Tidmouth

The fictional borough of Tidmouth is the largest town on the fictional Island of Sodor created by the Rev. W. Awdry as a setting for his Railway Series children's books. The ancient capital of the island is however the "city" of Suddery.

The Town

The town lies on the estuary of the River Tid and had in 1981 a population of 35,000. It is the island's principal port with extensive docks. It received a Royal Charter confirming borough status in 1918.

Nearby Knapford is a dormitory town of Tidmouth.

Tidmouth is famous for its fishing industry, particularly the delicacy known as the Tidmouth Kipper. There are ferry connections to the Isle of Man and Ireland. In centuries past it was also notorious for smuggling. These days it is also a popular tourist destination. The town's motto is "Industry and Progress".

The Railways and Tidmouth

Tidmouth is Sodor's largest railway centre and has been the headquarters of the North Western Railway since 1925 when it moved from Vicarstown on the other side of the island. Indeed, the town's coat of arms features a wheel in commemoration of this fact.

Tidmouth Station (or, as it was known in the Railway Series books, "The Big Station") has four terminal roads and one through line, namely the Little Western branch line to Arlesburgh. The Fat Controller's Office is on one of the platforms.

HM Queen Elizabeth II once visited Tidmouth Station and engine sheds.

The first railway to reach Tidmouth was the Tidmouth, Knapford & Elsbridge Light Railway or Tramway in 1905. The NWR built an improved link to Knapford with the construction of the Tidmouth tunnel, in which Henry the Green Engine once met an elephant.

Tidmouth is the western terminus for all main line services on Sodor and is used by some services on Thomas's and Edward's branch lines.

There have been at times direct train services from Tidmouth to London.

Tidmouth Docks have an extensive railway system connecting with the NWR main line. The overnight express freight train to the mainland, "The Flying Kipper", is loaded and starts from here.

Close to the railway station are the NWR's main engine sheds, where most of the main line and some of the branch line engines live.

Tidmouth on TV

On the Children's TV series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, the big station on Sodor is Knapford. But Tidmouth is used for the name of the engine sheds where most of the characters in the series live.

In some episodes a station named "Lower Tidmouth" is shown sometimes as the junction station for Thomas's branch line.

Sources

* [http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/nwrhistory.htm]