Blue plaque to be unveiled at home of Thomas the Tank Engine creator

"The addition of the new Historic England plaque to Wilbert Awdry's old address in Stroud is expected to prompt fans of Thomas the Tank Engine and his fellow locomotives to make a pilgrimage to the street to pay their respects. Awdry's daughter, Veronica Chambers, said the family was delighted: It's an enormous privilege and an honour. Father would have been very surprised."

"The unveiling ceremony at Awdry's former home, named Sodor after the fictional island his anthropomorphic engines inhabited, also forms part of this year's Railway 200 celebrations. Awdry was working as a curate in Kings Norton, Birmingham, when the first book in the series, The Three Railway Engines, was published in 1945. On his retirement in 1965, Awdry and his family moved to Stroud, where he continued developing the world of Sodor."

"Chambers said Awdry's requirements for the house included a room for his study and another to host a model railway. He felt what he was doing with his stories was as much an outreach to people as being a parish priest, said Chambers. Lots of people used to write to him for advice, a bit like an agony aunt. He was non-judgmental and understood children."

A blue plaque is being unveiled at the redbrick house in Stroud where Wilbert Awdry lived and worked on his railway stories, marking eighty years since the first book. The Historic England plaque is expected to draw Thomas the Tank Engine fans to the street. The house, named Sodor after Awdry's fictional island, hosted a study and a model railway and formed part of Railway 200 celebrations. Awdry began the series with The Three Railway Engines in 1945, retired to Stroud in 1965 and continued developing Sodor. His stories were treated as outreach alongside his parish work, and the Thomas phenomenon has grown globally through television adaptations, with a stained glass window installed at St Mary Magdalene church in Stroud.

Read at www.theguardian.com