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- "I am delighted, Wilbert. Please take our best wishes to your friends in the Forest of Dean. We hope your line there will be as successful as your work here."
- ― The Fat Controller to Wilbert
Wilbert is a dark blue saddle tank engine belonging to the Dean Forest Railway. He is named after The Thin Clergyman.
Biography
In 1993, Donald and Douglas were both becoming overworked, so in order to ease their workload, the Fat Controller arranged for Wilbert to come to his railway to help them on the Little Western until he could afford another engine like him. However, after Percy had an accident with some porridge, Wilbert was relocated to the Ffarquhar Branch Line to do his work.[1]
Wilbert's first job was to work at the lead mines. While he was in the sheds, he told Thomas and Toby about Sixteen, a troublesome engine who wanted to pass a danger sign. Thomas also told Wilbert about many of the jobs that he had to carry out on the branch line.[2]
One day, after spending too much time chatting to James at Knapford, Wilbert had neglected to take on more water. He stopped at the dairy to refill on water, but accidentally stopped at the wrong hosepipe; instead of taking on water, his tanks were filled with milk. Thomas joked about this when he brought Wilbert back to Ffarquhar.[3]
After Percy returned from the Works, the Fat Controller sent Wilbert to the Little Western to help the engines there. When he was about to take a ballast train, the coupling plate on the front ballast truck fell off. After spotting a coil of wire, Wilbert decided to use it to couple up to the damaged truck and managed to get his train to Tidmouth safely. Afterwards, Wilbert left Sodor and returned to the Dean Forest Railway.[4]
Personality
Wilbert is sensible and polite and does his best to work well. He is also clever and inventive, as seen when he suggested that signal-wire might be used to act as a coupling for a truck.
In the magazines, Wilbert is depicted as a very hard worker and a nature lover. When he wants a rest, he goes deep into the forest.
Technical Details
Real-Life History
Wilbert was built by the Hunslet Engine Company in Leeds, England in 1953. It was purchased by the National Coal Board and worked as a shunter in a colliery in Staffordshire. It was bought by the Dean Forest Railway in 1976 and became the first steam engine owned by the Forest of Dean Railway Ltd.
In August 1981, the Rev. W. Awdry christened the engine "G.B. Keeling" - after the first Chief Mechanical Engineer on the Severn and Wye Railway - following a members' ballot for the engine's name. On 8 November 1983, G.B. Keeling hauled the royal train on the line when the Duke of Gloucester visited the railway.
On 13 September 1987, the Rev. W. Awdry renamed the engine "Wilbert" in his honour after a major overhaul and repainting. On 8 September 1991, Wilbert attended the opening of the line to Lydney Lakeside with City of Truro. In 2010, Wilbert underwent a major overhaul and returned to service in April 2012.
The last boiler ticket expired in 2016, and Wilbert was place in stored pending overhaul. Parts were removed, but further plans were halted as the railway has more pressing issues to finance, with Wilbert being shunted to the end of a siding. In 2021, the Dean Forest Railway Society agreed to purchase 50% of the shares of Wilbert from the railway, but the cost of a full overhaul were too expensive to carry out.
In 2025, Accurascale announced a new 00 gauge model of Wilbert, with the profits being planned as a donation to cosmetically restore the engine before being placed at Norchard station to welcome visitors to the railway. Sixteen, Walter and Warrington share the same basis, while other class members were featured in Thomas and the U.K. Trip and the Down at the Station segments.
Livery
Wilbert is painted navy blue with red lining and black wheels. He has a red nameplate with a gold border on the sides of his saddletank with his name (Wilbert) and the words "Rev. W. Awdry" below in gold lettering. He has red bufferbeams with silver buffers.
Appearances
The Railway SeriesCompanion Volumes
Lectures
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Books
Magazine Stories
Video Games
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Official Description
The Railway Series
From Official Media:[5]
| “ | Wilbert: Wilbert was a rather different visitor. He is an Austerity 0-6-0 saddle-tank: the Fat Controller felt he needed an engine which was small but powerful to give extra assistance on the Arlesburgh branch (or indeed elsewhere) at busy times and he persuaded the Dean Forest Railway to lend him Wilbert for trial. Wilbert spent some time on the Island and, like Stepney, thoroughly enjoyed it, before returning to his home in the Forest. He is currently (2005) undergoing an extensive overhaul. | ” |
From Official Media[1]
| “ | Wilbert: Wilbert the Forest Engine is a smart blue saddle-tank engine with six wheels. His line in the Forest was short, so he was delighted to help out Donald and Douglas on the branch lines.
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” |
| “ | Wilbert: Wilbert came to Sir Topham Hatt’s Railway to help out Thomas, Percy and Daisy while his line was being repaired. He has since returned to his home branch line, and is happy working in the Forest of Dean.
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” |
Audio Files
Whistle
In Really Useful Engines and Other Stories, Wilbert has a whistle which is a stock sound. It was also used for Percy in Triple Header from the same audio book.
| Only Used | Sound Effect |
|---|---|
| Really Useful Engines and Other Stories |
The real Wilbert appears in The Making of Thomas the Tank Engine documentary and emits his whistle.
| Only Used | Sound Effect |
|---|---|
| The Making of Thomas the Tank Engine |
Trivia
- A silhouette of Wilbert appears on some 1994 back covers of Heinemann-published Railway Series books.
- According to his hidden page on an older version of the UK Thomas & Friends website, Wilbert and Percy get along well as they are both saddle tank engines.[6]
- Despite not appearing in the Thomas & Friends television series, Wilbert was mentioned in the Track Stars DVD bonus feature James' Colors of Sodor. He is grouped with Lady and is incorrectly described as a purple engine.
- Additionally, he was included in the main menu of the Korean Thomas the Little Engine and Friends Season 5 Vol. 3 DVD.
- Fans have speculated that Wilbert and Sixteen may be the same engine, with the events described by Wilbert in Cab Over Wheels from his own past. However, this creates several anachronisms with the origins of the real Wilbert locomotive, who originally worked at a colliery for the National Coal Board. However, Sixteen worked at a steelworks and was later preserved in the Midlands, while Wilbert lives in Gloucestershire, South West England. In 2025, Clive Spong said Christopher Awdry "never specified" if Sixteen was a separate engine, but added that "the alter-ego sounds [like] a good idea".[7]
- In the My Thomas Story Library book, The Fat Controller, one of the workshop engines resembles Wilbert. However, according to Robin Davies via email correspondence, it was not meant to be him.
- Several 00 gauge models have been produced by Wilbert for charitable causes, including
- A model by DJ Models in limited numbers of 200 to support the Dean Forest Railway.
- A model by Accurascale with the proceeds being used to restore the real engine.
Merchandise
| Range | Released | Discontinued | Highlights | Photo |
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References
- ↑ RWS #38: Wilbert the Forest Engine - "Percy's Porridge"
- ↑ RWS #38: Wilbert the Forest Engine - "Cab Over Wheels"
- ↑ RWS #38: Wilbert the Forest Engine - "Foaming at the Funnel"
- ↑ RWS #38: Wilbert the Forest Engine - "Wired-Up"
- ↑ RWS "Sodor: Reading Between the Lines" (2005)
- ↑ Thomas and Friends website - Wilbert
- ↑ 01Salty. 12 May 2025. "40 Questions with Clive Spong". Accessed 12 May 2025. Archived from the original on 12 May 2025.
| Locomotives | Steam | 87546 and 98462 | Workshop Engines | Big City Engine | Jinty and Pug | City of Truro | Stepney | Bluebell and Primrose | Adams | Cromford | Captain Baxter | Flying Scotsman | Toby's Brothers | 8783 | 1020 | Stephenson's Rocket | Green Arrow | Boxhill | Iron Duke | Mallard | Duchess of Hamilton | Wilbert | Sixteen | Albert | King James I | Bahamas |
|---|---|---|
| Diesel | Diesel | Diesel 4711 | Diesel 199 | Diesel 40125 | Diesel 31120 | 10751 | |
| Rolling Stock | Helena | |
| People | Elizabeth II | The Thin Clergyman | The Fat Clergyman | |
| Stations | Barrow-in-Furness | Bournemouth | Brighton | Carlisle | Carnforth | Crewe | Doncaster | Euston | Horsted Keynes | King's Cross | Lakeside | Norchard | Paddington | St. Pancras | York | |
| Railways | Bluebell Railway | British Railways | Corris Railway | Dean Forest Railway | Ffestiniog Railway | Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway | Snowdon Mountain Railway | Talyllyn Railway | Toby's Old Tramway | |