RWS No. 42: Thomas and his Friends + Railway Series overall

Britt Allcroft's era ended on a low note with Snow, the model era overall ended on a high note with Best Friends, and the Nitrogen era ended pitifully with The Christmas Tree Express. How does the Railway Series end? Which is why I'm reviewing for all of you, the final book of The Railway Series.

Special thanks to Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia for the images

42. Thomas and his Friends.

Written by: Christopher Awdry.

Illustrated by: Clive Spong.

Published: 6 July 2011.

It's time for me to wrap up my reviews on the Railway Series once and for all with my review on the final book. Does the series end on a high note?

Foreword:

Dear Friends,
The Awdry family is delighted to be able to mark the centenary of the Thin Clergyman's birth with the publication of this book. The Fat Controller wanted to celebrate the occasion too, and quickly made his own plans. What were they? Turn the pages to find out...

The Author

Thomas and the Swan.

Pip and Emma arrive at the big station one day and the Fat Controller tells Thomas and Gordon that they will be running the express service to London. They soon become a success.


One day, Thomas is leaving the station by the river, when he sees something white on the bridge ahead. He and his crew think that it is a newspaper, until Thomas sees a head and a long neck emerge from the bundle. After looking at it, Thomas' crew realise that it is a swan, which has broken a wing. They place the swan in Thomas' cab and take it to the top station where a vet takes it to his surgery. A few days later, they set the swan free. Thomas is congratulated for his rescue by the Fat Controller and the other engines.

This was a nice way to start this book, a rewrite of Thomas and the Swans for an annual story published 20 years prior. It shows we must be careful around nature, especially animals like swans. And it was a great touch with Pip and Emma joining Sodor.

My rating: 8.5/10.

Buffer Bashing.

Donald and Douglas are delivering ballast hoppers from the Arlesdale Railway to Tidmouth Yard for James, who is taking the trucks to a section of the mainline undergoing track maintenance. Donald moves into a siding one day, but the rails are slippery with frost and he finds himself brought to a stop by the buffers. Nobody is harmed, but the buffers are smashed to smithereens. The other engines tease Donald and tell him he should go into skating championships, but the Fat Controller does not mind, as he knows Donald could not help it. Three days later, James collects the final ballast train, while Douglas slides into the siding where workmen are just finishing painting the new buffers. Douglas' driver applies the brakes, but nothing happens and Douglas crashes straight through the new buffers. The foreman angrily splashes some red paint onto Douglas' nose, which the Fat Controller leaves on his nose as a reminder to be more careful in sidings.

Really? Was that painter that silly to think Douglas broke the buffers on purpose? And they didn't show how Douglas' brakes failed. The mention of skating championships was funny I'll admit, but the bad lesson put it off for me. What's the moral for this story? "Take care in sidings" If that's the moral, then it was handled terribly! And what's worse, the conflict wasn't resolved.

This is without a doubt the worst story of the Railway Series. Just goes to show when it comes to writing, even the Awdrys weren't perfect.

As my good friend TrainsandCartoons suggested, since he's working on an adaptation on this, have Bill and Ben replace Donald and Douglas since they're more of the playful type and have one of the twins crash into the buffers out of arrogance. That would've worked better than what we got in the end.

So overall, this was an abysmal story with a bad lesson and a bad moral. 

My rating: 0.5/10.

Gordon's Fire Service.

Gordon is taking a stopping train on the main line when he sees a red glow from under a bridge. A tractor's load of haybales had caught fire and the fire has begun spreading to the grassy banks. Gordon's crew tries to put it out, but to no avail. Then Gordon has a wonderful idea: the hose inside his cab can be used. The driver and fireman quickly get to work and soon the fire is out. The fire engine soon arrives, but when they find the fire is already out, they praise Gordon for his quick thinking. Gordon is awarded the Queen's Fire Service Medal for his bravery.

This is a well done story, and it shows how much Gordon has grown as a character, accepting the fact his express was given to Pip and Emma, making him pull stopping trains from now on. And he's also proven a hero in this story. It also proves how useful steam engines can be when it comes to putting out fires, with water they use to make steam. 

My rating: 10/10.

Centenary.

The engines are preparing to celebrate the centenary of the Thin Clergyman. James is chosen to go and collect the bust of the Thin Clergyman from the Mainland. He collects the bust safely and has just gone through Henry's Tunnel on his return journey when the tunnel collapses, cutting off Sodor from the Mainland! Henry and the Scottish Twins are sent to repair the tunnel. Meanwhile however, all trains have to stop at Crovan's Gate whilst Bertie and his friends bring the passengers to and from the Mainland. At Ffarquhar Sheds, Percy tells Toby that the Thin Clergyman is "broken" until Thomas explains what a bust actually is. Soon Pip and Emma, who were stranded on the Mainland, are cleared as the first train to travel through the repaired tunnel. At Tidmouth station, out of Pip and Emma's coaches steps Prince Charles. He unveils the Thin Clergyman's bust and proudly declares, "There will never be anything like it anywhere".

I'll say this story was kind of unoriginal, of course, similar Golden Jubilee which was written to celebrate 50 years of Thomas, this story was written to celebrate what would've been the Rev. W. Awdry's 100th birthday. I mean in the former story, a spider made a web in the signal box, while in this, Henry's Tunnel collapses without explanation. While it was brilliant of Prince Charles to unveil the bust, to which Percy misinterpreted as "broken", and it was funny of him to mishear "Auspicious" as "Suspicious", I feel a more original idea could've gone into this story. A lot more.

My rating: 6/10.

Stray observations:

This book was written in memory of the Rev. W. Awdry without whom none of Thomas' adventures would've been told.

This book ends with "The End", and the reason for this is because it's the final book of the Railway Series.

We finally get the mention of the Peel Godred Railway!

Final thoughts:

The reason this is the final book of the Railway Series is because Christopher said he's finished with writing Railway Series books. He's in his 70s, so who can blame him? There comes a time where we have to stop what we do, and Christopher did just that. So did he go out on a high note?

Unfortunately, he didn't. And it didn't help since it came out in an era where the TV series was at its worst (Season 15 and Day of the Diesels anyone?), but either way, we were lucky enough to even get a new Railway Series book that year!

Also, the book title isn't that original when you think about it. I think "Centennial Engines" or "Thin Clergyman's Engines" would've been more creative.

And another thing about the book's title, it has Thomas' name in it. Thomas wasn't the first character in the Railway Series, since he wasn't in the first book. If the title of this book as well as Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines don't prove that even the Railway Series shoehorned Thomas, I don't know what does.

But if they were ever to continue this delightful book series, they should get Andrew Brenner to write new books considering how much he respects the reverend's legacy, and have Loraine Marshall illustrate them. 

But if none of this happens, I'm fine with that. The Railway Series has pretty much run its course, and I feel the TV series has too. But if they want to continue that, so be it.

So as the old sayings go, with the TV series, the show must go on. And with the book series, All's well that ends well. And all good things must come to an end, and the Railway Series did just that, but not in a good way. Such a shame really. 

My rating: 6.2/10.

RWS Scorecard:

1. The 3 Railway Engines: 9/10.
2. Thomas the Tank Engine: 9.5/10.
3. James the Red Engine: 8/10.
4. Tank Engine Thomas Again: 9.9/10.
5. Troublesome Engines: 9.1/10.
6. Henry the Green Engine: 9.2/10.
7. Toby the Tram Engine: 9.2/10.
8. Gordon the Big Engine: 9.2/10.
9. Edward the Blue Engine: 9.3/10.
10. 4 Little Engines: 9.5/10.
11. Percy the Small Engine: 9.7/10.
12. The 8 Famous Engines: 9.5/10.
13. Duck and the Diesel Engine: 9.2/10.
14. The Little Old Engine: 9.6/10.
15. The Twin Engines: 9.3/10.
16. Branch Line Engines: 9.6/10.
17. Gallant Old Engine: 9.5/10.
18. Stepney the Bluebell Engine: 9/10.
19. Mountain Engines: 9.3/10.
20. Very Old Engines: 9.1/10.
21. Main Line Engines: 9.3/10.
22. Small Railway Engines: 9.8/10.
23. Enterprising Engines: 9.9/10.
24. Oliver the Western Engine: 9.3/10.
25. Duke the Lost Engine: 9.8/10.
26. Tramway Engines: 9.8/10.
27. Really Useful Engines: 9.2/10.
28. James and the Diesel Engines: 7.8/10.
29. Great Little Engines: 8.9/10.
30. More About Thomas the Tank Engine: 8.8/10.
31. Gordon the High-Speed Engine: 9.1/10.
32. Toby, Trucks and Trouble: 9.1/10.
33. Thomas and the Twins: 9.4/10.
34. Jock the New Engine: 8.3/10.
35. Thomas and the Great Railway Show: 8.5/10.
36. Thomas Comes Home: 8.5/10.
37. Henry and the Express: 9.4/10.
38. Wilbert the Forest Engine: 7.6/10.
39. Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines: 8.6/10.
40. New Little Engine: 5.7/10.
41. Thomas and Victoria: 9.3/10.
42. Thomas and his Friends: 6.2/10.

RWS overall: 8.9/10.

That's all, folks! I hope you enjoyed reading my reviews on these books!