Edward

## Edward the Blue Engine

Edward is a blue mixed traffic engine from The Island of Sodor.

## Personality

Edward is kindhearted 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. If ever an engine misbehaves or acts out, it is Edward that people like Sir Topham Hatt turns to in order to soothe things out.

Sadly, the big engines often see Edward as old-fashioned and slow. While it is true he is one of the oldest engines on Crotoonia's railway network - it must be noted he helped build the North Western Railway - he has proved time and time again that he is more than capable of working as hard as any engine, and he is a much cleverer and wiser engine, too. In fact, he and BoCo were the only engines who looked after Bill and Ben and knew how to put them in their place should they misbehave. Like any other wise old engine, he stands for no nonsense from anyone, especially from the bigger engines.

## Technical Details

### Basis

Edward is based on a heavily modified Sharp, Stewart and Co. "Larger Seagull" K2 Class, supplied to the Furness Railway in 1896.

Visible 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, square cab lookouts as opposed to the original round ones and a Fowler tender. The Chinese Steam Engine is another member of this class.

Edward’s basis
### Livery

Edward is painted in the North Western Railway's sky blue livery with 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 Indian red livery with black lining, the letters "FR" written in yellow on his tender sides 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 season 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.
* Three of Edward's models are currently on display; two at Drayton Manor and the other is in Japan at the Hara Model Railway Museum (previously on display at Nitrogen Studios). One of Edward's production made face masks is also owned by Twitter user Thomas Merchandise.
* 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 season onwards; however, in the Engine Roll call he is referred as Edward.
* In the French dub, Edward is called Edouard in the first seven seasons.
* According to Britt Allcroft, there was a suggestion that Edward should become female and be renamed to "Alice" in the US dub, but he ended up retaining his original name and gender.
* Edward, along with Henry and Toby, are the first characters to be removed from the Steam Team.