Thomas the Train - History and Pop Culture

Thomas the Train, the main figure of Thomas the Tank Engine, began its story sixty years ago, thanks to Anglican Reverend Wilbert Awdry. The clergyman included Thomas the Train as the main character in his stories that he wrote to entertain his son, who had just recovered from scarlet fever. At first, the son got as a Christmas gift a wooden train called Thomas, which lead to making up many stories about it. The stories' hero was a cheeky blue train with 6 wheels, which lived on the Sodor Railways, who always won competitions and got into funny situations. The reverend's wife insisted for the publication of the stories, along with the drawings of British steam locomotives with human faces and expressions.

The first illustrated book, The Three Railway Engines (1945) presented the adventures of Eduard, the initial name of Thomas the Train. Only in the next book, Thomas the Tank Engines that appeared one year later, the name changed into Thomas and remained like that until now. Shortly after, the main character began known and loved by children in the whole world as Thomas & Friends books continued to appear. The hero's friends were Percy, James and Gordon, which all had different personalities and special jobs and were coached by Annie and Clarabel, buses, tractors and helicopters. Reginald Dalby was the designer of the illustrations, based on old British trains and on the reverend's old sketches.

In 1972, after 26 books, Awdry stopped writing the Railways Series and his son Christopher continued to write the stories for his son, since 1983, writing till today another 10 books. In 1984, the high popularity of Thomas the Train inspired TV producers to make the first series based on its adventures. The episodes presented Thomas dealing with rail cars, racing against buses or other "bad character" trains, helping people or transporting children. In 2003, the most recent series of five-minute stories was broadcasted on ITV, which continued in 2004 with the episodes from the latest 3 series.

The industry of Thomas the Train increased till the level of an international pop culture, as films, cartoons, replica toys, games and various merchandise, both for children and adults, started to sell in over 150 countries. Since 1945, Thomas the Train managed to impress and entertain various children generations, from both different periods of time and space, rekindling popular interest in railroading. All these lead Thomas the Train to become the most popular fictional locomotive in the world of all times.


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