#Sodor island 3d trevor series

The Sudreys became 'Sodor', which was fossilised in the name of the Diocese, long after it ceased to have any authority over the Scottish Islands. 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)

#Sodor island 3d trevor series

By the time they had finished, they knew more about 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. A large island would meet the criteria he required, giving him the isolation from changes to the British railway system while giving him somewhere that people could easily imagine.īetween them, Awdry and his younger brother George worked out Sodor's history, geography, industry and language ('Sudric'). Awdry noted that while there was an Isle of Man, there was no similar island of Sodor (the name derives from Old Norse Suðreyjar, 'southern isles', a term that referred to the Hebrides and islands along the west coast of Scotland). Inspiration came on a visit to the Isle of Man, which forms the Diocese of Sodor and Man in 1950.

Awdry required a setting for his books that would be within Great Britain, but would be sufficiently isolated from the rest of British Railways to allow him to do as he wished with the location. The need for consistency in the locations for The Railway Series necessitated the creation of a suitable location.