how many thomas the tank engine books are there

There are 42 original Thomas the Tank Engine “Railway Series” books in total, written by Rev. W. Awdry and his son Christopher Awdry.

Core answer

• The classic canon most people mean when they ask “how many Thomas the Tank Engine books are there” is The Railway Series , which consists of 42 books.

• Rev. W. Awdry wrote the first 26 volumes (from 1945 to 1972), and his son Christopher wrote a further 16 volumes (from 1983 to 2011).

What counts as a “Thomas book”?

When fans talk about how many Thomas the Tank Engine books exist, they usually separate:

• The Railway Series (42 books) : The original hardback storybooks set on Sodor, starting with The Three Railway Engines (1945) and including Thomas the Tank Engine as the second volume.

• Story collections & treasuries: Big compilations like Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection , which bind all 26 of Awdry’s original volumes into one book, but do not add new stories.

• Spin‑off and tie‑in books : Modern picture books, early readers, movie tie‑ins, and character books branded “Thomas & Friends”; there are hundreds of these, and no single official count because publishers keep adding new titles.

Mini timeline of the 42 books

• 1945–1972 : Rev. W. Awdry publishes 26 volumes, ending with Tramway Engines.

• 1983–2011 : Christopher Awdry continues the series with 16 more volumes, ending with Thomas and His Friends as volume 42.

Why you see other numbers online

You might see answers saying things like “26 books” or “hundreds of books,” and they are talking about different groupings:

• 26 = just the original Rev. Awdry volumes, often the ones included in older “Complete Collection” editions.

• 42 = the full Railway Series including Christopher’s continuation, which is the clearest answer to “how many Thomas the Tank Engine books are there” as a classic series.

• Hundreds+ = if you include all the later Thomas & Friends leveled readers, movie adaptations, activity books, and novelty formats released since the TV series took off in the 1980s.

Quick Scoop recap

• If you mean the original story canon : there are 42 Railway Series Thomas the Tank Engine books.✅

• If you include all Thomas & Friends branded books, the number runs into the hundreds and is still growing with new releases.📚

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.