‘The Railway Folk’ have been entertaining and delighting young people at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway over the past 4 years and are now the feature of a new book ‘An Eventful Day at Havenstreet’.
Aimed at children aged from 4 years to 11 years, the book has been written by the Railway’s general manager Peter Vail and illustrated by well-known Island artist Alan Rowe. It will be launched at Waterstones in Newport, Isle of Wight – or weather permitting, in the town square opposite the store – on Saturday 22nd July between 11:00-13:00.
The book follows an eventful day in the life of the Steam Railway starting with Basil the mouse being chased unsuccessfully by Smoke Box the cat. Scruffy but lovable Rachet accidentally gets one of the carriages covered in coal dust which delays the train and brings them all to the attention of the scary Mr Beeching.
To find out how it all turns out the book will be on sale at the Railway shop at Havenstreet, Waterstones as well as many other outlets.
Peter commented:
“Following the success of ‘The Railway Folk’ event there were several requests for a book, but I was rather busy running the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.
“When I started the story line I simply could not stop. Alan Rowe’s wonderful illustrations bring my visions to life. I am genuinely thrilled with the book which never fails to make me laugh, and I wrote it!”
In 2014, the Railway found that the popular Thomas the Tank Engine franchise was no longer financially viable, so took the opportunity of creating its own cast of colourful characters based upon
life at Havenstreet Station. ‘The Railway Folk’ is now established as a 3 day event which this year starts on Sunday 30th July and features a host of live characters from Burt the driver and Dusty the station master to Tamp the track man and even Mr Beeching from The Ministry.
The book was produced entirely on the Isle of Wight by established designer Mike Lambert and the printing undertaken by Crossprint.
More details of the book and of this year’s Railway Folk event can be found online at www.iwsteamrailway.co.uk.
