Eighty years ago today 12th May 1945, the first book of the Railway Stories series, written by Rev W Awdry was published, with the title 'The Three Railway Engines', and it proved to be the first of over 40 to be published, as well as a TV series, a feature film and a whole host of collectable items based on the books.
The books as originally designed, each contained four stories, and began with an introductory letter from the author to the children who would read or listen to the stories.
The images in this collage are photos of illustrations from a later reprint of the original books which we collected and read to our young daughters in the 1980s and 1990s. They in turn read the stories to their children.
During the Covid 19 lockdowns Katharine and I took turns to record ourselves reading the stories and we sent the recordings to Lucy for her children to listen to, as a way of keeping in touch with them when we couldn't visit.
These moralistic little stories must have been part of the early lives of many thousands of children. The engines got into all kinds of trouble and mischief, they argued and fell out, but in the end everything would be resolved and they would all be friends again - a really positive message.
Top favourite in our house too. Our lad used to go with his Dad the first weekend in July every year down to Minehead in Somerset for the Thomas Weekend where the platform was full of dressed up characters and the trains wore front decorations of the faces of Thomas and friends. Glorious stuff!
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated
It seems many of you grew up as Railway Stories fans. I remember visiting my grandma in the late 1950s and reading the one book from the series that she had, and studying the illustrations. I'm sure that played a role in my subsequent interest in taking photos of steam locomotives as well!
Sorry for our absence yesterday, I was at the eye clinic to have my second cataract surgery. Once again there is already a significant improvement to my vision.
Ian
May 14th, 2025
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Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated
It seems many of you grew up as Railway Stories fans. I remember visiting my grandma in the late 1950s and reading the one book from the series that she had, and studying the illustrations. I'm sure that played a role in my subsequent interest in taking photos of steam locomotives as well!
Sorry for our absence yesterday, I was at the eye clinic to have my second cataract surgery. Once again there is already a significant improvement to my vision.
Ian