Eighty years since the first of a beloved fleet of trains was introduced to the world, a national blue plaque is being unveiled at the redbrick house in Gloucestershire where the Rev W Awdry worked on his railway stories.
The blue plaque to be placed at Awdry’s former home in Stroud. Photograph: Press office/Historic England
The addition of the new Historic England plaque to Wilbert Awdry’s old address in Stroud is expected to prompt fans of Thomas the Tank Engine and his fellow locomotives to make a pilgrimage to the street to pay their respects.
Awdry’s daughter, Veronica Chambers, said the family was delighted: “It’s an enormous privilege and an honour. Father would have been very surprised.”
“Alongside his role as a parish priest, he was a lifelong, dedicated railway enthusiast and by creating Thomas the Tank Engine and friends, he invented a magical, fictional world that has enchanted generations of children and adults across the world.”
The plaque’s inscription reads: “The Reverend Wilbert Awdry, 1911-1997, Children’s Author, who created Thomas the Tank Engine, lived here.”
Rev Awdry’s grandson Mark Chambers said it was a “very special” day for the family.
“It’s a wonderful thing that these stories have endured as long as they have for 80 years,” he added.
The unveiling ceremony at Awdry’s former home, named Sodor after the fictional island his anthropomorphic engines inhabited, also forms part of this year’s Railway 200 celebrations.
Awdry was working as a curate in Kings Norton, Birmingham, when the first book in the series, The Three Railway Engines, was published in 1945. On his retirement in 1965, Awdry and his family moved to Stroud, where he continued developing the world of Sodor.
Chambers said Awdry’s requirements for the house included a room for his study and another to host a model railway.
“He felt what he was doing with his stories was as much an outreach to people as being a parish priest,” said Chambers. “Lots of people used to write to him for advice, a bit like an agony aunt. He was non-judgmental and understood children.”
Since his death in 1997 at the age of 85, the phenomenon of Thomas has continued to grow across the world, helped by television adaptations.
A stained glass window starring the tank engine has been installed at St Mary Magdalene church in Stroud and enthusiasts are often found there.
Rev Awdry was born in June 1911 in the small village of Ampfield, in Hampshire, and developed a fascination with railways from a young age.
His interest grew when his family moved to Box, Wiltshire, where their home was close to Box Tunnel.
He decided to follow in his father’s footsteps as a vicar and was ordained in 1936.
Hearing the trains as he lay in bed inspired him to write the Railway Series books.
He later created Thomas to entertain his young son when he was sick with measles and the character became a global icon, with more than 20 TV series made.
After many years working in Stroud, Gloucestershire, he retired from the church and later died in the village of Rodborough in March 1997, aged 85.