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{{About|the character|the Railway Series book|List of Railway Series books#Edward the Blue Engine{{!}}List of Railway Series books §Edward the Blue Engine}}
#REDIRECT [[List of characters in The Railway Series#Edward (NWR 2)]]
{{pp-pc1}}
{{short description|Locomotive from The Railway Series books and Thomas the Tank Engine TV series.}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2008}}


{{Rcat shell|
{{Infobox character
{{R to section}}
| color = skyblue
| name = Edward the Blue Engine
| series = [[Thomas & Friends]]
| image = File:Thomas and Friends Edward.png
| caption = Edward's Model
| first = {{Plainlist|
*[[List of Railway Series books#The Three Railway Engines|The Three Railway Engines]] (1945)
}}
}}
| creator = [[Wilbert Awdry|Rev. W. Awdry]]
| designer = [[W. F. Pettigrew]]
| voice = {{Plainlist|
*[[Keith Wickham]] (UK)
*[[William Hope (actor)|William Hope]] (US)
}}
| lbl1 = Number
| data1 = 2
| lbl2 = Colour
| data2 = Blue
| gender = Male
}}

'''Edward the Blue Engine''' is an [[anthropomorphic]] [[steam locomotive]] from ''[[The Railway Series]]'' children's books by the [[Wilbert Awdry|Rev W. Awdry]], and the related TV Series ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends]]''. He is a blue [[4-4-0]] [[tender locomotive|tender engine]] with red lining out, about the same size as [[James the Red Engine]], and has the number 2 on his tender. Like James and Henry, he is a mixed traffic engine, meaning that he is designed to pull both freight and passenger services. He is one of the principal characters in both the books and the television series.

Edward is a kind, easygoing engine, who is always keen to help a friend in need. The younger engines can always rely on him to lend a listening ear and sympathetic advice. He works hard and will always do his utmost to get a job done.

However, the big engines tend to see him as old-fashioned and slow. But the smaller engines such as [[Thomas the Tank Engine|Thomas]], [[Percy the Small Engine|Percy]], [[Toby the Tram Engine|Toby]], and [[Duck the Great Western Engine|Duck]] respect him greatly and will stick up for him at all times. It is true that he is one of the older engines on [[The Fat Controller]]'s railway (indeed, he helped to build it), but he has proved time and time again that despite his age he is entirely capable of working as hard as any engine. Several of the stories revolving around him, both in the books and television series, have involved Edward proving his worth to the others. Two of the most notable were [[List of Railway Series Books#Edward the Blue Engine|'Old Iron']], in which he earned himself an overhaul by capturing a runaway James, and [[List of Railway Series Books#Main Line Engines|'Edward's Exploit']], in which he brought home a special train despite a breakdown, caused by one of his coupling rods breaking.

Edward has a [[branch line]] which he runs with [[Major characters in The Railway Series#BoCo|BoCo]], a diesel engine. Edward is equally happy with coaches or trucks, but he has also been known to help other engines with heavy loads, pull special trains and even act as a pilot engine for the Royal Train.

Edward was first featured in ''[[List of Railway Series Books#The Three Railway Engines|The Three Railway Engines]]'', Awdry's first book, in 1945. Edward featured in his own book, ''[[List of Railway Series Books#Edward the Blue Engine|Edward the Blue Engine]]'' in 1954.

Edward is the only engine whose driver and fireman are named in The Railway Series (Henry's fireman was named in the annuals, being 'Ted'). In the foreword to 'Edward the Blue Engine', their names are given as Charlie Sand and Sidney Hever, and in the story 'Saved from Scrap', their names are mentioned.

These names are [[pun]]s on their jobs. One of an engine driver's jobs is to [[sand]] the rails when they are slippery in order to allow the engine to grip. A fireman's job is to "heave" the coal from the tender or coal bunker to the engine's fire.

Their first names come from a real engine crew named Charlie and Sidney on the [[Wisbech and Upwell Tramway]] (see [[Toby the Tram Engine]]).

==Behind the scenes==
Edward was the first character created for [[The Railway Series]] in 1943. The inspiration for the character came from the [[Wilbert Vere Awdry|Rev. W. Awdry]] watching trains on the [[Great Western Railway]] as a child. He said in interviews with [[Brian Sibley]] that to him, the noise of the locomotives' exhaust almost sounded like dialogue. For instance, the larger engines having trouble climbing the hills would appear to be saying, "I can't do it, I can't do it," and the smaller engines helping them would sound like they were saying, "I will do it! I will do it! I will do it!" This was the direct inspiration for the second story in ''The Three Railway Engines'', 'Edward and Gordon'. The first story was 'Edward's Day Out', which was an introduction to the character.

The Rev. W. Awdry has said that Edward is based on a heavily modified [[Sharp Stewart and Company|Sharp, Stewart & Co.]] [[Furness Railway K2|"Larger Seagull"]] locomotive supplied to the [[Furness Railway]] in 1896, but this is a piece of [[retcon]] created for the book ''[[List of Railway Series Books#The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways|The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways]]''. Martin Clutterbuck notes that Edward bears a closer resemblance to certain Scottish locomotives of the [[North British Railway]], notably the [[LNER Class D34|D34]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Clutterbuck|first1=Martin|title=Edward|url=http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/edward.htm|website=pegnsean.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121220055611/http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/edward.htm|archive-date=20 December 2012|access-date=1 October 2005}}</ref> Edward's double cabside windows are though a distinctively [[North Eastern Railway (United Kingdom)|North Eastern]] feature, along with the shaped spectacle windows of the [[NER Class R1|D21]]. It is likely that Awdry chose the Furness Railway locomotive because the Furness Railway was the closest mainland railway to [[Sodor (fictional island)|Sodor]].

The Furness origin for Edward is once again brought up in book 41 ''[[List of Railway Series Books#Thomas and Victoria|Thomas and Victoria]]'', as Edward and Victoria are both from that area. Awdry used a model of a [[LMS Class 2P 4-4-0]] to represent Edward on his model railway.

==Edward on television==
Edward is the one of the eight engines in the Steam Team, and is one of just twelve characters to appear in every series.

In recent episodes of the TV series, Edward has been portrayed as a [[bank engine]], to help engines up Gordon's Hill – a reminiscent nod to the [[Thomas and Friends (series 1)|Season 1]] story "Edward and Gordon".

In [[Thomas and Friends (series 10)|Season 10]], Edward appears almost as cheeky and inexperienced as Thomas was in the first season, putting him completely out of character. This is especially evident in the episode "Edward Strikes Out", where he went as far as to call the new arrival [[Rolling stock (Thomas & Friends)#Rocky|Rocky]] "new-fangled nonsense", which caused some controversy among some long-time fans. However, in the more recent series, Edward has reverted to his original persona.

Edward didn't appear in ''[[Thomas and the Magic Railroad]]''<ref>{{cite web
|author = Jim Gratton
|author2 = Ryan Healy
|last-author-amp = yes
|title = Behind the Scenes of Magic Railroad
|publisher = Sodor Island Forums – Magic Railroad Mini-site
|url = http://www.sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/mrbts.html
|accessdate = 22 February 2010
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090417080740/http://www.sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/mrbts.html
|archivedate = 17 April 2009
}}</ref> as there was not enough screen time and opportunity to utilise him in a way that added any real value to the film. However, he did appear in the specials ''[[Calling All Engines]]'', ''[[The Great Discovery]]'', ''[[Hero of the Rails]]'', ''[[Misty Island Rescue]]'', ''[[Day of the Diesels]]'', ''[[Blue Mountain Mystery]]'', ''[[King of the Railway]]'', ''[[Tale of the Brave]]'', ''[[Thomas & Friends: The Adventure Begins|The Adventure Begins]]'', ''[[Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure]]'', ''[[Thomas & Friends: The Great Race|The Great Race]]'', ''[[Thomas & Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor|Journey Beyond Sodor]]'', and ''[[Thomas & Friends: Big Worlds! Big Adventures!|Big World! Big Adventures!]]''.
Edward is now voiced by [[William Hope (actor)|William Hope]] in the US, (who also voices Toby)
and [[Keith Wickham]] in the UK, (who also voices Henry, Gordon, Harvey, Salty, Stafford, Bertie, Harold, The Fat Controller and other characters).

Edward was removed from the Steam Team in the twenty-second season as part of a gender rebalancing, in favor for Nia to join; he now appears as a [[supporting character]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}}

===Voice Actors===
* [[Keith Wickham]] (''UK; [[Hero of the Rails]] onwards'')
* [[William Hope (actor)|William Hope]] (''US; Hero of the Rails onwards'')
* [[Yasuhiro Takato]] (''Japan; Season 1 – 8'')
* [[Nozomu Sasaki]] (''Japan; [[Calling All Engines!]] onwards'')

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Thomas}}
{{Portal|Trains|United Kingdom}}


{{R from fictional character|The Railway Series}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edward The Blue Engine}}
[[Category:Fictional locomotives]]
[[Category:The Railway Series characters]]
[[Category:Thomas & Friends characters]]
[[Category:4-4-0 locomotives]]
[[Category:Sharp Stewart locomotives]]
[[Category:Literary characters introduced in 1945]]
but also in carefriands 2013 reboot

Latest revision as of 21:27, 21 May 2024

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