Gordon

**Gordon** is a blue tender engine who works on the North Western Railway and is the railway's number 4 engine.

## Bio

Gordon's important position as the engine who pulls the Express has made him proud, pompous, arrogant and self-important, with a good reason too; he is the fastest steam engine on Sodor. He is extremely proud of this and is inclined to boast. Though he is also vengeful and will plot retribution if he feels he has been sufficiently slighted, he is happy to forgive, especially after he has either had his retribution or the individual has received some other comeuppance. He also has a great hatred of goods trains and believes that he should only pull coaches. Because of his rank in the social order of the North Western Railway, Gordon expects to get the important passenger jobs.

Gordon is rude and egotistical more often than not, especially towards smaller engines like Thomas or Percy. Despite this, he has helped them on a few occasions and does not necessarily dislike them. He can also be rude to older and weaker engines like Edward. But following misadventures where Edward had to help him, Gordon readily acknowledged that (despite being old) Edward is still a very useful engine. Sometimes, Gordon shows a kinder side and gives the engines some advice, usually after he has had some mishap as a result of his foolhardiness. Some of his advice is not exactly helpful or honest though, as James, Percy, and Sir Handel have discovered.

Whenever he meets and talks with Henry and James, Gordon is usually the one who directs the conversation and makes the decisions, making him the leader of sorts of the three big engines. He is always quick to place the blame of any errors on someone else, though his pride prevents it quite often, Gordon will give credit where it is due, especially after moments of guilt.

During Gordon's early years on the railway, he often looked down on the smaller engines like Edward and Thomas. However, he would soon find he needed help from Edward to be his banker after he got stuck on a hill with a train of trucks. He also needed Edward and Henry to pull his passenger train after he broke his safety valve in front of Henry's Tunnel.

Gordon often found Thomas very annoying for whistling rudely at him, so he taught him a lesson by bringing him along with his express train before he could be uncoupled. Thomas usually fetched the coaches for him, however, after Thomas left the yard when he was given a branch line, Gordon, along with Henry and James, soon found that they had to fetch their own coaches. After the big engines had several mishaps, one of which involved him having to pull his train backwards, Gordon proposed that they all go on strike, where they would only pull their coaches if another engine fetched them. Edward was the only engine left and since he was a tender engine and that Gordon proposed that tender engines do not shunt, they started to discriminate against Edward until the Fat Director decided to leave them in the shed until they learned the error of their ways.

After Gordon, Henry and James saw how silly they were, the Fat Director let them out, reminding them to behave and bought a tank engine named Percy to help fetch their coaches. Gordon almost had a run-in accident with Percy when he carelessly stood on the Main Line. After Percy ran away backwards and stopped in a pile of dirt, Gordon helped him out. Gordon was still arrogant and insulted Henry for the way he whistled. However, he ate his own words when his whistle jammed and he went running down the main line whistling continuously. He did not stop until a fitter climbed up and knocked his whistle in place.

Gordon is mainly used for passenger duties, pulling the North Western Railway's express, but has occasionally pulled goods trains, much to his dislike. 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.

Gordon has become famous after his adventures: In 1953, he was demoted from pulling passenger trains following his incident in the ditch he caused, but after a period of good behaviour including saving Thomas after he fell down a mine and the two engines making an alliance of helping each other. Later that year, his ban was lifted and he pulled Queen Elizabeth II's royal train.

When Diesel arrived on trial and was having trouble moving some old trucks, he accused Duck by making rumours about him giving Gordon a bad nickname, "Galloping Sausage". As a result, Gordon, Henry and James began to turn against Duck by forbidding him from the shed. However, when the truth came out that Duck had not made the nicknames, they began to feel very silly about jumping to conclusions before knowing the true story.

In 1955, Gordon complained about BoCo going on the main line, because the diesel only works on Edward's Branch Line. He claimed that the Fat Director would never agree and states that branch lines are vulgar. That night, Gordon's crew mistakenly believed that the passenger with a green hat was the guard waving his green flag. As a result, Gordon left with the majority of the passengers, the luggage and the guard stranded on the platform. Everyone was surprised, but the surprise quickly gave way to anger. This made Gordon so embarrassed, he brought his train back down to Knapford as Edward was already late with his train. But the signalman at the junction was not told about the change. Because of this, Edward was sent to the main line and Gordon was sent down to Edward's branch line. He spent the night at Brendam and was teased by Bill and Ben of being a lot of old iron that should be scrapped. BoCo stopped them and Gordon gained respect for him.

During City of Truro's visit in 1956, Gordon heard that the famous engine had reached 100 miles an hour and believed that he could reach that speed. This resulted in him losing his dome on the viaduct.

In 1957, Gordon felt devastated to hear that Diesel told him about the abolishment of steam on the Mainland, but happy to hear that his brother Flying Scotsman was preserved, when Sir Topham Hatt I organised him to visit Sodor.

## Basis

Gordon is based on an LNER Gresley A3, which is the same class as his brother The Flying Scotsman.

Gordon's streamlined form as the Shooting Star is based on a streamlined Pennsylvania Railroad K4, more specifically #3768.

## Livery

Before joining the railway, Gordon was painted apple green with white lining on his cab, splashers, cylinders, tender, boiler and windows. His old railway logo (LNER) is painted on his tender in yellow with a red shadow. He had a black running board with red bufferbeams and valances.

In 1923, he was repainted into his current paint: NWR cerulean with red lining on his cab, splashers, cylinders, tender and boiler and yellow lining around his windows. His number (4) is painted on his tender in yellow with a red outline. He has a white running board with red bufferbeams and valances.

In his streamlined form, as the Shooting Star, Gordon is cerulean with red, silver and dark blue stripes which wrap around his body. His number is encircled by a red circle with a dark blue background. He also has a star emblem on the shrouding just above his cylinders, which is silver with a while outline.

## Appearances

### Season 1

* Thomas and Gordon
* Edward and Gordon
* The Sad Story of Henry
* Edward, Gordon and Henry
* Thomas’ Train
* Thomas and the Trucks *(does not speak)*
* Thomas and the Breakdown Train
* James and the Coaches *(mentioned)*
* Troublesome Trucks *(mentioned)*
* James and the Express
* Tenders and Turntables
* Trouble in the Shed
* Percy Runs Away
* Thomas Saves the Day *(does not speak)*
* It’s Good to be Gordon
* The Flying Kipper *(does not speak)*
* Whistles and Sneezes
* Dirty Objects *(mentioned)*
* Thomas’ Christmas Party
* Off the Rails
* The Trouble With Mud
* Down the Mine
* Paint Pots and Queens

### Season 2

* Cows
* Saved From Scrap *(cameo)*
* Old Iron *(cameo)*
* Percy and the Signal
* Duck Takes Charge
* Pop Goes the Diesel
* Dirty Work
* A Close Shave *(cameo)*
* The Missing Coach
* Break Van *(cameo)*
* The Deputation
* Wrong Road
* Edward’s Exploit
* Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree *(cameo)*
* Thomas, Percy and the Dragon

### Season 3

* Time For Trouble
* Gordon and the Famous Visitor
* Trust Thomas
* Henry’s Forest *(does not speak)*
* No Joke For James
* Tender Engines
* Escape
* Oliver Owns Up
* Percy, James and the Fruitful Day
* Thomas and Percy’s Christmas Adventure *(cameo)*

### Season 4

* Granpuff *(cameo)*
* Sleeping Beauty
* Bulldog
* A Bad Day for Sir Handel
* Trucks
* Rock n’ Roll *(cameo)*
* Steam Roller *(cameo)*
* Gallant Old Engine *(cameo)*
* Thomas and Stepney *(cameo)*
* Bowled Out
* Henry and the Elephant
* Thomas and the Special Letter
* Fish *(mentioned)*

### Season 5

* Cranky Bugs
* A Better View For Gordon
* James and the Trouble with Trees *(cameo)*
* Gordon and the Gremlin
* Thomas and the Rumours
* Bye George!
* Baa! *(cameo)*
* Put Upon Percy *(cameo)*
* Busy Going Backwards
* Heroes
* Haunted Henry *(does not speak)*
* Snow

### Season 6

* The World’s Strongest Engine
* Salty’s Secret *(cameo)*
* Harvey to the Rescue
* A Bad Day for Harold the Helicopter *(does not speak)*
* Thomas the Jet Engine
* Percy’s Chocolate Crunch
* Thomas, Percy and the Squeak
* Edward the Very Useful Engine
* Gordon Takes a Tumble
* The Fogman
* Jack Frost *(cameo)*

### Season 7

* James and the Queen of Sodor
* The Spotless Record *(cameo)*
* Best Dressed Engine
* Bulgy Rides Again *(cameo)*
* Something Fishy *(cameo)*
* Gordon and Spencer
* Edward’s Brass Band *(cameo)*
* Three Cheers For Thomas *(cameo)*

### Season 8

* Thomas to the Rescue *(cameo)*
* Percy’s Big Mistake
* Edward the Great
* Spic and Span
* Thomas and the Fireworks Display
* As Good As Gordon
* James Goes Too Far

### Season 9

* Molly’s Special Special
* Respect For Gordon
* Edward Strikes Out
* Emily’s Rubbish
* The Great Discovery

### Season 10

* Hero of the Rails
* Tickled Pink
* Victor Says Yes
* James the Rubbish Engine
* Blue Mountain Mystery *(does not speak)*

### Season 11

* King of the Railway
* The Lost Puff *(does not speak)*
* Wayward Winston
* Gordon Runs Dry
* Steamie Stafford *(does not speak)*
* The Thomas Way
* The Missing Christmas Decorations
* The Frozen Turntable
* Scruff’s Makeover
* Not Now, Charlie!
* Calm Down Caitlin
* Gone Fishing
* The Afternoon Tea Express
* The Smelly Kipper

### Season 12

* Tale of the Brave
* Old Reliable Edward
* Marion and the Pipe
* Emily Saves the World
* Duck and the Slip Coaches
* Samson at Your Service
* Spencer’s VIP

### Season 13

* Who’s Geoffrey?
* The Truth About Toby
* Very Important Sheep
* Lost Property
* Salty All At Sea
* Slow Stephen
* The Beast of Sodor
* The Other Side of the Mountain
* The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead
* Philip to the Rescue

### Season 14

* Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure
* Goodbye Fat Controller
* Sidney Sings
* Henry Gets the Express
* Snow Problem
* Pouty James
* Engine of the Future
* Buckled Tracks and Bumpy Trucks
* Henry in the Dark
* All in Vain
* Over the Hill
* The Big Freeze

### Season 15

* The Great Race
* Dowager Hatt’s Busy Day
* Philip’s Number
* Confused Coaches

### Season 16

* Off to See the World (cameo)
* James’ Starring Role

## Gallery

Gordon’s current NWR livery (1923-present)Gordon’s Number 4 (1923-present)Gordon’s old LNER livery (1922-23)Gordon’s old LNER logo (1922-23)
## Trivia

* Gordon, Henry, Thomas and James are the only engines to appear in every special. The latter three, however, are the only ones to have at least one line of dialogue in every special.
* There is a bit of speculation that Gordon and Spencer are cousins, since they are both Sir Nigel Gresley designs.
* Gordon is one of James A Williams’ favourite characters, along with Edward and Daisy.