One noticeable change was the fifth illustration of Thomas and Gordon, where Thomas pulls the coaches in backwards when originally painted he was pulling them in forwards. The original artist was actually Reginald Payne Dalby simply made some further touches to the illustrations in 1950. Reginald Dalby is often erroneously identified as the illustrator. He is also established as the sole director of the railway, rather than one of several. The Fat Controller makes his return in this book, and is changed from a pompous figure of fun to a more fatherly character.The big station is not identified but it is most likely Vicarstown.First appearances of Thomas, James, and Thomas's coaches Annie and Clarabel (who are not named yet until on the fourth issue "Tank Engine Thomas Again", also mentioned in the first chapter "Thomas and the Guard").However, after showing that he can be a useful engine following James' accident with some trucks, he is rewarded with his own branch line and his two coaches named Annie and Clarabel.
Thomas is a tank engine who works at a big train station, fetching coaches for the big engines and longs for greater things beyond the station yard. Illustrated by Reginald Payne, later modified by C.Reginald Dalby made new illustrations to replace Middleton's illustrations (but not just replacing) but as Dalby's own illustration versions, and it is this version that remains in print. However, Awdry was unhappy with the toy-like depictions of his characters and several errors in the artwork. The stories were originally illustrated by William Middleton.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. These stories were not intended to take place in a single volume, or even on the same railway.These stories were first told to the young Christopher Awdry when he was sick with measles in 1942, but due to wartime conditions, they were not published until 1945.This is the first book in the series, and introduces Edward, Gordon, Henry and The Fat Director (then later became The Fat Controller also known as Sir Topham Hatt). Illustrated by William Middleton, later by C.The first 26 books in the series were written by Rev. The Railway Series is a British series of children's books written by both the Rev. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) ( January 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia.