The first few stories concerned standard-gauge engines (including Thomas the Tank Engine). The railways of Sodor include standard and narrow gauge railways, a rack railway and a 15-inch gauge railway. One of the more famous settlements on Sodor is Ffarquhar, the terminus of Thomas's branch line. The capital and administrative centre of Sodor is the city of Suddery Peel Godred is the largest town on the island. The summit is reached by the Culdee Fell Railway, which is based on the Snowdon Mountain Railway in Wales. Its highest mountain is Culdee Fell, which was modelled on Snowdon: the ridge of Devil's Back copies the Clogwyn ridge on Snowdon. Its north-east edge overrides and replaces the real Walney Island. Its north-west coast is separated from the Isle of Man by a sea strait called the Sudrian Sea (Faarkey-y-Sudragh), four miles (6 km) wide. The island is roughly diamond-shaped, 62 miles (100 km) wide east to west and 51 miles (82 km) long north to south. Sodor is usually shown as much larger than the Isle of Man. Geography Map of Sodor depicted (in red) within the British Isles īelow are some words and phrases, and place-names translated into English: The names of some of the 'historical' characters – used in the background but not appearing in the stories – were taken from locations on the Isle of Man, such as Sir Crosby Marown ( Crosby is a village in the parish of Marown) and Harold Regaby (Regaby is a tiny hamlet on the parish boundary between Andreas and Bride). Killdane, which comes from "Keeill-y-Deighan" (Church of the Devil), and the hills, called Knock and Cronk. Many of the place names are based on Manx words, but often conforming to English word order, e.g. The fictional native language of Sodor is "Sudric" or Sudrian, a language similar to Manx. "Everybody knew that there was an Isle of Man, but we decided to 'discover' another island – the Island of Sodor – and so give the poor deprived Bishop the other half of his diocese!" (Rev. W. Awdry) Awdry decided to create Sodor in the Irish Sea, between the Isle of Man and Barrow-in-Furness in Lancashire (Barrow later became part of the new county of Cumbria during the 1974 re-organisation). "Sudreys" became "Sodor", in the name of the Diocese, and retained it long after it ceased to have any authority over the Scottish Islands.Īwdry noted that although the Bishop had the title "Sodor and Man", he had only Man for his diocese. Orkney and Shetland (also known as Zetland). "Southern Isles" compared to Norðreyjar ("The Nordreys" ), or the " Northern Isles", i.e. This is because the Isle of Man was part of the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, which included the Hebrides, known in Old Norse as the Suðreyjar, (anglicised as "The Sudreys" ) i.e. The bishop of the Isle of Man is known as Bishop of "Sodor and Man". Their abridged notes were published in 1987 in a book titled: The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways (Republished with some minor modifications by Christopher Awdry in 1992 under the title: Sodor: Reading Between the lines) They created more details of Sodor than would ever be used in The Railway Series stories. Some place names were Sudric equivalents or near-equivalents of those in the real world (for instance, Skarloey was a rough Sudric equivalent of the Welsh Talyllyn: logh (Manx) = llyn (Welsh) = "lake"). Elsbridge was named after Wilbert's parish of Elsworth in Cambridgeshire. Sodor would be between England and the Isle of Man, isolated from British railway system, but somewhere that readers could easily imagine.Īwdry and his younger brother George worked out Sodor's history, geography, industry and language ("Sudric"). He decided to create a fictional island of "Sodor" as the setting for his books. Awdry noted that while there was an Isle of Man, there was no island of Sodor. He was inspired during a 1950 visit to the Isle of Man, which forms the Diocese of Sodor and Man. He wanted them to be in Great Britain, but sufficiently isolated from British Railways to allow him to write the stories he wanted. Sodor is depicted in the Irish Sea between the British Crown Dependency of the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom's English mainland, near Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria the real-life Walney Island is included in Sodor.Īwdry wanted a consistent set of locations for The Railway Series. It is also the setting of the Thomas & Friends television series, though it is significantly different from the island in the books. The Island of Sodor is a fictional island that is the setting for The Railway Series books by the Rev. The flag of Sodor, as depicted in Thomas & Friends: The Great Race 2016 movie. " Thomas and the Royal Engine" ( Thomas & Friends)īetween the Isle of Man and Barrow-in-Furness Thomas and his Friends ( The Railway Series) The Three Railway Engines ( The Railway Series) A map of the Island of Sodor showing the railway system
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