The series aired as Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends from 1984 until 2021. Allcroft’s family remembered her as an “adoring mother and wife and visionary producer” in an emotional statement.

There have been more than 20 series of Thomas the Tank Engine shown in at least 180 countries around the world as well as films, merchandise and a theme park in Staffordshire.

Visitors will be able to ride behind Thomas the Tank Engine, meet characters including Sir Topham Hatt, Rusty & Dusty, Percy, Diesel, and Terence, and enjoy two new outdoor shows.

Based on the books, readers have cooked up a grim theory that Thomas the Tank Engine is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, with Sodor the only "safe zone" on the scorched Earth.

An artist who illustrated the Thomas the Tank Engine books is to be honoured with a green plaque. John T Kenney's work on Rev W Awdry's The Railway Series - better known as the Thomas the Tank ...

Mrs Creagh said: "In the Thomas the Tank Engine books there are almost no female engines. The only female characters are an annoyance, a nuisance and in some cases a danger to the functioning of ...