The Big Book of Engines is a book filled with information about the characters on Sodor. The ninety-six pages feature most of the characters featured in the television series, but takes trivia from the Railway Series. It was released in the UK in April 2011 and released in the US in January 2014. A second, 75th Anniversary edition was released in 2020.
Characters
Original edition
- Thomas
- Edward
- Henry
- Gordon
- James
- Percy
- Toby
- Duck
- Donald and Douglas
- Oliver
- Emily
- Alfie*
- Annie and Clarabel
- Arthur*
- Bash and Dash
- Belle
- Bertie
- Bill and Ben
- Billy*
- Bulgy*
- Bulstrode
- Captain
- Caroline*
- Charlie
- The Chinese Dragon*
- Colin*
- Cranky
- Daisy*
- Dennis*
- Diesel
- Diesel 10
- Duncan
- Elizabeth
- Ferdinand
- Fergus*
- Flora
- Flynn
- Freddie*
- George
- Hank
- Harold
- Harvey*
- Hector*
- Hiro
- 'Arry and Bert
- Jack
- Jeremy
- Kelly*
- Kevin
- Lady*
- Lady Hatt
- Madge*
- Mavis
- Mighty Mac*
- Molly*
- Murdoch*
- Neville*
- Peter Sam
- Rheneas
- Rocky
- Rosie
- Rusty
- Salty
- Sir Handel
- Skarloey
- Spencer
- Stanley*
- Stepney
- Terence*
- The Fat Controller/Sir Topham Hatt
- The Thin Controller/Mr. Percival
- Trevor*
- Troublesome Trucks
- Victor
- Whiff*
- BoCo (mentioned)
- Scruff (mentioned)
- Henrietta (mentioned)
- Toad (mentioned)
- Isabel and Dulcie (mentioned)
- Max and Monty (mentioned)
- Isobella (mentioned)
(*absent from US release)
75th Anniversary edition
Many more characters will most likely appear.
Trivia
- The original release date for the book was 7th March 2011, but it was pushed back until 4th April for unknown reasons.
- The US publication of the book is shorter and features less than half of the characters than the UK version.
- Despite not being in the book, several characters are mentioned, such as:
- BoCo is mentioned on Edward, Bill and Ben, and Donald and Douglas' pages.
- Scruff is mentioned on Whiff's page.
- Henrietta is mentioned on Toby's page.
- Max and Monty are mentioned on Jack's page.
- Isobella is mentioned on Kelly's page.
- Toad, Isabel and Dulcie are mentioned on Oliver's page.
Goofs
- Bill and Ben's page states that their letters SCC stand for Sodor Construction Company, while they actually stand for Sodor China Clay. This was later corrected.
- Bertie is missing his radiator.
- Hank and Edward are incorrectly referred to as tank engines.
- On Diesel 10's page, it says that he chased Thomas and Percy onto the viaduct when it was actually Thomas and Lady. In the US publication, this has been corrected.
- On Harold's page, it says that the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre was built on Misty Island.
- Rocky is missing his wheels on his page.
- Jack's page incorrectly states that he has a bucket at both the front and back.
- Colin is incorrectly labelled as a diesel crane instead of a steam crane.
- Elizabeth is incorrectly labelled as a petrol lorry instead of a steam lorry, regardless of the fact it says she is a steam lorry in the first sentence.
- Daisy is incorrectly illustrated as a Co-Bo, having ten wheels instead of eight. Her description also states that she has ten wheels.
- Sir Handel and Oliver are described as having four wheels instead of six.
- Freddie is described as having eight wheels instead of ten.
- Arthur's page states that he is the biggest tank engine when it is actually Belle.
- Skarloey's page states that he was being mended for a long time while Rheneas ran the railway by himself when it was actually the other way round.
- James is missing his coupling rods.
- Rosie has purple freckles and her makeup is missing.