Ivor the Engine
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Ivor the Engine was the first animation by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. It started off in black and white and was remade in colour. Ivor is a steam engine on a small railway in a corner of Wales. He turned out to be green, and works for the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited.
Ivor's driver was known as Jones the Steam, and had a distinctly strong Welsh accent. As is often common in Wales, characters were sometimes know by their name as well as their profession. Jones the Steam and Ivor would come into contact with Dai Station (the stationmaster), Owen the Signal (the signalman), Mr Pugh the Shop (a shopkeeper) and Jones the Song (a choirmaster).
In the first series Ivor gained three organ pipes in order to join the local choir, which was his ambition. Before that he just had a whistle, which, according to Evans the Song, would have been all right for a Chinese choir, but not a Welsh one.