It is Christmas eve, and Thomas wishes he was safe and warm in his shed with the other engines. But Thomas is a Really Useful Engine and has several important deliveries to make. Will he get home in time to make sure his stocking has been carefully hung? And when a big blizzard blows up, Thomas fears that Father Christmas may not find the engine shed at all. The Reverend W Awdry first started telling his young son tales of Thomas, Percy and the other Really Useful Engines in 1944. In 1945, he started writing the tales down, and upon their publication they were immediately embraced by train lovers in Great Britain and worldwide. Before his death in 1997, the Reverend wrote 26 volumes of stories that continue to thrill generations of young readers.
Author
Wilbert Vere Awdry, OBE, better known as the Rev. W. Awdry, was an English clergyman, railway enthusiast and children's author, and creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, who starred in Awdry's acclaimed Railway Series. The characters that would make Awdry famous, and the first stories featuring them, were invented in 1943 to amuse his son Christopher during a bout of measles. The first book (The Three Railway Engines) was published in 1945, and by the time Awdry stopped writing in 1972, The Railway Series numbered 26 books. Christopher subsequently added further books to the series.
