Emily

Emily is a Stirling Single tender engine. She works mostly on the Main Line and once ran the Misty Valley Branch Line. She also has her own set of coaches. Emily acts as a sisterly figure to the other engines, and though she can be fussy and impulsive at times, she has a big heart.

Biography

Thomas & Friends

When Emily was new to Sodor, she was ignored by the other engines for borrowing and pulling Annie and Clarabel without Thomas' permission or knowledge. The matter was resolved after she saved both Thomas and Oliver from nearly having a nasty accident on the cross-points and she was rewarded with two new coaches. Emily proved to be kind-hearted, as she was the only engine concerned about Henry when he was ill due to leaky tubes and when she stuck up for Salty when Thomas and Percy were teasing him.

However, Emily has proven to be a nuisance on occasion as she bossed everyone about when they were clearing up after a storm; Thomas when taking passengers and Percy when shunting trucks. When pulling the express for the first time, she was determined to keep to Gordon's timing, only to run out of water.

Later on she was assigned to the Flour Mill, while James was assigned to the Misty Valley Branch Line, primarily the Black Loch. James told her that there was a monster in the Loch. She had trouble with the Flour Mill and ended up crashing some trucks off the line. She was later reassigned to the Misty Valley Branch Line replacing James. She discovered that the monster was just a family of seals. She is presumed to still work the line as it has never been stated otherwise.

When Thomas had to stay at Knapford Sheds, Emily did not like his company at first as she did not want any noise; she just wanted some sleep. However, she learned how comfortable it is to have the company of friends and once Tidmouth Sheds was rebuilt, she was transferred there to be with her new shed mates.

Like most engines, Emily can get quite puffed up in the smokebox. When she was called "Excellent Emily," she ignored the advice of Murdoch, Thomas and Duck, only to get herself into trouble. Afterwards, she took their advice to get her job done.

Emily tries her best to make her friends happy. When she assumed that Mavis was sad, she took flowers to the quarry, but only created a mess. When she tried to help her friends with the football/soccer match, she neglected to fetch the dirty washing, which turned out to be the football/soccer team's uniforms. Also, when the Fat Controller lost his top hat, Emily went to find it without success and then took the special Christmas train without permission. However, she made amends for her friends' sake.

She later took Paxton to the Vicarstown Dieselworks after he was damaged during an accident at the Blue Mountain Quarry.

When Thomas hid his snowplough, Emily had to do Thomas' work and saved him when he got stuck in the snow again.

Thomas told Emily about the Flatbeds of Fear, but Emily did not believe in it and said there was a sensible explanation. She eventually believed in it, until Thomas told her that it was just one of Salty's tall tales. Later, she was very excited to collect a special which was a giant model of a globe of the world to take it to the Animal Park. However, it accidently fell off and she spent some time getting after it.

When the Steam Team tried to clear the tracks of snow for Connor to deliver the last train for Christmas, Emily was unable to clear them from the Sodor side, but was happy to see Hiro as he cleared it from the other direction, then was disappointed when they mistook Harold for Father Christmas by believing his red port lamp to be Rudolph's nose.

She was later informed by Paxton about the rumour that Toby was to be scrapped, but Henrietta overheard and knew it was not true. Emily took her to find Toby and once they found him safe, Emily gave him some of her coal.

When Henry confided in Emily that he feared catching chicken pox from Stephen and Bridget Hatt, she assured him that he could not get chicken pox, joking that he worries too much.

She became fascinated with Caitlin being able to go at such high speeds and wondered what it would be like to be fast, becoming depressed when she could not do so. However, in the end, she managed to save Caitlin when she descended down a steep hill with broken brakes.

When Thomas was fed up with Diesel's selfishness during the holidays, Emily partook in Thomas' plan to mend the diesel's ways, much to her joy and amusement. She later attended the Earl's Christmas lunch with several other engines, including Thomas and a reformed Diesel.

Emily went with the other Sodor engines to be part of the Great Railway Show, competing in the Best Decorated Engine Parade along with James, Carlos, Rajiv and Yong Bao, but she and James lost to Rajiv. After Percy dropped out of the Shunting Challenge, she encouraged Thomas to take his place, declaring him Sodor's last chance to win.

Once, when the Fat Controller was ill, Dowager Hatt took charge of the railway. She assigned Emily to Thomas' job of pulling Annie and Clarabel, while Gordon was assigned to her job of taking scrap to the scrapyards. This resulted in lots of confusion and delay, culminating with a massive hold up outside of Knapford. Emily pointed this out to the Dowager and was able to help her get things back on track before the Fat Controller returned.

Later, she helped Donald and Douglas pull a heavy train of steel pipes to Vicarstown, but the journey became difficult when the twins kept teasing each other and arguing about swapping places. When they stopped on Gordon's Hill, Emily was left holding the train while Donald and Douglas continued to bicker. Eventually, Emily slipped down the hill and was knocked off the rails by a giant, heavy snowball, which had formed from a lump of coal shaken out of Donald's tender when Douglas bumped him. Once Harvey had cleared up the mess, Emily took the front while both twins pushed and they reached Vicarstown without any further trouble.

Some time later, it was discovered that Thomas had mysteriously vanished off the Island of Sodor. As the Fat Controller began a desperate search for Thomas, Emily went down to Brendam Docks, where Carly revealed she loaded Thomas onto a ship only a short while ago. Emily rushed back to Knapford to tell the Fat Controller, who became more frantic when he realised that if Thomas had left Sodor by ship, he could have been anywhere in the world by that point. Emily joined the search in the hopes of Thomas still being on Sodor, but returned to Tidmouth Sheds that night to look on with deep worry as Thomas' berth remains empty, his whereabouts unknown. However, when Mr. Percival received word a few days later from a signalman on the Indian Railway that Thomas had been spotted there and was returning to Sodor via the Mainland through Asia and Europe, Emily was waiting at Knapford Station alongside the other engines, residents and friends to welcome him home, along with meeting Thomas' new friend Nia, who would be living with them on the North Western Railway as her shed in Kenya had been demolished and Thomas invited her to live and work on the North Western from now on.

Later on, Emily had been assigned to pick up the new boiler for the Sodor Animal Park from Brendam Docks when the old one broke down. However, when she noticed the ship had not come into port yet, she asked Carly where it was, only for Carly to reply that the snowstorm was causing the ships to be delayed reaching their destinations, and the boiler may not arrive until after Christmas. Thomas, overhearing this, rushed off to notify the Fat Controller of the situation. Emily returned to Tidmouth Sheds later that evening with the rest of the Steam Team, only to be amazed when Thomas arrived with the animals from the Animal Park, explaining that he was unable to reach the Steamworks as originally instructed by the Fat Controller, and brought the animals here where they could stay warm through the Steam Team's boilers. Although Gordon and James were against the idea, Emily, Nia, Rebecca and Percy were all for it. The next morning, which was Christmas, the Fat Controller arrived at the sheds, and was shocked when he found the animals inside with the Steam Team and their crews. However, he then revealed that the new boiler for the Animal Park had arrived, and the animals could return home soon. Emily and the other engines shared a laugh when one of the ostriches snatched the Fat Controller's top hat to wear itself, much to his annoyance.

When a heavy fog descended on the Island, Emily nearly had a head-on collision with Gordon as he pulled out of Knapford Railway Station with the Express, before actually hitting him and pushing him backwards when she was rammed from behind by Rebecca when her brakes failed again to stop her in time. As a result, the Fat Controller advised her and the rest of the Steam Team to be careful in the fog, having Cyril the Fogman place detonators on the rails to warn them that they were approaching signals and to slow down to avoid an accident. Emily later attended Sir Robert Norramby's fireworks show at Ulfstead Castle with Thomas and Rebecca, soon joined by Samson, who was able to conquer his fear of fireworks, and Bradford.

Personality

Emily was introduced as being kind, compassionate, and always sensitive to others' feelings. If she wrongs someone, knowingly or not, she is quick to apologise.

From the eighth to the sixteenth series, however, Emily experienced a personality change, developing a habit of being fussy and rude to others. She strove to be the best and sometimes caused mishaps, but always made up for them when she realised her errors.

From the King of the Railway onwards, Emily has been portrayed more closely to her original personality, with subtler shades of overconfidence. She also often acts as a voice of reason, particularly when James gets too big for his wheels, or when a friend needs moral support.

Technical Details

Basis

Emily is based on a Great Northern Railway G3 Stirling Single 4-2-2. Designed by Patrick Stirling in 1870 with 8ft 1in driving wheels and outside cylinders, they were specifically built for high speed expresses between London and York. These locomotives were capable of hauling 280 ton trains at 50 mph, though they could reach 85 mph on lighter services. A total of 53 were built at Doncaster between 1870 and 1895, in three series introduced in 1870, 1884 and 1894 respectively; the last was withdrawn in 1916. The only surviving member of her class (No. 1) is on display at the National Railway Museum. The locomotive in preservation carried a small capacity Sturrock tender, which was given in its first restoration in 1910. Recently, a derelict original Stirling Single tender used as a water and sludge carrier was found in Peterborough and, after restoration, was paired with the locomotive in 2014.

Emily's Basis

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Livery

Emily is painted emerald green with yellow lining and brass fittings. She has chocolate coloured running-boards and her buffers were originally bronze, but have since turned silver. For the Great Railway Show, gold trim and flowers were added to her coat for her participation in the best decorated engine parade. After she returned to Sodor, she was painted back again.

Appearances

Trivia

• Although she is the second female steam engine to ever appear in the television series (the first being Lady), Emily is the first female steam engine to be a series regular.
• Michael Angelis, Pierce Brosnan and Teresa Gallagher give Emily a Scottish accent reflecting the origin of her designer.
• One of Emily's models was on display in Canada at Nitrogen Studios, it is now part of the touring Thomas and Friends: Explore the Rails exhibit.
• Emily is the first character besides Thomas himself to say his phrase, "Cinders and ashes!", which was done in the thirteenth series episode, Tickled Pink.
• Some literary articles show her being sisterly mostly to Thomas and James. According to a magazine bio, she has a particular fondness for James and treats him like a little brother. In Railway Rhymes, the author states that Emily and Thomas act like brother and sister.
• According to Emily's Slide Show, she was built around the same time as Donald and Douglas.
• Emily's seventh series whistle sound would later be re-used for Peter Sam and Freddie.
  • It was also used in the Mr. Men Show episode "Parks".
• Before Big World! Big Adventures!, Emily was the only member of the Steam Team not created by Wilbert Awdry, as well as the only female member up until the debuts of Nia and Rebecca and the only member who was not introduced in the first series, also being it's newest member until Nia's debut. She has always been, however, the only member to not have a number.
• Prior to the twenty-third series, she was the only Steam Team member without black buffers.
• According to Robert Gauld-Galliers's concept art, Emily was originally going to have handrails on top of her smokebox, three front coupling chains and a gold builder's plate on her wheel arch.
• Emily was called Emilie in the French dub of the seventh series.
• Emily has gone through a few aesthetic changes throughout the television series:
  • Series 8 to present:
    • Her buffers had changed to silver as opposed to their original bronze color from season 7.
  • Series 12 to present:
    • Her face became ever so slightly bigger
  • Series 23
    • She gained rivets on her buffer beam, smokebox front and sides, pistons, on her coupling hook and buffer bases, as well the lower part of her running board.
    • She now has bronze handrails going from her smokebox to her cab.

Quotes

Merchandise

Video

Meet The Steam Team Meet Emily Thomas & Friends

US Narration

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