Cinders and ashes! Plaque unveiled in tribute to Thomas creator

A NATIONAL blue plaque has been unveiled at the former home of Thomas the Tank Engine creator Reverend Wilbert Awdry.

- CLAIRE HAYHURST

Awdry’s stories, which he created to entertain his son Christopher during a bout of measles, were inspired by the Talyllyn Railway in Eryri.

Rev Awdry became an enthusiastic member and volunteer guard on the Talyllyn Railway in 1952, a year after it became the world’s first preserved heritage railway.

The unveiling, at 30 Rodborough Avenue in Stroud, Gloucestershire, marks 80 years since the first of the classic Thomas & Friends books, The Three Railway Engines, was published.

Rev Awdry was born in June 1911 in the small village of Ampfield, in Hampshire, and developed a fascination with railways from a young age.

His interest grew when his family moved to Box, Wiltshire, where their home was close to Box Tunnel - with Rev Awdry hearing freight trains and whistle signals at night.

He decided to follow in his father’s footsteps as a vicar and was ordained in 1936, serving in several parishes before moving to Kings Norton, Birmingham, in 1940.

Three years later, Rev Awdry entertained his toddler son Christopher - who was sick with measles - there with three tales about an imaginary railway and its engines, Edward, Gordon and Henry.

The Three Railway Engines was published in May 1945, while Thomas the Tank Engine appeared in the second book and quickly became the most popular of the engines.

Rev Awdry, working with illustrators Reginald Payne and later C Reginald Dalby, brought to life the Island of Sodor which had its own geography, history and railway network.