A CELEBRATION to mark the 80th anniversary of the publication of the first Thomas the Tank Engine book has been held in Newton St Cyres.

Dozens of people went along to the parish hall in the village with their children on Sunday, March 16.

They had the chance to meet author Rev Wilbert Awdry’s elder daughter Veronica Chambers and grandson Mark Chambers, see electronic and steam-powered models of the beloved trains, listen to Thomas the Tank Engine stories, take part in a Thomas-themed cake competition and more.

Mrs Chambers also gave an illustrated talk on Saturday, March 15 about her father’s life, his work in Jerusalem, his ordination and fascination with trains.

Later the same day, there was a concert featuring the Exeter Railway Band.

Rev Wilbert Awdry’s The Railway Series has as many as 42 books, 26 by Rev Awdry and the rest by his son Christopher, of which millions of copies have been sold.

The first title, The Three Railway Engines, was published on May 12, 1945.

The books were later made into a TV series known as Thomas and Friends, which first aired in 1984 and ended in 2021. An American reboot, Thomas and Friends: All Engines Go, was launched the same year.

Rev Awdry told his daughter Veronica the initial story of Thomas when she was unwell as a child.

Later, he would read her and her two siblings the stories he had written before submitting them for publication. If they did not like them, he would re-draft the stories.

Mrs Chambers appears as a cameo in the fifth book “Troublesome Engines” as one of three children.

Rev Awdry was an Anglican minister. He died in 1997 at the age of 85.

His grandson Mark Chambers now lives in Newton St Cyres.