The All Engines Go TV show is inspired by The Thomas the Tank engines stories created by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, who was born in Hampshire in 1911. He grew up close to the railway and was convinced that the steam engines all had different personalities. Later when he was grown up and his son Christopher became ill with measles, Wilbert told stories about Thomas and his friends to entertain him. Christopher asked for more and more stories and Wilbert began writing them down. The first of the Railway Series books was published in 1945, and Awdry wrote 26 Railway books in total before his son, Christopher, took over the series. There have since been multiple, hugely popular, Thomas the Tank Engine TV series and films.
