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Background Information[]
Annie and Clarabel are fictional standard gauge coaches created by the Rev. W. Awdry.
They first appeared in The Railway Series book, Thomas the Tank Engine, which was published in 1946. Their last appearance was in Thomas and his Friends, published in 2011.
Illustrations of Annie and Clarabel:
Behind the Scenes[]
Awdry's models[]
The coach that was to be the basis for Annie was first built by a teenage Wilbert Awdry as part of his and his brother's model railway layout in 1927. Many years later in 1948, after a long hiatus from modelling, a brake coach was built to match so that the Reverend's Thomas model would have a complete train. It was at this time that the two coaches were given their names: Annie and Clarabel. These models are preserved at the Talyllyn Railway's Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Tywyn, Wales.
By the 1970s, Annie and Clarabel's original models began to look underscale behind the more accurately-sized Mk3 Thomas, and thus Awdry made a second version of Annie and Clarabel for his model layout. These coaches were made from Exley OO scale LMS Suburban coaches, repainted by Awdry. Notably, these coaches mark the first and currently only depictions of the pair with numbers: Annie being numbered 333, while Clarabel is numbered 255.
Like the Mk1 versions of Annie and Clarabel, these models are also owned by the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum. As of 2023, they - alongside Wilbert Awdry's Thomas Mk3 and Edward models - have been put on display at the new Discover Thomas & Friends Exhibition in Drayton Manor Resort under loan from the Talyllyn Railway.
