Clive Spong is an English illustrator of ''

The Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. T ...

'' books by the

Rev. W. Awdry Wilbert Vere Awdry (15 June 1911 – 21 March 1997) was an English Anglican minister, railway enthusiast, and children's author. He was best known for creating Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas and several other characters he created appeared in ...

. He illustrated the books written by

Christopher Awdry Christopher Vere Awdry (born 2 July 1940) is an English author. He is best known for his contributions to ''The Railway Series'' of books featuring Thomas the Tank Engine, which was started by his late father, Wilbert Awdry (1911–1997). He ha ...

published since 1983.

Books

*''Really Useful Engines'' *''James and the Diesel Engines'' *''Great Little Engines'' *''More About Thomas the Tank Engine'' *''Gordon the High-Speed Engine'' *''Toby, Trucks and Trouble'' *''Thomas and the Twins'' *''Jock the New Engine'' *''Thomas and the Great Railway Show'' *''Thomas Comes Home'' *''Henry and the Express'' *''Wilbert the Forest Engine'' *''Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines'' *''New Little Engine'' *''Thomas and Victoria'' *''Thomas and His Friends''

History

Spong is a graduate of Leicester College of Art, like John T. Kenney and

Clarence Reginald Dalby Clarence Reginald Dalby (1904–1983), born in Leicester, England, was the third illustrator of ''The Railway Series'' by W.V. Awdry and a Royal Air Force intelligence officer during the Second World War. History Dalby was born in Leicester in ...

, who were among the earlier illustrators of the Railway Series books. He remained the illustrator throughout the run of Christopher Awdry's 14 books, illustrating more titles in the series than any other artist. Spong was one of the first illustrators to break Wilbert's golden rule about engines having no faces outside of Sodor – he did this in book 32 of the series, ''Toby, Trucks and Trouble'' – depicting Toby and his brother with faces whilst outside Sodor; in book 35, ''Thomas and the Great Railway Show'' – depicting

National Collection The UK National Collection is a collection of around 280 historic rail vehicles (predominantly of British origin). The majority of the collection is kept at four national museums: * National Railway Museum, York * Locomotion, Shildon * Scienc ...

engines such as ''Mallard'', ''Duchess of Hamilton'', ''Green Arrow'' and ''Iron Duke'' (complete with a mustache) with faces; and in book 38, ''Wilbert the Forest Engine'' – depicting ''Sixteen'' with a face when on his railway outside of Sodor. He also illustrated

pop-up book The term pop-up book is often applied to any book with three-dimensional pages, although it is properly the umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and more, each ...

s including ''Henry and the Elephant from Troublesome Engines''.

''Railway Series'' spinoffs

Spong illustrated pop-up books and the spin-offs, ''Thomas's Christmas Party'', ''Thomas and the Evil Diesel'', ''Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree'', and also The Rev. W. Awdry's extended rewrite of ''Thomas Comes to Breakfast''. Some of his character illustrations were used to depict characters in ''The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways''

My Thomas Story Library

Clive Spong did the illustrations for the My Thomas Story Library book BoCo, along with Jerry Smith. This is the only non-Railway Series book he worked on.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spong, Clive The Railway Series illustrators Year of birth missing (living people) Living people