The Island of Sodor is a fictional island featured as the setting for The Railway Series books by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry (and his son Christopher), begun in 1945, and for the popular Thomas & Friends television series since 1984, although the Television series depiction of the island is significantly different and is widely understood that the Railway series and the TV series are different canons. It is depicted as being located in the Irish Sea, between the Isle of Man and the English mainland near Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, with the real-life Walney Island depicted as part of Sodor.