One thing that did catch me by surprise was that there was such a large array of engines - now again I thought a lot of the engines were creations of the various TV and toy franchises trying to expand and increase their sales of the various characters but no - a very large number of the engines where originals from the various stories. On the 1996 edition's dust cover, two illustrations from Gordon the Big Engine and Tank Engine Thomas Again appear twice.

Another thing is that people should stop harping about the name "The Fat Controller". Yes, it is referring to a man's rotund stature, but all the same it's a children's book, referring to a fictional controller. If you prefer, while reading this, just say "Sir Topham Hatt" (his actual name) in your mind or out loud, if you are reading it. The author of the Thomas books was a clergyman, and I'm torn between two thoughts. On the one hand, it's very tempting to believe that they are intended as Christian allegory. On the other, an interpretation along those lines almost inevitably ends with the conclusion that the Fat Controller is God. I'm not a Christian, but even I find this a little blasphemous. Or perhaps it just shows that I will never be a Really Useful Engine. The 70th Anniversary edition was published on the same day from thirty years, after the television series had made its debut on UK televisions on 9 October 1984. It might seem strange adding this one to my list of 'read' books, but this book was literally my entire childhood. I was an absolute Thomas - and train - fanatic, and these stories were my favourite thing ever. The drawings that are included in with the stories are just an added bonus too, and I spent hours pouring over them as a three- and four-year-old kid. I enjoyed the earlier books in a different way to the later ones, as they were escapist to me, portraying a world which never perhaps really existed, but also enjoyed the complexity of the later books as well, as the emotions of the situations the engines found themselves in, became more prominent.New types of engines and their railways begin to appear, including the Skarloey narrow gauge railway, the Culdee Fell mountain railway and the Arlesdale miniature railway, all of which are based upon real railways, namely the Tallylyn and Corris railways in Wales, the Snowdon Mountain Railway and the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in Wales. The ultimate nostalgic offering for all those who delight in the adventures of this cheeky little engine and his friends and a delightful present for new babies who are sure to grow up to be firm Thomas fans. Children aged 3 and up will love meeting classic characters such as Percy, James, Gordon, and Toby down on The Fat Controller's railway. The short stories and beautiful illustrations are perfect for bedtime reading. The endpaper features Bertie with a yellow face, Harold without rotors, Edward on top and bottom left side without his tender and Percy on the top and bottom right side without his face. The only minuses there are (which are few), are some very advanced railway terminology, outdated phrases (I've never before heard "Play him out" yet it's mentioned countless times in the book), and the artwork - which while charming, can sometimes also look like nightmare fuel!

I owned many of these separate story books too, but it's only after finding this collection and rereading them all over again that you realise just how clever these books are. This collection has all of the Reverend's original Thomas books, which definitely saves hunting them down individually, as they could be worth a pretty penny by now. The stories make up most of the first couple of seasons of the animated Thomas the Tank Engine series, minus the 'Small Railway Engines' & the 'Mountain Engines' which never made into the animated series to my knowledge?

Like a lot of young British lads, I absolutely loved Thomas the Tank Engine, and enjoyed the TV series, being the late eighties baby that I was.

The illustrations by C. Reginald Dalby, John T. Kenney and Peter and Gunvor Edwards helped to cement this feeling, and both the writing and illustrations proved to be very comforting to me. I also enjoyed the fact that most of the stories were based on real railways and incidents which had happened. Each of the 26 books consists of four stories each, that's plenty of adventures to share for bedtime stories over many nights. This compilation contains all 26 of The Reverend W. Awdry's "Railway Series" books. It doesn't contain any of this son, Christopher's additions to the series, however, so the claim that this is "The Complete Collection" is slightly disingenuous. So like I say when I read the various children books - I still have so much to learn from the classics what ever they are. A wonderful collection of stories written by the Rev W. Awdry, focused around the adventures of the various engines and the railways that they run on in the fictional Island of Sodor.You can absolutely tell the Author was a big fan of Trains, and the research done must have been extraordinary to turn seemingly everyday events on the railways of the time into great adventures, must have taken great imagination! I can’t really name one favourite book in the series as they all offered different things to me, so will give a list of those that I enjoyed the most. William Middleton | Reginald Payne | C. Reginald Dalby | John T. Kenney | Gunvor and Peter Edwards | Clive Spong | Stephen Lings

This book comprised a large part of my childhood. My dad would read this to me and my brothers before bed and I think the influence it had is considerable. The language of this book is incredible considering its context as a children's book; the vocabulary level raised that of me and my brothers many years beyond our age, in the most subtle and enjoyable way possible.

There is nobody whom I would not hesitate to recommend this to. This is the sort of book that parents could read to their children, and still have a great time reading it. These are the types of stories that those children will read and praise when they are older. These are the stories that those children will tell their children. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of books, and both the Rev W. Awdry’s writing and the illustrations helped to whisk me away to the Island of Sodor, to become engrossed in the adventures of the various characters. I also found the section at the end of the book detailing the lives of Rev. W. Awdry and the four illustrators to be extremely interesting.