Written by: Nicholas Jones
The Thomas the Tank Engine Man Documentary Producer
As a
child I was born into the very last years of a steam-powered world. The famous engines of the 1930s and 1940s
left London each day with long trains as
I slept there in my cot. I soon became
aware of them, because at two I demanded to be taken to see Sir Nigel Gresley,
the streamlined beauty, roar through Potters Bar, having been captivated by the
first time I saw this very engine. I
even drew it on paper, so I'm told.
Sadly,
I don't remember a thing from that wonderful era.
Doubtless
it was easy to understand why I quickly became captivated by something I do
still remember - the books of The Railway Series. My postcard of Henry bricked up never left
me. The title 'by the Rev. W.V.Awdry'
was integral to an early 1960s childhood.
Yet I grew out of the books at some point and did not return.
 |
| Illustrated by C.Reginald Dalby, 1949 |
In
1993 my mother was in a train at Swindon when a guard outside blew a
whistle. A litttle boy in the carriage
shouted "Look! There's the Fat Controller" and everyone laughed. She decided to contact a magazine called The
Oldie to ask if they would like a profile of Wilbert Awdry for its STILL WITH
US column. The magazine said yes, so it
was time to call the Reverend, who was not far away from us, in Stroud.
I
did not visit with my mother as I was away in London but the piece duly
appeared and then we suddenly noticed - this was late 1993 - that soon, Thomas
the Tank Engine would be 50, in 1995.
Or, rather, The Three Railway Engines would be 50. With this in mind, my mother and I went along
to meet Wilbert to float the idea of a TV documentary.
From
childhood I recall how the illustrations of the books matched to some extent
the world as it still existed, except for the oddity that the locomotives all
had faces. I used to note the similarity
between some of the engines in the books and those you could still see. Mr. Awdry had been around a lot in the 1960s,
occasionally appearing on TV.
By
1993 the world was rather different. I was vaguely aware of a children's TV
series that looked rather well done. Yet
as we knocked on the door of Sodor, the Awdry home in Stroud, I felt I was
going back to that world of the 1960s. Inside, Mr Awdry was with his daughter
Hilary, his wife having passed away.
There was a deep silence and a sense of times past. Yet Wilbert had strong blue eyes and a
presence, even in his chair in the corner where he stayed, largely immobile.
His health was clearly fading. In the hallway a poignant picture recalled his days
as a rower at Oxford.
My
mother introduced me to Wilbert and soon, we were talking about the books. I said that when I picked up one for the
first time in decades, it was eerie how I could remember what picture was
coming on the next page. Wilbert seemed
rather pleased by this and I sensed he liked me. Invariably we got on to the subject of the
Britt Allcroft series and here, he became animated, showing us Henry's Forest.
Wilbert spelled out to me how it abused the principle of his books, that
they must follow proper railway procedure.
It
was that, he said, which endeared him to the many railwaymen he met in his
travels who also read the stories to their children. They could do so, they told him, without
wincing at the usual liberties authors of children's railway books took.
It
dawned on me that what gave Wilbert the greatest satisfaction was to earn the
praise of engine drivers. He had been
born into a divided world of gentlefolk and workers - and was securely in the
former. Yet engine drivers were heroes
then, often known as the aristocracy of labour.
There was great respect for them - and decades later, Wilbert still
basked in their respect being returned to him.
It was all rather touching to see how steam trains brought everyone
together.
Out
of this unusual, unforgettable meeting was born The Thomas The Tank Engine
Man.
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