on May 12 1945 one of the most important children book series was published titled 'Three Railway Engines' Rev. Wilbert Awdry a father who wanted to entertain his sick son Christopher with the measles in 1942 the war prevented him to release his book until 1945 4 days after Berlin was captured by the Soviet forces to basically end the WWII in Europe. in 1946 he released his second book 'Thomas the Tank Engine' that would overshadow the 'Three Railway Engines' he would write 26 books wrote his last book 'Tramway Engines' in 1972 at that time he ran out of ideas for more stories.

over the years several attempts were made to adapt his stories for TV first in 1953 which was a disaster and second in 1973 make it into a musical series but never got off the ground. finally in 1979 television produce Britt Allcroft would purchase the rights to the series to adapt it to television and took a second mortgage on hr house to finance it worked closely with Awdry. In 1984 'Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends' was release and became into instant hit and cemented itself into popular culture.

Wilbert would would leave the spotlight in 1990 due to failing health and then passed away in 1997 at the age of 85. Britt Allcroft would run the series until 2003 and would pass away in 2024 at the age of 81.

Wilbert Awdry would ended up saving railway enthusiasm and pushed railway preservation with his stories making multiple generations of railfans and Allcroft would take it mainstream. two people that probably did more for preservation than other railroad man ever could.

Wilbert Awdry as well as Britt Alcroft earned a massive thank you from everyone of us for his work. one book shaped railway enthusiasts for multiple future generations.

Thank you Wilbert Awdry and Britt Alcroft for everything

Wilbert Awdry 1911-1997
Britt Alcroft 1943-2024