Henry

Henry

Background information

**First episode**
"Stepney's Problem"

Character information

**Full name**
Henry the Green Engine

**Other names**
* Old Square Wheels (*by Diesel and the Trucks*)
* Big Strong Henry (*by Thomas, Percy and himself*)
* Very Helpful Henry (*by Emily*)
* Mr. Special Steam (*by 'Arry and Bert*)

**Age**
Unknown (*Engine*)

**Home**
Island of SodorEngland (*formerly*)

**Friends**
* Edward
* Duck
* Rosie
* Hiro
* Diesel
* BoCo
* Gordon
* James
* Thomas
* Percy
* Toby
* Emily

**Quote**
"Don't worry, Hiro. You taught me to keep on puffing, so that is what I'm going to do!"

**Henry** is a green mixed-traffic tender engine who works on the North Western Railway and is the railway's number 3 engine.
He originally had a smaller firebox and needed special Welsh coal to operate properly. Following his accident when pulling the Flying Kipper, Henry underwent an extensive rebuild, giving him a new shape and better performance.

Personality
Henry is generally well-behaved and friendly, but is sometimes arrogant. Henry is, at heart, a very hard worker, but his frequent bouts of illness hinder his work. His illnesses almost always have something to do with his boiler. Unlike Gordon and James, Henry does not mind pulling trucks, especially as he is a mixed traffic engine, although when he is given the job of pulling the express whenever Gordon is unable to, this can get to his smokebox and he can act full of himself. While he does not usually mind pulling trucks Henry hated to shunt his own trains, which led to several miserable days stuck in the sheds after a failed attempt at going on strike.
Despite Henry's grumpy and arrogant attitude at times, he has been shown to be a nature-lover. This personality trait would later be carried out when he became fascinated with the wishing tree, fearing the tall pine tree would be cut down as well as the wishing tree.
From the sixth series onwards, Henry became a more kinder and softer engine, however, his grumpy and arrogant side was still shown at times such as when he scolded James for going too fast on the icy rails and getting mad, along with the other engines, at Thomas for being cheeky and causing delays.
From the fourteenth to the nineteenth series, Henry became worrisome and a scared engine, as shown in multiple episodes. This worrisome personality was also featured in The Adventure Begins, which greatly contrasts to the original version of The Sad Story of Henry. Despite this, he has shown to still be capable and confident when he used all of his strength, despite running on bad coal, to push a broken-down Hiro along with a heavy train all the way to Brendam Docks, pulling the Express with ease and even doing a more, finer job than Gordon, and getting back at the other engines for mocking his scared persona.
From the twentieth series onwards, Henry became quite confident and capable and did tasks at ease, as well as in the BWBA era, he would always enjoy teasing Gordon such as when he teased him of not understanding the station names in London and when he laughed and smiled at Gordon for leaving his Express behind when Percy was in "trouble".
Of the big engines, Henry is the most likely to be respectful to engines such as Thomas, Edward, Percy and Toby on a regular basis. He does not frequently antagonize his fellow friends like Gordon and James do, and usually shows remorse for his actions. These traits also make him more level-headed than his fellow big engines, who often find him trying to keep them in line, being the trio's voice of reason.

Technical Details
Basis
Following his rebuild at Crewe, Henry is based on a London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Stanier 5MT "Black Five" 4-6-0.
In the real world, eighteen members of the LMS Stanier 5MT class have survived into preservation. Several members of this class survived until the end of steam on British Railways in 1968. Three class members, 44781, 44871 and 45110 were used to haul the Fifteen Guinea Special on August 11, 1968. 44871 and 45110 have survived into preservation whereas sister engine 44781 was purchased for use in the film, *The Virgin Soldiers*, and was scrapped after being used in a train scene disguised as a Malayan Railway L class locomotive (with the number 531.03).

Henry's basis
Before his rebuild, Henry is a freelance design, combining aspects of the Black Five shape and his original shape in *The Railway Series*, as budgetary constraints prevented the crew from constructing two separate models for him. Changes made to Henry's model for his old shape include a tapered firebox, inside steam pipes and the topfeed being removed. Additionally, Henry originally lost his splashers following his rebuild, however these were later added back in the second series. Contrary to how his old shape was portrayed in *The Railway Series*, Henry does not have a sloped running board and is depicted as having always been a 4-6-0, while in the books he was originally a 4-6-2.
Henry's tender also appears to be somewhat of a hybrid, with the curvature at the front resembling a Stanier tender while the back half resembles how his original tender was illustrated in *The Railway Series*.

Livery
Henry is painted in NWR green with red lining on his cab, splashers, tender, cylinders and boiler and yellow lining around his windows. His number (3) is painted on his tender in yellow with a red outline. He has a white running board with red bufferbeams and valences.

Appearances
Television Series* **Season 1** - Stepney's Problem, A Scottish Tale, Duties of The Diesels and Wilbert, Frank, and the Milk
* **Season 2** - A Special Visitor, Save Sir Topham Hatt, Disaster on Sodor and The Flying Scotsman Departs (cameo)
* **Season 3** - Hideous Henry and Diesel's Dilemma
* **Season 4** - Arthur Helps Out and Thomas and the Ghost (mentioned)
* **Season 6** - Gordon's Flying Kipper and Boulder's Express Route
* **Season 7** - Stanley and the School Trip
* **Season 8** - Tick-Tock-Jock and The New Controller
* **Season 9** - The Kipper Caper, Tender Bender, Harvey's Second Chance (cameo) and The Arlesdale Rumor (cameo)
* **Season 10** - Bee Yourself, James, Coal Crisis, Salty Goes Swimming and Groundhog Gordon
* **Season 11** - Fergus' Day Off (does not speak), The Great Western Way, Big City Rumor. Station Situation (cameo), Spencer Goes Too Far, Holly Jolly Molly, Old Square Wheels and BoCo and the Cocoa (mentioned)
* **Season 12** - Greetings, Montague!, Stafford's Electric Slide (cameo), Scottish Blues (cameo), The Importance of Being Billy (does not speak), Gordon's Last Hurrah, Henry's Handcar Havoc, Bulgy Takes the High Road, Sidney the Renegade and Vicarstown Takedown
* **Season 13** - Duck and the Quack Attack, Bert's Arlesdale Fail, Oliver's Fossil Fright, Ivo Hugh's Day at the Zoo and How Gator Stole Christmas (cameo)
* **Season 14** - Henry Gets Stumped, Hiro and the Heat Wave (cameo), Dirty 'Arry (cameo), James in a Jam (cameo), S.C.Ruffey's Sweet Tooth (cameo) and Hatt Trick
* **Season 15** - Roundhouse Roulette, Philip Finds a Friend (cameo), The Maron Station Makeover, For Whom The Belle Tolls (mentioned), Nightmare on Sodor (does not speak), Polar Express Coming Through! and The Island of Misfit Engines
* **Season 16** - Sweet Sixteen, Henry's Hill, Painting the Rosie's Red, Paxman Pulls Through (does not speak), Victor and Victoria (cameo) and Finding Lorry
* **Season 17** - Unidentified Flying Scotsman, Tender Love and Care, Sidney Transplant, Big Trouble on the Little Western, Diesel Gets the Bronze, James and the Giant Screech, Rocked by a Hurricane and Para-Norman Activity (cameo)
* **Season 18** - Santa Claws and Steam Team Dream

Specials* The Battle of the Branchlines
* Claw of the Law
* Saving Pirate Ryan

Trivia* In the 1997 annual story, We Wish You a Merry Christmas!, Henry's fireman was revealed to be named Ted. In the magazine story, Henry Helps, Old Bailey is Henry's driver.
* In some international dubs, Henry's name was changed:
	+ In the Greek dub of the first to seventh series, Henry is called "Charlie". From the thirteenth series onwards, Henry has been referred to with his original name, possibly to avoid confusion with Charlie.
	+ Henry was called *Henri* (pronounced "Unree") in the French dub of the first to seven series.
	+ On early Spanish translations of the Random House books, Henry was known as *Enrique*.
* The only pieces of merchandise to depict Henry in his original shape are a small pull back toy and a prototype for the Thomas Engine Collection Series.
* When nameboards were still used in the series, Henry never had a nameboard shot where he was in his new shape.
* Martin Sherman said in an interview with Sodor Island Fansite, that he originally auditioned to voice Henry, but got the parts for Thomas and Percy instead.
* Henry, Thomas and James are the only characters to speak in every special. They, along with Gordon, are the only characters to *appear* in every special.
* According to the online video "Still the Best of Friends", the official reason Henry relocated to Vicarstown was to be closer to his work, referring to his taking trains to the Mainland in Tale of the Brave and Journey Beyond Sodor.
* Although he does not have a Fowler tender in the television series, some merchandise of him have him with said tender.
* Henry is the only former Steam Team member who does not appear in the Meet the Steam Team videos.
* Henry's original whistle was the same shape as Gordon's.
* In 2014, Henry and Edward's whistle sounds at Drayton Manor Theme Park were accidentally swapped when they changed shed berths with each other.
* Tim Staffell, former model maker for the first series and lead vocalist for early Queen band Smile, stated that Henry was his favourite character and that he might have one of his faces he made somewhere in his house.
* Henry is the only member of the original Steam Team not to appear in the original model version of the Island of Sodor opening sequence. In the HD model and CGI versions, this distinction is shared with Percy.