The Railway Stories

The Railway Stories are a series of audio adaptations of The Railway Series books by the Rev. W Awdry and his son Christopher.

Nearly all of the 42 books in the series have been recorded by one of five different narrators: Johnny Morris, William Rushton, Ted Robbins, Michael Angelis, and even the Rev. W. Awdry himself.

The first known audio adaptation was a 7" (33⅓rpm) EP narrated by the Rev. W. Awdry himself (see photo), with "background effects taken from real engines".

This record, released in 1957 by Chiltern Records of Princes Risborough, contained two stories – Edward's Day Out and Edward and Gordon – from the first book in the Railway Series: The Three Railway Engines.

The first widely available recordings were narrated by Johnny Morris and released in the early 1960s by the Delysé Recording Company. Each 7" (45rpm) vinyl record contained two stories, taken from the first eleven books of The Railway Series. The recordings were released in mono.

The front of the record sleeve showed an original illustration from the story in the original book. While on the back, there was a list of the other recordings in "The Railway Engine Series" [sic], together with an introduction from the Rev. W. Awdry:

So when my son caught measles at the age of three I told him these stories to amuse him. They were not written down at first, I made them up as I went along. But I had to tell them so often, carefully using the same words, that both he and I soon knew them by heart.
It was only later, at my wife's suggestion, that I wrote them down, so that other children besides our own might have pleasure from them too.      — Rev. W. Awdry

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