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"Take Along Thomas and Friends" is a series of die-cast models designed for preschool children. The set, made by Learning Curve after ERTL discontinued its Thomas the Tank Engine in America, is not compatible with the Thomas wooden railway system. They have special "two-way" magnets instead of plastic couplers used with ERTL models, and are less accurate than the ERTL models.
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{{Infobox character
  
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| name = <font color=red> Henry the Green Engine </font>
  
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| color = green
  
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| number = 3
  
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| image = HenryTTTE1.jpg
  
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}}
  
   
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==The engines==
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'''Henry''' is #3 on the [[North Western Railway]]. He is a hard worker, but can be vain and arrogant, particularly with engines he sees as less important than himself.
  
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*[[Thomas]]
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*[[Edward]]
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*[[Henry]]
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*[[Gordon]]
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*[[James]]
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*[[Percy]]
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*[[Toby]]
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*[[Duck]]
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*[[Donald and Douglas]] (separately)
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*[[Oliver]]
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*[[Bill and Ben]]
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*[[Diesel]]
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*[[Daisy]]
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*[[Mavis]]
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*[[Arry and Bert]]
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*[[Salty]]
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*[[Harvey]]
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*[[Spencer]]
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*[[Emily]]
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*[[Murdoch]]
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*[[Arthur]]
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*[[Fergus]]
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*[[Molly]]
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*[[Neville]]
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*[[Dennis]]
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*[[Rosie]]
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*[[Whiff]]
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*[[Billy]]
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*[[Skarloey]]
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*[[Rheneas]]
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*[[Sir Handel]]
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*[[Peter Sam]]
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*[[Rusty]]
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*[[Duncan]]
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*[[Mighty Mac]]
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*Fearless [[Freddie]]
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*[[Culdee]]
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*[[Mike]]
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*[[Lady]]
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*[[Diesel 10]]
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*[[Stepney]]
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*[[Madge]]
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*[[Stanley]]
   
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==Rolling stock==
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Henry's first appearance was in "[[The Three Railway Engines#The Sad Story of Henry|The Sad Story of Henry]]". He went into the Ballahoo tunnel and refused to come out, fearing his paint would be spoilt by rain. As punishment, the [[Sir Topham Hatt|Fat Controller]] ordered that he was to be bricked up in the tunnel. He was eventually let out to help [[Edward]] pull the express after [[Gordon]] burst a safety valve.
  
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*Rock hopper
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*Smelting truck
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*Zoo trucks
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*Log trucks
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*[[Annie and Clarabel]] (separately or together)
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*[[Milk Wagons|Milk wagon]]
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*[[Troublesome Trucks|Truck]]
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*Breakdown Train
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*[[The Chinese Dragon]]
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*Magic cargo car
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*Magic mining car
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*Oil tanker
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*Sea cargo cars
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*"[[Jack Jumps In]]" movie car
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*"[[Faulty Whistles]]" movie car
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*[[Misty Valley]] fog trucks
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*Orange barrel truck
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*Mail car
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*[[Tar Wagons|Tar wagon]] and Fuel car
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*[[Toad]]
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*[[Rocky]]
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*Giggling trucks
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*Popcorn car
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*[[Hector]]
   
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==Vehicles==
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Henry was originally a failed prototype engine, who, due to his small firebox, was often ill and a poor steamer. The Fat Controller gave him special Welsh coal, which helped. But the worst was still to come: Henry collided with a goods train while pulling the "[[Flying Kipper]]" due to a fallen signal. Henry was sent to the works at Crewe, where they rebuilt him into his present shape. Henry was also given a new firebox, curing his illness and giving him a similar specification to an LMS Class 5MT "Black Five" locomotive.
  
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*[[Trevor]]
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*[[Bertie]]
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*[[Harold]]
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*Lorry 1 with flatbed
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*[[Elizabeth]]
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*[[Bulgy]]
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*[[Jack]]
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*[[Alfie]]
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*[[Butch]]
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*[[Terence]]
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*[[George]]
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*[[Thumper]]
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*[[Ned]]
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*[[Max and Monty]]
   
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==Multi-packs==
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Henry now works on the main line. He can pull coaches and trucks equally well, and sometimes pulls the Express when [[Gordon]] is unavailable. He is still the engine responsible for the Flying Kipper, and in the television series he also brings the post from the Mainland.
  
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*[[Thomas]] and [[The Jet Engine|the jet engine]]
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*[[Percy]] and the holiday cars
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*[[Rusty]] and the rescue cars
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*[[Thomas]] and the paint car
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*[[Thomas]] and the birthday train
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*[[Percy]] and the birthday train
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*"James Goes [[Buzz Buzz]]" train
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*[[Salty]] and the ocean cars
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*[[Thomas]] and a "Day Out with Thomas" wagon
   
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==Play Scenes with DVD==
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He has two [[Railway Series]] books devoted to him, "'''[[Henry the Green Engine]]'''" and "'''[[Henry and the Express]]'''".
  
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*"[[Thomas and the Special Letter]]"
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*"[[Percy Takes the Plunge]]"
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*"[[James and the Trouble with Trees]]"
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*"[[Gordon Takes a Tumble]]"
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*"[[Henry and the Elephant]]
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*"[[Emily's Adventure]]"
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*"[[Thomas to the Rescue]]"
   
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==Special Engines==
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==The Sad Story of Henry==
  
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*Silver [[Thomas]]
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When he was first introduced, he was almost like any other engine, when he decided to stay in a tunnel to avoid the rain. Many people were furious with Henry, including the Fat Controller. They tried pushing and pulling Henry, even at the point where they would send Thomas to push him out, but no attempt worked. He gave up and bricked Henry inside until he was ready to come out. All Henry could do was watch the other engines roll by, taunting him. His firebox had gone out, and his coated paint was ruined anyway.
 
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*Metallic [[Thomas]]
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*Metallic [[Gordon]]
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*Metallic [[Percy]]
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*Metallic [[Henry]]
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*Metallic [[James]]
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*Metallic [[Spencer]]
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*Metallic [[Toby]]
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*Metallic [[Diesel]]
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*Metallic [[Arry and Bert]]
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*Metallic [[Emily]]
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*Metallic [[Diesel]], [[Arry and Bert]]
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*Metallic [[Toby]], [[Thomas]] and [[Percy]]
   
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==Future releases==
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As time went by, Gordon had trouble with his safety valve burst open. He was then let out to help Edward and Gordon and in the end got a deal that he would always look good as new at the end of the day.
  
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*[[Jeremy]]
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*[[Nelson]]
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*[[Patrick]]
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*[[Buster]]
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*[[Kelly]]
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*Lorry 2
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*Lorry 3
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*[[Boco]]
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*[[Scruffey]]
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*[[Duke]]
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*[[Splatter and Dodge]]
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*[[Henrietta]]
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*Blue and white narrow gauge coaches
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*Green and white narrow gauge coaches
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*Red narrow gauge coaches
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*Narrow gauge coal cars
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*Slate trucks
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*Red and cream Express coaches
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*Gordon's Express Coaches
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*[[Isabella]]
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*[[Oliver (The Pack)|Oliver]] (from the Pack)
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*[[Byron]]
   
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[[Category:Merchandise]]
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The irony is, though Henry at first was supposed to be an ill engine, he was carrying freight trains perfectly fine.
  
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==Illness==
  
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One morning Henry felt sad about himself because at one point he can pull trains and sometimes he cannot. Other engines were tired of his low-self esteem. The Fat Controller decided to help Henry. They finally got an idea to bring Welsh Coal to Henry and when they tried it, Henry was cure of his illness. He could move trains again and wasn't ill anymore.
  
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==The Flying Kipper==
  
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One night, Henry's driver and firemen were given the news about the Flying Kipper needing to be delivered. They told Henry if they got there first and delivered it, they could get a promotion. Henry was glad to hear it and was awake really early in the morning (while still very dark outside) to go to where the Flying Kipper was supposed to depart from. Once Henry got hold of it, he started moving the Flying Kipper to its destination. Everything seems fine but what Henry and the driver never noticed was that the signal was only down to the snow and there was warning of ice along the way. A freight train was waiting to let Henry and the Flying Kipper pass, and the drivers were in the caboose drinking cocoa. The drivers were amazed by the drinks they had and were reminded of the Flying Kipper, but didn't care. One of the drivers told them to go back to the engines. They all got out just in time. Henry, who has now increasing speed since he passed the signal went right into the freight train, destroying not only the train but where the Flying Kipper was laying, and Henry as well. Henry's driver and firemen jumped away before the crash and when the Fat Controller arrived in the morning exclaimed it wasn't Henry's fault because it was ice and snow that caused the accident. Due to being terribly damaged he tells Henry he is sending him up to Crewe where he will feel like a new engine and won't need Welsh Coal anymore.
  
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==Henry's Rebuild==
  
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The [[Reverend W. Awdry]] had a great deal of trouble with the illustrators' depiction of Henry. He was unhappy with the way [[C. Reginald Dalby]] had drawn him in the illustrations as he looked almost identical to [[Gordon]], especially when he was painted blue at the end of "'''[[The Three Railway Engines]]'''"; in one illustration in "'''[[Tank Engine Thomas Again]]'''", he looks completely identical to Gordon (this was explained as him having to use [[Gordon]]'s buffers while his were repaired). To make matters worse, he was illustrated inconsistently, often having several different shapes within the space of a single story - in most of Dalby's illustrations Henry was portrayed as a 4-6-0, but occasionally he became a 4-6-'''2''' instead.
 
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Awdry's original idea had been to write [[Henry]] out of the series (hence the character's illness). But by "'''[[Henry the Green Engine]]'''", he had decided not to, and instead had Henry involved in a serious accident, allowing him to be rebuilt into a Class 5MT which, being a real locomotive, would force Dalby to be consistent.
  
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Accounts differ as to when the accident actually took place: in "The [[Island of Sodor]]: Its People, History and Railways" the [[Reverend W. Awdry]] states that it occurred in 1931; however, "Sodor: Reading Between the Lines", by [[Christopher Awdry]], says it took place in 1951. The best explanation seems to be that the latter was an oversight, seeing the other dates listed in "The [[Island of Sodor]]" were all consistent, and possibly, certainly for the earlier books, that the events on the railway happened many years before the books were published.
  
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===Technical Controversy===
  
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There is a certain amount of debate as to the nature of Henry's rebuild, caused by "The [[Island of Sodor]]: Its People, History and Railways". It was written to provide historical background to the universe of the [[Railway Series]] and to correct pictorial inconsistencies that had occurred in the earlier volumes. In this book, the [[Reverend W. Awdry]] claimed that the pre-rebuild and post-rebuild Henry are actually two completely separate engines. However, the stories didn't indicate this, as he seems familiar with events that happened before the crash, but the other engines don't know this. For example, in "[[The Eight Famous Engines#Percy Takes the Plunge|Percy Takes the Plunge]] (set after his rebuild) Henry recalls the events of "[[The Three Railway Engines#The Sad Story of Henry|The sad Story of Henry]]". His memory may possibly have survived the rebuild, but as both sources can be considered equally canonical, the question of whether there have been two Henrys or one will likely remain unanswered.
  
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The same book featured a certain amount of retcon to explain Henry's old shape. The explanation devised was that he was an experimental locomotive built according to plans stolen from Sir Nigel Gresley (the thief's name was never revealed), but the wrong plans were taken and the locomotive built was so riddled with faults that the only person who could be persuaded to buy it was the [[Fat Controller]], who, at the time, was desperate for any locomotive he could get. The [[Fat Controller]] claims he wanted an "Atlantic", an engine with a 4-4-2 wheel arrangement. The last point is worth noting, as William Middleton, the first [[Railway Series]] artist, portrayed Henry as this type of engine, as well as Awdry's first sketches.
  
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"The [[Island of Sodor]]" also featured a biography of the [[Fat Controller]], which mentioned that he was apprenticed with Stanier at [[Swindon Works]]. It is possible that this is another piece of retcon to explain how he was able to have Henry rebuilt so easily - something that even the [[Reverend W. Awdry]] admitted was "a mystery".
  
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In the book "Sodor: Reading Between the Lines", it is said that Henry looks very much like a Stanier 5MT, which suggests that he is not totally identical to one of these engines. It is not clear why [[Christopher Awdry]] should have felt the need to contradict his father, the original author. It could simply be a combination of copy-editing errors and publication deadlines - after all, [[Mavis]] was correctly described as a Drewry Class 04 but is claimed to be an 0-'''4'''-0.
  
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===Portrayal in the television series===
  
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In the television series, some degree of technical consistency was achieved. Unlike in the [[Railway Series]], Henry was never portrayed as a 4-6-2. There were, however, major differences between the television version and the book versions of Henry in his old and new shapes. His old shape appears to have been used as his new shape as well, as Henry's old shape appears to be identical to his newer one. The only difference appears to be the presence of a sand hatch and different belpaire (square shaped) fire box. This could have been done for ease of the changeover to his Black Five-esque appearance. When the new models were made in 2000, they gave Henry a cutoff splasher approximately where his old shape's tapered boiler and old cutoff splasher was; and also, if looked at closely, when Henry is wrecked, his sand hatch from his new shape is already fitted! In another continuity error, during a head-on shot after Henry has returned from his Crewe rebuild, his old shape (without external steam pipes) is used. Click [http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2283/coalss00038os5.jpg here] to see a picture of Henry's old shape.
  
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Old Shape:
  
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* Henry has a curve in the running boards similar to an LNER Class A1/A3.
  
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* In the television series he has his firebox flush with the running boards.
  
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* His dome is mounted like a Black Five's (close to the cab).
  
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* He has a cut-off third splasher flush with the firebox.
  
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* The front of his frames below his smokebox door are angled sharply, like a Black Five, instead of being rounded as in the [[Railway Series]].
  
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* No external steam pipes are obvious at his smokebox.
  
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New Shape:
  
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* In the [[Railway Series]], Henry lacked splashers. In the [[Season 1|first]] and [[Season 2|second seasons]] the producers followed this rule of thumb; but in the [[Season 3|third]], [[Season 4|fourth]] and [[Season 5|fifth seasons]] he gained a set of three full splashers. In the [[Season 6|sixth season]], Henry regained a cutoff splasher similar to his old shape.
  
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* His original cab was identical to his old shape, further demonstrating how his old shape and new shape were possibly the same model and that Henry's old shape was intentionally made easy to convert to his newer one. His current cab has round windows, partially obscured by his firebox.
  
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==Controversy==
  
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Henry was the central character of what might be the most controversial story in the history of the [[Railway Series]]. In "[[Henry the Green Engine#Henry's Sneeze|Henry's Sneeze]]" he sprays some troublesome boys with soot. The story was attacked in 1972 because the boys in question were said to have been "as black as niggers".
  
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So controversial was the issue that it was reported in the national press. Awdry claimed that it was a case of over sensitivity on the part of the race relations board - a complaint that was misinterpreted by some members of the public as meaning that he was a racist. To solve the problem, he changed the offending sentence to "as black as soot", which has been used in every subsequent edition of the book.
  
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Henry was also the focus of Awdry's irritation once again in the nineties, when the [[Season 3|third season]] of the television series was released. This series featured a number of episodes that had not been adapted from the [[Railway Series]] stories, some of which annoyed Awdry with their lack of realism. The story that particularly irked him was called "[[Henry's Forest]]".
  
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This episode begins by explaining that Henry's favourite place on Sodor is a forest through which the line runs. He likes to stop here and admire the scenery. A storm damages the forest, making Henry upset. The episode ends happily with new trees being planted to replace the ones lost.
  
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Awdry's complaints were directed at two aspects of the episode in particular. One was that it was unrealistic to have a railway running through a forest. Britt Allcroft, the series' producer at the time, countered by claiming that she had seen a number of railways that do just that.
  
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The other one was that Henry stopped to admire the view without alerting the signalman - a direct violation of British Railways' Rule 55. This, Awdry argued, would never be allowed to happen in real life, and would be highly unsafe.
  
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In the [[Season 5|fifth season]] episode "[[James and the Trouble with Trees]]", some trees are removed because "the [[Fat Controller]] says they're too close to the line". This is evident in the [[Season 8|eighth season]] episode "[[Henry and the Wishing Tree]]", in which the trees are further back. It seems that these changes were a response to Awdry's complaints.
  
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==Henry in "[[Thomas and The Magic Railroad]]"==
  
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Henry was voiced by Kevin Frank in "[[Thomas and The Magic Railroad]]". In the movie, he had an American accent, and also appeared to still suffer from boiler trouble. The major difference between this incarnation and the pre-rebuild version of the television series is that his sickness is cured by "Sodor Coal" rather than Welsh.
  
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==Trivia==
  
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* The [[Reverend W. Awdry]]'s own model of Henry was as troublesome as his fictional counterpart used to be, never really working properly. The model was eventually scrapped and was never replaced.
  
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* In the [[Railway Series]], Henry's tender is unusually small for a Stanier 5MT. In the book "Sodor: Reading Between The Lines", it is explained that this is because it is a smaller tender of a type designed by Henry Fowler, which the [[Fat Controller]] prefers. In the television series he kept the tender from his old shape after his rebuild.
  
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* Although he is always known as "the Green Engine", from the end of "'''[[The Three Railway Engines]]'''" to the start of "'''[[Troublesome Engines]]'''" he was painted blue. In the story "[[Henry and the Express#Henry Sees Red|Henry Sees Red]]", he temporarily ran in an orange-red undercoat. In the television series, he is always painted green, most likely for ease of filming.
  
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*In the 1997 "Thomas the Tank Engine Annual", Henry's driver's first name is revealed to be Ted.
  
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[[Category:Railway engines]]
  

Revision as of 02:55, 23 January 2008

"Take Along Thomas and Friends" is a series of die-cast models designed for preschool children. The set, made by Learning Curve after ERTL discontinued its Thomas the Tank Engine in America, is not compatible with the Thomas wooden railway system. They have special "two-way" magnets instead of plastic couplers used with ERTL models, and are less accurate than the ERTL models.

The engines

Rolling stock

Vehicles

Multi-packs

Play Scenes with DVD

Special Engines

Future releases

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