Edward


 * Edward.png"People say I'm old fashioned. But I don't care. The Fat Controller says I'm a useful engine."
 * — Edward, Saved from Scrap, second season

Edward is a blue mixed-traffic tender engine. He runs his own branch line with BoCo. Edward is one of the oldest engines on Sodor and is occasionally made fun of for his age. Despite this setback, he is also very wise and optimistic and spreads his knowledge and encouraging attitude towards the other engines.

The Railway Series
Edward was built by Sharp, Stewart and Company at their Atlas Works in Glasgow, Scotland in 1896. He worked on the Furness Railway's Cumbrian Coast Line before coming to Sodor on loan with other engines in 1915 to assist with the building of the North Western Railway. The Furness had found him to be a "shy steamer" and were not interested in getting him back when his work was completed. In 1921[6], they sold him to the NWR for a nominal sum, who have, by careful maintenance and extensive modifications, turned him into a reliable engine.

By 1923, Edward was confined to Vicarstown Sheds, to the delight of the other engines, who claimed that he was too old and weak to work. Edward was eventually let out again and proved that what he lacked in strength, he made up for in work by pushing a stubborn Gordon and his heavy goods train up Gordon's Hill.

In 1924, when Thomas was fed up with fetching coaches for the big engines, Edward offered Thomas to take his trucks. However, Thomas, having no experience with trucks, was pushed down the hill and diverted into a siding. Later in 1925, Edward helped James double-head a passenger train when the splendid red engine was acting out.

For some time afterwards, Edward was getting so old that his parts caused him to clank as he went along, which led to the bigger engines teasing him about his age. Gordon and Henry teased him about when a group of cows caused half of his cattle trucks to break away and derail, but later got their comeuppance when they encountered a cow named Bluebell on a bridge. Later in 1952, Edward saved an old traction engine named Trevor from scrap when he encouraged The Vicar of Wellsworth to buy him.

However that same year, James would still talk down to Edward's age and how slow he is, but after he was left running down The Main Line without a driver thanks to two naughty boys who played with his controls, Edward proved himself to be a hero when he brought the inspector and James' fireman to slow him down. James could not thank Edward enough for his heroic actions and the Fat Controller sent Edward to the works to have his worn parts mended as a reward. When Edward came back, everyone was very pleased to see him again.

In 1948, Edward received his own branch line and had two twin tank engines named Bill and Ben help take trucks from the Sodor China Clay Company to Brendam along his line. When the twins were playing tricks on a new diesel named BoCo in 1965, Edward put a stop to it and showed BoCo how to handle them. Soon, Edward and Gordon were both talking about branch lines, most to the disapproval of Gordon. That night there was a mishap at Tidmouth, which in favour, Edward's train went first which sent him down the mainline (this was caused when the signalman at Wellsworth was not informed of the delay) and Gordon went down to Brendam. Some few evenings later, when Edward was taking a passenger train filled with enthusiasts home to Tidmouth, his crank-pin snapped, damaging his wheel splasher and running plate, forcing the driver and fireman to take them off. However, Edward was able to pull the heavy train back to Tidmouth, very late, but with triumph. BoCo looked after Edward's branch line while Edward was sent to the works again for repairs.

In 1987, while the Elsbridge river bridge was being repaired, Edward helped Thomas settle in on his branch line. Later, while taking china clay trucks to Wellsworth, the rear of his train derailed on a section of loose rail. Luckily, Trevor was nearby and was able to warn him about it.

In 1995, before the 50th anniversary of the Railway Series, Edward was hurrying along his branch line after being delayed by James. He loosened one of his bogie wheels on a set of points, which came off and landed in a field of cabbages. He was repaired in time for the Golden Jubilee and led Pip and Emma to Tidmouth as the royal train and was also held up at Knapford Junction after the points and signals failed.

In 2007, when an old coach named Victoria was being restored, Edward quickly recognised her from the Furness Railway and listened to her story about when she worked with a tank engine named Albert on his branch line, alongside another coach named Helena. Edward later took her to Knapford Junction for Thomas to take to Toby.

Later, in 2011, he was present in the celebration of the Thin Clergyman's centenary.

Thomas & Friends
When Trevor was to be the main star attraction for the Vicar's garden party, Edward wanted to help but did not know-how. His chance came when the Vicar forgot to promote the party by putting up the posters, so he suggested having them put up on his cab and coaches as part of the party's advertisement. His plan worked and so many people came to the party that they raised a lot of money for the children. The Vicar later thanked Edward and his crew for their idea.

Edward has a penchant for telling spooky stories on Halloween that the other engines enjoy. In the fifth series episode Haunted Henry, Edward told Henry that whenever an owl hoots, a mist rolls in and when the mist is about, there is a ghost about too. In the sixth series episode Scaredy Engines, he told them a story of a ghost engine that returns to the smelters in search of his lost whistle every Halloween.

In addition to running his branch line, Edward often acts as a banker for other engines up Gordon's Hill to help them when their trains are too heavy. In spite of Edward's great history with the railway and his good relationship with the other engines, his old age makes some engines think that he is unreliable. Gordon would sometimes still tease and talk down about him, even going as far as suggesting that he should "retire". When Percy told his driver about this, who told the Fat Controller, he arranged for Edward to show Stepney how to run the loop line, while Duck did his work. Unfortunately, Duck got stuck on Gordon's Hill when the Troublesome Trucks held him back. When Gordon came behind him, he could not push Duck up the hill. Edward was sent to help the double train up and when they arrived at Knapford station, the Fat Controller rebuked Gordon for his horrible comments about Edward. Gordon apologised to Edward the following day and from then on, he never suggested him "retiring".

Since then, Edward's skill as a banker is always valued among Gordon and the others, as seen in Edward the Great and You Can Do it, Toby!; in Chickens to School, Edward exclaimed, "I'm always helping Gordon up the hill!" However, his speed left a lot to be desired. In As Good as Gordon, Emily had to wait for Edward at the crossing. Impatient, Emily snidely told him to hurry up, calling him "Slowcoach". When Spencer visited the Island of Sodor and beat Gordon's record, he insulted the Sudrian engines, who became fed up with Spencer's boastfulness. They wanted to race Spencer to the Duke and Duchess of Boxford's Summer House, but the Fat Controller chose Edward to go there instead. Gordon thought that Edward should not do an express engine's job and James thought that Edward would let the whole railway down. Regardless, Edward tried his best and had several moments of triumph during the race. Gordon saw how hard Edward was trying and took back his earlier words, encouraging Edward instead and called him "a credit to the railway!" Edward eventually won due to Spencer falling asleep and felt like the pride of the Sodor railway—and he was right.

Edward has always been a kind and wise engine, though, in some scenarios, he has acted a bit judgemental to newcomers. For example, when Harvey first arrived, he claimed he "doesn't even look like an engine". He was also one of the engines to spread rumours that Neville wanted to bump the steam engines and agreed with Gordon's element of doubt about Rocky and called him "new-fangled nonsense". This was apparently because Edward has worked on Sodor the longest and because he had known all of its inhabitants for that long, he was wary of meeting anyone new. However, he later learned of Harvey and Rocky's usefulness by their episode's ends.

When Percy was in need of repair, the engines nominated Edward to take the mail in his place, but in truth, Edward did not know what to do. In order not to embarrass himself, he did not ask Percy for advice, resulting in him delivering the mail to all the wrong places which got him into a muddle and crash into some barriers.

Edward has also acted excitable and even vain on some occasions. Once, he was given the task of taking the new water wheel to Great Waterton. He ignored the Fat Controller's advice to take the express track, instead taking all the bumpy tracks to show off to other engines, which almost resulted in the water wheel being scrapped. In Thomas and the Runaway Kite, he wanted to help Thomas to chase after the Fat Controller's grandchildren's kite. Since then, Edward has tried to regain his usual self, which one day made Charlie think he was too old to have fun in Charlie and Eddie. Edward was upset about this so he tried to be as fun as Charlie, but this only caused even more trouble. Since then, he has just stuck to being the wise and kind engine that he was of old.

In the fifteenth series, Edward was sent to work with Harold for the day, being given the chance to be a hero. After observing Gordon and Rocky in action, Edward resolved to fulfil his hero role by being "strong and fast and stern". On his way to the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre, Edward found a miserable Charlie and cheered him up by telling him a joke, collected Dowager Hatt's suitcase when it was sent to the wrong station and rescued a lost Katie the sheepdog. Edward was still determined to be what he thought a hero but found that his time spent helping others had made him late for Harold, who was not at the Rescue Centre when Edward chuffed in. The Fat Controller reassured Edward that being kind, funny and gentle was Edward being himself, enough to be a hero and everyone cheered for him. Harold arrived looking for Edward, who just smiled.

Gordon still proved to be ungrateful for Edward's help, not even saying so much as a "thank you" for his efforts. When Edward complained about this to Thomas, he came up with a plan. He challenged Gordon to a race across the island, to which Gordon gave him a ten-minute head start to give him more of a chance. However, Thomas pulled onto the same track as Gordon, forcing the bigger engine to go slowly. At Gordon's Hill, they were going so slowly that Gordon became stuck, forcing Gordon to swallow his pride and beg Edward to help him. Edward forgave Gordon and gave him a push and this time, Gordon gave his thanks as he descended down the other side.

In Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, he told Thomas (who was being mended at the Steamworks) that Rocky had discovered a pirate ship in the cavern in which Thomas had fallen into earlier (despite Thomas discovering it first). Later, while working at the Docks, Salty told him, Henry, James, Porter and Cranky about a "lost pirate".

When Thomas felt that Max and Monty's recklessness was going too far, Edward told Thomas to ignore them. He laughed at Thomas, Percy and Toby for being scared of a cow which they thought was a troll and he was also scared of going out in the night when the engines thought a glowing Henry was a ghost. Edward was among the engines who were afraid Hugo was the start of steam engines being replaced.

Edward was one of the many engines who wanted to go to the Great Railway Show but was not chosen.

When the Fat Controller replaced his public address system at Knapford, Edward picked it up and took it to Crocks Scrap Yard. However, the new P.A. system proved more trouble than it was worth. Luckily, Reg had not scrapped the old system and Edward brought it back to Knapford, much to the Fat Controller's relief. Sometime later, after James crashed through Tidmouth Sheds, Edward was sent to Philip's shed until his berth was repaired. However, Philip proved too chatty for Edward to get a good night's sleep, so he tried looking for somewhere else to rest. However, nowhere proved suitable and Edward became so tired he fell asleep, which made him nearly collide with Percy. Luckily, Philip managed to wake Edward up in time and Edward told the truth about why he left Philip's shed. Philip promised to be quieter and proved to be such a good company that Edward decided to stay with him even after Tidmouth was repaired.

Edward is well-known for being able to keep Bill and Ben in order, but sometimes the twins can still prove to be troublesome, such as when they invented a game called "Hunt the Truck" and played it on Nia. Bill and Ben were annoyed when Edward made them give the truck back and decided to have some more fun, hiding Edward's truck from him. However, Edward knew all their hiding places and was quick to find where it had gone. He then pretended to be worried that the truck going missing would ruin Sir Robert Norramby's Christmas party, prompting the twins to feel guilty and search for it across the island, not realising of course that Edward had the truck all along until they went to the party to apologise.

Personality
Edward is very kindhearted, mature, wise and 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. If ever an engine misbehaves or acts out, it is Edward that the Fat Controller turns to in order to soothe things out.

Unfortunately, the big engines, especially Gordon, often see Edward as old-fashioned and slow. While it is true he is the oldest engine on the North Western Railway (which he helped build), he has proved time and time again that he is more than capable of working as hard as any engine. He and BoCo have been the only engines who can look after Bill and Ben and know how to put them in their place should they misbehave. Like any otherwise old engine, he stands for no nonsense from anyone, especially from the bigger engines.

Edward had occasionally suffered insecurity within himself, such as keeping secrets from the other engines and Sir Topham Hatt, when he was once leaking steam and likewise when he was told to pull the post train whilst Percy was being repaired. He also had an occasional habit of being rude and cheeky, such as disbelieving Rocky when he thought he did not need help with his goods train and being unwelcome to Harvey when he was new to the railway. However, Edward has moved past all of that and he overall keeps his best wheel forward forever and always no matter the circumstance.

Basis
The Reverend W. Awdry stated that Edward is based on a heavily modified Sharp, Stewart and Co. "Larger Seagull" K2 Class, supplied to the Furness Railway in 1896.

Sodor "historian" Martin Clutterbuck notes that Edward bears a close resemblance to an LNER D34 "Glen" (NBR Reid Class K) 4-4-0 and an LNER D20 (NER Class R) from the London and North Eastern Railway. He also bears a strong resemblance to an LNER D40 (GNSR Class F). The Reverend W. Awdry also used an LMS Class 2P to represent Edward on his model railway.

Visible Crovan's Gate Works modifications are: making the rear splashers flush with the cab, removal of the coupling rod splashers, new cab windows as opposed to cutaways in his cab side sheets and square cab lookouts as opposed to the original round ones. In both the Railway Series and television series, Edward is depicted with a Fowler tender.

The orange and brown tender engines are also based on this design.

Livery
Edward is painted in NWR bright blue with red and yellow lining. The number 2 is painted on both sides of his tender in yellow with red lining and the lining around his cab windows is yellow.

It can be assumed that, before arriving on Sodor, Edward was painted in FR Indian red with black lining, the initials "FR" painted on both sides of his tender and black wheels.

Trivia

 * Edward was the very first character created for the Railway Series, in 1942.
 * Edward is one of few characters to appear in every series of the television series and one of even fewer characters to have a speaking role in each one.
 * Edward is the only engine whose crew has been named in the Railway Series. In the foreword of "Edward the Blue Engine" their names were given as Charlie Sand (driver) and Sidney Heaver (fireman). Their surnames came from their duties (one of the driver's jobs is to sand the rails when they are slippery to let the engine's wheels grip, while the fireman "heaves" coal to the firebox); their first names came from an engine crew from the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway.
 * One of Edward's television series models is on display at the Hara Model Railway Museum in Japan and is currently wearing his grinning face mask (previously on display at Nitrogen Studios in Canada). Another was on display at Drayton Manor, but it was removed in March 2020. Both are the brass models of him made during the tenth series. One of Edward's production made face masks is also owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch.
 * Edward's neutral face mask was on his television series model when he first arrived in 2009 and was put on display at Drayton Manor, only to be replaced with a replica smiling face expression.
 * In Steady Eddie, Charlie and Eddie and Edward the Hero, Edward refers to himself as "Eddie". Charlie also refers to him by this name. "Eddie" also happens to be Edward's real name in the Greek narration and in Italy from the fifteenth series onwards; however, in the Engine Roll Call he is referred as Edward.
 * In the French dub, Edward is called Edouard in the first seven series.
 * He is Michael White's favourite character.
 * Edward, along with Henry and Toby, are the first characters to be removed from the Steam Team, beginning with the twenty-second series.
 * His 2014 TrackMaster model and the story Edward Cracks a Nut incorrectly depicts him with a 2-6-0 wheel configuration, instead of a 4-4-0, as does his redesigned Motor Road and Rail model.