Christopher Vere Awdry (born 2 July 1940) is an English author. He is best known for his contributions to ''

The Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. Tw ...

'' of books featuring

Thomas the Tank Engine Thomas the Tank Engine is an anthropomorphised fictional tank locomotive in the British ''Railway Series'' books by Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher, published from 1945. He became the most popular and famous character in the series, ...

, which was started by his late father,

Wilbert Awdry Wilbert Vere Awdry (15 June 1911 – 21 March 1997) was an English Anglican minister, railway enthusiast, and children's author. He was best known for creating Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas and several other characters he created appeared i ...

(1911–1997). He has also produced children's books based on a number of other railways, as well as non-fiction articles and books on heritage railways. He was born at

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between ...

, the family moving to

Kings Norton Kings Norton, alternatively King's Norton, is an area of Birmingham, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Worcestershire, it was also a Birmingham City Council ward (politics), ward within the Government of Birmingham, Engl ...

, Birmingham, when he was aged 5 months. Awdry was educated at

Worksop College Worksop College (formerly St Cuthbert's College) is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils aged 13 to 18, in Worksop. It sits at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, England. Founded ...

, a public school in North Nottinghamshire.

Christopher Awdry and the ''Railway Series''

Christopher Awdry is in a way responsible for the creation of Thomas and his railway, which started as a story told to him by his father during a bout of measles in 1943. When his father retired in 1972, he wrote several Thomas books himself. The series came to be called ''Thomas & Friends'' after that. In 2006, the current publishers, Egmont Books, decided to reprint the entire series in their original form; the fourteen books by Christopher were re-released at the beginning of August 2007. His favourite character is

Toby Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...

. The new interest from the publishers has gone beyond merely re-releasing the existing books. Christopher Awdry has written a new book for the series, titled ''Thomas and Victoria'', which focuses on stories relating to the railway preservation movement. This, the forty-first book in the series, was released on 3 September 2007. In April 2010, Egmont Books confirmed that another Railway Series book, no 42 in the series, would be published in 2011. The publication date was later confirmed as 4 July 2011, and the illustrator as

Clive Spong Clive Spong is an English illustrator of ''The Railway Series'' books by the Rev. W. Awdry. He illustrated the books written by Christopher Awdry published since 1983. Books *''Really Useful Engines'' *''James and the Diesel Engines'' *''Great L ...

. It was published under the title ''Thomas and His Friends''. This book would become the final book in the Railway Series to be published.

Other works

In 2001, Christopher Awdry wrote six stories featured in two books concerning railway safety, which were distributed to every primary school and library in the country. They were called: ''Bad Days for Thomas and His Friends / More Bad Days for Thomas and His Friends''. The train operator

Virgin Trains Virgin Trains (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from ...

produced a colouring book for young passengers based on the stories. A series of six books has been produced featuring locomotives from th
Eastbourne Miniature Steam Railway
and illustrated by Marc Vyvyan-Jones.

Bibliography

''Railway Series'' volumes

*27. ''Really Useful Engines'' (1983) *28. ''James and the Diesel Engines'' (1984) *29. ''Great Little Engines'' (1985) *30. ''More About Thomas the Tank Engine'' (1986) *31. ''Gordon the High Speed Engine'' (1987) *32. ''Toby, Trucks and Trouble'' (1988) *33. ''Thomas and the Twins'' (1989) *34. ''Jock the New Engine'' (1990) *35. ''Thomas and the Great Railway Show'' (1991) *36. ''Thomas Comes Home'' (1992) *37. ''Henry and the Express'' (1993) *38. ''Wilbert the Forest Engine'' (1994) *39. ''Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines'' (1995) *40. ''New Little Engine'' (1996) *41. ''Thomas and Victoria'' (2007) *42. ''Thomas and His Friends'' (2011)

Other 'Thomas' books

* ''Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree'' (1986) * ''Thomas and the Evil Diesel'' (1987) * ''Thomas and the Hurricane'' (1992) * ''Sodor: Reading Between the Lines'' (2005)

Thomas easy-to-read books

Published by Dean (Reed Children's Books), 1990–1997, illustrated by Ken Stott.
(Also published as Egmont 'mini books' (1997–1998)) *''Thomas and the Tiger'' *''James and the Balloons'' *''Percy and the Kite'' *''Thomas and the Birthday Party'' *''Henry and the Ghost Train'' *''Thomas and the Dinosaurs'' *''Thomas and the Pony Show'' * *''Thomas goes to School'' * *''Henry Goes to the Hospital'' * *''Thomas the Tank Engine Easy-To-Read Treasury'' (1997) – incorporating the 3 titles marked * in a combined volume.

Eastbourne Series

*01. ''General Takes Charge'' – illustrated by Marc Vyvyan-Jones *02. ''Rachel and the Goose'' – illustrated by Marc Vyvyan-Jones *03. ''Western and the Lost Ring'' – illustrated by Marc Vyvyan-Jones *04. ''Oily Keeps Things Going'' – illustrated by Marc Vyvyan-Jones *05. ''Eastbourne's Wedding Special'' – illustrated by Marc Vyvyan-Jones *06. ''Oily and the Flood'' – illustrated by Marc Vyvyan-Jones

Non-fiction

* * *

References

External links

* – ''Formerly www.awdry.family.name (Dead link discovered April 2010)'' * – ''Formerly www.sodor.co.uk (Dead link discovered April 2010)''
Official ''Thomas'' siteEgmont Books – Interview with Christopher Awdry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Awdry, Christopher British children's writers Awdry, C. People from Devizes 1940 births Living people