Thomas the Train: All Aboard for Fun!

Today’s Article is a Guest Post by Libby Minor.  See more about her below.

“The morality of the stories was clear and Christian: misbehaviour led to suffering and retribution; however, provided the culprit showed repentance, restoration always followed. ‘The important thing,’ Awdry said, ‘is that the engines are punished and forgiven – but never scrapped.’ “ From William Awdry’s obituary in a London newspaper.

You may be familiar with the Thomas and Friends movies and the popular animated series shown on PBS, but you may not know that these delightful railroad tales are based on an amazing series of books written by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry, an English parson. Train characters such as Thomas, Edward, Gordon, Emily, and Henry have been enchanting children since 1942, when Awdry began conceiving stories about the beloved engines to amuse his then two-year-old son as he was recovering from the measles. In time, he wrote down his stories and published them as the Railway Series. Through the adventures and struggles of these engaging engines, Awdry encouraged children to embrace values such as obedience, diligence, loyalty, humility, and fairness. You’ll find books consisting of individual stories, but compilations of the classic stories with the original artwork (such as the Thomas the Tank Engine Story Collection) are an especially nice way of starting a nightly tradition of cuddling up together for a good read.

Thomas the Tank Engine will be chugging his way toward Chattanooga this weekend (May 14-15) and next weekend (May 20-22) and will be in Nashville September 3-4 and 10-11 for Day Out With Thomas events.  (For information about when he’ll be in your area, see thomasstation.com/dowt). A life-size version of the “really useful” blue engine will pull passenger cars for a 25-minute ride along the rails. The event will also include a train play area, Thomas-themed activities, arts and crafts, an opportunity to meet Sir Topham Hatt, and vendors selling food. You’re bound to find plenty of activities to entertain your family for a few hours, so you may want to bring along some sunscreen, drinks, and snacks. If you have younger children, be sure to take a stroller or carrier, because you’ll probably end up doing a lot of walking around.  And don’t forget your camera, because you’ll want to capture all the smiles on film as the Thomas stories come to life for your children.

Libby Minor is the mother of an almost-four-year-old future engineer and almost-two-year-old future conductor who spends most days saving the world from bad grammar as a magazine copy editor.

Further Redeemed Reading: For more ways take stories off the printed page,  try Music of ‘The Little House’, Cooking Up Fun: Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes.  Or for more boy-friendly book reviews, see Three Cheers for Free Enterprise: Lawn Boy and The Prince’s Poison Cup by R. C. Sproul.

Have you been to one of these events before?  We’d love to hear about it!