History Trivia / TheRailwaySeries

The upshot of this history is that to this day there is an Anglican diocese of Sodor & Man, despite one of those places not actually existing. The Rev Awdry essentially chose to [[{{Defictionalisation}} Defictionalise]] the name in order to create a setting for his stories.
** Said Bishop[[note]]at the time, the Right Reverend Benjamin Pollard[[/note]] was even sent a copy of Kenney's 1958 map of Sodor, with a note from the good Reverend explaining that he had found the 'lost half' of his diocese!

* CreatorsPest: Henry became a thorn in Wilbert’s side due to his similarities to Gordon and the illustrators doing a poor job differentiating his build after he was painted blue at the end of the first book.[[note]]Originally Henry was not going to be even let out of his tunnel, but publishers insisted on him writing "Edward, Gordon and Henry" to give the book a HappyEnding[[/note]] Awdry at one point considered quietly ''scrapping'' Henry, with his illness being tacit nods to his lingering fate, but publishers and fans obviously spoke against this, leading him to writing Henry's repaint to green in the fifth book and his rebuild in "The Flying Kipper", forcing a divergent redesign for the illustrators to follow.

** While the original books by Wilbert Awdry are very not difficult to find, the later books by Christopher Awdry are notably more difficult and expensive these days by comparsion, and copies of his books can frequently go up into the [[CrackIsCheaper hundreds or even thousands]]. This is likely due to his books having been out of print and not seeing many rereleases beyond their original printing unlike Wilbert's, which have seen numerous rereleases since their original release. The one compilation featuring his stories is also notoriously hard to find as well.

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: ''The Guardian'' has spread rumors that Christopher Awdry assisted in the murder of a transgender woman named Christine Chappel, who allegedly wrote ''Thomas and Victoria'' while Chris was busy. It's also alleged that Awdry had an affair with her, despite being married to Diana Scott at the time.

* SequelGap: There was an 11 year gap between ''New Little Engine'' (1996) and ''Thomas and Victoria'' (2007)

** ''Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends'' was not the first attempt to get a TV adaptation off the ground:

** Both the original [[https://pm1.narvii.com/7060/0d519861b1b46a9189afb8a19a174440d3745e66r1-924-569v2_hq.jpg toy train]] and [[https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/File:ThomasRevWAwdry.jpg early sketches of Thomas by Awdry]] featured a very different design for Thomas, as he was originally based off of an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNR_Class_J23 Class J50 tank engine]] as opposed to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LB%26SCR_E2_class E2 Tank Engine]] that would ultimately be used as the basis for Thomas' final design thanks to illustrator Reginald Payne.

* FanNickname: The red engine that briefly appears in "The Sad Story of Henry" has no name officially[[note]]The engine was intended to be James according to Awdry, however due to children questioning why [[SeriesContinuityError he's painted red in the story when the book after it had him in a black livery before he got repainted to red]], Awdry made him a different character instead[[/note]]. However, the ''Extended Railway Series'' fan project has decided to give him the name "Eagle", which quickly took off and spread like wildfire in the fandom shortly after. Nowadays, even those who are otherwise unfamiliar with the ''Extended Railway Series'' stories will often call him Eagle as its become that ingrained into the community.

* CreatorBacklash: Christopher Awdry, like the fans, heavily opposed the reformat under Egmont in the late 90s.

* DevelopmentHell: ''Barry the Rescue Engine'', first pitched by Christopher Awdry in the '80s, has yet to see the light of day (it was going to be released in 1986/95, but the publishers wanted even more stories starring Thomas). With Christopher now retired from writing the books, it seems likely to stay that way.

* CreatorsPest: Henry became a thorn in Awdry's side due to his similarities to Gordon and the illustrators doing a poor job differentiating his build after he was painted blue at the end of the first book.[[note]]Originally Henry was not going to be even let out of his tunnel, but publishers insisted on him writing "Edward, Gordon and Henry" to give the book a HappyEnding[[/note]] Awdry at one point considered quietly ''scrapping'' Henry, with his illness being tacit nods to his lingering fate, but publishers and fans obviously spoke against this, leading him to writing Henry's repaint to green in the fifth book and his rebuild in "The Flying Kipper", forcing a divergent redesign for the illustrators to follow.

* FanNickname: The red engine that briefly appears in "The Sad Story of Henry" has no name officially[[note]]The engine was intended to be James according to Awdry, however due to children questioning why [[SeriesContinuityError he's painted red in the story when the book after it had him in a black livery before he got repainted to red]], which led to Awdry to make him a different character instead[[/note]]. However, the ''Extended Railway Series'' fan project has decided to give him the name "Eagle" instead, which quickly took off and spread like wildfire in the fandom shortly after. Nowadays, even those who are otherwise unfamiliar with the ''Extended Railway Series'' stories will often call him Eagle as its become that ingrained into the community.

* FanNickname: The red engine that briefly appears in "The Sad Story of Henry" has no name officially[[note]]The engine was intended to be James according to Awdry, however due to children questioning why [[SeriesContinuityError he's painted red in the story when the book after it had him in a black livery before he got repainted to red]], which led to Awdry to make him a different character instead[[/note]]. However, the ''Extended Railway Series'' fan project has decided to give him the name "Eagle" instead, which quickly took off and spread like wildfire in the fandom shortly after. Nowadays, even those who are otherwise unfamiliar with the ''Extended Railway Series'' stories will often call him Eagle as its become that ingrained to the community.

* FanNickname: The red engine that briefly appears in "The Sad Story of Henry" has no name officially[[note]]The engine was intended to be James according to Awdry, however due to children questioning why [[SeriesContinuityError he's painted red in the story when the book after it originally portrayed him in a black livery before he got repainted to red]], which led to Awdry to make him a different character instead[[/note]]. Fans have decided to give him the name "Eagle".

* FanNickname: The red engine that briefly appears in "The Sad Story of Henry" has no name officially[[note]]The engine was intended to be James according to Awdry, however due to children questioning why [[ContinuitySnarl he's painted red in the story when the book after it originally portrayed him in a black livery before he got repainted to red]], which led to Awdry to make him a different character instead[[/note]]. Fans have decided to give him the name "Eagle".

** Christopher Awdry was unsatisfied with the novel "More About Thomas the Tank Engine". The Awdrys had been pushed to publish more stories starring Thomas to coincide with the TV show and give it more adaptation material. Christopher Awdry found the final result rushed and disliked the final story "Drip Tank" due to the use of now outdated slang as a plot pivot. Noticeably "Drip Tank" is the only story of the book not adapted into a TV episode.

* DevelopmentHell
** ''Barry the Rescue Engine'', first pitched by Christopher Awdry in the '80s, has yet to see the light of day (it was going to be released in 1986/95, but the publishers wanted even more stories starring Thomas). With Christopher now retired from writing the books, it seems likely to stay that way.
** A live-action/CGI feature film by Shane Acker (''WesternAnimation/{{Nine}}'') to be set in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII was teased in the early 2010s, but no further news was ever reported.

** Both the original [[https://pm1.narvii.com/7060/0d519861b1b46a9189afb8a19a174440d3745e66r1-924-569v2_hq.jpg toy train]] and [[https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/File:ThomasRevWAwdry.jpg early sketches of Thomas by Awdry]] featured a very different design for Thomas, as he was originally based off of an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNR_Class_J23 LNER Classes J50]] as opposed to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LB%26SCR_E2_class LB&SCR E2 class]] that would ultimately be used as the basis for Thomas' finalized design thanks to illustrator Reginald Payne.

** Both the original [[https://pm1.narvii.com/7060/0d519861b1b46a9189afb8a19a174440d3745e66r1-924-569v2_hq.jpg toy train]] and [[https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/File:ThomasRevWAwdry.jpg early sketches of Thomas by Awdry]] featured a very different design for Thomas, as he was originally based off of an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNR_Class_J23 GNR Class J23]] as as opposed to an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LB%26SCR_E2_class LB&SCR E2 class]], which would ultimately be used as the basis for his final and iconic design thanks to illustrator Reginald Payne.

* Both the original [[https://pm1.narvii.com/7060/0d519861b1b46a9189afb8a19a174440d3745e66r1-924-569v2_hq.jpg toy train]] and [[https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/File:ThomasRevWAwdry.jpg early sketches of Thomas by Awdry]] featured a very different design for Thomas, as he was originally based off of an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNR_Class_J23 GNR Class J23]] as as opposed to an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LB%26SCR_E2_class LB&SCR E2 class]], which would ultimately be used as the basis for his final and iconic design thanks to illustrator Reginald Payne.

** ''Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines'' was released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ''The Railway Series'' and the overarching narrative in the book is [[RealitySubtext centered around hosting a golden jubilee to celebrate it]].

* SeqeulGap: There was an 11 year gap between ''New Little Engine'' (1996) and ''Thomas and Victoria'' (2007)

** ''The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways''. The [[AllThereInTheManual guidebook]] by Wilbert Awdry, has not recieved any kind of rerelease since 1992, making it incredibly difficult to find and expensive to obtain.

*** In 1976, Andrew Lloyd Webber pitched the idea for a musical adaptation, labelled ''Thomas the Tank Engine'' much like the later approved series. Working with Brian Cosgrove, the show would have used a whimsical cut-out animation format reminiscent of ''Ivor the Engine''. Despite Awdry being apprehensive of Webber's creative liberties, a contract was signed and a pilot was made, though since Thomas had not yet gained much interest from the international market, the project was cancelled.