Clive Spong

Clive Spong was, and still is, an illustrator for the popular children's book series, "The Railway Series". He has illustrated books 27-41 in this series.

Life with Thomas
Clive Spong was again a graduate of Leicester College of Art, like predecessors C. Reginald Dalby and John T. Kenney before him. Although, unlike them, he was due to be working for the son of the author on the reprised Railway Series books written by Christopher Awdry.

Previously, little had been disclosed in regards to the working relationship between Christopher and Clive, however, Christopher has commended his "superb" work in the New Collection of his Thomas books published in 2007. And it is for this reason that Clive has remained throughout the run of Christopher Awdry's books, illustrating more Railway Series work than any of his predecessors before him. This was likely out of enthusiasm for the characters which he had appreciated in childhood, boldly coloured and strongly drawn, which Reverend W. Awdry himself observed as being "accurate and consistent", even if they were emulating Dalby's work to some extent!

Co-operation also appeared to be high on C. Awdry's adgenda as he tried to find new viewpoints and angles for Clive to do, as to avoid repetition in the pictures, always trying as he put it "to think visually and verbally."

Clive was however the first illustrator to break Wilbert's golden rule about engines having no faces outside of Sodor - he did this in book 35 - "Thomas and the Great Railway Show" - depicting National Collection engines such as Mallard, Duchess of Hamilton, Green Arrow and Iron Duke (complete with big whiskers!) with faces.

Illustrations by Spong never seemed to stay with one style for long, and seemed to evolve throughout the time he was doing them. Changing from solid and bold, to slightly more water-coloured, with engines having sand-coloured faces as opposed to their usual grey! The latter books of the series saw a real move away from emulating the previous illustrators and more toward the development and incorporation of his own style into "The Railway Series" books.

In the years following 1996, when his services were not required for Railway Series books, Clive's work centered primarily around illustrating for educational books, and did little in the way of children's fiction, however, stated in an interview with Sodor Island Website in late 2006, that he would return to the Railway Series if the opportunity arose. And he was as good as his word too! When "The Railway Series" returned to a full print run in 2007, Clive was given the opportunity to illustrate the latest addition to the series - No.41, "Thomas and Victoria", the first new book to be released in over 11 years, picking up and building on from where he had left off previously all that time ago with some beautiful new artwork.

Clive also was involved in illustrating Pop-Up books and other Railway Series spin-offs such as Thomas and the Evil Diesel, Thomas' Christmas Party, Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree and a rewrite by the Reverend W. Awdry of Thomas Comes to Breakfast.