Henry the Green Engine

Henry the Green Engine (Photo) is a fictional living and talking steam engine from the children's television series, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, and The Railway Series books written by the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry.

Henry lives on the fictitious Island of Sodor with many other locomotives, including Thomas the Tank Engine, Gordon the Big Engine and Percy the Small Engine. He is engine number 3 on the railway.

Henry's first adventure was in The Sad Story of Henry, which was story three of The Railway Series book Three Railway Engines. In this story he refused to come out of a tunnel due to fears that the rain would spoil his paint. As punishment by the Fat Controller he was bricked up in the tunnel until he had to help Gordon the Big Engine after a burst safety valve.

Henry is a fast, 4-6-0 tender locomotive, similar to an London, Midland and Scottish Railway 5MT "Black Five" steam engine. He used to look very different, and was often ill. Despite the Fat Controller's best efforts, Henry had great difficulty making steam. The Fat Controller gave him special Welsh coal, which helped. But worse was to come- Henry had an accident while pulling the fast fish train known as the Flying Kipper. The Fat Controller sent Henry to the works at Crewe, where they rebuilt him into his present shape. This cured his illness completely.

Like many Thomas stories, this reflects reality. William Stanier had several problems with low superheat boilers on his first engines. Stanier had come to the LMS from the Great Western Railway which employed low superheat boilers and high quality Welsh coal, and this was found to generate insufficient steam when Midland and Northern coal was used. The problem was later rectified by fitting of larger superheat elements.

Henry now works on the main line. He can pull coaches and trucks equally easily, and sometimes even pulls the Express when Gordon is not available. He likes to tell people about the famous time when he managed to pull two failed diesels and their trains when he himself had a failed regulator, but the other engines are always there to bring him down to earth if he gets too big for his wheels.

Henry is voiced by Kevin Frank in the Thomas and the Magic Railroad movie, but not in the series. [1]