Thomas Classic 70th Anniversary Collection - 26 Books Hardcover – January 1, 1862

I became interested in this after reading and watching several Youtube videos on these older stories on the original Thomas The Tank classic stories. Growing up and having my own kids, I was exposed like most people to the "modern" day Thomas The Tank of CGI tv cartoons and Tomy plastic toys - and I honestly thought that this was the extent of the franchise.So I was intrigued to find out that it had a much richer history with the Reverend Wilbert Awdry writing these stories for his child and basing them off real railroads and real railroad events. The Reverend himself was an avid model railroader so much of these stories influenced his model railroad building and layouts and vice-versa.These books are all hardcovers, beautifully presented in a hard case which opens up nice to reveal all the volumes. They feature all the original "older" artwork and thus feature non of the new "modern" CGI work. The are also "small" in size and I've read several complaints about this but I find no issues with handling them and in fact, they make the perfect size for young hands. They measure about 14.5 x 10.5 cm. The books and box feel high quality to me in terms of finish, build and print.A last comment I'd like to share is that even though the stories in this series is clearly aimed at young minds, they are not necessarily childish. There are references to real railroads, their operations (e.g. narrow gauge, turntables, issues with grades - hills) and subtle hints of story elements like growing older ("an old engine sits in his shed and remembers the old times - cause that is what old engines do).Buy this for a young one to enjoy today and keep it for a long time in memory of stories and art from a long time ago of a world we all dream to live in.

These little books are amazing! My children (1 and 3) love them for the illustrations and the story. I love the classic look and feel of them. There are a few chapters/storylines in each book making good stopping points for little ones. Well made! Excellent quality! Color illustrations are nice and traditional and on every page alongside the easy to read text.

This box set is a great collection of the Rev. W. Awdry Railway Series. It's a shame that HIIT doesn't have a set for the books Christopher wrote or a complete canon of both writers and the supplemental books that created the island of Sodor. Each book contains, usually, 4 stories (1 or 2 books have 5 stories) and I read 2 stories a night to my son. After reading every book, he immediately wanted to read each one again in reverse order. I enjoyed looking at the publication dates and seeing when in history these stories were written. Before settling in for the story, my son would pretend to read the book, using the pictures to tell his own stories. The British English wasn't a hurdle and, in my opinion, is good for broadening his understanding of language. They are not primary readers, so it will be a couple of years before he reads them himself, but they're timeless stories that I have no doubt he voluntarily read.Since these are the original stories, the books don't focus primarily on Thomas and, during later publication years, focus considerably on characters based on real life, narrow gauge engines operating at the time. Most of the familiar main characters from the Shining Time Station version are featured in at least one book and the early publication years are the stories every Railway Series fan recognizes.My most significant regret is how tightly HIIT controls the original stories by Rev. W. and Christopher in order to protect the current versions of Thomas and Friends. In my view, the two products are not comparable and HIIT or Matel or whomever is losing revenue from nostalgia buyers.

I grew up watching the TV series narrated by George Carlin (US version) and Ringo Starr (UK version. Will watch them with my own kids and they love reading these books! Definitely great to see where the TV series came from and love all the English terms that come up in the books! 10/10 should read to your kids!

Excellent collection of the original Thomas books with the original illustrations - just like I remember them from my youth. Books are small (for little hands) and reasonably well-made. A good value for someone wanting to read to young children who like train stories.

The media could not be loaded. My likes about it is it is the order of how it should be for all the books titles of the Railway Series. But the one thing that I dislike about it is in the "Henry The Green Engine" Story, it has a story that almost like a Percy one called "Percy And The Trousers" Story. Because it only talks about Percy. No problem, just my opinion.

... or fans to be. I got these for my 3 year old grandson who loves all things locomotive and especially Thomas and Friends. Great for bedtime, and with 26 small hardcover books, there’s plenty of stories to keep Nana and Pops from getting too bored. Not too long or short, just right, and the lack of suspense encourages sleep.

My son is 3 years old and a huge fan of Thomas the train . He absolutely loves this collection of books. It gives an account of how everything came to be. I love reading them to him too. They are true classics.