Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends: The CGI Series Wiki
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"You're all jealous. Edward's better than all of you"
"You're right, Duck. Edward's old but he'll surprise us all!
"
Duck and BoCo defending Edward, Edward's Exploit, second season


EdwardCGIpromo
Edward
  • Number: 2
  • Designer: Pettigrew
  • Builder: Sharp, Stewart and Co.
  • Configuration: 4-4-0
  • Arrived on Sodor: circa 1920

Edward is a mixed-traffic engine.

Bio

Edward was built by Sharp Stewart and Company in Manchester, England in 1896 and worked on the Furness Railway before coming to Sodor in 1915 to finish the building of the North Western Railway.

After his work was completed, Edward was kept in a shed, to the delight of the other engines, who claimed that he was too weak to work. Edward was eventually let out again and proved that what he lacked in strength he made up for in work ethic.

Edward currently runs the Wellsworth-Brendam branch line with BoCo and occasionally Donald and Douglas. He is sometimes used as a pilot engine for special trains.

Edward has always been a kind and wise engine, though in some scenarios he has acted a bit out of character. For example, in the sixth season episode, Harvey to the Rescue, his attitude towards Harvey was out of character. In the ninth season episode, Thomas And The New Engine, his attitude towards the new engine, Neville, was out of character, as well. In the tenth season episode, Edward Strikes Out, he was incredibly out of character all throughout the episode. In the eleventh season episode, Edward And The Mail, he didn't want to embarass himself in front of the other engines, so he tried to take the mail train without asking Percy, who was in need of repiars for advice, in result of him delivering the mail to all the wrong places. In the twelfth season episode, Steady Eddie, he ws given a task of taking the new water wheel to Great Waterton, but ignored The Fat Controller's advice to take the express track, and took all the bumpy tracks, and almost had the water wheel scrapped. In the thirteenth season, he laughed at Thomas's new "funny" replacement funnel, and wanted to help Thomas chase after The Fat Controller's grandchildrens' kite. Since then, he has regained his usual self.

Persona

Edward is kindhearted and always 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.

Sadly, the big engines often see Edward as old-fashioned and slow. While it is true he is the oldest engine on the North Western Railway - it must be noted he helped build it - he has proved time and time again that he is more than capable of working as hard as any engine, but he is a more clever and wiser engine, too.

Since the sixth season, Edward's persona differs slightly. Despite his reputation of being kind and friendly, Edward has sometimes seemed to act cheeky. Edward has also acted with a lack of confidence in himself in that he keeps secrets from the other engines and the Fat Controller, when he was once leaking steam and likewise when he was told to pull the post train whilst Percy was being repaired. Sometimes, Edward has seemed to share the same personality as James, such as when he decided to show off his special waterwheel and laughed at Thomas when he was wearing a funny funnel.

Basis

The Reverend W. Awdry stated that Edward is based on a heavily modified Sharp, Stewart and Co. "Larger Seagull", supplied to the Furness Railway in 1896.

Sodor "historian" Martin Clutterbuck notes that Edward bears a close resemblance to a LNER D3/4 "Glen" (NBR Reid Class K) 4-4-0 from the London and North Eastern Railway. At any rate, the Reverend W. Awdry used an engine of this class to represent Edward on his model railway.

Visible Crovan's Gate modifications are: making the rear splasher flush with the cab, new cab windows as opposed to cutaways, and new cab lookouts as opposed to the original round ones.

Livery

Edward is painted NWR blue with the NWR red and yellow lining and the number "2" painted on his tender sides in bright yellow with a red border. 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 the Furness Railway's red livery with the letters "FR" written in yellow on his tender sides and black wheels.

Inspiration

The inspiration for Edward himself came from the Reverend W. Awdry's watching trains on the Great Western Railway as a child. He said in an interview with Brian Sibley for The Thomas the Tank Engine Man that, to him, the noise of the locomotives' exhaust almost sounded like dialogue - for example, the larger engine having trouble climbing the hills would appear to be saying, "I can't do it, I can't do it" and the smaller engine helping them would sound like it was saying, "I will do it! I will do it! I will do it!" Later, Reverend Awdry told his son a bedtime story about an engine who was sad because he was never taken out of the shed for being old. Upon being asked what the engine's name was by his son, the Reverend Awdry picked the name Edward out of thin air.

Appearances

  • Season 12 - Thomas and the Billboard (cameo), Steady Eddie, Henry Gets It Wrong, Heave Ho Thomas! (cameo), Toby's Special Surprise (cameo), James Works It Out, Tram Trouble (cameo), and Percy and the Bandstand (does not speak)
  • Season 13 - The Lion of Sodor, Tickled Pink (cameo), Double Trouble, Slippy Sodor, Play Time, Time For a Story (cameo), Percy's Parcel, Toby's New Whistle (cameo), A Blooming Mess, Thomas and the Runaway Kite, Steamy Sodor (cameo), The Biggest Present of All, Snow Tracks (cameo), and Hiro Helps Out
  • Season 14 - Thomas' Tall Friend, James in the Dark, Charlie and Eddie, Toby and the Whistling Woods (cameo), Diesel's Special Delivery (cameo), Pop Goes Thomas (cameo), Victor Says Yes, Being Percy (cameo), Thomas' Crazy Day (cameo), Jumping Jobi Wood!, Thomas and Scruff (cameo), O the Indignity (cameo), and Henry's Magic Box (does not speak)
  • Season 15 - Percy's New Friends (cameo), Edward the Hero, Up, Up and Away! (cameo), Let it Snow (cameo), Surprise, Surprise, Spencer the Grand (cameo), Stuck on You (cameo), Kevin the Steamie (cameo), Wonky Whistle (cameo), Percy the Snowman (cameo), and Fiery Flynn
  • Season 16 - Express Coming Through (cameo), Percy and the Monster of Brendam, Ho Ho Snowman, Flash Bang Wallop!, Bust My Buffers! (cameo), Thomas and the Sounds of Sodor (does not speak), Salty's Surprise, Sodor Surprise Day (cameo), Emily's Winter Party Special (cameo), Muddy Matters (cameo), Whiff's Wish, and Happy Birthday Sir!
  • Season 17 - Kevin's Cranky Friend (cameo), Scruff's Makeover (cameo), Calm Down Caitlin (cameo), Steamie Stafford (cameo), The Phantom Express (cameo), No Snow for Thomas, Santa's Little Engine (cameo), The Missing Christmas Decorations, The Frozen Turntable, No More Mr. Nice Engine, Away From the Sea (cameo), Thomas' Shortcut, The Smelly Kipper (cameo), and Gone Fishing (mentioned)
  • Season 18 - Flatbeds of Fear (cameo) and Toad's Adventure (cameo)

Specials:

Voice Actors

  • Keith Wickham (UK; Hero of the Rails onwards)
  • William Hope (US; Hero of the Rails onwards)
  • Yasuhiro Takato (Japan; first - eighth seasons)
  • Nozomu Sasaki (Japan; Calling All Engines! onwards)
  • Øyvind Borgemoen Lyse (Norway; Hero of the Rails onwards)
  • Herman López (Mexico; Hero of the Rails onwards)
  • Christos Topulos (Germany)
  • Wojciech Chorąży (Poland; Hero of the Rails onwards)

Theme Instrumental

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Trivia

  • Edward was the very first character created for the Railway Series, in 1943.
  • Edward is the only engine whose crew has been named in the Railway Series. In the foreword of "Edward the Blue Engine" their names were given as Charlie Sand (driver) and Sidney Hever (fireman). Their surnames came from their duties (one of the driver's jobs is to sand the rails when they are slippery to let the engine's wheels grip, while the fireman "heaves" coal to the firebox); their Christian names came from an engine crew from the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway.
  • Two of Edward's models are currently on display; one at Drayton Manor and one in Canada at Nitrogen Studios.
  • Edward was not seen in Thomas and the Magic Railroad as his model was not finished in time.
  • The rivets on Edward's front buffers disappeared after the ninth season.
  • In the episodes Steady Eddie and Charlie and Eddie, Edward refers to himself as "Eddie". Charlie also refers to him by this name.
  • In the second half of the seventeenth season, Edward gained a permanent lamp.

Merchandise

  • ERTL (normal and Gold Rail; discontinued)
  • Wooden Railway (several versions)
  • Take-Along (normal and metallic; discontinued)
  • My First Thomas (normal and talking)
  • Motor Road and Rail (normal and talking; discontinued outside Asia)
  • TrackMaster
  • Hornby
  • Bachmann
  • My Thomas Story Library (discontinued)
  • Bandai (several versions; discontinued)
  • Trading Cards
  • Tomica
  • Take-n-Play (normal and talking)
  • De Agostini
  • Brio (discontinued)
  • Pez
  • Mega Bloks
  • Diablock
  • Wind-up Trains (normal, shocked face, and clear)
  • Collectible Railway

Gallery

Merchandise Gallery

North Western Railway
ThomasEdwardHenryGordonJamesPercyTobyDuckDonald and DouglasOliver
HarveyEmilyMurdochNevilleRosieWhiffStanleyHankFloraVictorCharlieBash and DashFerdinandScruffBellePorterDerekDiesel 10'Arry and BertSaltyDennisDenDartSidneyPaxtonNormanFlynnWinstonStafford
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