John Theodore Eardley Kenney (1911–1972) was an English illustrator who worked on several of Reverend Wilbert Awdry's The Railway Series books from 1957 to 1962.
[1] Kenney was born in 1911 and trained at the Leicester College of Art, the same school that produced Clarence Reginald Dalby, the first illustrator of the Railway Series.
He landed in Normandy on D-Day, and although he was not officially a war artist he recorded the scenes he saw in a number of impromptu drawings.
Neil is a well known equestrian artist, painting official pictures for the Grand National steeple chase, and the Prince of Wales, playing polo.
By that time his eyesight was failing and he was unable to handle the fine details required for the series' illustrations.