Gordon

up-down (Adventure Squad, original)

**Gordon** is **Siren Racer 1** of Adventure Squad and a friend of Thomas's on Sodor.

## Biography

As a member of Adventure Squad, Thomas had recruited some Sodor engines as part of the machine division to keep the world safe from Demon X: a danger to all dimensions and galaxies formed by all the dark emotions from pretty much everywhere. Due to a clever attack strategy, Demon X wiped out more than HALF of the Leonold machine division, in cluding the parents of Thomas, Tim, and Danielle (the latter 2 being Thomas' siblings in the family's machine division). Because of his dead reletives realising the truth about Thomas, he was constantly told to make the guardion of nature mechs to match their desired specifications, the reason being that the previous users want their mechs to match their chosen successor (an example being when he was nagged by the previous user of galaxy rider 3 while preparing said mech for Emily). Gordon was given Siren Racer 1.

## Personality

In the original series, Gordon's important position as the engine who pulls the Express has made him proud, pompous and self-important, with a good reason too; he is the fastest engine on Sodor. He is extremely proud of this and is inclined to boast. He is goodhearted, always willing to forgive and uses his superior strength to help smaller engines out of trouble. He also has a great hate of goods trains.

Gordon’s philosophy "tender engines don't shunt" meant that he looked down on tank engines and tender engines who do shunt, but after being locked in the shed with Henry and James after going on strike and before the seventeenth series, he seemed to have abandoned this philosophy. However, because of his rank in the social order of the North Western Railway, Gordon expects to get the important passenger jobs and either sulks when he does not and/or gets jealous of engines who do.

Sometimes, Gordon acts as a bully, particularly towards Edward, but following misadventures where Edward had to help him, Gordon had to acknowledge that despite being old, Edward is still a very useful engine. However, Gordon still sometimes doubts Edward is still reliable, such as the time he did not believe Edward could win a race against Spencer as he is only a "back engine" and a "waste of steam". He soon stopped belittling Edward for good after being tricked by Thomas; he learned his lesson and apologised to Edward, saying that he promised not to call him old or unreliable anymore. Despite the way he treats Edward sometimes, deep down, Gordon is shown to care a great deal about Edward and many other engines that work with him. This was especially shown when he was very upset after he learnt that Edward and Henry moved out of Tidmouth Sheds to sleep elsewhere for their own reasons, thus indicating how much he missed them.

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.

As of the twentieth series, Gordon seems to have developed a tendency of pinning his own faults on others. This was shown when he blamed Henry over having to do his jobs for the day and vice-versa, even though his lateness was what led to the change in the first place. When he and the rest of the Steam Team got in trouble for refusing to leave the shed at night, believing there was a ghost train about (which was actually Henry with a coat of luminous paint), he once again blamed Henry for the predicament.

Despite being labelled as one of Sir Topham Hatt's more sensible engines, he can act senseless if prompted, which is quite often.

In Adventure Squad, Gordon's pompous aspect was toned down, and he is a lot more willing to pull goods trains. Despite this, he still often refuses to do certain jobs, though Thomas has been able to talk him into doing so by convincing Sir Topham Hatt that the big engine couldn't do it anyway. He is also less arrogant, and a lot more workable in helping others, and accepting help when needed. He also detested Thomas's nickname for him when he found out about it's Spanish translation, though the concept of the English translation got him to allow the Spanish nickname.

## Appearance

### Engine

According to The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, Gordon is the experimental prototype for Sir Nigel Gresley's A1 Pacific design for the Great Northern Railway. Gordon was built at Doncaster Works in Yorkshire. Once the first batch of A1 Pacifics appeared in 1922 Gordon would have more than likely have been reclassified A1/1 - the '/1' indicating he is slightly different to the rest of the class.

Gordon, being an experimental engine, never received a number and was never put into regular traffic, he was only ever used on test runs. Owing to various problems Gordon was rebuilt in 1939 at Crewe. Sir Topham Hatt and Sir William Stanier worked together to rectify these problems - everything under the running board is of Stanier's design while the running board itself is that of Sir Topham Hatt's. In both the Railway Series and television series, Gordon is depicted with a Fowler tender.

His valve gear is similar to that of the LMS Stanier Pacifics in the illustrations, but in the TV Series, he and Henry share the same valve gear.

As "The Shooting Star", Gordon's appearance is based on a streamlined Pennsylvania Railroad K4 (Hank's class), specifically #3768.

Gordon is painted in NWR sky blue with red and yellow lining. His number is painted on the sides of his tender in yellow with red lining and the lining around his cab windows is yellow. Before arriving on Sodor, he was painted in GNR apple green with white and black lining.

In the Railway Series, he carries two builder's plates on the sides of his cab.

In the sixteenth series episode, Bust My Buffers!, Gordon received a yellow and black hazard stripe painted bufferbeam akin to Den's. In The Great Race, in his streamlined form, he was painted in a lighter shade of NWR sky blue with silver, red and dark blue lining instead. His number was still painted on the sides of his tender in yellow, but instead was smaller and surrounded by a dark blue circle.

Gordon wears a communicator in Universal Rides. It has white rods and black speaker bits, and the base and the antennae tip is blue.

Adventure Squad has Gordon's number border, safety valve, whistle and window lining in white, while the rest of his lining is dark blue. He now shares Thomas's number 1, on his tender in dark blue.

### Mech

Siren Racer 1 is a blue articulated two-cabbed work train possessing a hidden artillery, with enough space to carry multiple large vehicles, despite it's narrow shape. It also has a stash of rescue supplies. The Warrior mode has enhanced speed and strength, and the weapons are accessible as well. Following a period of thrashing from Junkator, Siren Racer 1 was upgraded with a commander mode, following similar veins to Dino Runner 2's master mode.

Siren Racer 1File:Siren Racer 1 (warrior mode)
## Behind the scenes

Gordon was voiced by Keith Wickham in the UK, but Kerry Shale takes the role in the US. Neil Crone handled his Magic Railroad voice.

His fan series voice was of Humungousaur from *Ben 10: Omniverse*, done by John DiMaggio.

## Notes

* He is the only rail vehicle of the Siren Racers.
* His nickname came from the *Thunderbirds Are Go* character of the same name.
* Gordon's TrackMaster model features added bogie wheels from a take-n-play talking Gordon tender and a painted bufferbeam on his tender.