Uncovering the West Midlands roots of Thomas the Tank Engine

Uncovering the West Midlands roots of Thomas the Tank EngineImage caption, Christopher Awdry was two years old when his father wrote Thomas the Tank EngineByBen Sidwell, Reporting fromin Kings Norton and Elliot Ball, West MidlandsPublished1 hour agoMany readers may not be aware that one of the most successful and culturally influential British children's series ever, which many will have read and still read, has its origins in a Birmingham suburb. Christopher Awdry, the son of Reverend Wilbert Awdry who created Thomas the Tank Engine, said the series' roots were entrenched in Kings Norton, just 200 yards (183m) from its railway station where he lay ill with measles in 1942."It's not something we've really publicised," Christopher Awdry joked.In a bid to keep his son entertained, his father would come up with stories and draw pictures of a gang on locomotives, who would go on to become Thomas and friends and, as Awdry says, "the rest was history"."I caught measles in the middle of 1942, and my doctor told me to spend three weeks in bed in quarantine," the 85-year-old recalled. "No visitors. "So father made up stories but to begin with he'd draw a picture and it was of an engine shed, and a line of locomotives in it. "Apparently, I started asking questions about the engines and, from those answers, he realised he could make up a story about an engine that wanted to go out to pull a train and wasn't able to."That engine was called Edward. The story he made up was Edward being allowed to go out and pull a train."The story developed. Edward went out and pulled a train, it was a great success, he thoroughly enjoyed it but that was the end of that."But there were more engines in Wilbert Awdry's original picture. One of these was a "very big and very proud" engine called Gordon - inspired by one of Christopher Awdry's childhood friends. Image source, PA MediaImage c...