Ivor the Engine
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Ivor the Engine was the first animation by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It was a children's television series relating the adventures of a small green locomotive who lived in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" and worked for the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited. His friends included Edwin Jones the Steam, Evans the Song and Dai Station, among many other remarkable characters.
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[edit] Characters
[edit] Ivor
The locomotive of the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited. Unlike most steam locomotives, Ivor had a mind of his own. He could drive himself and, using his whistle, could speak. His fondest dream was to sing with the Grumbley and District Choral Society, a dream that was realised when his whistle was replaced with three pipes from an old calliope. He became first bass of the choir, as well as providing them with a means of getting from place to place.
Ivor enjoys doing all sorts of things that people do. As well as singing in the choir, he likes visiting the seaside, making tea from his boiler and spending time with his friends. He is fond of animals, and has several of them among his friends. He can be wilful and disobedient at times, and it is not unknown for him to go and do his own thing when he should be working. He dislikes shunting and timetables.
[edit] Edwin Jones the Steam
Edwin Jones is Ivor's driver. He is a cheerful and kind-hearted man who perhaps sympathises more than most railway staff with Ivor's idiosyncrasies. Postgate and Firmin describe him as "an ordinary engine driver who is there to cope with whatever needs to be coped with". People who are new to the area find him rather eccentric for talking to his engine.
When not driving Ivor or helping the engine with his latest flight of fancy, he enjoys fishing and day-dreaming.
[edit] Dai Station
Station master at Llaniog. He is a stickler for the regulations of the railway, but sometimes bends the rules to help his friends. His life is made a little difficult by the fact that Ivor really doesn't care much for regulations at all. Although he is often gloomy, he is a good person at heart.
[edit] Evans the Song
The portly choirmaster of the Grumbly and District Choral Society, and Jones the Steam's brother-in-law.
[edit] Mrs Porty
A rich eccentric who enjoys the occasional glass of port and has new hats sent from London every week. She is also technically the owner of the railway, having bought it when the line was threatened with nationalisation. However, she does not bother much with the day-to-day running, and things remained much the same after she bought it.
[edit] Mr Dinwiddy
A very odd, possibly insane miner who lives in the hills and digs for gold. He enjoys explosions and mining. In fact, his mountain is full of gold, but as soon as he digs it up, he puts it back again. He often has need of new boots.
He is something of an amateur scientist. He describes himself as "educated" and knows "something about rock". He has constructed a few odd devices, including a donkey carriage and a bubble-blowing machine.
[edit] Bani Moukerjee
An elephant keeper from India, who works for Charlie Banger's Circus. He is in charge of the elephants Alice, George, Margaret and Clarence, who all obey him without question.
[edit] Idris the Dragon
A small, red heraldic dragon who also sang in the choir for a time. He lived with fellow dragons Olwen, Gaian and Blodwyn in the extinct volcano, Smoke Hill, and was hatched from an egg in Ivor's fire. As well as singing, he once proved useful by cooking fish and chips for the choir using his fiery breath.
Unfortunately, he ran into trouble when Smoke Hill went cold - he needed to be kept hot in order to survive. The gas board provided a temporary furnace, but when that became too expensive, the only other option for the dragons was a heated cage. Luckily, Mr Dinwiddy was able to provide a solution, and they now live in a geothermally-heated cave under the ground.
[edit] Alice the Elephant
A circus elephant with Charlie Banger's Circus. She is normally placid, but does not like taking medicine. When Ivor met her, she had escaped and was asleep on the track. Since then they have become friends. She and her elephant friends were able to help Ivor when he got stuck in the snow.
[edit] Bluebell the Donkey
A donkey who lives at Mrs Porty's house. She cannot talk, but she and Ivor just enjoy sitting around together.
[edit] Production
Like Postgate and Firmin's Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine was animated using card cut-outs painted with watercolours. The series was originally made in black and white for Associated Rediffusion in 1959, but was remade in colour for the BBC in 1975. The sound effects were decidedly low-tech, with the sound of Ivor's puffing made by Oliver Postgate. The three notes of his whistle were played on the bassoon.
The series was written and narrated by Oliver Postgate and animated by Peter Firmin. Voices were performed by Oliver Postgate, Anthony Jackson and Olwen Griffiths. The music was composed by Vernon Elliott and almost universally played on the bassoon.
[edit] Episodes
The series consisted of 40 five-minute films. These would often each form part of a longer story.
- The Railway
- The Egg
- The Proper Container
- The Alarm
- The Retreat
- The Hat
- Old Nell
- Mr Brangwyn's Pigeons
- The Visitor
- The Invalid
- The Boot
- Banger's Circus
- Unidentified Objects
- Mrs Porty's Foxes
- Bluebell
- Dai and the Donkey
- Gold
- Mrs Porty
- Cold
- The Endowment
- Snowdrifts
- Cold Sheep
- The Fire Engine
- Sledging
- The Rescue
- The Water Tower
- Mrs Bird
- The Cuckoo-clock
- The Trumpet
- Time Off
- The Seaside
- The Lost Engine
- The Outing
- Half-Crowns
- Sheep Herding
- Juggernaut
- The Bird House
- Chickens
- St. George
- Retirement
[edit] Books
Six story books based upon the TV series were published in the 1970s. They were:
- 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
[edit] Inspiration
The first Ivor story was inspired by a man named Denzil Ellis, a former railway fireman whom Oliver Postgate met at drama school, and his tales of starting his engine up in the mornings.
The setting of the series was not so much an accurate reflection of Wales, but a romanticised vision of the country and its railways. The creators were heavily influenced by the work of Dylan Thomas.
[edit] Trivia
- The Liberal politician Trevor Jones was nicknamed "Jones the Vote" after Jones the Steam.
- BBC2 Wales revived Ivor for a series of promotional spots advertising their new digital television channel "2W" for Wales.
- As Rev. W. Awdry did with the Railway Series, Postgate and Firmin created a map of their fictional railway which was adhered to rigidly during filming.
