Mention the island of Sodor to children and they will probably be more than familiar with this location. That`s because the island of Sodor is the home for Thomas The Tank Engine and it`s where he happily spends his days pulling his coaches named Annie and Clarabel. It was back in the 1940s when the stories of Thomas The Tank Engine were first penned and the name of the man behind then stories was Rev W V Awdry. The Reverend wrote the stories for his son and he probably wouldn`t have guessed how popular Thomas The Tank Engine would become. In the first story Thomas was a stumpy little engine that longed to have a branch line of his own. He craved for the days when he could take his own coaches to exciting locations in Sodor. The Fat Controller didn`t think Thomas The Tank Engine was capable of pulling his own coaches along a district line. However, fate intervened when another engine called James got into trouble and was rescued by Thomas, thus proving his worth. The adventures of Thomas The Tank Engine captivate children`s minds and today they can relive them on a daily basis. There are numerous types of toys relating to Thomas that are available and they can easily be found through good toy retailers. Terrific types of Thomas The Tank Engine train sets are available to buy and they can let children take Thomas on whole new adventures. The island of Sodor is a busy place and it`s where Thomas The Tank Engine pulls Annie and Clarabel to a series of fun-filled adventures.

Children love the adventures of Thomas The Tank engine and they will happily play with a range of Thomas toys for many hours. Ever since Thomas The Tank engine merchandise started hitting the shops this delightful little engine has found many welcoming homes. In the original story by the Rev W V Awdry, Thomas The Tank engine was a busy little engine who lived and worked on the island of Sodor. He longed to have his own line but wasn`t given that great honour until he rescued another engine called James and was considered worthy of pulling his own coaches. Annie and Clarabel are the names of Thomas The Tank engine`s coaches and they are considered to be the engine`s best friends. Although the original story focused mainly on Thomas The Tank engine, over the years the Reverend added more and more characters to his books. Each and every story is charming and quaint and they hark back to olden times when life was taken at a more gentile rate. The popularity of Thomas The Tank engine books would eventually lead to a television series being made and in the 1980s the stories of Thomas came to life with former Beatles member Ringo Star narrating the adventures. As well as a television series being made a host of Thomas The Tank engine merchandise became available. Train sets that simulated Thomas`s exploits could be purchased by parents who would spend many hours helping their children to relive the Reverend`s original ideas. It is these train sets that children love to play with and they are readily available through a host of toy retailers.

The adventures of Underground Ernie have been on our television screens for some time now and they tell children about the exploits of Ernie and his friends as they work at International Underground. Whereas Thomas the Tank engine spends all of his working life outdoors, the trains on underground ernie spend the majority of their time underground. In the underground ernie adventures there are many different trains and they each have their own distinct personality. We are introduced to characters like Bakerloo train that has a distinct resemblance to Sherlock Holmes. This underground ernie character is highly intellectual and just like the famous sleuth can solve problems with ease. Other characters from the underground ernie adventures like City and Hammersmith are twins that are constantly trying to outfox each other. There are numerous trains plus other characters in the underground ernie stories and they can be brought to life in your own home with battery operated trains. Your children can take it in turns to play with all of the trains from underground ernie and they can mimic the individual characters as they re-enact numerous storylines. To find great ranges of underground ernie characters suitable retailers can be found online. A vast range of pull back and battery powered trains are around and they can let children`s imaginations enter new realms. The can have Bakerloo train solving complex puzzles as he takes his passengers from one tube station to the next. Maybe Victoria can offer her pearls of wisdom to all the younger tube trains? The adventures of underground ernie let children make up their own stories and each and every day can be filled with new escapades.