Sir Handel

Sir Handel is a fictional locomotive from The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry and its adaptation TV series, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. Sir Handel lives and works on the Skarloey Railway on the Island of Sodor as Engine No.3. Sir Handel is named after the owner of the Skarloey Railway, Sir Handel Brown.

Sir Handel can be badly behaved at times and is very prone to temper tantrums when he doesn't get his own way. He has also been known on at least two occasions to pretend to be ill in order to avoid work, but this usually backfires on him. He is not popular with the trucks, and they often play tricks on him. Generally, he feels that he should only pull coaches.

Railway Series history
He was originally called Falcon and lived on the Mid Sodor Railway with Duke and Stuart. When the railway closed, he and Stuart were sold to the Sodor Aluminium Company, and then later to the Skarloey Railway, where he was renamed after the founding member of the Railway and given a red coat of paint.

He had problems with staying on the track, so he was fitted with a set of wheels with wider tyres, nicknamed "steamroller wheels" by the other engines. He was taken to pieces for a television programme when he pretended to be ill. Later, he was sent to the Talyllyn Railway in Wales when one of their engines needed repairs. Most recently, he caused trouble for the Thin Controller by deliberately damaging his firebox.

Sir Handel does not get on well with either trucks or coaches, though, later on in the stories, he gets along better with the bogie coaches that are easier for him to pull.

Sir Handel in the TV series
Sir Handel was introduced as 'Falcon' at the start of the fourth season of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, working on Duke's line. Even after he arrived to help Skarloey and Rheneas, he retained his blue coat. Otherwise, the continuity matched that of the books, and many of the Reverend's stories about him were adapted. As in the original books, he was depicted with an attitude, being rude to his colleagues and stubborn at times.

However, Sir Handel wasn't to return until 2006, in the show's tenth season. He was said to have worked in the Stone Quarry all summer, and was featured with a new model. The model was used the year before as Proteus for a scene in The Magic Lamp.

In current stories, Sir Handel has matured and aged considerably. In his first major role since Steam Roller, he had troubles going up hills, and tried hiding it from the line's manager. He also appears in Season 11.

He was played by Naoki Tatsuta in the Japanese version.

Merchandise
Sir Handel has been released in different model ranges, including:


 * Ertl Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends
 * Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway (slated for re-release in 2008)
 * Take-Along Thomas & Friends (released in 2007)
 * Trackmaster Thomas & Friends (released in 2007)

Prototype
Sir Handel is based on the locomotive Sir Haydn which works at the Talyllyn Railway in Wales. This locomotive was built by Henry Hughes & Co at the Falcon Works in Loughborough in 1878, one of three identical locomotives for the gauge Corris Railway in Merionethshire. Nos. 1 and 2 were scrapped in 1930 and No.3 worked until the Corris Railway closed in 1948, hauling the last train on 20th August that year. After three years covered by a tarpaulin at Machynlleth Station, No. 3 was purchased (and named) by the nearby Talyllyn Railway in 1951. The original cab was replaced in the 1960s, and this change can be seen in the TV version of "Sir Handel". "Sir Haydn" the real locomotive is named after Sir Henry Haydn Jones former owner of the Talyllyn Railway and the person upon whom the owner of the Skarloey railway is based.

In the 1980s, the Talyllyn Railway repainted Sir Haydn to represent Sir Handel. Christopher Awdry wrote this into the 1985 book Great Little Engines, explaining that Sir Handel was visiting the line to help out. An incident in which Sir Haydn ran into a tree branch and was given a bandage and eyepatch was turned into a story in the book, with almost no alteration from the real event.