Those stories became The Three Railway Engines, which Awdry published in 1945. The Thomas books would become hugely popular in England -- and in 1984, Thomas landed his own TV series ...

One Christmas, the Rev. Awdry made a model of the engines named Thomas and Edward. In 1945, the Rev. Awrdy’s wife urged him to write a book. That book, “The Three Railway Engines” sold ...

The assistant in Waterstone's shakes his head. I've asked for The Three Railway Engines, the first of many books written by the Reverend W.V. Awdry. 'I don't recognise the title,' he says.