List of Railway Series Books

This list consists all of the Railway Series books by both the Rev. W. Awdry and his son Christopher.

= The Rev. W. Awdry Era = The first 26 books in the series were written by Rev. W. Awdry, who is sometimes mistakenly identified as the sole writer.

The Three Railway Engines

 * Book no. 1
 * Published 1945
 * Illustrated by William Middleton, later by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories
 * Edward’s Day Out
 * Edward and Gordon
 * The Sad Story of Henry
 * Edward, Gordon and Henry

This is the first book in the Railway Series, and introduces the central characters of Edward the Blue Engine, Henry the Green Engine, Gordon the Big Engine and the Fat Director.

Notes
 * These stories were famously first told to the young Christopher Awdry when he was in bed with measles in 1943, but due to wartime conditions were not published until 1945.
 * These stories were not originally intended to take place in a single volume, or even on the same railway. Edward, Gordon and Henry was written at the insistence of the publishers, Edmund Ward & Co, to bring the three characters together and to create a happy ending.
 * The stories were originally illustrated by William Middleton, and Awdry was extremely unhappy with the toylike depictions of his characters. When C. Reginald Dalby became the main Railway Series illustrator, he redrew Middleton’s illustrations, and it is this version that remains in print.

Thomas the Tank Engine

 * Book no. 2
 * Published 1946
 * Illustrated by Reginald Payne and C. Reginald Dalby

Stories
 * Thomas and Gordon
 * Thomas’ Train
 * Thomas and the Trucks
 * Thomas and the Breakdown Train

Thomas is a small tank engine who works at a big station fetching coaches for the big engines, but who longs for greater things. Unfortunately, his efforts at achieving these greater things tend to go wrong. But ultimately, after showing that he can be a useful engine following an accident, he is rewarded with his own branch line.

Notes C. Reginald Dalby is often erroneously identified as the illustrator of this volume. In fact, the original artist was Reginald Payne, and Dalby merely modified the original illustrations for later editions.
 * First appearances of Thomas and James (who is painted black with red lining).
 * Annie and Clarabel also appear in the illustrations, but they are not named.
 * The big station is not identified within the text, but is in fact Vicarstown.
 * The Fat Director makes his return appearance in this book, and has changed from a pompous figure of fun to a more fatherly character.
 * This was the first book to include a foreword, a feature that would appear in every subsequent book in the Railway Series.

James the Red Engine

 * Book no. 3
 * Published 1948
 * Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories
 * James and the Top Hat
 * James and the Bootlace
 * Troublesome Trucks
 * James and the Express

James has recently been repainted bright red, and is eager to show off. Unfortunately, he is also careless, and gets into a lot of trouble. But by making some troublesome trucks behave and by pulling the Express well, he proves himself.

Notes
 * The Fat Director is renamed the Fat Controller in this book. This is because, like most railways in Great Britain, this railway had just been Nationalised and was now part of British Railways.
 * First appearance of James in his red paint.
 * This was the first volume to be illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby from first publication.
 * Thomas makes a brief cameo in the first story, and although in the previous book he had been depicted as having a number, he has none here. It can be assumed that Dalby left it out to maintain continuity, as none of the other engines had numbers at this point.
 * Rev. W. Awdry often said that this was his least favourite book, as it had been written in a hurry to meet a deadline rather than purely from inspiration.

Tank Engine Thomas Again

 * Book no. 4
 * Published 1949
 * Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories
 * Thomas and the Guard
 * Thomas Goes Fishing
 * Thomas, Terence and the Snow
 * Thomas and Bertie

This book concerns the adventures Thomas has on his branch line, with the bigger engines relegated to cameo appearances. Thomas leaves his guard behind by mistake, he accidentally goes fishing thanks to a broken water column and a bucket of river water, he gets stuck in the snow and he has a race with Bertie the Bus.

Notes
 * First appearances of Bertie the Bus and Terence the Tractor.
 * Annie and Clarabel are named for the first time in this book.
 * The bridge that appears in Thomas Goes Fishing is based on Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s bridge at Maidenhead.
 * Henry’s brief appearance in the book caused a great deal of trouble for Rev. W. Awdry, as Dalby depicted him as looking identical to Gordon. The author received several complaints, and developed a stock answer to explain the problem – that Henry had been repaired using Gordon’s spare parts.

Troublesome Engines

 * Book no. 5
 * Published 1950
 * Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories
 * Henry and the Elephant
 * Tenders and Turntables
 * Trouble in the Shed
 * Percy Runs Away

The big engines (Gordon, James and Henry) are cross. Since Thomas left, they feel overworked, and some embarrassing incidents for all three of them lead them to go on strike. The Fat Controller addresses the problem by buying a new engine to do the shunting.

Notes
 * First appearance of the popular character Percy the Small Engine. Rev. W. Awdry was unhappy with Dalby’s depiction of the character, which he felt did not look like a real engine. This would cause further friction between the author and the illustrator later on.
 * Henry appears in green for the first time since the end of Three Railway Engines, at the end of which he had been painted blue.
 * The central theme of this book reflects the fact that, at the time when the book was written, there were labour difficulties on the real British Railways.

Henry the Green Engine

 * Book no. 6
 * Published 1951
 * Illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby

Stories
 * Coal
 * The Flying Kipper
 * Gordon’s Whistle
 * Percy and the Trousers
 * Henry’s Sneeze

Henry has been having a lot of problems. He cannot steam properly, and so is often ill. The Fat Controller tries to solve the problem with Welsh coal. When Henry has an accident, the Fat Controller decides to solve the problems once and for all by sending Henry to Crewe Works. Henry returns with a new shape and a much better outlook on life, and enjoys a number of adventures with the other engines.

Notes
 * This was the only book to feature five stories instead of the usual four.
 * This book was largely written due to the fact that Rev. W. Awdry was unhappy with C. Reginald Dalby’s depiction of Henry. It was inconsistent and often looked identical to Gordon. By having the character rebuilt, this problem was solved.
 * This was the first book in which all the engines carried numbers. Previously, only Thomas had worn a number.
 * The story Henry’s Sneeze was to cause problems for Awdry, due to the fact that it described some soot-covered boys as being “as black as niggers.” In 1972, complaints were made about the use of the term. Despite initially resisting, Awdry was convinced to make the change by a parent who wrote to him on the subject. The line was changed in subsequent editions to “as black as soot”.