#Reverend Wilbert Awdry

[v0id-c0rroded]

[feigeroman]

Saturday Movie Night: The Thomas The Tank Engine Man (1995)

Something a little different for this week's movie night. Today is June 15th, which means it would have been the 113th birthday of the Reverend Wilbert Awdry. I'm sure I don't need to explain to most of my followers who he was, but for the remaining minority, tonight's video should fill you in.

The Thomas The Tank Engine Man was an episode of the BBC's Bookmark documentary series, which aired in February 1995. This was the story of the life and work of Wilbert Awdry, and that of his most famous creation, Thomas the Tank Engine. We learn, through interviews with Wilbert and others, how Thomas came to be, and how the little blue engine was still able to endear himself to children well into the 1990s.

Many happy returns, Wilbert - this is all your damn fault!

[milos15gameplays-blog]

I decided to do an art piece of Thomas again in a style of John Theodore Eardley Kenney. But also, of Alexander Reginald Payne. Two of the artists behind the bookseries titled The Railway Series by Reverend Wilbert Awdry.

[weirdowithaquill]

So How Many Engines Does the NWR Actually Have?

Eighty, according to the Reverend Wilbert Awdry - but this includes British Rail and Industrial engines. It also seems excessive for an island the size of Sodor which has, according to TheUnluckyTug, an 87.7 odd mile mainline and another 30 odd miles of branchline, especially when compared with several other railways of similar size. I am going to warn everyone here, this post is long.

The neighbouring Furness Railway built roughly 247 engines during its lifetime, of which a good fifty-five were 'Sharpies' - however that railway had 190 miles of railway and served some of the largest steelworks and dockyards in all of England. In contrast, the Northern Counties Committee Railway in Northern Island had a maximum route mileage of around 282 miles and only 73 engines. This same NCC ran nearly half of all trains in Northern Island at the time, sharing a duopoly with the GNRI. After amalgamating together into the Northern Ireland Railways and shrinking the full network of Northern Irish railway down to 225 miles, they today run 47 locomotives.

The railway network that serves the entirety of Northern Island is bigger than Sodor in length and requires less engines. It also calls at 54 stations, in comparison to Sodor's 27 stations that the NWR serves. So, let's do some maths and logic puzzles to try and figure out how many engines the NWR actually needs to serve the Island of Sodor.

Firstly, let's look at how many the books name: eleven NWR steam locomotives, six diesel engines, one track maintenance vehicle, as well as three industrial engines and an unknown number of electric engines. This means that the Peel Godred line could have any number of engines, however we can make a reasonable estimate at two multiple units for the four stops, and two or three goods engines to look after the aluminium traffic and other goods work. That makes five engines needed for the branchline.

The Ffarquhar branchline similarly does not require that many engines. Its primary industry is the Anopha Quarry, with a number of farms making up the rest of the freight traffic the line would have. In the books, the line is run by Thomas, Percy, Toby, Daisy and Mavis - the private industrial engine who manages the quarry. This means that there is one dedicated railcar, one autotank-fitted tank engine, a tram engine, a dedicated quarry diesel and Percy to run the line. The only addition possibly required would be an engine to run dedicated stone trains from Ffarquhar to the junction or the harbour, a task that seems to already be covered by Toby, Percy and Mavis. That adds another five engines to our list of standard-gauge engines on Sodor.

Another branchline that does not need any extra engines would be the Little Western, which was only refurbished by Sir Charles Hatt to access the ballast from the old MSR mines. With Duck and Oliver running passengers, Duck managing most of the limited freight traffic that isn't ballast and Donald and Douglas covering most ballast trains, there is no need for any extra engines, and adds another four engines to our list.

After that, Edward's branchline is where we may see some additions. The branchline may be quite short, having only three stations on its route, but it also has Brendam Harbour, which is a major port for the island, as well as the China Clay Pits, which are served by Bill and Ben - the other two industrial engines mentioned in the books. They are known to shunt Brendam Harbour on occasion, while Edward and BoCo run the branchline itself, with Donald and Douglas helping. This line would need more engines as freight traffic through Brendam Docks increased, as well as a dedicated shunting engine for the harbour. That adds up to seven engines to our list to run this section of the line - being Bill, Ben, Edward, BoCo and three new helpers.

Potential candidates from the TVS for filling these roles could be: Salty, Neville, Molly or perhaps Whiff - all of whom are either shunting engines or medium-sized engines who would be able to compliment Edward and BoCo well.

After Edward's branchline, we have to talk about the Kirk Ronan and Norramby branches. The Kirk Ronan branchline has three stations, and was once part of the Sodor and Mainland Railway. We know passenger traffic is poor, and the freight traffic was solely dedicated to mineral traffic from the Skarloey Railway heading to the port. It's highly likely that this line is either kept operational for a token service, or has one engine running it. Either way, we can add one engine to the list, of whom I would suggest Arthur.

The Norramby branchline is currently served by the Other Railway, according to Awdry - this would mean multiple units running passenger trains from Barrow and potentially a freight service, though that would have likely been discontinued in the 1960's during the Beeching cuts. Currently, 26 trains operate out of Barrow up the Cumbrian Coast Line per day, while the Furness line sees roughly 24 trains per day, according to the Northern Rail Timetable. Most likely, one of these two lines would have their services extend to Norramby, meaning up to 24 trains per day for the line. However, it is highly unlikely that each train to arrive on this service is a new engine, with it being more likely to be four or five engines. This adds five engines to our list, for a current total of twenty-seven.

To this figure, we can add the Works Diesel, Bloomer, and the austerity engine referenced in 'Wilbert the Forest Engine', making thirty.

This leaves the mainline as needing 50 whole engines to reach Awdry's figure of 80 - and of this potential number, we know Henry, Gordon, James, Bear, Pip and Emma. To understand how many engines are needed, we need to understand what jobs these engines would do - of which, there is passenger trains, the express, freight trains and shunting.

If the mainline has eleven stations, 87.7 miles of track and they wanted to have a train arrive every hour to meet their Northern partners... well, they'd need more engines. It takes one hour for a train between Lancaster and Barrow - a distance of 28.6 miles, so we can safely assume that tripling the distance would triple the time - for a trip time of around three hours. Now, this time would most likely be shortened by the chance for the engines to achieve higher speeds between stations, as the number of stations on both lines is roughly equal - 10 on the Furness line to 11 on the NWR mainline - but even still, it would require the railway running six separate stopping trains per day. Considering that only four of the six engines above could even run commuter trains, I would say that there is need for more engines.

There are currently two express trains that run on the Island of Sodor: The Limited and the WildNorWester, however it is not certain that the Limited is still running, as it only appeared for 'Enterprising Engines'. In any case, Pip and Emma are enough to handle fast trains on Sodor.

Freight is an interesting variable - we know that Sodor produces aluminium near Peel Godred, and that the alumina needs to be transported up there, and the finished product moved to the mainland, as well as general goods trains, farm produce trains, and freight trains bound for the harbours or from the quarry or China Clay pits. Based on these key requirements, it is safe to say Sodor needs a few more engines.

So, for the mainline we have Pip, Emma, Gordon, Henry, James, Bear and at least eight other engines of various sizes. Two of these engines would be built to run passenger trains alongside Henry, James, Gordon and Bear, while the other six would handle goods traffic, in particular bulk traffic or local goods. Fourteen engines, with potential help from Donald, Douglas and BoCo seems more reasonable as a number of engines on the mainline of a primarily agricultural island.

Suggestions for these engines include Murdoch, Derek, Emily and Rebecca - which is a shorter list than it should be due to the lack of large, mainline engines in the Thomas series who could feasibly run in the UK.

Finally, two shunting engines - one for Tidmouth and one for Barrow-in-Furness - can be added to the list, as since Duck gained his branchline, we have not been introduced to the new station pilot at Tidmouth and since the rise of the multiple-unit, Barrow station would require an engine to act as station pilot there too. Options for here include Diesel, Charlie, Dennis, Rosie and Paxton.

All of these numbers added together equals: 46. Twenty-three branchline engines, three industrial engines, two maintenance engines, one austerity engine, one preserved engine, fourteen mainline engines and two station pilots. Considering at the beginning I said that Northern Ireland Railways runs 47 engines currently and has a network of over double the size of Sodor but doesn't run freight, I would say that this is a pretty respectable estimate.

In direct contrast to this estimate, my ERS has 34 engines who cover the entire NWR and the neighbouring Furness Line. My reasoning: Donald and Douglas are magic, and scarily efficient. Having the two of them around means Edward and BoCo need no help on their branchline, and also Sodor would not need a commuter train every hour - it's a rural, agricultural island with three major population centres at Peel Godred, Vicarstown and Tidmouth. And also cause I have enough characters to balance already, Awdry had the right idea keeping the cast relatively small.

[eat-a-dicker]

the labor strike saga in thomas the tank engine is so strange to think about in any degree. like it's one of the few times in children's media where a labor strike is depicted and our dear smart incredibly economically informed (JOKE) friend the reverend wilbery awdry really was just out here saying "FUCK workers. FUCK THEM. i want my railway engines. I WANT MY RAILWAY ENGINES" and then he took a big fat shit on the floor while sweeping the economic disparity of the working class under the rug. "worker's rights????? FUCK THAT " - the reverend wilbert awdry

people say the missing coach is the worst railway series story but i will contend the labor strike saga is the worst because it's so misrepresentative of the issues at hand and so virulently anti worker's rights it's unfunny

[www-islandofsodor]

Good evening fellow Sudrians. I hope y’all are enjoying this fine summer weather like I have these last 2 days. Speaking of number 2 😅, I’d like to dedicate this particular post to two beings: Reverend Wilbert Awdry and the very first character he ever created: Edward…the blue engine. A few days ago was Rev Awdry’s birthday 🎂 and what better way to celebrate it then with the character who kickstarted it all.

Edward is a very special character. He’s wise, kind, experienced, perseverant, and very helpful. If you ask me, he’s got: Captain America’s fighting spirit, Vision’s golden heart, Mr. Feeny’s wisdom, Hercules’ (from TUGS) experience, and Cinderella’s altruism. To me, that’s what constitutes Edward’s character as a whole. He’s an inspiration to the entire fandom and for good reasons too. He encapsulates what it means to be a true hero. He, along with Percy, is the true spirit of Sodor.

So, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to take this opportunity to wish the late Reverend Awdry an extremely happy/heavenly birthday. Long may your legacy, as well as Edward’s, continue to live on.

[number1spongebobfan]

number1spongebobfan's least favorite cartoons

These are my least-favorite tv shows.

Note: It's perfectly okay if you like any of these shows and I will always respect anyone's opinions. I know some of my followers and mutuals like them and that's fine.

Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss - demons are the protagonists, ofc I hate it

The Owl House - I don't mind magic in cartoons but the magic in this one parallels heavily to real-life occultism and that just bothers me

Kamp Koral/The Patrick Star Show - is a slap in the face to Stephen Hillenburg's legacy, they were greenlit after he died. He never wanted this. It made me cry hearing about this bc SpongeBob's my favorite show. Nickelodeon is an evil, greedy company.

Teen Titans Go! - when I was a kid I saw the episode where Robin was beat up by a gorilla and it turned me off from it completely

PPG 2016 - Why are they portraying Bubbles as stupid? She's the second-smartest powerpuff girl, next to Blossom. Also the Painbow episode *BARFS*

All Engines Go - I don't think Reverend Wilbert Awdry would like this and neither does Britt Allcroft.

Sanjay and Craig - THIS SHOW IS GROSS. EW. *GAGS*

Drawn Together - okay guys storytime: when I was a kid my brother was watching TV and he saw an episode of Drawn Together. Foxxy Love was in Hot Topic and this dude kidnapped her. He led her to a torture room where cartoon characters were killed and one of them was a care bear. This obvs traumatized me as I was like 4 years old at the time and I'm a Care Bear fangirl. Yyyeeeeahhhh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dishonorable Mentions: Happy Tree Friends, Mister Pickles, King Star King, 12 Oz Mouse, Pickle and Peanut, The Problem Solverz, Super Mountain Fort Awesome, Breadwinners & Tomorow's Pioneers

Template belongs to Toongirl18 on DA

[sirjosh9]

Before Thomas went on his way to his branch line, he took a moment with his creator and father of "The Railway Series", Reverend Wilbert Awdry. He wouldn't be here then and now for the whole world, if Wilbert Awdry created Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends. Thomas thanked him for everything he did and went on his branch line with Annie and Clarabel.

[kylekozmikdeluxo]

When a Weird Dream from 2004 Links Two Disparate Things...

Around July of 2004, I had this strange-ass dream that has kinda stuck with me...

I was going to turn 12 in a few months. It started with my parents somehow leaving me behind in a grocery store after it closed. For some reason, Meg Griffin from FAMILY GUY was there, as was... I think her name was "Fanny"? from CODENAME: KIDS NEXT DOOR. I forget what number... Erm, NUMBUH... she was, but she was the bossy redhead with that shrill voice. (Not googling, because it's fun to write this as I'm remembering it.) They were both there for some reason, as dreams often tend to do. Throw in something or someone totally unrelated to the situation... Like that time I had that dream where I was at a casino, Metallica was having a concert, and Dr. Fauci of all people was someone I bumped into there.

Then I was going through books in one section, and happened upon...

A THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE picture book. As in a book made a little after the show came out in the U.S., the illustrations were painted and hand-drawn, but were show-accurate with all the right details. Like, for anyone who happens to be reading this who hasn't seen anything from the series prior to 2010... For the longest time, THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE was made using remote-control model trains on immaculately-crafted real-life sets... And some picture books replicated that quite well. This book from the dream was kinda similar to the '90s picture books from Random House/Please Read to Me.

Now, THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE was a hyperfixation of mine when I was a kid. Like, one of my prime special interests from age 6 to around 8-ish, then I dropped it for a bit, likely thinking it was all "babyish" or whatever for a third/fourth grader to be watching. Then around 5th grade, at age 10, I slipped back into it for some reason. Might've been because the new season dropped at the time (2002), and new characters came about, and back then, I was still like "Yeah, I like Thomas." It was the first new season of the show since 1998, and the only new Thomas stuff we got between both of those seasons was the especially weird theatrical movie THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD. And that revisiting of THOMAS was a rather short one, and then by age 10 1/2 I was past it once more... But it continued to linger in subtle ways, because deep down I knew that show actually kinda freakin' ruled.

So now it's mid-2004, it's been about a year and a half since I actually watched a Thomas episode or looked at anything pertaining to that whole franchise spawned by Reverend Wilbert Awdry's legendary book series. I'm trapped in a supermarket that has closed, yet many lights are still on, but it's like mood-lighting almost. Soothing and kinda reassuring. And two cartoon characters from two shows I was watching *a lot* back in the day were there. FAMILY GUY was being re-run on [adult swim] and TBS at the time, after FOX had cancelled the show. These re-runs from 2003-04 were what brought the show a whole new fanbase, which in turn helped get FOX to renew the show for a fourth season that debuted in May 2005, and then it was unstoppable since then. I can kinda proudly say that I was at the forefront of FAMILY GUY's revival, I watched it almost every night, because it was edgy and cool for 10-12 year old me to put on after everyone was asleep. And as for CODENAME: KIDS NEXT DOOR? I watched it constantly, among many other shows being aired on Cartoon Network at the time. Cartoon Network practically raised me, so- I can only imagine why Meg and Fanny, of all characters, were there in the dream.

I come upon this illustrated picture book based on the THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE television series, and it gets my eye because... It features Thomas on the cover with a character that *never* appeared in the TV series proper. The character was known as "Diesel D199", a nameless bully diesel who showed up in the 1968 book ENTERPRISING ENGINES, and only appears in one of its four stories.

That story, 'Super Rescue', was never adapted into an episode of THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE... But I knew the character because toys of him existed, and he was unusual in that he had a yellow face while all the other characters on the show had grayish-white faces. This is likely because a lot of the diesel characters in the original book series didn't have gray-white faces, like the steam engines largely did. Characters like Daisy, BoCo, and the green bully diesel from 'Bowled Out' had gray-white faces in the show, but not in the books. Since Diesel D199 didn't show up in the series, the companies making the merchandise just used his yellow book illustration face. As a kid, who was only familiar with the show and not the books, that had always puzzled me.

The book cover depicted him and Thomas going up Gordon's Hill, smiling at each other. I was unaware that he was an antagonist in the books, as the merchandise usually depicted him with a friendly smiling face. The title of the book was "Diesel Do It Again", maybe this was so because my brain was recalling the Season 3 episode "Diesel DOES It Again" - featuring the character simply named "Diesel", an episode largely set on the seaside.

Which brings me to the next thing I want to talk about...

The Beach Boys.

One of my all-time favorite musical groups. I had known of this group since I was a small kid, because my mother owned the 1995 greatest hits compilation 20 GOOD VIBRATIONS, so I know a few of their iconic hits. Then, while spending days and nights at a beach house that my dad would rent at the time, I had my brain chemistry altered... When my dad bought a 30-song compilation called SOUNDS OF SUMMER: THE VERY BEST OF THE BEACH BOYS... That compilation opened with 'California Girls', and my mind was *blown*...

The collection contained several hits from their fruitful early period, all the hit songs off of PET SOUNDS, and a scattered mess of tracks from 1967-1969 and 1976-1988, and none of it in chronological order. It was a lot of weird whiplash between eras, styles, and moods, for sure. And often, on car trips, we'd only make it to about the 15th track or so. Usually it would end at 'Wouldn't It Be Nice', maybe the opening bars of 'Getcha Back'. (Which is a very weird song to transition into, coming off of PET SOUNDS' haunting opening track, but I digress.)

This music made me FEEL. And it's no surprise, Brian Wilson is a goddamn genius, but yes, even at age 11 1/2... I was like, really moved by how many of these songs were crafted and arranged. It was musical education right there. Years later, I deep-dived into their history and yeah, it too is a special interest of mine.

What the hell does this have to do with THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE?

Nothing, really... Except, for in my head.

I was staying at that beach house in mid-2004, and I was addicted to that CD at the time, and I had also dug out my mom's Beach Boys CD as well. So, my rotation in mid-2004 was largely that Beach Boys CD, Cartoon Network, some of my XBOX games (such as TEST DRIVE: OVERDRIVE and DISNEY'S EXTREME SKATE ADVENTURE), and... COMIC STRIPS.

I was really, really, *really* into comic strips back then, namely a strip called GET FUZZY by Darby Conley.

A hapless man with not much of a love life, his naive dog, and his rather mean cat... Sound familiar? Surprisingly, there was a lot to it that differentiated it from GARFIELD. I was literally *in love* with this comic back then, and I still love it, actually. It dawned on me many years, but it's autistic AF... and I'll likely elaborate on that some other time, maybe on here!

Anyways, comics... I opened the Thomas book in the dream, and it was half usual Thomas illustrations you'd often see in the picture books, *and* it was... Black and white comic strips with the characters and all these random human side-characters who looked like they could've come right out of something like SALLY FORTH or BEETLE BAILEY... Sort-of existing and being up to random things that didn't have much to do with the trains, but it was part of it all. Very odd in a way. And I was like "Wait-a-minute, Thomas was also a comic?"

Not much happened in the dream beyond that, and it went kind of quick, I recall Meg remarking "Oh yeah, I read/watched that when I was a kid!" (Meg is 16 in the first season of FAMILY GUY, meaning she was likely born in 1983-ish, so maybe she theoretically would've caught the show - as part of SHINING TIME STATION - when it first came out in the U.S. in 1989. But I'm getting way too ahead of myself here.) Other random stuff, the kind that usually happening in dreams, etc. It would go very off-topic, so I'll cap it there.

So, my mind was like... Hmmmm... This old show about talking trains and talking cars, and The Beach Boys did a lot of car songs...

But... Why was my autistic brain making this specific connection that likely was not there?

My guesses...

A) THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE had a lot of seaside episodes, either set at a harbor, or on a beach. Bright skies, water, seagull sound effects, etc. The whole book series and show is set on the **Island** of Sodor.

B) I had went to car shows a lot as a kid, and heard a lot of those Beach Boys, and many similar-sounding surf/hot rod songs.

C) I went to beaches *a lot* as a kid with my father. He also had a raft, and we'd fish or crab a lot, too.

D) A lot of the iconic RAILWAY SERIES stories, which the THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE TV series is based on, were written in the 1950s and 1960s. I didn't know this at the time, I only knew that the show came out sometime around the mid-1980s. The copyright dates on the American VHS releases of the show were kinda wonky and sometimes inaccurate. When I discovered the books for the first time, I was particularly struck by the illustrations done by John T. Kenney (1957-1962) and Peter & Gunvor Edwards (1963-1972)...

Like, I'm immediately reminded of all the retro 50s/60s stuff I saw quite often as a kid, *again*, at car shows and relatives' houses and such. Old toys, etc. I might've been born in the early '90s, but your relatives and people you know hang onto stuff from decades prior. I grew up around a lot of "old" stuff, old architecture and decor and such. My dad's former house, for example, had those '70s wood paneled walls and mustard yellow countertops. A green toilet, of all things. Lots of vintage crockery and such.

Perhaps that aural world that Brian, his brothers, and company created with their music in the 1960s and 1970s makes me think of Sodor in a way, a sort of quaint island community from decades back, albeit far across the Atlantic. It's worth noting that when The Beach Boys' popularity sunk in the U.S. in the late 1960s and they had an image problem, they remained ever-popular in the UK and most of Europe.

But yeah, one weird dream in 2004 linked the two things... And I guess I'm not alone, because someone made a mashup of Toby's theme from the TV series and 'California Girls'... and they go together very, very well...

Dreams are the brain's YTPs... and sometimes they make a real impression on you...

[kahran042]

Probably The Railway Series, by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry.

I drew some characters from 6 popular children’s books in my style!

This was a really fun challenge! 😆 what was your favorite children’s book growing up?

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 10.9 (after 1920)

1934 – An Ustashe assassin kills King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou, Foreign Minister of France, in Marseille. 1936 – Boulder Dam (later Hoover Dam) begins to generate electricity and transmit it to Los Angeles. 1937 – Murder of 9 Catholic priests in Zhengding, China, who protected the local population from the advancing Japanese army. 1941 – A coup in Panama declares Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia Arango the new president. 1942 – Australia's Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 receives royal assent. 1950 – The Goyang Geumjeong Cave massacre in Korea begins. 1962 – Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm. 1963 – In Italy, a large landslide causes a giant wave to overtop the Vajont Dam, killing over 2,000. 1966 – Vietnam War: the Republic of Korea Army commits the Binh Tai Massacre. 1967 – A day after his capture, Ernesto "Che" Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia. 1969 – In Chicago, the National Guard is called in as demonstrations continue over the trial of the "Chicago Eight". 1970 – The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia. 1980 – Pope John Paul II greets the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City. 1981 – President François Mitterrand abolishes capital punishment in France. 1983 – South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan survives an assassination attempt in Rangoon, Burma (present-day Yangon, Myanmar), but the blast kills 21 and injures 17 others. 1984 – The popular children's television show Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends, based on The Railway Series by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, premieres on ITV. 1986 – The Phantom of the Opera, eventually the second longest running musical in London, opens at Her Majesty's Theatre. 1986 – Fox Broadcasting Company (FBC) launches as the fourth US television network. 1992 – The Peekskill meteorite, a 27.7 pounds (12.6 kg) meteorite crashed into a parked car in Peekskill, New York 1995 – An Amtrak Sunset Limited train is derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona. 2006 – North Korea conducts its first nuclear test. 2007 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its all-time high of 14,164 points before rapidly declining due to the 2007–2008 financial crises. 2009 – First lunar impact of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program. 2012 – Pakistani Taliban attempt to assassinate outspoken schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai. 2016 – The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launches its first attack on Myanmar security forces along the Bangladesh–Myanmar border. 2019 – Turkey begins its military offensive in north-eastern Syria.

[juliehowlin]

William Vere Awdry Quotes

"Railways and the Church have their critics, but both are the best ways of getting a man to his ultimate destination."

10 Wilbert Vere Awdry (Thomas the Tank Engine) quotes:

[weirdowithaquill]

Traintober 2023: Day 17 - Holiday

How Sudrian Tourism has Evolved:

Sodor has changed majorly thanks to the publication of the Railway Series and the subsequent Television Series, both of which propelled the island and its railways from being just another part of the UK into a tourism juggernaut. But the fact of the matter is that Sodor did not immediately transform from being an insignificant island on the coast of Cumbria to one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United Kingdom overnight – so how did it all change?

To understand, we must go back to the 1500s, and the Protestant Reformation in England. At the time, Sodor was part of the English Crown – but far looser than its Irish and Welsh neighbours. Due to its small size, rough terrain and low population, King Henry VIII was far less interested in confiscating Catholic land on the island than its surrounding areas. This was in part due to the both Sir Geoffrey Regaby and Bishop Michael Colden, who managed to guide Sodor away from the Lincolnshire Rising and the Pilgrimage of Grace. Due to their remote location and general poverty, Thomas Cromwell never visited Sodor, and Cronk Abbey was never closed. For its part, St Luoc’s Cathedral at Suddery was ‘converted’ to a Protestant Cathedral in 1537, but continued holding Catholic mass. This was done by holding the two religious ceremonies one after the other.

As Sodor was now one of the few parts of the British Isles that had a Catholic church and direct line to the Papacy in Rome, it became an ‘underground’ tourist destination as a new British site of pilgrimage, frequented by Catholics looking to attend mass at the Suddery Cathedral. In return for continuing these ceremonies, Sudrians became more devout to the crown – in particular to Queen Elizabeth I, and by 1603 the Catholic mass had been all but forgotten. This did not end the attractiveness of Sodor as a religious destination, due to the caves of Saint Machan and several other holy sites that litter the island; the numbers were not large, but they did lead to a number of important connections, especially with Ireland, the Isle of Man and English ports.

The next phase of Sudrian tourism came in the 1860s, when the Skarloey Railway found the long-forgotten Skarloey lake and hidden hollow. Rather than explain it, I think I’ll just use the description that the Reverend Wilbert Awdry did:

“Spas were popular at the period and offered the possibility of a lucrative passenger business. Skarloey’s mineral springs and sheltered situation took hold on the minds of some members of the Board, among them Shamus Tebroc who conceived the idea of developing Skarloey as a spa. An hotel and a number of villas were built as a speculation, and the gravity worked incline which had been installed for the conveyance of materials was retained and up-graded for coals, merchandise, and passengers’ luggage.”

Skarloey became the first of the Island of Sodor’s tourist hotspots, especially due to its proximity to Culdee Fell and Saint Machan’s cave. The popularity of the spas was good for a time, but began to fall off as the bad fortunes of the Sodor & Mainland Railway continuously hurt the Skarloey Railway’s tourism campaign with delayed and cancelled trains, ratty carriages and even standoffish staff. This led to Skarloey becoming a local holiday destination instead, but even that began to slow down as WWII loomed.

On the other side of the island, the Mid Sodor Railway also began heavily advertising their railway to holidaymakers across the UK, but to a somewhat better result. The Isle of Man Steam Packet contract the railway picked up led to a large influx of tourists across the late 1800s and early 1900s, up until the 1920s. The railway’s ability to reach the walled city of Peel Godred and the cave of Saint Machan (via the Culdee Fell Railway) made it a very attractive destination for tourists, though this would change at the end of WWI.

The advent of relatively cheap international travel via ferries in the 1920s did a lot of damage to Sodor’s tourism economy, as their major markets in England preferred to travel to either the Continent or the Lake District – or even as far afield as the United States. Sodor instead switched to being primarily an agricultural and resource-extraction economy, with some manufacturing. This continued throughout WWII.

Which leads us to May 12th, 1945. The Three Railway Engines was published – in colour – in the UK. It achieved enough success to lead to the continuation of the series in 1946, and again in 1948, and then again continuously until 1972. These twenty-seven years’ worth of publicity for the island and its railways had a massive effect. Skarloey was rediscovered and the budget-conscience holiday maker of the 1960s chose it for its low prices, high quality, and picturesque scenery, turning around the railways needed to reach it. The Culdee Fell Railway also saw an uptick in traffic as the Peel Godred Railway brought in more passengers than the old Mid Sodor Railway had.

Furthermore, tourists came to see the engines, a phenomenon not seen before in the island’s tourism industry. Insignificant towns such as Dryaw, Brendam, Crosby and Glennock became infinitely more popular as the sites of incidents in the Railway Series, or as convenient locations to stay for travelling the island. The biggest success story of the island’s cities was Cronk however. Cronk grew massively from the tourism trade as the most central location on the NWR to reach the various tourist destinations of Sodor – even Awdry takes a moment to mention ‘The Crown of Sodor’ Hotel on Sigmund Street due to its prominence as a hotel on the island.

This large influx of tourists was however of a majorly local source – the UK, parts of continental Europe and a relatively low number from North America. It wasn’t until the advent of cheap international jetplane flights in the mid-1970s and the debut of the TV series on October 9, 1984.

This debut is what changed everything.

The Thomas and Friends Television series was an international success, with translations into a number of languages (eleven by Wikipedia’s count) and broadcast around the globe. This, coupled with the opening of an enlarged airport at Vicarstown (which had been constructed in 1941 by the RAF and expanded by Vickers in the 1960s. The airport itself had been bought by the NWR in 1982 (probably in anticipation of the TV series) and began receiving jetliners from across the world as early as 1986.

Today, Sudrian tourism is one of the largest income producers in northern England due to its international status crafted by the Thomas & Friends series. The island is a popular tourist attraction for both railfans and Thomas fans, as well as religious pilgrims, spa enthusiasts, hikers, ramblers and historians. The airport at Vicarstown has been linked into the NWR via a spur line, and more recently a number of signs on the island have been converted to include secondary and tertiary languages, for better interpretation.

Sodor reached its best numbers for international tourists in 2019, when over 1.5 million people visited the island, making it the third most visited tourist destination within England, beating out Birmingham. The secret to it’s recent further uptick in visitors is the opening of a number of museums, galleries and other cultural sites on the island, as well as a strong advertising campaign that focused on the island’s major tourist draws, which are:

The North Western Railway, Skarloey Railway, Culdee Fell Railway and Arlesdale Railway from the Railway Series book and subsequent Television series

A pre-Norman era Abbey at Cronk, one of the oldest of its kind in Britain

Suddery Cathedral, which continues to be one of the few remaining pre-reformation cathedrals in Britain

Several Norman-era castles, including a completely intact castle at Harwick

The Walled City of Peel Godred

The caves of Saint Machan

Culdee Fell

Henry's Forest National Park

Skarloey and its spas

Museums, galleries, and cultural centres

The Standing Stones of Killdane.

This advertising campaign brought a greater variety of tourists to the island, especially those from North America.

The island was badly affected by the advent of the Coronavirus pandemic, which saw the high tourist numbers of the previous decade prop by over eighty percent, which forced the island to once again consider restructuring their economy around agriculture, manufacturing, and resource extraction. This eventually was decided against, as tourist numbers have slowly picked back up through 2022.

Sodor has been greatly affected by its rise to one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the UK, including a number of hotels being built on the island – many of which are converted manorhouses – as well as several upgrades made to the transport systems of the island, with updated ferry services between the island’s major ports and locations in the UK and Ireland, as well as the railway building a special line to the island’s main airport, new tram and bus services within the major cities on the island. The island’s railway system has also seen upgrades throughout the latter half of the 20th century, including a third track being added to the mainline, new signalling systems and a number of extra connecting services to cities in the UK, such as Manchester, Birmingham, Carlisle and Preston.

Sodor has grown drastically as a result of its tourism industry and is today an international tourism hotspot. The island continues to be popular into the modern day, as a result of strong advertising and a pointed diversification of tourist offerings on the island to help the island’s tourism industry grow and bring in profits for the island’s people.

Back to Master Post

[daijindraws]

I’ve been experimenting in the Tim Burton art style, and will be drawing and posting pictures in it. So here’s Bonnie, Juliet and Emily in alternate outfits for Youtube Fighting Championship. In the Tim Burton art style of course.

• Bonnie

Bonnie is in a sort of "on watch" outfit. Perhaps the Commander is keeping an eye on him after some mishaps. The look was inspired by Cody Travers' jailbird outfit from Street Fighter Alpha 3.

• Juliet

It's her in Bridget's outfit from Guilty Gear Strive. Fitting for her. She looks great in her drip.

• Emily

This one is of her as Mr Conductor from Shining Time Station and Thomas & the Magic Railroad. Emily has drawn her oc in Mr Conductor's outfit before. So I think it fits.

Bonnie is owned by me.

Juliet ©️ Herself

Emily/SodorCentral is owned by herself.

Power Rangers ©️ Haim Saban and Hasbro

Power Rangers SPD ©️ Disney

Cody Travers, Final Fight, Street Fighter ©️ Capcom

Youtube Fighting Championship ©️ Me

Guilty Gear Strive ©️ Arc System Works

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends ©️ Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry, Christopher Vere Awdry, Britt Alcroft, David Mitton, Gullane Entertainment, Hit Entertainment, and Mattel.

Shining Time Station ©️ Gullane Entertainment

[whirligig-girl]

Thomas was a tank engine, who lived at a Big Station. He had six small wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler, and a short stumpy dome.

Thomas as originally drawn by Rev. Wilbert Awdry did not resemble closely any real locomotive class (though there are a few engines with similar sloped tanks, most popularly the GNR J50 class). This is probably because of Thomas' origin as a somewhat crude toy made from a broomstick

The original wooden model of Thomas.

when Awdry sent in sketches to the publisher he still thought of the character he was telling stories about as the toy he'd built for his son, rather than as a particular locomotive. Although Awdry still had a certain attention to detail in his sketch--he remembered the axles, brakes, buffers, brake pipe, chain coupler, and connecting rods--all details that the wooden toy lacked. Let it not be said that Awdry didn’t still think of Thomas as a full-size machine.

Two of the sketches Awdry sent in to the publisher.

In this case I imagine Thomas as a freelance design. Maybe he was built in-house by the No Where Railway's motive department, maybe he's a one-off industrial locomotive; either way he's a truly unique engine in this alternate depiction. Folks--if you look at the wooden Thomas model and the sketches Awdry drew of Thomas, one thing becomes abdundantly clear: When Awdry said "short and stumpy," he MEANT "short and stumpy."