Stepney

Thomas (cousin)

Birch Grove (cousin)

**Stepney**, named after a district in London, is a tank engine who 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.

## Appearance

Stepney is a tank engine with a tall funnel. He has silver buffers and two red lamp irons. He also has two wheel arches and he has his name written on the side of his tanks. And Stepney also has the number fifty-five on his coal bunker. And he has six wheels with red siderods.

## Personality

Stepney is a bubbly, honest 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.

## Technical Details

Stepney was built by Brighton Works in 1875 and was rebuilt into an A1X in 1912. During his last working years, Stepney worked on the Hayling Island branch line, until he was taken out of service in 1960 and placed on an out-of-use siding. He was bought by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society and arrived on the railway on 17th May, making him the first standard gauge steam locomotive in the United Kingdom to be preserved.

Since his first appearance in the *Railway Series* and *Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends*, Stepney has become one of the most popular engines on the railway, with children all across the country coming to see him. Stepney has even participated in "Day Out with Thomas" events and has carried a face for these events.

Stepney was taken out of service in 2008, after his boiler ticket expired; but underwent a fast-track overhaul and returned to working order in 2010, just in time for the line's 50th Anniversary. In March 2014, Stepney was withdrawn from service following the failure of his main steam pipe. As of 2020, whilst he awaits to go into the workshop for new cylinders and significant work on his frames and boiler, Stepney is currently on display inside the Bluebell Railway's new 'Steam Works!' shed complete with his signiature face from the former "Day Out with Thomas" events.

## 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.
* The prototype of Stepney's 1996 Wooden Railway toy has the original face and magnets of Thomas.
* When the president of the Bluebell Railway Bernard Holden MBE died at the age of 104 on 4th October 2012, Stepney headed his funeral train on the 16th, due to being the first engine that the railway rescued. In 2014, Stepney also headed the funeral train for Jack Owen, who was his ex-driver.
* Both of Stepney's appearances in the seventh series were made up of stock footage.
* Stepney was featured in the music video for Tracey Ullman's "Move Over Darling" in 1983.
* Although he has not been featured in the CGI series, Keith Wickham has voiced him in Thomas-saurus Rex.
* His manufacturer is the same as Thomas'.
* To date, Stepney is the last new real engine to appear in the television series.