After choir practice Idris helps out Mrs Thomas, whose fish fryer is on the blink. While everyone is enjoying a fish supper, Evans the Song spots a worrying article in his bit of newspaper. Ominous Pipe Organ: Averted: Ivor's whistle is made out of three pipes from a steam organ for a merry-go-round (called a roundabout in the series), and uses them to communicate and sing in the Grumbly and District Choral Society. He may have three notes, but he sings them beautifully. Parents Know Their Children: Jones the Steam and Ivor have a very close bond after so many years working together, but Jones usually acts as a sort of parental figure for Ivor, who is good hearted if sometimes a little disobedient, like a child. Jones can usually guess at Ivor's moods quite easily. Being a hot dragon, Idris doesn't like the cold, so when he’s not at Smoke Hill, he likes to travel around in Ivor's boiler or visit the oven at the local Bakers. Idris ensures he stays away from water, as it its coldness means certain death for dragons.

Five-Episode Pilot: More like six. The original six episodes were made to show how Ivor got his three-tone whistle and joining the choir.Postgate, Oliver; Firmin, Peter (2006). Ivor the Engine: The elephant. London: Severnside. ISBN 0-9552417-2-3. The Magic Goes Away: Ultimately, the dragons, after being revealed to exist, return underground to escape being kept in heated cages at the National Museum. Idris does visit from time to time afterwards, but never reveals himself publicly to avoid capture.

The gruff but kind-hearted proprietor of the local gasworks, he is well known for keeping pets, in particular budgerigars. He is asked to provide shelter for Alice the Elephant when she has an injured foot, and, despite his initial reluctance, he more than rises to the occasion.In 2000, a video called The Complete Ivor The Engine containing all 26 colour episodes was released by Universal.

Ivor the Engine is a British cutout animation television series created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It follows the adventures of a small green steam locomotive who lives in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" and works for The Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway Traction Company Limited. His friends include Jones the Steam, Evans the Song and Dai Station, among many other characters. They started in 1959 with Ivor the Engine, a series for ITV about a Welsh steam locomotive who wanted to sing in a choir. It was remade in colour for the BBC in 1976 and 1977. This was followed by Noggin the Nog for the BBC, which established Smallfilms as a reliable source to produce children's entertainment, when there were only two television channels in the UK. The Clangers and Bagpuss, perhaps their most popular works, followed in the early 1970s. It is a typical day in the life of Ivor the Engine. Ivor delivers Coal to Grumbly Gasworks, tomatoes to Mr Davy and Fish to Mrs Thomas. Ivor also goes to choir practice.

In this section

A small, red Welsh dragon who also sings in the choir for a time. Having been hatched from an egg in Ivor's fire, he lives with his wife Olwen and any of their twins, Daian and Blodwen, in the extinct volcano Smoke Hill. As well as singing, he proves useful by cooking fish and chips for the choir using his fiery breath.

Laura Chamberlain (27 October 2010). "Ivor The Engine episodes unearthed". BBC Wales Arts . Retrieved 26 March 2011. Evan Evans is the portly choirmaster of the Grumbly and District Choral Society. [8] He is also Jones the Steam's wife's uncle. [9] Mrs Porty [ edit ] Mystical India: Bani Moukerjee, the elephant keeper, wears a turban and speaks with a stereotypical Indian accent. This ended up getting the book series banned thanks to political correctness authorities getting worried about offending ethnic minorities. Postgate and Firmin created a map of their fictional railway which was adhered to rigidly during filming. Jones and Dai are relaxing when they spot some strange objects in the sky. The source appears to be Mr Dinwiddy's goldmine.When Idris' home Smoke Hill lost its heat, Jones and Ivor took Idris to see Mrs Griffiths in her shop in Llanmadd. After seeing Idris and his brethren, and Ivor's self-whistling, Mrs Griffiths apologises to Jones for thinking him mad and agrees to help the dragons. Mrs Griffiths and her fellows at the Antiquarian Society hire Mr Hughes the Gasworks to fit out Smoke Hill with gas heating and in the series one finale Smoke Hill, now a gas-fired volcano, is reignited and all the characters sing in gladness. However, the gas-heating includes a gas meter that only takes half-crowns, which are no longer "legal tender". On a few occasions, the gas meter runs out and Jones and Ivor have to search high and low for more half crowns. In April 2011, Smallfilms collaborated with mobile gaming company Dreadnought Design to launch an Ivor the Engine game under the newly created Smallworlds brand. [18]