The Thomas the Tank engines stories were created by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, who
was born in Hampshire in 1911. He grew up close to the railway and was convinced that
the steam engines all had different personalities. He used to imagine conversations
between them. Later when he was grown up and his son Christopher became ill with
measles, Wilbert told stories Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends to entertain him. Christopher asked
for more and more stories and Wilbert began writing them down. The first of the Railway Series books was
published in 1945, and Awdry wrote 26 Railway books in total before his son, Christopher,
took over the series. There have since been multiple, hugely popular, Thomas the Tank Engine TV series and films.