Edward

up-down (original, Adventure Squad)

**Edward** is **Galaxy Rider 1** of Adventure Squad and a friend of Thomas's on Sodor. During the little blue engine's early days on Sodor, Edward served as his mentor.

## Biography

As a member of Adventure Squad, Thomas had recruited some Sodor engines as part of the machine division to keep the world safe from Demon X: a danger to all dimensions and galaxies formed by all the dark emotions from pretty much everywhere. Due to a clever attack strategy, Demon X wiped out more than HALF of the Leonold machine division, in cluding the parents of Thomas, Tim, and Danielle (the latter 2 being Thomas' siblings in the family's machine division). Because of his dead reletives realising the truth about Thomas, he was constantly told to make the guardion of nature mechs to match their desired specifications, the reason being that the previous users want their mechs to match their chosen successor (an example being when he was nagged by the previous user of galaxy rider 3 while preparing said mech for Emily). Edward was given Galaxy Rider 1.

## Personality

In the original series, Edward is very kindhearted, wise and keen to help a friend in need. The small engines trust him to lend a listening ear and sympathetic advice. He is a hard worker too and always does his best to finish a job. If ever an engine misbehaves or acts out, it is Edward that the Fat Controller turns to in order to soothe things out.

Unfortunately, the big engines, especially Gordon, often see Edward as old-fashioned and slow. While it is true he is the oldest engine on the North Western Railway (which he helped build), he has proved time and time again that he is more than capable of working as hard as any engine. He and BoCo were the only engines who looked after Bill and Ben and knew how to put them in their place should they misbehave. Like any other wise old engine, he stands for no nonsense from anyone, especially from the bigger engines.

From the sixth series to the fourteenth series, however, Edward expressed insecurity in himself, such as keeping secrets from the other engines and Sir Topham Hatt, when he was once leaking steam and likewise when he was told to pull the post train whilst Percy was being repaired. He also had an occasional reputation of being rude and cheeky, such as disbelieving Rocky when he thought he did not need help with his goods train, and being unwelcome to Harvey when he was new to the railway.

Since the seventeenth series, Edward has been portrayed with his original personality, such as when he gave Thomas advice to ignore Max and Monty and accepted James' request to bring the Mayor of Sodor to Callan Castle. In the twenty-second series, his method of keeping Bill and Ben in order also came back, as shown when he made the twins give back a truck they hid from Nia after they made up a game called "Hunt the Truck", and he also knew what they were up to, so he took the truck that was for Sir Robert Norramby's Christmas party after they tried to hide it from him and pretended to lose it as a way to show them what it was like to have trucks hidden, showing him to be unpredictably sneaky and a good actor.

In Adventure Squad, Edward's behavior was modified with more nerd-like eccentricalities while retaining his wise and helpful side, though he was more willing to keep quiet in times of embarrassment. He still owns up to it though, and he has gained deep interest in Scottish culture, even picking up the accent.

## Appearance

### Engine

The Reverend W. Awdry stated that Edward is based on a heavily modified Sharp, Stewart and Co. "Larger Seagull" K2 Class, supplied to the Furness Railway in 1896. Sodor "historian" Martin Clutterbuck notes that Edward bears a close resemblance to an LNER D34 "Glen" (NBR Reid Class K) 4-4-0 and an LNER D20 from the London and North Eastern Railway. The Reverend W. Awdry also used an LMS Class 2P to represent Edward on his model railway. Visible Crovan's Gate Works modifications are: making the rear splashers flush with the cab, removal of the coupling rod splashers, new cab windows as opposed to cutaways in his cab side sheets and square cab lookouts as opposed to the original round ones. In both the Railway Series and television series, Edward is depicted with a Fowler tender. The orange and tan tender engines are also based on this design.

Edward is painted in NWR sky blue 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.

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

It can be assumed that, before arriving on Sodor, Edward was painted in FR Indian red with black lining, the initials "FR" painted on the sides of his tender and black wheels.

Edward wears a communicator in Universal Rides. It has white rods and black speaker bits, and the base and the antennae tip is blue.

Adventure Squad has Edward's safety valve, whistle and window lining in white, while the rest of his lining is a lighter shade of blue. In place of the number 2 on his tender, Edward's AS livery designates him number 1.

Edward shares Thomas's fire generation.

### Mech

Galaxy Rider 1 is a giant blue SSTO rocket with a dozen laser cannons, 3 on each thruster. In warrior mode 2 end up on each wrist, knee and shoulder, the wrist-mounted ones able switch out for fire-generated hands, which can be harmless at will.

Galaxy Rider 1Galaxy Rider 1 (warrior mode)
## Behind the scenes

Edward was voiced by Keith Wickham in the UK, but William Hope takes the role in the US.

Wickham's recordings were reused in the fan series, but surprisingly, they were of Shellington from the *Octonauts*, another show featuring Wickham.

## Notes

* Edward is one the few characters to use clips of his original series actor from a different show.
* Edward's TrackMaster model was upgraded with painted bufferbeams and a modified chassis. His working front wheels were shifted to the center and his siderods were adjusted. The tender wheels of a TrackMaster Push Along Gordon were added as pilot wheels, the original dummy wheels removed. The model was later modified for easier compatibility and running.