The Little Red Engine and the Rocket; The Little Red Engine Goes to Town; The Story of the Little Red Engine

Once there was a Little Red Engine which followed the same journey every morning, passing the same landmarks and greeting his friends, just as he did in 1945. In 1952 he was invited to Town – to appear at the Great Exhibition of the Festival of Britain, no less, where, of course, he stole the show. By 1956 he was at the cutting edge of Space technology, ferrying the Cleverest Scientists and Inventors, essential materials and workers to the new Rocket Station as Britain entered the Space Race with a vengeance. (I bet you missed that one!)

The illustrations to these well-produced period pieces win the prize here – stunning in places, beautifully evocative, stylishly reminiscent of Shell or London Transport posters of the ’40s and ’50s, and of the paintings of Paul Nash and Eric Ravilious. They must have been wonderful to encounter for the first time in the bleak days of 1945, in all their richness of colour and texture.

The appeal, therefore, is likely to be a nostalgic one – grandparents may enjoy remembering the glorious days of the Festival of Britain, or even the descent into farce as the cat ‘volunteer’ sent into Space in the third volume returns with nine kittens…Train-mad tinies should stick to the original Story, whose repetitive text and train effect rhythms are pleasant enough and avoid some of the out-moded social attitudes found in the later volumes.