Edward the Blue Engine

Edward is a blue mixed-traffic engine

Charlie Sand and Sidney Hever
Edward is the only engine whose driver and fireman are named in The Railway Series (Henry's driver 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', Charlie's name is mentioned.

These names are puns 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 that appeared in the The Railway Series in 1950. The inspiration for the character came from the 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.

Unlike later characters in the Railway Series, Edward is not directly based upon any particular class of locomotive, but is a generic 4-4-0. The Rev. W. Awdry has claimed that Edward is based on a heavily modified Sharp, Stewart & Co. "Larger Seagull" locomotive supplied to the Furness Railway in 1915, but this is a piece of retcon created for the book 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 D20. It is likely that Awdry chose the Furness Railway locomotive because the Furness Railway was the closest mainland railway to Sodor.

The Furness origin for Edward is once again brought up in book 41 Thomas and Victoria, as Edward and Victoria are both from that area.

Edward in the television series
Edward is one of the eight engines in The Steam Team.

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 Season 1 Story Edward and Gordon.

In Season 10, Edward appears almost as cheeky and inexperienced as Thomas was in the first season. This is especially evident in the episode Edward Strikes Out, where he went as far as to call a new arrival "new-fangled nonsense". After this little mishap he became his old self again.

Edward was strangly absent in Thomas's feature film Thomas and the Magic Railroad. However, he did appear in the straight-to-dvd episode, Calling All Engines.

In Railroad Station Series, Edward was voiced by Long John Baldry, and almost as cheeky and inexperienced as Thomas was in the first season.

In the Japanese version, Edward is voiced by Yasuhiro Takato.

Merchandise trivia

 * Because there's a space in the Learning Curve Wooden Model, Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway depicts Edward as an 0-4-0 with a tender, instead of 4-4-0 with a tender in the TV and Railway Series. Also, Edward is seen as 2-6-0 in one of the earlier annual illustrations.
 * Hornby's model of Edward is based on their earlier London and North Eastern Railway "Shire" class 4-4-0, with coupling rods removed, and a taller chimney added.

Trivia

 * He has been seen with all characters (except Billy, Madge, Rusty, Ivo Hugh, Freddie, Mighty Mac, Bertram, Smudger, Daisy, The Pack and Molly who haven't been seen with him so far)

Counterparts

 * Hercules (TUGS)
 * Uncle Chuck (Sonic the Hedgehog)
 * The Magic (Rayman 1)
 * Mr. Nicholas (Shining Time Station)
 * Luigi Mario (Super Mario Bros.)
 * Peter Perfect (Wacky Races)
 * Edward R. Furrow (Garfield & Friends)
 * Ned Flanders (The Simpsons)
 * Brian Griffin (Family Guy)
 * Brainy Brian (Horrid Henry)
 * Mack the Turtle (Dr. Seuss)
 * Wilt (Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends)
 * David Read (Arthur)
 * Trevor (Codename: Kids Next Door)
 * Mr. Sparks (Noddy's Toyland Adventures)
 * Riff (Barney and Friends)