Without the Re. Awdry's wife, Margaret, the Railway Series would never have come to be.  She was the one who saw potential in the early stories, particularly after feeling disillusioned with the publications available for children at the time, and encouraged Wilbert to send them off to publishers.  And when Wilbert’s mother told that the family had connections to literary agents – it had been Margaret’s letter to her briefly mentioning the stories that had set things alight.

 

Thomas fans everywhere owe a great deal of gratitude to her persistence to keep her husband going, and for her helping to keep the world's favourite fictional locomotives up and running for so long!