List of Railway Series Books - The Christopher Awdry Era: 1983-Present

The Christopher Awdry Era: 1983-Present

Christopher Awdry, Rev. W. Awdry's son, had some background in writing when he took the Railway Series over, having written a number of articles for Steam Railway magazine. He was inspired to write some Railway Series stories by a visit to the Nene Valley Railway, with encouragement from his father. The publishers were eager for new books, as the television adaptation was in production at the time, and Christopher Awdry became the new Railway Series author.

All of his books were illustrated by Clive Spong, an illustrator who, it was felt, could combine technical accuracy with the appealing, colourful style exemplified by C. Reginald Dalby.

Christopher Awdry wrote his first book in 1983, and 13 further books followed between 1984 and 1996. No books were published between 1996 and 2007; book 40: New Little Engine, and the original books from The Railway Series went out-of-print. This was a source of friction between the Awdry family and the publishers. However, in February 2007, unofficial reports from the publishers, Egmont, suggested that there were plans to put the whole series back into print, in the original format, and that a new Christopher Awdry book (called Thomas and Victoria) was expected to be published later in 2007. This book, number 41 in the series, was published in September 2007, being the first Railway Series book to be published in 11 years. Number 42 in the series, called "Thomas and his Friends", was published in June 2011.

In addition, the fifteen original Christopher Awdry books have been put together into a large, "bumper" edition, in a vein similar to the master collection of Wilbert Awdry's stories.