Edward

**Edward** is a blue mixed-traffic tender engine, and a member of the Steam Team. He runs his own branch line with BoCo. Edward is one of the oldest engines on Sodor and is occasionally made fun of for his age. Despite this setback, he is also very wise and optimistic and spreads his knowledge and encouraging attitude towards the other engines.

## Appearance

Edward is a tender engine that's the same colour as Thomas and Gordon, and about the same size as James. He has a tall funnel, a blue steam dome, and a tender with a number two painted on it. Edward has two small leading wheels and two driving wheels.

## Personality

Edward is very kindhearted, 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. If ever an engine misbehaves or acts out, it is Edward that the Fat Controller turns to in order to soothe things out.

Unfortunately, the big engines, especially Gordon, often see Edward as old-fashioned and slow. While it is true he is the oldest engine on the North Western Railway (which he helped build), he has proved time and time again that he is more than capable of working as hard as any engine. He and BoCo have been the only engines who can look after Bill and Ben and know how to put them in their place should they misbehave. Like any otherwise old engine, he stands for no nonsense from anyone, especially from the bigger engines.

However, Edward has suffered insecurity within himself, such as keeping secrets from the other engines and Sir Topham Hatt, when he was once leaking steam and likewise when he was told to pull the post train whilst Percy was being repaired. He also had an occasional reputation of being rude and cheeky, such as disbelieving Rocky when he thought he did not need help with his goods train and being unwelcome to Harvey when he was new to the railway. But overall Edward keeps his best wheel forward forever and always no matter the circumstance.

## Technical Details

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

Sodor "historian" Martin Clutterbuck notes that Edward bears a close resemblance to an LNER D34 "Glen" (NBR Reid Class K) 4-4-0 and an LNER D20 (NER Class R) from the London and North Eastern Railway. He also bears a strong resemblance to an LNER D40 (GNSR Class F). The Reverend W. Awdry also used an LMS Class 2P to represent Edward on his model railway.

Visible Crovan's Gate Works 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 and square cab lookouts as opposed to the original round ones. In both the Railway Series and television series, Edward is depicted with a Fowler tender.

The orange and brown tender engines are also based on this design.

## Trivia

* Edward was the very first character created for the Railway Series, in 1942.
* He is also one of the few characters to appear in every series of the television series and one of even fewer characters to have a speaking role in each one.
* Edward was also the only character not to appear in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, as there was not enough screen time for him.
* Edward, along with Henry and Toby, are the first characters to retire from the Steam Team, beginning with Season 22.
* Edward stayed at Tidmouth Sheds for many years until "A Shed for Edward". After James' recent accident at the sheds, Edward had to stay at Wellsworth Sheds with Philip. His first night didn't go so well with Philip's endless chattering, but the latter promised to be quieter and proved to be such good company, that Edward decided to stay with him at Wellsworth Sheds, as it was nearer his branch line, even after Tidmouth Sheds was repaired.
* Before Thomas came to Sodor, Edward was Dorothy's very first friend.