Thomas The Tank Engine – A Visit To London Book Review

Like most three year olds, Adam loves trains – especially Thomas The Tank Engine. Since becoming blogger ambassadors for Thomas Land at Drayton Manor, Adam now seeks out his favourite train character. We therefore jumped at the chance to review the latest Thomas The Tank Engine book.

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“A Visit To London For Thomas The Tank Engine” is a modern twist on the classic Thomas tales. Thomas visits London to celebrate the Queens birthday. The story celebrates the milestone in British history as the Queen celebrates her 90th birthday.

Thomas is chosen out of Henry, Gordon and Edward to take the Fat Controller and Lay Hatt to London to meet the Queen. His task it to get them to Big Ben by 4 o’clock.

As Thomas makes his journey to London, the story introduces children to iconic landmarks. What I like is that instead of just illustrating the landmarks, Thomas’ driver tells Thomas about each place. Your child will learn about The Royal Observatory and the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral (along with a mention of the Great Fire of London), the Shard, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament.

My first thought when seeing the book was how was Thomas going to get to Big Ben. There are not any mainland train lines to Big Ben. The answer is that he arrives by Dilly the Barge and follows the River Thames.

As Thomas pulls up at Westminster, carried by Dilly, he is introduced to the Queen. The Queen personally thanks The Fat Controller for running “a fine railway.”

The original Thomas The Tank Engine books were written by Reverend W. Awdry back in 1945. Since then 200 million books have been sold.

We love how A Visit To London For Thomas The Tank Engine has introduced Adam to the capital’s famous landmarks. Adam has started to identify the places he spots on the television. No doubt the book will inspire us to take Adam to see the landmarks for himself.

A Visit To London For Thomas The Tank Engine is available from Amazon

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of A Visit To London For Thomas The Tank Engine to review. All thoughts and opinions are our own. 

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