Over 46 years ago Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his brother George, along with six friends embarked on what at the time was called ‘The VIA Ffestiniog Canadian Wonderland Tour’.

This was a nineteen day excursion that would see them travelling the length and breadth of Canada exclusively by rail, enjoying the sights and sounds and history of both the age of steam and at that time, more modern engines.

Both George and Wilbert had kept detailed written daily accounts of the tour, but Wilbert also documented the trip in a large collection of photographs.

When they returned to the UK they collaborated and collated both diaries with Wilbert taking these ‘hastily handwritten scrawls’ (as he’d lovingly called them) from his brother and edited them together.

He placed them alongside his own photographs and memories with a view to sharing these with their fellow travellers, a comprehensive record of that great trip.

The Diary and it’s photos have never been published or seen outside of the family before, having only been briefly referenced in Brian Sibley’s ‘Thomas the Tank Engine Man’, until now…

Full-Steam-Ahead are delighted to present the Diary in it’s entirety to you, so you can go back to a golden age of travel, and enjoy the trip with them.