Even if you spent countless afternoons recreating Thomas’s adventures on your own wooden train set ... magical Island of Sodor. 1. IT’S BASED ON A BRITISH SHOW CALLED THOMAS THE TANK ...

Thomas the Tank Engine harks back to the age of steam Thomas the Tank Engine creator WV Awdry, born 100 years ago, set his railway engine stories in a sort of British Atlantis called Sodor.

"I remember Henry always holding a little wooden engine in his hand. He wouldn't put it down. We used to take the boys to those 'Meet Thomas' days out at steam railway centres and I used to love ...