdry).
The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (1987;Co-Written with P.J. Long).
Biography of J.E. McConnell (Working on between at-least 1970-1981;Unknown as to whether it was finished or not;Never Published).
Various different compilation volumes of his works have also been published.

Lectures

Narrow Gauge Rails in Sodor (1972).
Railways of Sodor (1972).

Speeches

The Trials of an Author (1979;At the Wells Railway Fraternity Dinner).

Trivia

An original Awdry letter, and sketch of Gordon are currently owned by eBay user violinist01.
Some of Awdry's favorite television programs included The Professionals, Mastermind, and S.W.A.T. He also enjoyed the movie "Last Train from Gun Hill".
His favorite Cartoon was Tom & Jerry. His favorite TV Show was Last of The Summer Wine, his favorite film was Campbell's Kingdom (1957), and his favorite book was A Morbid Taste For Bones (1977).
He shares a birthday with other notable-figures, such as Xi Jinping, Courteney Cox, Ice Cube, & Neil Patrick Harris.
Awdry broke his arm in 1986, something mentioned in the September 20th 1986 edition of the Coventry Evening Telegraph, advertising the upcoming premiere of Season 2 of the TV-Series. "I trod on a step that wasn't there. I came down flat and broke my elbow. But it's not my writing arm. Really it's just a bit of a nuisance" he said.
Before his death, Awdry began writing a biography on J.E. McConnell, it is unknown as to whether or not it was finished. It is known however that it could have been finished, as Awdry was known to be working on the book in 1981, sixteen years before his death in 1997. The whereabouts of the transcript of the book are unknown, however it can be presumed they are still in his house, or in his archives at his study.
In his later years, Awdry usually ate Cake and a Orange before bed.
According to Newspapers of the day, The Reverend had received around ten-million pounds in royalties, by the end of his lifetime.
Awdry made a brief appearance in the 1965 short documentary entitled "Railway with a Heart of Gold" which was filmed on the Talyllyn Railway. It should be noted however, that although released in 1965, the short was actually filmed in the early 1950's.
Many Thomas books from the 1980's and the 1990's credit Awdry with writing them, despite the fact that he wasn't the author of these books, Thomas' Party Pop-up, a book published after Awdry's death, is a prime example.
Awdry's Thomas models for his layout were built in 1948, 1979, & 1982.

Gallery

Awdry's Models & Layouts

Throughout his life, Wilbert Awdry constructed many layouts and models based upon characters that he created for the Railway Series, this included a model of Ffarquhar, Tidmouth, and the Mid-Sodor-Railway. Awdry first began modelling as a teenager in the 1920s (And about 1948 for his Thomas centric creations), and continued until at-least 1982. Models of Standard Gauge characters created included three models of Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, two models of Percy, three models of Toby, Henrietta, Elsie, two different models of Annie & Clarabel, S.C. Ruffey, Duck, Donald, Oliver, Stepney, City of Truro, Daisy, BoCo, Mavis, Bloomer, Stephenson's Rocket, a Class 08 Diesel Shunter, and Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST Class "Warrington". Despite not having a Skarloey Railway layout, several characters from the railway were also constructed, including Skarloey, Rheneas, two models of Peter Sam, Duncan, Agnes, Ruth, Lucy, Jemima, and Beatrice. Models constructed for Awdry's Mid-Sodor Railway Layout included Duke, Falcon, Stuart, multiple models of Albert, Jim, Tim, Atlas, Alfred, Gerry, Stanley, The Mine Engine, John, and Jennings. Awdry additionally had two spare models for both Falcon and Stuart. Over the years, Awdry amassed various other pieces of rolling stock, such as the "Quarryman's Coach", "Suncole", and "Old King Coal", among various others, that appeared throughout all of his layouts. Additionally two boats named Nancy and Violet were featured as part of Awdry's Tidmouth layout. Christopher Awdry is currently in possession of Wilbert's small Mid-Sodor Railway Layout, as-well as its engines. Most all of the rest of Awdry's Original Model's and his Ffarquhar layout have been preserved by the Tallylyn Railway Museum. Most of the modern images seen here, originate from the Talyllyn Railway Narrow Gauge Railway Museum, which can be found in Wales, UK. The Museum has also preserved Awdry's original Study, and many of his archives, therein. Currently, Awdry is known to have had at-least, fifty different engine models.