In 1979, British television producer Britt Allcroft was producing a documentary on the Bluebell Railway, a heritage railway in Sussex which featured in the Railway Series book Stepney the Bluebell Engine. He would go on to work on a musical loosely inspired by The Railway Series, called Starlight Express, which premiered in 1984, and became one of his most well-known works.Įarly years and the series' success Andrew Lloyd Webber later established the Really Useful Group in 1977, a name derived from the phrase "Really Useful Engine". ![]() The pilot episode was completed by early 1976, but Granada ultimately decided not to produce a full series, as they feared that at the time Awdry's stories were not popular enough outside the UK to justify investing the time and money needed to make the series. The cutouts and backgrounds would be based upon illustrations from The Railway Series. A pilot episode was commissioned from Granada, which would feature 2D cutouts of the engines moving along a background in a style reminiscent of Ivor the Engine, with involvement from animator Brian Cosgrove. However, the publishers and the author refused to give Lloyd Webber's company "control of almost everything", which Lloyd Webber's lawyers argued was necessary in order to "secure the investment money from America which would be needed to pay for the animation and the film-making." The status of the project seemed uncertain, and while Stanley Pickard, Kaye & Ward's managing director at the time, told Awdry that he was "maintaining personal contact with Andrew and still had a slight hope that there might be a way out", Wilbert remained apprehensive, saying that "Once the Americans get hold of it the whole series would be vulgarized and ruined." Eventually, an agreement was reached and Awdry received an advanced payment of £500. Later, in 1973, Andrew Lloyd Webber, who had read The Railway Series as a child, approached publisher Kaye & Ward with a proposal for his own musical television series, with songs from himself and lyricist Peter Reeves. Models moved jerkily, and all effects, music and sound had to be superimposed. During the broadcast of The Sad Story of Henry, the engine used in the broadcast fell and was picked up by a hand seconds later. Many attempts to create a show based on The Railway Series had been in development since 1953, when Eric Marriott was approached by the BBC to adapt two stories based on the Railway Series stories. Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go (2D-animated reboot series, 2021–present).Thomas & Friends (original series, 1984–2021).In addition, he wrote a number of short stories and articles for Thomas the Tank Engine Annuals. He wrote no further Railway Series volumes, but later wrote a spin-off story for the television series named Thomas's Christmas Party and expanded versions of some of his earlier stories, as well as writing The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways. However, he had been finding it increasingly difficult to come up with ideas for new stories, and after this he felt that "the well had run dry" and so decided that the time had come to retire. Awdry later went on to publish 23 more books.Īwdry continued working on The Railway Series until 1972, when Tramway Engines (book 26 in the series) was published. The third was James the Red Engine, which featured James, a red engine who went on to be common in the TV series. The second was Thomas the Tank Engine, which introduced Thomas, now the most popular Railway Series character. Wilbert Awdry began publishing these into books. In 1984, it was turned into a television series, which spawned a reboot series, titled Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go. The franchise began with stories told from Wilbert Awdry to his son. ![]() The current title character of the franchise is Thomas the Tank Engine, an anthropomorphised steam locomotive, who works with other engines, including Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby and many others. ![]() The franchise revolves around a railway, called the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. Thomas & Friends (also known as Thomas the Tank Engine or The Railway Series) is a media franchise created by Rev. Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go (2021–present) Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure (2015) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)ġ984 39 years ago ( 1984) – present (franchise)Ģ021–present ( Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go) Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points.
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