Henry

**Henry** is a green mixed-traffic tender engine who works on the North Western Railway and is the railway's number 3 engine.

He originally had a smaller firebox and needed special Welsh "special" coal to operate properly. Following his accident when pulling the Flying Kipper, Henry underwent an extensive rebuild, giving him a new shape and better performance.

## Biography

In 1923 When Henry was in the rain one day on the Island of Sodor, he was vain and stopped in the Ballahoo Tunnel and refused to come out, believing that his paintwork would be spoiled by the rain. After several attempts to move him failed, he was bricked up in the tunnel for a duration of time, between several weeks to a few months, until Gordon broke down while pulling the Express. As Edward was unable to move the train himself, the Fat Controller offered to let Henry out of the tunnel to help. Henry eagerly accepted and was later freed from being bricked up.

Henry would prove to be a poor steamer. One day, when he was ill, Thomas had to take his train for him. He, along with Gordon and James, would also go on strike. The Fat Controller naturally disapproved of this nonsense and locked them up in the shed for several days, leaving them miserable. However, they were let out again after promising to work hard.

A period came when the Main Line engines were supplied with a poor delivery of coal and Henry had a very difficult time of it indeed. He had strength to pull trains only sporadically, in spite of numerous part replacements, and there was talk of being replaced by another engine. At last, the Fat Controller looked into it personally and asked for the opinion of Henry's fireman, who told him about the poor coal and Henry's firebox being too small to burn it efficiently. The fireman also suggested purchasing the high-grade Welsh coal used on the Great Western Railway. Sir Topham Hatt agreed to purchasing some in order to give Henry "a fair chance".

When the Welsh coal came, Henry's performance vastly improved, such that he was comparable to Gordon. He continued to use the coal until he had a collision with a goods train while pulling the Flying Kipper and was sent to Crewe to be rebuilt. Besides being given a new shape, Henry also received a larger firebox, allowing him to use regular coal again.

After returning, Henry was added to the rotation for the Express and pulled it so well that he made Gordon jealous. Gordon tried to get even by rudely criticising Henry for whistling loudly at stations, but he had to eat his words later that day after his own whistle valve jammed open. Sometime later, Henry was taking a slow train. As he passed under a bridge, three boys he had assumed to be railfans threw stones at him and his coaches. He paid them out on his return journey by "sneezing" ashes that collected in his smokebox at them.

When Duck arrived to take over Percy's duties as station pilot, Henry - along with Gordon and James - teased him and tried to give him orders, as they had been doing to Percy. With Percy's help, Duck blocked the big engines from entering the shed. The Fat Controller arrived and told the two tank engines off for causing a disturbance. Henry and the others laughed - until the Fat Controller shouted for silence and told them that they had been worse, as they had *made* the disturbance. He told them that Duck was right - he, Sir Topham Hatt, is in charge and he gives the orders; Henry respected Duck more after that.

Henry's good opinion of Duck would be briefly spoilt shortly afterwards. He and the other main line engines were growing very tired of Duck's incessant talk about the Great Western Railway. When Diesel was first sent to the island on trial, he quickly developed a grudge against Duck and spread nasty stories about the main line engines to the trucks, stories he falsely claimed that Duck had told him. Furious at being called "Old Square Wheels", Henry joined Gordon and James in barring Duck from the shed just like what Duck and Percy had done previously. He felt sorry a few days later and when Duck returned after preventing an accident, Henry cheered for him loudly.

Henry loves visiting the forest. Because of how much he loves it, he helped to replant trees after it was destroyed by a storm in 1991.

When Gordon started feeling upset, Henry - who thought Gordon was just moaning and groaning - teased him and told him he should get a wash-out and would feel much better. When Gordon's brother Flying Scotsman visited Sodor, Henry was jealous of the visitor's second tender. Although Duck and Donald explained this (which Henry understood), he still was vain enough to want an additional tender. Deciding to bring Henry down to earth, Duck told the big engine that he had in his possession not one, but *six* spare tenders, which, as a tank engine, he had no need of. Henry accepted and all the engines waited to see him go past. But instead of a splendid sight, the tenders were old, rusted and full of boiler sludge. Gordon mocked him with a comment about wash-outs.

When Queen Elizabeth II was due to visit Sodor, Henry assumed that he was the Fat Controller's choice to pull the Royal Train. But the day before, while he was idling at the station, his smoke blinded a painter, who fell along with his paint pot onto Henry. The paint splashed over Henry's boiler and as painting over it would take too long, Gordon was given the job instead.

One night in 1998, Henry had to take a train to Peel Godred, and Edward warned him about how when an owl hooted, a mist would roll in. Henry ignored Edward's warning. However, on his way along the branch line, the mist would soon settle in. Henry would also notice a sign saying "Beware of the viaduct," a closed crossing gate, a red signal, a coat discarded on a tree branch and a light flickering at a station. Henry and his crew were spooked, and headed back. The following night, when taking the train, Henry and his crew noticed crossing gates close and signals turning red by themselves. This spooked them so much, that they charged down the line, with a mysterious figure watching them from an abandoned station. Eventually, they ran right into a landslide in front of the viaduct. The trucks hit the rubble, derailed and plunged into the ravine under the viaduct. The mysterious figure soon arrived on a pump trolley; it was actually the fogman, Old Bailey, who revealed that he placed all the items around the line as a way of warning Henry about the viaduct. As a way of apologising to Old Bailey for ignoring his warnings, the old station was restored and he was appointed its stationmaster.

When the tracks along Tidmouth Beach were eroded due to high tides that same year, warning lamps were placed to prevent bigger engines from travelling along it. Thomas tried to warn Henry of the danger whilst at Knapford Harbour, but Henry simply ignored him, and set off with the Flying Kipper. However, due to Henry taking the Coastal Run, he was in danger of running across the damaged track. A heavy fog had also settled in, and the tracks had been fully submerged by this point. As Henry went along the line, he and his crew were unable to see the track ahead due to the fog, and by the time they did notice it, it was too late. Henry soon plummeted right into the sea, and spat out a mouthful of seawater. The following morning, Henry was lifted out of the water and into a barge full of fish. By the time Henry was back on the rails, he apologised to Thomas for ignoring his warning.

He also has had to go back to the railway works on several occasions, such as when his tubes were leaking in 2003 and after he had an accident with some trucks in 2002. 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 in It's Good to be Gordon, Henry had to use ordinary Coal, since Gordon took his Special coal, but this 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, it's possible that they took on a different type of coal and The Fat Controller also bought Henry a supple of fresh quality coal for Henry's use only as he was worried that Henry might not cope with the new ordinary coal the engines were getting.

In 2013, 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 that same year, 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. Unfortunately, his valves burst, and Henry stood his ground to try and to make the snowman go away. Luckily, it was only Sir Topham Hatt 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 complimented on how well he pulled it. 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. The Fat Controller realised 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 2017, 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 took it before James could and James only went when Thomas did not return. Henry was soon 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?"

During the following Christmas in 2021, the boiler at the Sodor Animal Park broke down. Henry suggested taking the animals to the Steamworks to keep warm, but this was initially ignored by the Fat Controller.

When Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt went to London to meet the Queen again in 2020, Gordon voiced his displeasure at not being the engine chosen. Henry responded by teasing Gordon about his poor understanding of the names of the stations in London.

## 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 to 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 Thomas, Edward, Percy, 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.

### 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.

## Appearances

**Alsop Productions**

TBA

**Thomas & Friends**

* Thomas and Gordon

**Railway Series**

* The Three Railway Engines

## Trivia

Henry has had more voice actors out of anyone during the series' history.

## Voice Actors

Daniel Alsop (Season 1-5)

TheThomaslover1990 (The Narrow Gauge Mission)

Alexander Smith (Thomas & The Raccoons and Season 6)

Micklenden2 (Season 7-onwards)

Whistles
 S2