Today I discovered, thanks to an old pal, Justin, that Rev. Awdry, of Thomas The Tank Engine fame, was the vicar of a local village. That village, Elsworth, was Justin’s home for many years. And, for a period, the workplace and home of the clergyman and children’s author.
The Wikipedia page on Awdry tells us the following:
‘In 1940, he took a curacy at St Nicolas church, Kings Norton, Birmingham, where he lived until 1946. He subsequently moved to Cambridgeshire, serving as rector of Elsworth with Knapwell (1946-1950), rural dean at Bourn (1950-1953), and then vicar of emneth, norfolk (1953-1965). He retired from full-time ministry in 1965 and moved to Rodborough in Stroud in Gloucestershire.’
As with so many kids of the last 60-70 or so years, Thomas and friends were a part, albeit a smallish part, of my childhood. It’s kind of nice to know Awdry wrote much of the series whilst living and working locally.
And not long ago, 2020, I believe, a blue plaque was added to the Elsworth rectory to commemorate this local connection. Sadly the Elsworth plaque isn’t quite as pretty as the one in Box, another location proud of its Awdry connections. But hey, never mind!
As an artist, writer and illustrator, I have a desire to perhaps get hold of the complete ‘Railway Series’, if it can be had? With the beautiful old fashioned illustrations by …
Well, it turns out there were a number of illustrators on The Railway Series. I garnered a bit more info on them, which I reproduce below, here:
C Reginald Dably
In 1948, the man who was to ‘set the style’ for the Railway Series books came onboard with his gem-like illustrations – read about him and his work here!
Reginald Payne
When Middleton failed to impress, Edmund Ward brought in a new illustrator, who went on to be the first artist to depict Awdry’s most famous engine – Thomas!
William Middleton
The original illustrator of the Three Railway Engines, whose artwork was replaced in favour of new work by C. Reginald Dalby – read about him here!
Clive Spong
Chris Awdry’s faithful illustrator across sixeen books, and encompassing the best elements of the three illustrators who had contributed to the series before him – read about his work here!
Peter & Gunvor Edwards
The Rev. Awdry’s final illustrators, husband and wife team Peter and Gunvor put a different slant on the style of the Railway Series books – read about their work here!
John T Kenney
Kenney took the Railway Series’ illustrative style in a bolder direction when he joined the team in 1957 – read about his work here!