Feature: Thomas the Tank Engine to thank for age of steam survival

Seventy years after the creation of the kids' book series, Thomas the Tank Engine, the storybooks are as popular as ever around the world.

Devotees of the Railway Series books celebrated the publication of the first book in the series, The Three Railway Engines, which came out on May 12, 1945, on Tuesday.

The most famous of the steam trains, Thomas the Tank Engine, was to follow some months later in the follow-up book.

A special 70th anniversary print of the series was published to celebrate the birthday.

It was a clergyman, Reverend Wilbert Awdry, who created the characters as his son Christopher lay on his sick bed, suffering from measles during the dark days of World War II.

Awdry told stories of the adventures of steam engines as a way of cheering up the boy. The origins of the stories go back even further to Awdry's own childhood when he listened to steam engines close to his home as they struggled to journey up a steep gradient.

Awdry noticed the sounds of the trains made it seem as if they were having conversations, each train with its own personality.

Seven decades later the classic children's book is kept alive through a television series and theme parks. A model of Thomas the Tank Engine is one of the attractions at Britain's National Railway Museum.

Out of all the train characters created by Awdry, Thomas, a blue-painted tank engine, became the most popular of the engines.

Irene Mandelkow, an expert on children's literature with Liverpool Library Service, studied the tank engine series as part of her university degree course.

She told Xinhua: "The tank engine books have become timeless classics, and the fact it is their 70th birthday today demonstrates how generations of children adore the book."

"They demonstrate the fascination children have for machines and mechanical things, especially when they are transformed into stories that grab the attention.

"They are re-printed, virtually in every language over and over as a new generation of children are introduced to Thomas and his friend. What is good about the books is they were written, not as a commercial enterprise to make money, but as a way of telling stories to children."

Thomas the Tank Engine, born during the age of steam trains, have survived the space age, futuristic characters, and computer games, an indicator they will still be around to celebrate their centenary. Endit