Stepney

**Stepney**, named after a district in London, is a tank engine who had been saved from scrap by Rusty.

He lives and works on the Bluebell Railway. He is Boxhill's and Fenchurch's brother. His friendly, enthusiastic attitude makes him a welcome visitor on Sir Topham Hatt's railway.

Stepney is the main tritagonist in the special, Wilhelmina's Wicked Rescue.

## Appearance

Stepney is a tank engine, who was built at the same works as Thomas. He's painted in LB&SCR goldenrod, formally known as "Stroudley's Improved Engine Green", with green, red, white and black lining. Stepney has six wheels and red siderods, and his name is painted on his side tanks and the number "55" is painted on the sides of his bunker, both in white.

## Personality

Stepney is a bubbly, modest and humble chap who is bursting with enthusiasm. He is very eager to please and is every engine's friend. When given a job to do, he is determined to complete it to the best of his ability. Even if an engine might not like him at first, his personality wins them over. After being saved from scrap by Rusty and the Bluebell Railway, he now runs his own branch line, but loves visiting and helping out on the Fat Controller's Railway. He has an enthusiasm for learning and listening to advice, as well as keeping busy. Stepney can feel down in the dumps if he does not get enough work to do or if he does not get a good long run to stretch his wheels. Stepney is high-spirited, lively and is keen to see fair play. He is popular amongst the engines and is always game for more work. Unlike most of Sodor's engines, Stepney loves to work with trucks.

## Trivia

* Stepney is currently withdrawn from service, following the failure of his main steam pipe. He was repainted from his British Railways black livery with red lining, which replicates that which he carried upon his arrival at the Bluebell Railway in May 1960. He now carries his original London, Brighton and South Coast Railway "Improved Engine Green Livery". A future overhaul has not been entirely ruled out.
* Alec Baldwin gave Stepney a Cockney accent in the US dub. This may have been intentional, as Stepney is a region of East London and the inhabitants of that area, amongst others, were known as Cockneys.
* At the end of "Stepney Gets Lost", Stepney says Dorothy's famous phrase, "There's no place like home!" from the Wizard of Oz.

* From the sixth series onwards, the block under Stepney's smokebox became the same colour as his livery.
* A Wooden Railway toy of Stepney, along with Thomas and a Fossil Truck, cameos in the second series of The Big Bang Theory, in the 13th episode "The Friendship Algorithm".
* Stepney's television series model was on display at Drayton Manor in the UK and wore his chuckling face mask, but in December 2018, it went missing. Some days he wasn't at the Exhibition.
* His manufacturer is the same as Thomas'.
* His whistle from Series 12 is Bill's, but twelve steps lower-pitched. It is also Thomas', but at a higher pitch. It was mistakenly reused for Stephen in the mobile app, Read and Play!

## Quotes

* **There's no place like home!**
* **Bluebells forever!**
* **Everyone's been so kind, but my railway is so short, and I do miss a good long run.**
* **Trucks are fun. I miss them on our line.**