Wilbert Awdry

Wilbert Vere Awdry

The characters that would make Awdry known and the first stories featuring them were invented in 1942 to amuse his son

The first book, The Three Railway Engines, was published in 1945 by Edmund Ward in Leicester. Awdry wrote 26 books in The Railway Series, the last in 1972. Christopher subsequently added further books to the series.

In 1947, 0-6-0T engine No. 1800 was built by Hudswell Clarke; it spent its working life at the British Sugar factory in Peterborough, pushing wagons of sugar beet until it was finally replaced by a diesel engine. Peterborough Railway Society purchased the engine in 1973, and this little blue 'Thomas' engine is the star of the Nene Valley Railway.^[11]

In 1952, Awdry volunteered as a guard on the

Awdry's enthusiasm for railways did not stop at his publications. He was involved in railway preservation, and built

Awdry wrote other books besides those of The Railway Series, both fiction and non-fiction. The story Belinda the Beetle was about a red car (it became a Volkswagen Beetle only in the illustrations to the paperback editions).

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.

Awdry was appointed an OBE in the 1996 New Year's Honours List, but by that time his health had deteriorated and he was unable to travel to London. He died peacefully in his sleep in Stroud, Gloucestershire, on 21 March 1997, at the age of 85.^[15] His ashes are interred at Gloucester Crematorium.

A biography entitled

A

In 2003, a stained glass window commissioned by the Awdry family was unveiled at St. Edmund's church, Emneth, Norfolk.^[16]

In 2011, a blue plaque was unveiled by his daughter Veronica Chambers at The Old Vicarage, Emneth where he lived between 1953 and 1965. In 2012 a blue plaque was unveiled at "Lorne House", Box, where he lived between 1920 and 1928 when its name was "Journey's End".^[17]

In 2013, Cambridgeshire County Council named their new offices in Wisbech Awdry House in his memory.^[18]

In 2015, a CGI representation of Awdry made a cameo appearance in the Thomas & Friends feature-length special

In 2021, to mark the 75th anniversary of Thomas the Tank Engine, a blue plaque was unveiled at the old Rectory of Holy Trinity Church in Ellsworth, Cambridgeshire. Cambridge Past, Present & Future put up the plaque to mark the books he wrote there, which his family was present at. His daughter, Veronica Chambers, said she was "delighted and moved".[19]

Letter to Christopher

In the second book in the series,

• The Railway Series books
  • No. 1 The Three Railway Engines (1945)
  • No. 2 Thomas the Tank Engine (1946)
  • No. 3 James the Red Engine (1948)
  • No. 4 Tank Engine Thomas Again (1949)
  • No. 5 Troublesome Engines (1950)
  • No. 6 Henry the Green Engine (1951)
  • No. 7 Toby the Tram Engine (1952)
  • No. 8 Gordon the Big Engine (1953)
  • No. 9 Edward the Blue Engine (1954)
  • No. 10 Four Little Engines (1955)
  • No. 11 Percy the Small Engine (1956)
  • No. 12 The Eight Famous Engines (1957)
  • No. 13 Duck and the Diesel Engine (1958)
  • No. 14 The Little Old Engine (1959)
  • No. 15 The Twin Engines (1960)
  • No. 16 Branch Line Engines (1961)
  • No. 17 Gallant Old Engine (1962)
  • No. 18 Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine (1963)
  • No. 19 Mountain Engines (1964)
  • No. 20 Very Old Engines (1965)
  • No. 21 Main Line Engines (1966)
  • No. 22 Small Railway Engines (1967)
  • No. 23 Enterprising Engines (1968)
  • No. 24 Oliver the Western Engine (1969)
  • No. 25 Duke the Lost Engine (1970)
  • No. 26 Tramway Engines (1972)
  • Thomas's Christmas Party (1984)
  • Thomas Comes to Breakfast (1985)
• Belinda the Beetle (1958) illustrated by Ionicus
• Belinda Beats the Band (1961) illustrated by John T. Kenney
• W V Awdry & G E V Awdry,
  The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways
  , Kaye and Ward, 1986.

Non-fiction

• Our Child Begins to Pray (Edmund Ward, 1951)
• P J Long & W V Awdry, The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, Alan Sutton Publishing, 1987.
• Chris Cook and W V Awdry, Guide to the Steam Railways of Great Britain, Pelham Books, 1979.

References

Further reading

• Wilbert Vere Awdry from Dictionary of Literary Biography by M. Margaret Dahlberg, University of North Dakota. 2005–2006 Thomson Gale
• ISBN 978-0-7459-7027-1
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wilbert Awdry.

• Rev W Awdry's appearance on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, first broadcast on 16 October 1964
• Awdry Family website
• 'Original' Awdry Family website at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 February 2006) – contains some information not available on the later site
• Sodor Enterprises (publishing company) at the Wayback Machine (archived 22 December 2007) – Formerly www.sodor.co.uk (Dead link discovered April 2010)
• Rev. W. V. Awdry – Biography at the official Awdry Family website
• The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum, Tywyn, Gwynedd, Wales – Home of the Rev. W. V. Awdry's study
• "Obituary: The Rev W. Awdry", from The Independent, written by Brian Sibley
• "Priests and Prelates: The Daily Telegraph Clerical Obituaries" (Entry for Rev. W Awdry), by Trevor Beeson – Note: contains some factual errors.
• Daily Telegraph Obituary Archived 21 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine – on which "Priests and Prelates" is based; also contains errors
• David Self (1 February 2008). "What draws clerics to railways?". Church Times.