Stephen

"Careful! I'm an antique, you know!"

- Stephen, The Afternoon Tea Express, seventeenth season

  CGI Series=   Stephen    Stephen, nicknamed "The Rocket", is an early steam engine who works at Ulfstead Castle, where he takes visitors around the castle grounds and across the rest of Sodor.
 * Designer: Robert Stephenson
 * Builder: Robert Stephenson and Company
 * Built: 1829
 * Configuration: 0-2-2
 * Top Speed: 30 mph

Bio
Stephen was built in 1829 by Robert Stephenson and competed in a series of races called the Rainhill Trials against four other engines, which he ended up winning at. He used to work in mines and at harbours, but as newer and faster engines were being built, Stephen was abandoned until he was uncovered by Sir Robert Norramby and brought back to Sodor, where he was overhauled at the Sodor Steamworks.

Norramby had Stephen restored so that he could take tourists around the castle grounds; however, Stephen was not aware of this and after being told by Thomas that the Earl had a surprise job for him, became too excited to wait and travelled around Sodor, looking for jobs that he could do. However, Stephen proved to be too weak and slow for most of the jobs and after visiting an abandoned mine, became trapped after having to avoid a runaway train from running into him. While he was in the mine, Stephen managed to uncover King Godred's long lost crown and after being rescued, he was given a new funnel and was present at the grand opening of Ulfstead Castle.

When James was trying to scare Percy, Stephen accidentally fell into the moat at the castle when he became scared by one of James' tricks. He and Percy both had the last laugh after they successfully frightened James. Later, when Percy was having a day of bad luck, Stephen gave him his lucky horseshoe to help him feel better, but Percy lost the horseshoe before he could leave the castle. He was later chosen to collect the ingredients for the Earl's afternoon tea, but Spencer was teasing Stephen for being too slow, so Stephen tried to prove Spencer that he can be fast, but due to this, Stephen spilled the barrels of jam when he came into the castle too fast. Fortunately, Stephen managed to amend his mistake by having the afternoon tea on a train around Sodor, which proved to be popular.

When the Earl was expecting a shipment from the Mainland, both Stephen and Millie waited for the shipment to arrive, when they saw Marion running away from the dinosaur models that Samson was delivering, which turned out to be the Earl's important shipment.

Once, as he was taking tourists across the island, Stephen noticed that the Sodor Suspension Bridge was falling apart. He got his passengers to safety, then managed to stop Gordon and the express from crossing the bridge, seconds before the bridge collapsed.

After the party that was held at Ulfstead Castle after Glynn's restoration, Stephen became jealous of Glynn because he believed the Earl had a new favorite engine. He later challenged the coffee pot to a race to Knapford Station. The race ended in a tie and Sir Topham Hatt was upset with the delays the two had caused on the main line due to their slow race. However, the Earl had agreed to the race with Sir Topham as promotion for the new railway museum he was opening. Both engines then became friends and would be star attractions at the museum. Stephen also helped Connor gain confidence in racing and be bang-on time by giving him a pep talk after he refused to race him due to fear of breaking his coupling rods again.

When The Great Railway Show was being held on the Mainland, Stephen was taken to the show along with the other Sudrian engines who would be competing. He took a Brass Band and other visitors around the Bridlington Goods Yard as the show was taking place and led the Best Decorated Engine Parade.

Persona
Stephen is a jolly old engine with a positive attitude and a good sense of humour. He is a good-hearted and quick-witted engine and will not take any nonsense from engines like Spencer or Diesel. Some of the smaller engines look up to him for advice and he is always willing to get the job done.

Basis
Stephen is based on Stephenson's Rocket. Though his design is based on a combination of the Rocket as originally built (such as angled cylinders) and its post-Rainhill modifications (such as a smokebox), Stephen has identified himself as the original Rocket, describing the Rainhill trials and his subsequent working years.

The real Rocket is preserved at the Science Museum in London. Several replicas also exist.

Livery
Stephen is painted golden yellow and black. He carries gold nameplates reading "Rocket" on each side of his boiler and his domes, whistle, exhaust pipes and boiler bands are painted bronze. During his early years and after his overhaul, Stephen had a plain black funnel, but after he was rescued from the mine, his funnel was painted white with a gold finial.

Prior to being overhauled, Stephen had unpainted woodwork with black wheels. Due to being abandoned for so long, he was covered in patches of rust, and his wood was rotting.

Appearances
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Television Series

 * Season 17 - The Lost Puff, The Phantom Express, Percy's Lucky Day, Too Many Fire Engines, Santa's Little Engine and The Afternoon Tea Express
 * Season 18 - Marion and the Dinosaurs, Samson at Your Service (cameo) and Millie and the Volcano (cameo)
 * Season 19 - Slow Stephen
 * Season 20 - Pouty James (cameo), Cautious Connor, Engine of the Future, The Christmas Coffeepot and Over the Hill
 * Other - Thomas & Friends in 4-D: Bubbling Boilers (cameo)

Specials:
 * King of the Railway
 * The Great Race
 * Journey Beyond Sodor (cameo)

Magazine Stories

 * 2013 - The Lost Puff and Too Many Fire Engines! (speaks in speech bubble only)
 * 2014 - The Afternoon Tea Express and Percy's Lucky Day
 * 2015 - Marion and the Dinosaurs (speaks in speech bubble only)
 * 2016 - Percy's Lucky Day and James' Ghost Train!

Videos
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 * A New Friend on Sodor (cameo)
 * A Friendly Farewell (cameo)

Voice Actors

 * Bob Golding (UK/US)
 * Rainer Schmitt (Germany; King of the Railway only)
 * Knud Riepen (Germany; seventeenth season onwards)
 * Atsuhiko Nakata (Japan; King of the Railway theatrical version only)
 * Nobuaki Kanemitsu (Japan; King of the Railway Netflix version onwards)
 * Stig Krogstad (Norway; King of the Railway only)
 * Øyvind Borgemoen Lyse (Norway; seventeenth season only)
 * Piotr Warszawski (Poland)
 * Gadi Levy (Israel)
 * Eduardo Fonseca (Latin America; King of the Railway onwards)
 * Paul Disbergen (The Netherlands)
 * Juan Navarro Torelló (Spain)
 * Denis Bespalyy (Russia; King of the Railway onwards)
 * Arto Nieminen (Finland; King of the Railway onwards)

Trivia

 * In the seventeenth season episode, Percy's Lucky Day, it is revealed that Stephen has a lucky horseshoe resting on his exhaust pipe.
 * In both his Take-n-Play and pre-2018 Wooden Railway merchandise toys, his tender is unremovable.
 * Most merchandise lines show Stephen carrying the Ulfstead Castle crest on his tender, but he does not carry this crest on his tender in the show. Not just that, some merchandise lines also depict him with his old black funnel.
 * In the Polish narration, Stephen's name is Sławek, which is also Skarloey's name in the same narration.
 * Stephen's name is likely derived from the last name of his builder, Robert Stephenson.
 * According to Sam Wilkinson, he originally had a different name.
 * Originally, after his restoration, Stephen would have gained a cab. In fact, some merchandise prototypes depicted him with a cab.
 * Stephen has gone through a few changes since his introduction:
 * When he was restored, he gained a lamp and front coupling.
 * In the nineteenth season, he gained a tail lamp.
 * Stephen's funnel is placed on top of his smokebox instead of being in front of it, in order to accommodate a face.
 * His drive wheels have more spokes than that of the real Rocket's, whose drive wheels only have 12 spokes each.

Quotes

 * "Did you ever see knights in shining armour?"
 * "No! I may be old, but I'm not that old! And before you ask, I never saw dinosaurs either!"

- Percy and Stephen discussing the latter's age, "King of the Railway".


 * "The visitors will wait a long time for their afternoon tea if Stephen is doing the job."
 * "I'll have you know they use to call me the Rocket, because I was so speedy!"
 * "Pah! Compared to a horse and cart maybe!"

- Spencer insulting Stephen, "The Afternoon Tea Express", seventeenth season.


 * "Looks like someone is back to her old self."
 * "Yes, Marion certainly isn't scared of dinosaurs anymore. In fact you could say she really "Digs" them!"

- Millie and Stephen talking about Marion, "Marion and the Dinosaurs", eighteenth season.

Merchandise

 * Wooden Railway (normal, rusted, royal bunting and mine dust covered versions)
 * Motor Road and Rail
 * TrackMaster
 * Motorized Railway
 * Take-n-Play (normal, rusted, dust covered and talking versions)
 * Wind-up
 * Minis
 * Classic Minis
 * Dino Minis
 * DC Super Friends Minis (as Sinestro)
 * Mega Bloks
 * Adventures
 * Wood