Locations in Thomas the Tank Engine

This is a complete list of locations who have appeared in Thomas the Tank Engine in order of appearance.

There are many fictional locations in Thomas the Tank Engine.

The Island of Sodor is the fictional island in the Irish Sea created by the Rev. Awdry as the setting for his Railway Series books. It is situated between the Isle of Man and the mainland at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria. The capital is Suddery, although the largest town is now Tidmouth.

All the locations are found on the Island of Sodor, with the only exception, Barrow Central Railway Station, situated in Cumbria on mainland England.

Abbey
Abbey is a station on the Peel Godred branchline, named after the nearby Cronk Abbey. It solely services the nearby school, and is only staffed at the beginning and end of school terms.

A statue of the steam team is in a park near the station.

Anopha Quarry
Anopha Quarry is the quarry at the end of Toby's tramway and Mavis' home. Henrietta and Bertie take the quarrymen to and from the quarry, but unfortunately Bertie can only go up to the quarry gates and the two had a hard time transporting the workmen. The problem was solved after Sir Topham Hatt renovated an old coach called Victoria and joined her with Henrietta and Toby.

Arlesburgh
Arlesburgh is a seaside town based on both sides of the Arle Estuary. The town is a popular tourist attraction on Sodor, mainly because of the Arlesdale Railway, of which one of the two stations here, Arlesburgh West, is the top station of Duck's branchline. This is also the terminus of the Arlesdale Railway, and was once served by the Mid Sodor Railway. The other station is Arlesburgh Bridge Street, which is served only by trains on the Arlesdale Railway.

In ancient times, the town was created as a port, stockaded by Godred MacHarold, and remained so for several centuries. The Mid Sodor Railway once operated a steamer service to Douglas, Man for passengers and freight, but its traffic dwindled after the railway's passenger traffic stopped, and completely dissolved when the railway closed in 1947. The port was re-opened by Sir Topham Hatt in 1968 to transport ballast from the old mines at Arlesdale.

The NWR engine sheds at Arlesburgh are home to Duck, Oliver and sometimes Donald or Douglas.

Several early maps of Sodor, including ones drawn by the Reverend W. Awdry, have Arlesburgh spelt "Arlsburgh". This was also seen on a signpost in Toby the Tram Engine.

Arlesburgh Bridge Street
Arlesburgh Bridge Street is a station on the Arlesdale Railway. It was also a station on the now-closed Mid Sodor Railway.

Arlesburgh Shed
The Arlesburgh Shed was built for Duck and Oliver, when the Fat Controller re-opened the Tidmouth-Arlesburgh branchline. There is also an extra berth for Donald or Douglas.

The shed is built in the style of the Great Western Railway buildings. It stands between the ballast hopper and the station.

Arlesburgh West
Arlesburgh West is the top station of Duck's branchline. The station is also the terminal of the Arlesdale Railway, and was the harbour station of the Mid Sodor Railway.

Arlesdale
Arlesdale is the valley which the River Arle runs through to the sea. It is also the home of the Arlesdale Railway, running from Arlesburgh at the river's mouth of the river to the village at Arlesdale.

Arlesdale is also a town and was a station and site of the Mid Sodor Railway's engine and carriage sheds, and, after the line began to close down, its top station.

Arlesdale End
Arlesdale End is a station referenced by Percy and Toby. Percy said it was his favourite station, and when Toby replied that he used to live there Percy added he liked it best when Toby was there.

Arlesdale End Shed
Arlesdale End Shed is a one-road engine shed where Toby sleeps (although Stepney has been seen here). This was originally Toby's shed when he used to belong to Sodor Tramways. But when the tramline was closed down, Toby was put inside his shed until his crew arrived to tell him that he is going to work for the Fat Controller.

Thomas helped to fix the leaky roof on Arlesdale End Shed and used the old wood to make a new bird-house for Toby's friends.

Arlesdale Green
Arlesdale Green is a station on the Arlesdale Railway. It was previously a station on the Mid Sodor Railway, but was only a simple building, as there was another station nearby.

Arlesdale Road
Arlesdale Road is a station on the Arlesdale Railway.

Balladrine
Balladrine is a village three kilometres southeast of Killdane.

Balladswail
Balladwail is a town on Sodor. A plate way railway utilising the forces of gravity once ran from Ward Fell to here in the nineteenth century.

Ballahoo
Ballahoo is a dormitory town for Barrow-in-Furness. It has a station served by a joint North Western Railway/National Rail service from Barrow, and is on the Norramby branch.

Ballahoo is notable for its two railway tunnels. The first was constructed in 1915, but partially collapsed due to poor construction, thus dividing the tunnel.

The second tunnel was cut in 1922 when Henry stopped in the first tunnel and refused to come out. As it was impossible to move him, it was decided to instead cut a new bore. When Henry was finally removed, both tunnels remained in service. As a result of these events, the tunnels were nicknamed "Henry's Tunnel".

Ballamoddey
Ballamoddey is a hamlet on Sodor. In the heyday of the Mid Sodor Railway, it was the last station before the top station at Peel Godred.

Ballaswein
Ballaswein is a small village north of Harwick. It is the northernmost settlement on Sodor.

Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is a town in England. The North Western Railway has had running powers into Barrow Central station since an agreement with the LMS Railway in 1925. For "through" trains, North Western Railway engines are detached and BR or Other Railway engines take over. Since 1925, the North Western Railway has also had a shed, turntable and servicing facility here. There is also a joint goods yard for exchange traffic.

In real life, Barrow Central is the local station though now just called Barrow, but it does not have a line running to the Isle of Walney, which was "replaced" by in the maps of the island.

Ben Glas
The Ben Glas is a river which starts at the top of the old Skarloey Railway plateway. It meets the Hawin Doorey five kilometres southeast of Glennock and flows down to Balladswail.

Black Loch
Black Loch is a lake that is near a line that Emily runs. James was originally given the run but was replaced with Emily when she was late with the flour train once to often. Originally, the engines were worried about the route as it was rumoured that the loch was occupied by a monster and that boulders would bash engines buffers. But Emily learns that the monster is actually a family of seals and the engines now like taking this route.

Bluff's Cove
Bluff's Cove is a seaside station on Thomas' branchline which serves both a beach and a school.

Bluff's Cove Junction
Bluff's Cove Junction is the mainline junction to Thomas' branchline and to the short branch line to Bluff's Cove. The junction consists of some sidings and a signalbox, which stands on a gantry over the mainline.

Boulder Quarry
Boulder Quarry was, probably but originally, the most short-lived industry on the Island of Sodor.

Built up in the mountains, the Quarry was operated by the narrow-gauge engines, who transported the mountain rock to Thomas and Percy at the Exchange Sidings. However, Thumper was digging into the mountain with a Boulder on it; and once, Boulder came down the mountain, causing chaos and runaways, the Fat Controller decided to close down Boulder Quarry.

The Boulder Quarry was later opened.

Brendam
Brendam is a town with a population of 5000, and is also the top station for Edward's branchline and an important harbour. Bill and Ben bring china clay from the nearby China Clay Workings, and it is shipped to the mainland.

The Sodor China Clay Company, established in 1948, occasionally hosts days when enthusiasts may look around. Bill and Ben particularly enjoy the attention these visitors give them.

A coastal branchline runs from the port, and is mainly used for fish traffic. It also appears that the Express stops here on its way to Vicarstown, to collect passengers from the many ocean liners that come in here. The mail barge also docks here.

Bridge of Rocks
Bridge of Rocks is a hamlet near Droghan-y-Claghan, on the other side of the Hawin Ooyre.

Bulgy's Bridge
"Bulgy's Bridge" is the nickname given to a bridge on the Little Western that Bulgy stuck under and damaged. Bulgy was later removed from underneath and left to rust in a nearby field.

Cabalnoo
Cabalnoo is a village about eight kilometres northwest of Kirk Ronan.

Callan
Callan is a station on Sodor.

Cas-ny-Hawin
Cas-ny-Hawin was a station on the Mid Sodor Railway. After Stanley was turned into a pumping engine, he was used to pump out water from the mines. He broke down in 1946, and as a result the mine flooded and was abandoned in December that year. With no further reason to continue running, the Mid Sodor Railway closed down in January the following year.

Castle Loch
Castle Loch, also known as the Scottish Castle, is a landmark of Sodor situated in Misty Valley. It was found by Toby in Toby's Discovery. It is home to Lord Callan.

Henry once had to collect a new flag for the castle.

It has become a popular tourist attraction ever since.

Centre Island Quarry
The Centre Island Quarry is the quarry where Bill, Ben and Mavis work and sleep. It contains engine sheds, rock hoppers and large buildings. Salty, Diesel, Thomas, Percy, Toby, 'Arry and Bert have been seen working here.

As well as mining quarry rock, there is a section of the quarry which mines slate.

Clagh Ooyre
Clagh Ooyre is a Sudrian mountain seven kilometres southwest of Harwick.

Cregwir
Cregwir is a village on Sodor to the east of Harwick. On some maps of Sodor drawn by the Reverend W. Awdry, a horse-drawn goods line ran from Harwick to here until it was pulled up for the war effort during World War II.

Cronk
Cronk-ny-Braaid, or the Hill in the Valley, more famously known as Cronk, is named so as the town was built on a curious rocky outcrop in the centre of the valley leading to the heart of Sodor. This incredibly defensive structure led to its development into a fortified town. A (now ruined) castle was built here in the twelfth century.

Cronk is about roughly halfway along the North Western Railway's main line between Vicarstown and Tidmouth.

Just to the west is a magnificent viaduct where Gordon once had his dome blown off in 1957. A few miles to the north is a private school and the ruins of Cronk Abbey, both of which are serviced by Abbey Station on the Peel Godred branch.

Cros-ny-Cuirn
Cros-ny-Cuirn is a station on the Skarloey Railway.

Crosby
Crosby, originally Croshbyr, is a small seaside town renowned for its fresh air. It is named after an impressive stone cross made for the town's churchyard in the eleventh century.

Until 1912, Crosby was the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway's terminus; then the line was extended to Knapford. During the same year, a tunnel about 1.6 kilometres (1 mile) in length was bored.

Duck once crashed into the barber's shop here. On some maps of Sodor, it is misspelt "Crusby"

Crovan's Gate
Crovan's Gate is town near a narrow gap in the hills that is the only practicable route into the centre of Sodor from the east. It is the terminus of the Skarloey Railway. Engines come from the North Western and Culdee Fell railways to the works, established in 1915, to be repaired.

The town is named after Godred Crovan, who saved Sodor from a Viking invasion. After a warband of Vikings landed nearby, they were lured to a small pass which led to the center of Sodor and attacked. The warband retreated to their boats, only to find they had all been burnt by another party who had hid nearby.

The works are possibly the best equipped for steam restoration in the British Isles - they are capable of any repair, overhaul or restoration job for any locomotive on the Island. The works also manufacture steam engines, and Sir Topham Hatt has been looking into the possibility of manufacturing parts for engines on heritage railways. The town's motto is "Ave amicos cave hostes", which, translated, means "Welcome, friends; beware, enemies". Engines

The standard gauge yard is staffed by Wendell, who shunts goods and does odd jobs.

The terminus, sheds and yards for the Skarloey Railway are located here.

Culdee Fell
Culdee Fell is a Sudrian mountain. It has the reputation of being the highest point on Sodor, with its summit 2048 feet above sea level. The Culdee Fell Railway climbs this mountain's southwest side.

Culdee, #4 on the Culdee Fell Railway, is named after this mountain.

Translated from Sudric, it means "The Mountain of the Companion of God". This most likely sources from the fact that St. Machan (the patron saint of Sodor, who lived during the sixth century) lived in a nearby cave.

Devil's Back
"Devil's Back", previously Dreeym-y-Deighan, is a bleak, windy ridge on Culdee Fell traversed by the Culdee Fell Railway. It is the last passing loop before the summit.

If the winds become too strong on the mountain, passenger trains stop here rather than continuing to the summit. Rescue and supply trains, however, must get through.

Droghan-y-Clagan
Droghan-y-Claghan is a hamlet about thirteen kilometres southwest-west of Harwick. It is several hundred metres away from Bridge of Rocks.

Dryaw
Dryaw is a station on and a village near Thomas' branchline. The village began as a worker village for the staff of A. W. Dry, a company working on reclaiming tidal land from the sea. Gradually, a village grew up around the workers' homes, expanding as more land was drained and cultivated.

Dryaw has two stations: one for passengers and one for goods, the latter of which was built first. The two lines of track go though Dryaw Station. The goods station is, ironically, in the middle of the village and better equipped than the passenger station, which is simply an unstaffed halt some distance from the village. The villagers of Dryaw, however, often save themselves the walk to the passenger station by hitching a ride in the brakevans of goods trains headed to Ffarquhar or Knapford Harbour, particularly on market days.

The name is an anagram of "Awdry" - the real back-story to the name - but, in the books, however, it possibly could come from the firm A. W. Dry, or the phrase "dry out", the site of the village being one of the first sections of land to be reclaimed from the sea by the company. Harold and Tiger Moth live at the nearby airfield. Sodor Airport is near the airfield.

Dryaw FC
Dryaw FC is the place where football (soccer) games are held. Moles had once made hills on the field, and Miss Jenny sent Buster to flatten them.

Dubbyn Moar
Dubbyn Moar is a lake about six kilometres southeast of Cregwir.

Elephant Park
Elephant Park is a park that is near the Skarloey Railway.

Elephant Park Station
Elephant Park Station is a station on the Skarloey Railway near Elephant Park.

Elsbridge
Elsbridge is a village on Thomas' branchline in the Els Valley with a population of 500. The nearby River Els flows underneath a bridge (based on the bridge at Maidenhead, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel) and enters the Sudrian Sea at Knapford.

The station at Elsbridge has a large overhead footbridge.

At one time, Elsbridge was the top station of the Knapford and Elsbridge Light Railway. After the formation of the North Western Railway and the opening of Anopha Quarry in 1914, the line was extended to Ffarquhar.

Elsbridge is the Junction to Thomas' branchline. There is a small yard and an engines shed situated here as well.

Farmer McColl's Field
Farmer McColl's Field is located opposite his farm and is owned by Farmer McColl. Once, Thomas ignored a "men-at-work" sign and chuffs too fast on the bumpy tracks that were under repair and the load of books he was carrying bounce off the rails and into the field where they then hold a "storytime picnic in the sun".

Farmer Trotter's Pig Farm
Farmer Trotter's Pig Farm is Thomas' favourite farm on Sodor.

It is run and owned by Farmer Trotter.

Fenlan Fields
Fenlan Fields is a field near the Fenlan Track. The Sodor Warbler was spotted here.

Ffarquhar
Ffarquhar is the top station of Thomas' branchline. The engine and carriage sheds are located here, as well as a line leading to Anopha Quarry. No engines are allowed on that line, except Mavis and Toby.

Ffarquhar station was built as an extension of Thomas' branch line from Hackenbeck, to provide an outlet for the stone from the Quarry at Anopha Fell.

In earlier books, Ffarquhar looked considerably different to the later version familiar to readers. Wilbert Awdry explained this away in The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways in the form of a letter by Mr. Kevin Volley, former stationmaster at Ffarquhar, as being the result of errors by the artist.

Tom Tipper the postman brings mail to the station for Percy to take to Knapford. It is also a designated stop for Bertie.

Ffarquhar Road
Ffarquhar Road is a station on the Arlesdale Railway and the former Mid Sodor Railway. In the heyday of the latter, the station had a platform and a shelter made from granite from a nearby quarry.

Ffarquhar Road was the Mid Sodor Railway's former site for the engine sheds and main goods yard.

Ffarquhar Sheds
Ffarquhar Sheds is a shed at Ffarquhar.

When Thomas was given his branchline a small shed was built for him at Hackenbeck. After the top station was moved to Ffarquhar the shed was demolished and rebuilt at Ffarquhar.

Ffarquhar Shed began as a red-brick single shed built for Thomas, but when the Fat Controller bought Toby and Henrietta from East Anglia to Sodor a new white-brick shed and the carriage shed were added. The shed remained so until Percy left Tidmouth to work at the harbour, when the white-brick shed was given another line.

Glennock
Glennock is a hamlet and the middle station of the Skarloey Railway.

Gob-y-Deighan
Gob-y-Deighan - literally, "The Devil's Mouth" - is a Sudrian mountain two kilometres northwest of Ulfstead Road.

Gordon's Hill
"Gordon's Hill" is the nickname of a steep hill between Wellsworth and Maron. It got its name after Gordon stalled there while pulling a goods train in 1922.

Over a distance of eight kilometres (five miles), the line climbs around a hundred metres (280 feet) to reach Maron, meaning a gradient of 1:75 and a severe test for engines on the North Western Railway.

"Bankers" are often required to help trains up the hill. They, however, run the risk of being chased by a runaway train - something Duck found out the hard way.

When the railway was first built, this stretch was made even more difficult by strong winds blown in by the sea. This was attempted to be countered by the planting of trees on either side of the line, but in autumn there can be the additional risk of slippery leaves on the line, as James once discovered.

Funnily enough, there is a real place in London called "Gordon Hill", but this is probably a coincidence.

Great Waterton
Great Waterton is an old town that Thomas discovered in The Great Discovery.

Great Waterton got its name from the fact that it served a water works, which supplied water for all the other towns on Sodor. When the very first steam engines came to Sodor, it was the island's main town. It was served by Sodor Tramways, which delivered the coal for the water works until the tramline was closed. The water works then closed down and many people moved away from Great Waterton. Great Waterton became lost until Thomas discovered it while finding another route to the Wharf. To celebrate Sodor Day, the Fat Controller decided to have the town restored, with all the engines on Sodor and the Sodor Construction Company involved in the project. Now, Great Waterton is beautiful again, as it once was: the town high in the mountains.

The water works consists of some large buildings which housed the steam pumping engines, as well as the standpipe tower which dwarfs all the buildings. Inside the water works, there have been two steam pumping engines with a large stationary boiler to provide steam pressure.

The standpipe tower has a huge iron pipe inside its structure; its purpose is to allow the steam pumping engines to pump the water up the standpipe and then, by gravity, the pressure inside the standpipe moves the water along the water mains towards all the other towns. Once the water works closed the standpipe tower fell into disrepair, and it was a huge undertaking to restore the standpipe - especially as Thomas' trick on Stanley caused the trucks to crash into it. Now the standpipe tower looks as good as new.

The water works is based upon the Kew Bridge Steam Museum in London, which is housed in a steam-driven pumping station, originally used for pumping clean water for all of London.

Hackenbeck
Hackenbeck is a small hamlet to the west of Ffarquhar, serviced by a halt on Thomas' branchline. Thomas once stuck in a snowdrift outside the nearby tunnel.

Mrs. Kyndley lives in a cottage near the tunnel.

Harwick
Harwick is a Sudrian fishing town with a population of 5869 at the end of 1981. There is a lighthouse, lifeboat and coastguard, as well as a ferry service to Ramsey on the Isle of Man. It attracts tourists after peace and quiet.

There is a myth that Vikings planned to plunder Harwick during the sixth century, but were converted by St. Machan in awe of his fearlessness. It is most likely false - Vikings did not begin raiding Sodor until the eighth century.

On some maps of Sodor, a line has been shown running towards Loey Machan from Harwick's east. This is the only remainder of earlier railway proposals to connect Harwick with Cronk via Peel Godred. The line, however, had only reached the village of Cregwir before funds ran out. The line was used solely as a horse-drawn freight line between Cregwir's quarries and the port at Harwick. The line was later pulled for the war effort during World War II.

On at least two of the Reverend W. Awdry's early maps of Sodor, the aforementioned line is not shown; in its place is a short narrow gauge line from Harwick to Ballaswein, a few kilometres to the north. This line wasn't mentioned in The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways in favour of the line to Cregwir. It is possible it was simply an idea Wilbert and his brother George played with but scrapped. However, the narrow gauge line later appeared on the map of Sodor featured in the endpapers of The Railway Series - The Complete Collection.

At any rate, there were plans to extend the Tidmouth-Arlesburgh branch line to Harwick, but nothing came of them.

Harwick Park
Harwick Park is a park situated in Harwick.

Haultraugh
Haultraugh is a seaside resort on Duck's branchline. The station is really an island platform with a line passing either side.

Dilly the duck lives here.

Hawin Ab
The Hawin Ab is a river which starts a kilometres south of Dubbyn Moar. It winds east past Peel Godred and down to the sea near Cronk.

Hawin Croka
The Hawin Croka is a stream which starts several hundred metres west of the Hawin Russagh. It then winds past Kellsthorpe, Kellsthorpe Road and Rolf's Castle before reaching the bay near Kirk Ronan.

Hawin Doorey
The Hawin Doorey is a river which starts one kilometre north of Rheneas and flows to meet Ben Glas five kilometres southeast of Glennock.

Hawin Ooyre
The Hawin Ooyre is a stream which winds down from Loey Machan to Harwick.