4005. Emily the Stirling Engine

Emily the Stirling Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic steam locomotive from the television series Thomas and Friends. She was the first female steam engine to be featured in the television series, and is the only female member of the "Steam Team", the eight core characters of the series. She is painted dark green, and has large driving wheels and a shiny brass safety valve cover.
When she first arrived on the Island of Sodor, she took Thomas's coaches Annie and Clarabel by mistake, much to Thomas' dismay. However after she rescued Thomas and Oliver from an accident, Thomas forgave her. Sir Topham Hatt (the "Fat Controller") rewarded her with two coaches of her own. From Season 8 onwards she has been depicted as a rather bossy character, which can make her difficult to work with at times. She is sometimes a "big sister" figure to the smaller engines like Thomas and Percy. She speaks with a Scottish accent.
Emily is the only member of the Steam Team who does not appear in the Railway Series, the books that form the basis of the television series. She was a relatively late addition to the TV series, arriving in Series 7.
In the more recent (CGI) stories, from Hero of the Rails onwards, Emily is voiced by Teresa Gallagher (UK) and Jules de Jongh (US).

Emily had been a kind-hearted engine when she first arrived. But soon she gained a more bossy attitude.[citation needed] She bossed Thomas once, which made him cross. She has been good friends with Thomas ever since her first arrival.

Emily is based on a Stirling 4-2-2 of the Great Northern Railway. These locomotives were used on high-speed express services from York to London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Great Northern Railway used a dark emerald green livery on their locomotives similar to that carried by Emily.
Whilst the Stirling 4-2-2 is a tender engine, Emily is incorrectly described as a tank engine in some of the Thomas and Friends books.

4004. Gordon

Gordon is a pompous express engine. He is Flying Scotsman's only remaining brother and Mallard and Spencer's cousin.

Gordon was built experimentally by Sir Nigel Gresley at Doncaster Works between 1917 and 1920 as an "A0 Pacific". When Gresely was finished using Gordon for designing his A1 Pacifics, he sold Gordon, along with a spare boiler and firebox, to the North Western Railway.
Gordon is mainly used for passenger duties, pulling the North Western Railway's express, the "Wild Nor' Wester", but has occasionally pulled goods trains: he has been known to run into ditches and stop on hills to get out of doing these jobs, as he believes that these are below him.

In 1939, Gordon went to Crovan's Gate for a rebuild. His conjugated valve gear was replaced by a two-cylinder design, he received a smoother running plate (designed by the Fat Controller), Stanier underframes, "Black-5" wheels, cylinders, squared-off side windows, rectangular buffers, and a Fowler tender.

Gordon has become famous after his adventures: in 1953 he pulled Queen Elizabeth II's royal train and in 1956 he traveled to London, where he was lauded by a large crowd. Gordon did not like the visit, however, as he discovered that London's big station was St. Pancras.

In 1986, Gordon got to visit Carlisle when a Diesel taking a Railtour failed.

In 2010, he was demoted from pulling the express regularly to Barrow due to the purchase of Pip and Emma.

Gordon's important position as the engine who usually pulls the Express has made him proud, pompous and arrogant, with good reason, too; he is the strongest engine on Sodor after all. Gordon's philosophy "tender engines don't shunt" meant that he looked down on tank engines and tender engines who do shunt, but after being locked in the shed with Henry and James after going on strike he seems to have abandoned this philosophy.
Because of his rank in the social order of the North Western Railway, Gordon expects to get the important jobs and either sulks when he doesn't, or gets jealous of those who do. Sometimes, Gordon acts as a bully, particularly towards Edward, but following mis-adventures where Edward had to help him, Gordon had to acknowledge that despite being old, Edward is still a very useful engine.

Sometimes Gordon shows a kinder side and gives the younger engines advice, usually after he has had some mishap as a result of his foolhardiness. Some of his advice isn't exactly honest, though, as James and Sir Handel have discovered.

According to Sodor "historian" Martin Clutterbuck, Gordon is supposed to be an experimental prototype for Sir Nigel Gresley's A1 "Pacific" design for the GNR - the so called "A0". Gordon was then built at Doncaster Works, Yorkshire, and tested against a similar NER Pacific in 1923. Gordon, being an experimental engine, never received a number, and was later rebuilt at Crewe with LMS underparts and a six-wheel tender, owning to various problems. Gordon has since been rebuilt below the footplate according to Stanier designs, his running plate being Sir Topham Hatt's own design.

4002. Edward

Edward is the No. 2 blue engine. He is one of the older and wiser engines on Sir Topham Hatt's railway. Edward is kind and a good friend to everyone. When the other engines misbehave, it's Edward that Sir Topham Hatt turns to in order to calm everyone down and restore order.

Edward did not have a number on his side in the first original stories. It was only after Book 6 in the Railway Series that Edward received his #2. Edward is based on a 4-4-0 locomotive.

Edward is a mixed-traffic engine.

Edward was built by Sharp Stewart and Company in Manchester, England in 1896 and worked on the Furness Railway before coming to Sodor in 1920 to finish the building of the North Western Railway. After his work was completed, Edward was kept in a shed, to the delight of the other engines, who claimed that he was too weak to work. Edward was eventually let out again, and proved that what he lacked in strength he made up for in work ethic.
Edward currently runs the Wellsworth-Brendam branch line with BoCo and occasionally Donald and Douglas. He is sometimes used as a pilot engine for special trains.

Edward is kind-hearted and always keen to help a friend in need. The small engines trust him to lend a listening ear and sympathetic advice. He is a hard worker too, and always does his best to finish a job.
Sadly, the big engines often see Edward as old-fashioned and slow. While it is true he is the oldest engine on the North Western Railway - it must be noted he helped build it - he has proved time and time again that he is more than capable of working as hard as any engine, but he is a more clever and wiser engine, too.

Since the sixth season, Edward's persona differs slightly. Despite his reputation of being kind and friendly, Edward has sometime seemed to act cheeky. Edward has also acted with a lack of confidence in himself in that he keeps secrets from the other engines and the Fat Controller when once he was leaking steam and likewise when he was told to pull the post train whilst Percy was being repaired. Sometimes, Edward has seemed to share the same personality as James, such as when he decided to show off his special waterwheel and laughed at Thomas when he was wearing a funny funnel.

Unlike most characters, Edward is not directly based upon any particular class of locomotive. The Reverend W. Awdry had stated that Edward is based on a heavily modified Sharp, Stewart and Co. "Larger Seagull", supplied to the Furness Railway in 1896.
Sodor "historian" Martin Clutterbuck notes that Edward bears a close resemblance to a LNER D3/4 "Glen" (NBR Reid Class K) 4-4-0 from the London and North Eastern Railway. At any rate, the Reverend W. Awdry used an engine of this class to represent Edward on his model railway.

Crovan's Gate modifications to be seen are making the rear splasher flush with the cab, new cab windows as opposed to cutaway, and new cab lookouts as opposed to the round originals.

The inspiration for Edward himself came from the Reverend W. Awdry's watching trains on the Great Western Railway as a child. He said in an interview with Brian Sibley for The Thomas the Tank Engine Man that, to him, the noise of the locomotives' exhaust almost sounded like dialogue - for example, the larger engine having trouble climbing the hills would appear to be saying, "I can't do it, I can't do it," and the smaller engine helping them would sound like it were saying, "I will do it! I will do it! I will do it!" Later, Reverend Awdry told his son a bedtime story about an engine who was sad because he was never taken out of the shed for being old. Upon being asked what the engine's name was by his son, the Reverend Awdry picked the name Edward out of thin air.

Edward is painted NWR blue with the NWR red and yellow lining and the number "2" painted on his tender sides in bright yellow with a red border. In the Railway Series, he carries two builder's plates on the sides of his cab.
It can be assumed that, before arriving on Sodor, Edward was painted in the Furness Railway's red livery with the letters "FR" written in yellow on his tender sides and black wheels.