Henry

**Henry** is a green mixed-traffic tender engine who works on the Main Line. He was originally a failed prototype engine, 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.

## Bio

### *Thomas & Friends*

In the television series, Henry loved visiting the forest. Because of how much he loves it, he helped to replant trees after it was destroyed by a storm.

He also has had to go back to the Works on several occasions, such as when his tubes were leaking and after he had an accident with some trucks. But the reason most often given for Henry's poor state is that he needed special coal again, even though this was corrected in the first series. This error began with the tenth series episode Toby's Afternoon Off and has been fixed as of King of the Railway as Toby stated that the fact that Henry needing special coal was fixed years ago. The last time Henry was stated to need special coal was in the fifteenth series.

In the seventeenth series, he teased Scruff, took on some bad coal with Hiro, allowed Caitlin to pull The Flying Kipper for him at night, challenged James to deliver the fresh fish for him and almost got hit by Connor.

During one winter, he was tasked with working with Spencer to deliver trucks to Vicarstown. But Spencer teased him by making him think there was an abominable snowman on Sodor. After they had delivered their trucks, they both saw a strange white figure stumbling around on the tracks in front of them. Thinking it was the abominable snowman, Spencer tried to run away, but his valves burst, so Henry stood his ground and tried to make the snowman go away. Luckily, it was only the Fat Controller who ended up running into trouble in the heavy snow.

One night, he saw Sailor John and Skiff rolling along the line and got a big fright, thinking Skiff was a ghost ship. Some of the engines teased him about it, even though he insisted the boat was real.

In the twentieth series, Henry had to pull the express for Gordon while he was having his firebox cleaned in the morning. He was initially hesitant but enjoyed himself, especially after the passengers stated he was much friendlier than Gordon. Later, Henry was having a repaint at the Steamworks when Kevin gave him the wrong paint. Henry puffed into the night, his new paintwork glowing in the dark, causing his friends to think they had seen a ghost train. Sir Topham Hatt realized that Henry had the wrong paint and told him to return to the Steamworks for some proper green paint, while praising Henry for being the only engine working as all the others were too scared to come out of the shed.

Henry would later go to the Mainland and be a part of the Great Railway Show, competing in the Strongest Engine Race. After the race, he met up with the other engines and informed them that he came in fifth. Philip congratulated him, only for Henry to reveal that there were only five engines.

In Journey Beyond Sodor, Henry was due to go back to the Mainland with a goods train. However, a faulty signal caused him to crash into the back of Hiro's train. After being rescued by the Breakdown Train, the Fat Controller arranged James to take his train while Henry is being repaired. However, Thomas ended up taking the train before James could and James only went when Thomas did not return. At the end of the film, Henry was fully repaired and returned to the sheds while the others finished singing The Most Important Thing is Being Friends, to which he asked, "What did I miss?"

Sometime after, Henry was relocated to Vicarstown Sheds with Rosie per his request.

### *Thomas and the Magic Railroad*

In the film, Henry had suffered from boiler trouble due to deposits left by fumes from Diesel 10. This time, his sickness was cured by "Sodor coal". Henry was one of the few engines who knew the 'legend' about Lady was true, but he did not know as much about it as Edward. When Splatter and Dodge trapped and bullied Thomas into telling them where the entrance to the Magic Railroad is, Henry shooed off the dimwitted diesels and told Thomas to not worry about them. Later, Thomas found Henry with a boiler ache and offered to collect trucks of Sodor coal to make Henry feel better.

## 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.

In the television series, Henry has been portrayed with a much kinder and softer personality. He has been shown as a nature-lover as evidenced in Henry's Forest. This personality carried on throughout the more recent series with Henry being occasionally a tree-hugging engine too as he tried to prevent the tall pine tree and the wishing tree from being cut down.

In the newer series, Henry is portrayed as not too bright and sometimes really worrisome, as shown in multiple episodes. This worrisome personality was also featured in *The Adventure Begins*, which greatly contrasts with the original version of The Sad Story of Henry. He has shown instances when he was either moody, arrogant and vain, but proud, strong and witty, much like the earlier series. Henry is the most likely to be respectful to smaller engines such as Edward, Percy, Thomas, and Toby on a regular basis. He does not frequently antagonize his fellow friends, and usually shows remorse for his actions. Because of this, he is often considered much more friendly than Gordon and James.

## Technical Details

### Basis

Henry's history is unusual. The Fat Controller had intended to buy a Robinson Atlantic of the Great Central Railway, but was swindled and instead received Henry. He was built from rejected plans for Sir Nigel Gresley's A1 with the added design of an LNER C1 Atlantic. The plans were stolen from Gresley by an anonymous rival. The resulting engine had a superficial likeness to Gordon, but aesthetics were as far as this went. Henry in this shape developed performance issues from flaws in the design, compounded by his stay in the tunnel. Henry was a *bad steamer*: with good-quality coal he could get enough heat to make plenty of steam, but when there was a poor lot delivered, his undersized firebox could not hold enough coal to make a proper fire. On advice from Henry's fireman, the Fat Controller ordered high-grade Welsh Coal, which made an appreciable difference in Henry's performance. When Henry suffered an accident and severe damage that winter, the opportunity was taken to send him to Crewe, where he was rebuilt an LMS Stanier 5MT "Black Five" 4-6-0. After "The Eight Famous Engines," Henry's LMS Stanier 5MT tender was replaced by a Fowler tender.

In the television series, Henry has always had a one-window cab with an LNER-style tender. The differences between his shapes were removed splashers, the Belpaire firebox replacing the tapered, added steampipes beneath his smokebox, and a top feed. This was done to ease the changeover to his "Black Five"-esque appearance. However, Henry kept his parallel boiler instead of the tapered one that the Black Fives had. He later regained a full set of splashers in Series 2 onwards. The grey and purple tender engines are also members of this class.

Eighteen members of the class have survived into preservation. Several members of this class survived until the end of steam on British Railways in 1968. Two class members, 44781 and 44871, were used to haul the Fifteen Guinea Special on August 11, 1968. 44871 has 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 continental locomotive.

### Livery

Henry is painted in NWR apple green 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.

He was repainted in NWR sky blue with red and yellow lining at the end of "The Three Railway Engines" and remained so until the beginning of Troublesome Engines, when he was given back his own livery to avoid him being too similar to Gordon. In Henry and the Express, he was briefly painted orange-red as an undercoat before his standard green coat was applied. In Henry in the Dark, he was accidentally painted with a glow in the dark green livery.

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

In the learning segment, *Being Repainted*, he had a cream undercoat.

## TV Appearances

Henry has appeared in every season and every special. He is voiced by Keith Wickham in the UK, by Kerry Shale in the US, and Kevin Frank in Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

## Trivia

* Henry has appeared in the Railway Series more than any other engine, having been in both the most books and the most individual stories.
* The mention of Henry having originally been ordered as a GCR Robinson Atlantic in The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways is based on Awdry's original illustrations of The Three Railway Engines, which depict him as a 4-4-2.
* 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.
* Awdry's own model of Henry was as troublesome as its fictional counterpart; it never really worked properly. The model was eventually scrapped but never replaced.
* Henry is the second character to be removed from the Steam Team, the first being Edward.
* In the Greek narration of Series 1 to 7, Henry is called "Charlie". From the thirteenth series onwards, Henry has been referred to with his original name.
* One of Henry's models is on display in Japan at the Hara Model Railway Museum (previously at Nitrogen Studios) and is currently wearing his sad face mask.
* An ERTL Henry appeared in the American sitcom, *Everybody Loves Raymond*.
* Henry's ERTL toy lacked splashers and was modeled after his rebuild in Series 1 making him closer to both the original Dalby illustrations and his real-life counterpart.
* No merchandise line has produced a model of Henry in his original shape, although a prototype was produced for the Thomas Engine Collection Series.
* When name boards were still used in the series, Henry never had a name board 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.
* 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 has him with said tender.
* Henry is the only former Steam Team member who does not appear in the Meet the Steam Team videos.
* Henry was called *Henri* in the French dub of the first seven series.
* Henry's original whistle was the same shape as Gordon's.
* Throughout the eleventh series, Michael Brandon portrayed Henry with a Southern accent.