Thomas the Tank Engine author was 'powerful presence'

Reverend Wilbert Awdry with the model railway set he used to help plan his stories

More than 80 years have passed since the author of Thomas the Tank Engine created the first characters which spawned the children's series.

Reverend Wilbert Awdry was inspired to write The Railway Series books after hearing trains as he lay in his childhood bed in Wiltshire.

Rev Awdry later created Thomas to entertain his young son when he was sick with measles.

The character became a global icon, with more than 20 TV series made.

Rev Awdry's daughter, Veronica Chambers, said her father had a 'powerful presence' in people's lives.

Awdry family (l-r, Veronica, Rev Awdry, Margaret Awdry, Christopher Awdry, Hilary Awdry) at their home in Norfolk in 1965

"You talk to people who've never known him, but still he was a powerful presence in their lives, as is my brother as well," said Mrs Chambers.

Laura Kirkham, a teacher at Rodborough Community Primary School, just down the road from where Rev Awdry once lived, said the series is still relevant to children.

"It's been updated over time with what we see on TV, but ultimately, the stories are still the stories, the same characters are being brought through and children's love of trains and vehicles doesn't go away," said Mrs Kirkham.

Wilbert at his home in Rodborough Avenue in Stroud, where he retired

Appointed OBE for services to children's literature, Rev Awdry died in 1997, aged 85.

Eight decades later, the children at Rodborough Community Primary School are aware of Rev Awdry's legacy.

Mathilda, a pupil at the school said it is "pretty cool" that a famous writer lived down the hill from her house.

"One of my favourite characters is Thomas, of course. When I was watching it was so funny," she said.

The Rev W Awdry (right) wrote the Thomas The Tank Engine stories for his son Christopher (left) when he was poorly

Awdry created stories about steam trains to entertain his son Christopher, aged three, when he was sick with a bout of measles in 1943.

"To make it a bit more interesting, father illustrated the song with head-on pictures of locomotives," said Mrs Chambers.

"The mouth was the thing that expressed what each one was feeling. This led to them making up a story between them," she said.

Christopher Awdry took over writing the stories in 1972.

The Thomas The Tank Engine books spawned TV shows, films, toys and theme parks

Claire Dimond-Mills, a genealogist from Box in Wiltshire said Rev Awdry's father was a huge railway enthusiast.

"[Awdry] literally [lived] metres from Box tunnel. Imagine the steam trains, the noise would have been really loud," she said.

Ms Dimond-Mills said that the idea that these steam trains had personalities and characters of their own may have come from the different sounds the steam trains made as they struggled up the incline at Box tunnel.

Rev Wilbert Awdry with his wife Margaret

In June 1953, the first television adaptation of The Railway Books was created by the BBC. But viewers complained about the programme and it was soon scrapped.

In 1973, Andrew Lloyd Webber approached Rev Awdry about a stage adaptation - and the series became an inspiration for the 1984 musical the Starlight Express.

Rev Awdry retired from full-time ministry in 1965 and moved to Rodborough in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

"He could have retired - but he was actively involved in the community because it was just as much part of his life. He was first and foremost a parish priest," said Mrs Chambers.

In 1996 work began on a stained glass window in Rodborough church dedicated to Rev Awdry's 60 years of ministry

Rev Awdry, his wife, Margaret, who died in 1989, and their son Christopher, have been commemorated in a stained glass window at the The St Mary Magdalene Church in Rodborough.

The stained glass window has become a popular sight, said church warden John Atkinson.

"A few Christmases ago we had a Thomas-themed Christmas celebration with a local choir. We regularly have visitors come in to the see the window."

There have been more than 20 series of Thomas the Tank Engine shown in at least 180 countries around the world as well as films, merchandise and a theme park in Staffordshire.