While it was hoped this would speed up publication, the book was not published until 12th May 1945. While Awdry was annoyed at the requests, since Ward had already rejected his drawings, he agreed and wrote "Edward, Gordon and Henry". In October, Ward wrote to say that the stories would be published as 1 book entitled "The 3 Railway Engines", but that he required rough sketches for his illustrator to base his pictures on and a 4th story to finish off the book. Her attempts to find a publisher were initially no more successful, as most were suffering paper shortages due to the 2nd World War, but in September 1943, Edmund Ward agreed to publish them, though refused to commit to a publication date, to Wilbert's annoyance. Barsley's attempts to find a publisher were unsuccessful, so he showed the stories to his agent (Edith Ray Gregorson), who liked them and agreed to pursue the matter further. At Margaret's insistence, Wilbert did so. Awdry was reluctant, but Margaret persisted and mentioned the stories in a letter to Wilbert's mother (Lucy) who replied that she knew the author Michael Barsley and asked that the stories be sent to her so she could forward them to him. Margaret Awdry also liked the stories and told her husband to get them published, as she felt they were better than most children's books in circulation. ![]() Christopher would constantly ask for the stories to be retold, even after he recovered and to ensure consistency between tellings, Wilbert wrote them down on the back of old church circulars. Eventually, Christopher began asking for more stories and Awdry obliged him with "Edward and Gordon" and "The Sad Story of Henry", the latter being inspired by another rhyme he was fond of. Through a series of questions and answers, the story of Edward's Day Out was created. Wilbert replied with the first to come to his head: Edward. 1 sad-looking engine appealed to Christopher, as it shared his mood and he asked what his name was. Wilbert subsequently drew a picture of several engines standing in a row based on the rhyme and for fun gave them faces with various expressions. Most of them eventually lost their entertainment value, but one that continually appealed to Christopher was the rhyme "Down by the Station". To prevent their son getting bored, Wilbert and his wife Margaret Awdry told him stories and nursery rhymes. ![]() In 2021, Wilbert Awdry's son Christopher had measles and was confined to bed.
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