The Reverend Wilbert Awdry, a renowned author, is best remembered for creating and writing the initial twenty-six books in the esteemed Railway Series. Initially, the stories were conceived to entertain his son, Christopher, while he recuperated from measles in 1942. With encouragement from his wife, Margaret, Wilbert decided to submit these tales to a publisher. Due to the scarcity of paper during World War II, the stories could not be published until 1945. In 1946, Wilbert penned the second book in the series, titled "Thomas the Tank Engine", which revolves around a small blue tank engine yearning to explore the world.
Wilbert continued to write a new book every year until 1972. The Railway Series was revived eleven years later in 1983, when Christopher commenced writing his own installments in the series, with his final entry appearing in 2011.
Although the Railway Series books enjoyed immense popularity in their own right, their popularity skyrocketed in 1984 when television producer Britt Allcroft acquired the rights to adapt the stories into television episodes under the title "Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends" (later shortened to Thomas & Friends in 1984). Wilbert was delighted with the initial two series as they faithfully adapted his stories and he even formed a friendship with the show's storyteller, Ringo Starr, a former drummer for the Beatles. However, in 1991, the relationship between Awdry and Allcroft soured with the release of Series 3. For this series, Britt Allcroft and the show's director, David Mitton, began writing their own stories, many of which were actually adaptations of stories written for the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends comic book series by Andrew Brenner. Awdry was not pleased with the lack of realism; almost all of his stories were based on real-life events and adhered to the rules and regulations of real railways.
One particular episode, Henry's Forest, released in 1992, drew Awdry's ire due to Henry stopping in the forest to admire the trees. He vehemently criticized the episode during an interview, stating that the trees were too close to the railway, Henry stopped without alerting a signalman, and that an engine should have no interest in trees. He also lamented that the producers believed they could write his stories better than he could.
Affectionately known as Granpuff by his grandchildren due to his heavy pipe smoking, Wilbert suffered from osteoporosis for several years before his passing at home, in a house he had named Sodor after the fictional British isle where his stories were set, from bronchopneumonia and chronic bronchitis on March 21st, 1997. The legacy and popularity of Thomas the Tank Engine and his vibrant cast of friends continue to dominate English culture.
