And with one click, everything fell into place

[peteryoung]

A need-to-know for the Fat Controller, and something many have wondered: where exactly is Sodor, home of Thomas the Tank Engine? Pretty much where I suspected it to be, ie. in the Irish Sea connected by bridge to the English mainland.

Comments

[andrewducker]

Is that near Qwghlm?

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

They might even overlap. **Goes searching for other fictional British islands.**

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

There are at least two fictional Channel Islands...

(and that's not counting the obvious Guernsey hoax)

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Armorel and ....

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to remember the name of the one from the TV show about the Occupation...

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Must be Island at War (St Gregory) as Enemy at the Door was allegedly shot and set on Guernsey....

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Actually - is it just my ears doing the mondegreen thing, or does Armorel get a mention in Lemon Jelly's "Travelling Man"?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

http://www.sfsfw.org/a/21/trucks.php

is an outline for a Sodor wargame.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

**boggles**

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Yup. Sodor's next but one up in my queue for names of VMs - machines at $Work were originally named after Scottish mountains or islands, but broadened to general geographic features: I introduced the concept of fictional placenames for VMs.

I have currently got qwghlm, tirnanog and brigadoon....

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

But wouldn't Brigadoon be off-line most of the year?

[akicif.livejournal.com]

And indeed it is....

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Fascinating that their list of 'railways that inspired the Sodor railways' didn't include the Isle of Man railway, which certainly did inspire Awdry.

I learnt the map of Britain with Sodor in it; the map was on the endpapers of the books. It was much later I realised it didn't exist.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

It was much later I realised it didn't exist.

That must have felt like being told Santa Claus doesn't exist. I don't recall ever being into Thomas the Tank Engine when I was a kid, but somehow just assimilated the stories anyway. I'm only properly discovering the details now, along with Miles who loves it.