Gordon

### Nicknames

Gordon the Big Engine, Gordon the Big Express Engine, The Shooting Star, Shooting Star Gordon, Fat face (UK) (by Henry), Lazybones (US) (by Henry), Galloping Sausage (by Diesel and Trucks), Big Engine (by Philip), Falling Star (by Thomas), Geoffrey (by Dowager Hatt), Gregory (by Dowager Hatt), Gerald (by Dowager Hatt), Gavin (by Dowager Hatt),

### Relative(s)

Flying Scotsman (brother), Gordon's Brothers, Spencer (cousin), Mallard (cousin), Green Arrow (cousin),

### Affiliation

North Western Railway, The Main Line, Henry, James, Steam Team,

## Technical Details

### Builder(s)

GNR Doncaster Works (originally), LMS Crewe Works (rebuild)

### Railway

Great Northern Railway (formerly), North Western Railway

### Owner(s)

Sir Topham Hatt

**Gordon** is a big blue express engine. He is Flying Scotsman's only remaining brother and Mallard, Green Arrow, Spencer and The Flying Thistle's cousin. When Gordon was streamlined to compete in the Great Railway Show, he ran under the name **The Shooting Star**.

## Bio

Gordon was there when Alex came to Sodor.

Later Gordon raced the green car that came to Sodor.

When Gordon and James heard about the St Patrick's Day Party he thought that it was silly that the green engines have a holiday to celeabrate the green engines.

## Personality

Gordon is the fastest and most powerful engine on Sodor. He is extremely proud of this and is inclined to boast. He is goodhearted, always willing to forgive and uses his superior strength to help smaller engines out of trouble.

Gordon's important position as the engine who pulls the Express has made him proud, pompous and self-important, with good reason too; he is the fastest engine on Sodor. His philosophy "tender engines don't shunt" meant that he looked down on tank engines and tender engines who do shunt, but after being locked in the shed with Henry and James after going on strike and before the seventeenth season, he seemed to have abandoned this philosophy.

Because of his rank in the social order of the North Western Railway, Gordon expects to get the important passenger jobs and either sulks when he does not or gets jealous of engines who do. Sometimes, Gordon acts as a bully, particularly towards Edward, but following misadventures where Edward had to help him, Gordon had to acknowledge that despite being old, Edward is still a very useful engine. However, sometimes Gordon still doubts Edward is still reliable, such as the time he did not believe Edward could win a race against Spencer because he's only "a back engine" and "a waste of steam." He would soon stop belittling Edward after being tricked by Thomas; he learned his lesson and apologised to Edward saying that he promised not call him old or unreliable anymore.

Sometimes, Gordon shows a kinder side and gives the younger engines advice, usually after he has had some mishap as a result of his foolhardiness. Some of his advice is not exactly helpful, though, as James and Sir Handel have discovered.

## Technical Details

### Basis

According to The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, Gordon is the experimental prototype for Sir Nigel Gresley's A1 Pacific design for the Great Northern Railway. Gordon was built at Doncaster Works in Yorkshire. Once the first batch of A1 Pacifics appeared in 1922 Gordon would have more than likely have been reclassified A1/1 - the '/1' indicating he is slightly different to the rest of the class.

Gordon, being an experimental engine, never received a number and was never put into regular traffic, he was only ever used on test runs. Owing to various problems Gordon was rebuilt in 1939 at Crewe. Sir Topham Hatt and Sir William Stanier worked together to rectify these problems - everything under the running board is of Stanier's design while the running board itself is that of Sir Topham Hatt's. In both the Railway Series and television series, Gordon is depicted with a Fowler tender

As "The Shooting Star", Gordon's appearance is based on a streamlined Pennsylvania Railroad K4 (Hank's class), specifically #3768.

### Livery

Gordon is painted in the North Western Railway's sky blue livery with red and yellow lining. The number "4" is painted on his tender sides in yellow. Before arriving on Sodor, he was painted in the Great Northern Railway's Apple Green livery with white and black lining.

## Appearances

### Tomy/Trackmaster T&F

* Season 1 - Edward,James and Alex, The Green Car, The St. Patrick's Day Party, The Red,White, and Blue, Stanley's Tour, Alex Pulls The Express, Molly To The Rescue, Stanley,Arthur and the Fish (*mentioned*)