The History Of Thomas The Train Toys

Thomas The Train and I were brought together by force. I have a 3-year old nephew who is a Thomas fanatic. I have to watch Thomas on television I have to listen to Thomas The Train songs in the car. Even when he’s not at my house I still hear Thomas The Train in my head.

As the old adage goes if you can’t beat them – join them. In this article I am going to share with you a brief history about Thomas The Train. You are going to discover how he came to be a world phenomenon.

I was surprised when I found out that our loveable little friend is actually fifty years old. Thomas was originally created by Reverend Wilbert Awdry, as a means of entertaining his child Christopher while he was ill. Christopher was stuck in isolation because he had scarlet fever.

Christopher loved the stories so much that he demanded that his father tell them to him again and again. As most kids do, Christopher would correct his father whenever he found inconsistencies in his stories. The Reverend could no longer make the stories up from the top of his head. He began to write them down on little scraps of paper. To add to the stories Reverend Awdry drew little pictures of trains. Since a head on view was the easiest to draw, he drew a row of trains parked in a engine shed with human faces and expressions on the smoke box door.

After looking at the drawings, Christopher looked up at his father and asked, “Why is this train sad?”, pointing at an unhappy faced train. “Because he’s old and tired and he hasn’t been out in a long time.”, replied his father. “What’s his name, Daddy?”

“Edward” was the first name that came into the Rev. Awdry’s mind. This was the genesis of “Edward’s Day Out”, the first in almost a hundred simple moral tales about the exploits and adventures of a group of railway engines given human personalities.

A lot of people mistakenly thought that Thomas was the first train that Rev. Awdry wrote about. After unveiling this information I often wondered why wasn’t the show called Edward and Friends, instead of Thomas and Friends. Then I thought… Hmmm… Does it really matter? Anyway let’s keep this story moving.

The Reverend’s wife Mrs. Awdry believed that her husbands little stories were pretty good. So she began to pester him to take action. Which proves another great adage, “Behind every great man there is a great woman!”

Article Source: http://www.contentspool.com

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