Ivor the Engine facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ivor the Engine |
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from Ivor the Engine (1959).
Ivor with Jones the Steam on footplate. |
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| Created by | Oliver Postgate |
| Voices of | Oliver Postgate Olwen Griffths Anthony Jackson |
| Narrated by | Oliver Postgate |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 26 (1959 b/w) 40 (1975-1977 colour) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 10 minutes per episode (b/w) 5 mins per episode (colour) |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV/Associated-Rediffusion BBC |
| Original release | 1959 1975 – 1977 |
Ivor the Engine is a fun British cutout animation TV show. It was made by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's company, Smallfilms. The show is all about a small green steam locomotive named Ivor. He lives in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" and works for a railway company. Ivor has many friends, including Jones the Steam, Evans the Song, and Dai Station.
Contents
About the Show
How Ivor the Engine Started
Ivor the Engine was the very first show made by Smallfilms. Oliver Postgate got the idea from a Welsh railway worker he met during World War II. This worker described how steam engines seemed to come alive when you prepared them in the morning. Postgate decided to set the stories in North Wales. He felt the mountains and valleys there were more inspiring than flat areas. The stories were also inspired by the poems of Dylan Thomas.
Episodes and Stories
Black and White Adventures
The first Ivor the Engine series was made in black and white. It had six episodes that told one main story. In this story, Ivor wanted to sing in a choir. His train whistle was even replaced with special organ pipes from a fairground ride! After this, two more series were made, also in black and white. These episodes were about 10 minutes long.
Colourful New Adventures
In the 1970s, the two longer black and white series were remade in colour. Some of the stories were changed a little. These new colour episodes were shorter, about five minutes each, and there were 40 of them. Each short episode often told part of a bigger story.
Lost and Found Episodes
For many years, some of the original black and white episodes were thought to be lost. But in 2010, film copies of 26 episodes were found in a pig shed! This was a very exciting discovery for fans of the show.
What Happens in the Episodes?
Ivor and his friends go on many different adventures. Here are some examples of the kinds of stories you might see:
- Everyday Life: You might see Ivor delivering things like coal, tomatoes, or fish, and going to choir practice.
- Helping Friends: Ivor often helps his friends, like rescuing a sheep stuck on a ledge or helping Mr. Brangwyn with his pigeons.
- Meeting New Friends: Ivor meets interesting characters, including a dragon named Idris and an elephant named Alice.
- Solving Problems: The characters often have to solve problems, like finding a home for the dragons or dealing with snowdrifts that stop the railway.
- Fun and Games: Ivor also enjoys fun activities, like pulling children on sledges in the snow or visiting the seaside.
Meet the Characters
Ivor
Ivor is the main character, a green steam locomotive. He's not like a normal train because he has his own thoughts and feelings! Ivor can drive himself and uses his whistle to talk. His biggest dream is to sing with the Grumbly and District Choral Society, and he even gets special organ pipes to make this happen. He becomes the choir's first bass singer and helps them travel to places.
Ivor loves doing human things, like singing, visiting the beach, and making tea from his boiler. He cares a lot about animals and has many animal friends. Sometimes, Ivor can be a bit stubborn and might go off on his own adventures instead of working. He really dislikes moving trains around (shunting) and sticking to timetables.
Jones the Steam
Edwin Jones is Ivor's driver. He is a happy and kind man who understands Ivor's unique ways better than most. He's just an ordinary engine driver who handles whatever comes his way. People new to the area might find it odd that he talks to his engine! When he's not driving Ivor, he enjoys fishing and daydreaming.
Dai Station
Dai Station is the station master at Llaniog. He loves following railway rules very strictly. But sometimes, he will bend the rules to help his friends. His job can be tricky because Ivor doesn't care much for rules at all! Even though Dai can be gloomy and strict, he has a good heart.
Owen the Signal
Owen the Signal works in a signal box near Ivor's shed. He appears sometimes in the episodes.
Evans the Song
Evan Evans is the choirmaster of the Grumbly and District Choral Society. He is also Jones the Steam's wife's uncle.
Mrs. Porty
Mrs. Porty is a rich and unique lady. She enjoys a glass of port wine and gets new hats from London every week. She actually owns the railway, having bought it when it was going to be taken over by the government. But she doesn't get involved in the daily running, so things stayed pretty much the same after she bought it.
Mr. Dinwiddy
Mr. Dinwiddy is a very unusual miner who lives in the hills and digs for gold. He loves explosions and mining. His mountain is full of gold, but as soon as he digs it up, he puts it back! He often needs new boots. He's also a bit of a scientist and has built some strange machines.
Bani Moukerjee
Bani Moukerjee is an elephant keeper from India. He works for Charlie Banger's Circus. He looks after elephants like Alice, George, Margaret, and Clarence, and they always listen to him.
Charlie Banger
Charlie Banger is the lively owner of Charlie Banger's Circus. He puts on a free show for the town to thank Jones, Evans, and Mr. Hughes for helping look after Alice the Elephant after she got hurt.
Idris the Dragon
Idris is a small, red Welsh dragon who also sings in the choir for a while. He hatched from an egg in Ivor's firebox! He lives with his wife Olwen and their twins, Daian and Blodwen, inside an old volcano called Smoke Hill. Besides singing, he's great at cooking fish and chips with his fiery breath.
Idris faces a problem when Smoke Hill gets cold and needs to stay hot for the dragons to survive. Luckily, Mr. Dinwiddy finds a solution, and they now live in a warm cave underground.
Alice the Elephant
Alice is a circus elephant from Charlie Banger's Circus. She's usually calm, but she doesn't like taking medicine or being bathed by anyone except Bani Moukerjee. When Ivor first met her, she had escaped and was asleep on the railway track with an injured foot. They became friends, and Alice and her elephant friends even helped Ivor when he got stuck in the snow.
Bluebell the Donkey
Bluebell is a donkey who lives at Mrs. Porty's house. She can't talk, but she and Ivor enjoy spending time together. Since the railway only has one train (Ivor), Bluebell sometimes helps out by pulling things, like a broken-down lorry or Mrs. Porty's cart on the tracks. She even stops at railway signals like a real train!
Mr Hughes The Gasworks
Mr. Hughes is the boss of the local gasworks. He might seem a bit grumpy, but he's kind-hearted and loves keeping pets, especially budgerigars. He helped look after Alice the Elephant when she was injured.
Mr. Brangwyn
Mr. Brangwyn is a strong and lively man who loves pigeons. He lives by the railway and is engaged to Miss Price. He's the one who provides a special boot for Alice the elephant, which he got during his time in India.
Policeman Gregory
Policeman Gregory is the local village policeman. He's known for finding three small eggs in Ivor's coal bunker and taking them away in his helmet!
Professor Longfellow
This professor seems a bit scatterbrained. He once ordered a telescope cover, but Mrs. Porty thought it was her new hat and wore it! He also told Jones and Idris that the closest active volcano to Smoke Hill was in southern Italy.
Mr. Mervin
Mr. Mervin is the local bank manager. He helped Jones and Ivor find more old coins (called Half-Crowns) to pay for the gas meter that kept Smoke Hill warm for the dragons.
Books About Ivor
Several storybooks based on the Ivor the Engine TV series were published in the 1970s. These books were reprinted in 2006 and 2007. Some of the titles include:
- The First Story
- Snowdrifts
- Ivor the Engine and the Dragon
- Ivor the Engine and the Elephant
- Ivor the Engine and the Foxes
- Ivor's Birthday
Ivor's Legacy and Appearances
Ivor in Other Places
- The famous band The Who mentioned a character called 'Ivor The Engine Driver' in their song "A Quick One, While He's Away".
- The British ska band Bad Manners also mentioned Ivor in their song "The Undersea Adventures of Ivor the Engine".
- Ivor even made a quick appearance in an episode of The Amazing Adventures of Morph.
- In 2007, special 'All Aboard with Ivor' events were held at real heritage railways in the UK. A small train was even made to look like Ivor!
- BBC2 Wales used Ivor in short ads for their new digital TV channel, with new voices from Oliver Postgate himself.
- Some of the original artwork from the show can be seen at the Canterbury Heritage Museum.
- In 2011, a mobile game about Ivor the Engine was launched.
- In 2014, a board game about Ivor the Engine was released.
- The Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway holds an annual Ivor the Engine Weekend.
- A programming language called Idris was named after the dragon in the show.
