Edward

Edward is a blue mixed-traffic tender engine who lives and works on the Island of Sodor, and is the North Western Railway's number 2 engine. He runs his own branch line and is one of the oldest engines on Sodor.
==Biography==
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, they sold him to the North Western Railway for a nominal sum, who have, by careful maintenance and extensive modifications, turned him into a reliable engine.
By 1922 and 1923, Edward had been used less and less was confined to Vicarstown Sheds for long periods of time, ranging from several weeks to a few months, much to the delight of the bigger engines. who claimed that he was too old and weak to work. This constant teasing made Edward feel very depressed. However, Edward was eventually let out again in 1923 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 and helping to take the express for Gordon once he broke his safety valve, with some help from Henry.
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, 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 The Vicar of Wellsworth to buy him.
==Personality==
Edward is very kind-hearted, 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. Edward has also been the voice of reason to misguided engines. If ever an engine misbehaves or acts out, it is Edward that the Fat Controller turns to in order to soothe things out. As he runs a branch line, Edward knows the responsibilities it takes to be successful doing so, including shunting. This sometimes puts him at odds with Gordon, James and Henry, who firmly believed that tender engines are too important for menial jobs such as shunting. Because of this, Edward found himself treated harshly for his shunting duties until Sir Topham Hatt shut the big engines up in their sheds.
==Technical Details==
===Basis===
Edward is based on a heavily modified Sharp, Stewart and Company "Larger Seagull" K2 class, supplied to the Furness Railway in 1896, as stated by the Rev. W. Awdry.
These locomotives were built in two batches: the first of six in 1896, with two extra members of the class being built later in 1900. All eight of the locomotives survived into the 1923 grouping and lasted through to the late 1920s and early 1930s, performing secondary duties around Barrow-in-Furness. In real life, all of the K2s were scrapped, with none surviving into preservation.
Visible Crovan's Gate modifications made to Edward include:
* Making his wheel splashers flush with the cab, thus also removing the coupling rod splashers
* New cab side windows as opposed to cutaways in his cab side sheets
* Square cab lookouts as opposed to the original round ones.
* A higher pitched boiler and longer smokebox.
* The replacement of his original Furness Railway tender with a Fowler tender.
File:Edward'sbasis.jpg|Edward's basis
File:FowlerTender.png|A Fowler tender
===Livery===
Edward is painted in NWR cerulean with red lining on his cab, splashers, tender and boiler and yellow lining around his windows. His number (2) is painted on his tender in yellow with a red outline. He has a white running board with red bufferbeams and valences.
When Edward first came to Sodor, he was originally painted in Furness Railway Indian red with vermillion and black lining and wheels. His company's initials, "F R", would have also been painted in yellow with blue countershading on the sides of his tender.
== Appearances ==
=== Red Panda Express ===
* Welcome to Sodor 
* The Tale Of MINGZILLA!
* Gordon Gets In Trouble 
* Party Preparations
* Thomas VS Gordon
* Broken Trust 
* Gordon Loses Control
* Saying Goodbye
=== Movie ===
* Red Panda Express
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Tender engines
Category:4-4-0
Category:North Western Railway
Category:Edward's Branch Line
Category:Awdry-created characters
Category:Male characters
Category:Standard gauge