The Railway Stories

The Railway Stories are a series of audio adaptations of The Railway Series books by Rev. W Awdry.

Original Recordings (Delyseé)

The first stories were narrated by Johnny Morris and released in the early 1960's on the Delyseé label. Each 7" (45rpm) vinyl record contained two stories, taken from the first eight books of The Railway Series (The Three Railway Engines through to Gordon the Big Engine). The record sleeve showed a picture taken from the story in the original book.

Later Releases (Decca)

In the 1970s the stories were released on 12" vinyl albums by Decca Records as part of their "World of Children's Stories" series.

The albums were later released on audio cassette under the Argo label. (Recordings were produced by Peter Johnson ('Peterjohn Productions'); Kaye & Ward Ltd and Third Man Music were identified as owning the works.)

The first eight books were again narrated by Johnny Morris (perhaps Decca had become owners of the original Delyseé recordings?). He was later replaced by Willie Rushton, who narrated Edward the Blue Engine through to Tramway Engines.

Volume 1: DECCA MONO PA 270 (1972)

Side 1 (from Book 1: The Three Railway Engines)

1. Edward's Day Out
2. Edward and Gordon
3. The Sad Story of Henry
4. Edward, Gordon and Henry

Side 2 (from Book 2: Thomas the Tank Engine)

1. Thomas and Gordon
2. Thomas's Train
3. Thomas and the Trucks
4. Thomas and the Breakdown Train

Volume 2: DECCA MONO PA 271 (1972)

Side 1 (from Book 3: James the Red Engine)

1. James and the Top Hat
2. James and the Bootlace
3. Troublesome Trucks
4. James and the Express

Side 2 (from Book 4: Tank Engine Thomas Again)

1. Thomas and the Guard
2. Thomas Goes Fishing
3. Thomas, Terence and the Snow
4. Thomas and Bertie

Volume 3: DECCA MONO PA ??? (TBA)

(from Book 5: Troublesome Engines and Book 6: Henry the Green Engine)

Volume 4 (TBA)

Volume 5 (TBA)

Volume 6 (TBA)

Volume 7 (TBA)

Volume 8 (TBA)

Volume 9: ARGO Stereo KCSP 559 (1979)

Side 1 (from Book 9: Edward the Blue Engine)

1. Cows
2. Bertie's Chase
3. Saved from Scrap
4. Old Iron

Side 2 (from Book 10: Four Little Engines)

1. Skarloey Remembers
2. Sir Handel
3. Peter Sam & The Refreshment Lady
4. Old Faithful

Current Release (BBC)

A new Railway Stories recording was released on CD by BBC Audiobooks in March 2006. It contained adaptations of the first three Railway Series books, and was narrated by Michael Angelis. The cover artwork featured a picture of Thomas from the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends TV series.

---

Marks & Spencer - 'The Railway Stories' Books

In the 1980's, Marks & Spencer published several paperback books under the "St Michael" label containing stories from The Railway Series. Unhelpfully (for the purposes of this article), they were also titled The Railway Stories.

Each book contained stories from three of the original books, and used the original illustrations. The book format was different, a more conventional 'portrait' style, and the cover background was a distinctive 'brick' pattern.

Two books were published:

• Book 1 (1984): The Three Railway Engines, James the Red Engine, Troublesome Engines
• Book 2 (1984): Henry the Green Engine, Toby the Tram Engine, Gordon the Big Engine

---