The TV adaptation definitely glosses things over. For instance, in the show Henry has a big crash and is sent to England to be repaired. In the canon of the books, he was scrapped and swapped out for a better locomotive, who was then given the same name.
They also punish a locomotive by sealing it behind a brick wall. Considering those things are sentient and basically immortal that’s some new levels of fucked up.
No, he’s sent to Crewe for a rebuild and returns with a new shape - mostly changes to his firebox iirc as he’s been struggling to build up enough steam with anything other than high-quality (expensive) Welsh coal.
Source: literally re-read the relevant book over the weekend.
The canonical history book The Island of Sodor expands on this:
Since 1922 there have been two Henrys…
We never saw Henry I, but we talked to men who had crewed him. Henry I had a superficial likeness to Gordon, they said, but that was as far as it went. They remembered hearing rumours of a scandal at Doncaster in 1919 or thereabouts, about the theft of some drawings. Nothing was proved, but it was alleged that a Locomotive Builder with a grudge against Gresley had engineered a “leak” so as to steal a march on him. His spy, however, blundered and took the wrong drawings. The mistake was discovered too late. The locomotive when built, showed so many faults that the builder was glad of chance to unload his “white elephant” on to a desperate customer.
No-one was better pleased than Topham Hatt when the Killdane accident occurred in 1935. At last he had an opportunity of having Henry completely rebuilt at Crewe.
It has been a mystery to many that Topham Hatt was able to send the deplorable Henry I to Crewe in 1935, and receive back a Stanier Class SMT in tip-top condition as Henry II.
So as Henry I was a bootleg Gresley and then a Stanier Black 5, they are two different engines.
I really respect your answer, but surely The Island of Sodor should be considered a separate canon rather than more canonical than The Railway Series? I don’t have a copy, given it’s sadly been out of print for around 40 years, but does it include things like talking, sentient, opinionated steam engines? ;)
Henry the Green Engine reads:
Then I expect you were sorry for Henry who was often ill and unable to work. He gave Sir Topham Hatt (who is, of course, our Fat Controller) a lot of worry. Now Henry has a new shape and is ready for anything. These stories tell you all about it.
“Cheer up, Henry! It wasn’t your fault. Ice and snow caused the accident. I’m sending you to Crewe, a fine place for sick engines.
They’ll give you a new shape and a larger firebox. Then you’ll feel a different engine, and won’t need special coal any more. Won’t that be nice?”
“Yes, sir,” said Henry doubtfully.
Henry liked being at Crewe, but was glad to come home.
He is clearly the same Henry in terms of personality and memories, post-rebuild, even if he has miraculously morphed into a Black 5. If The Island of Sodor takes a more realistic approach, that’s fine, but even your quote says “rebuilt” instead of “scrapped”.
That Thomas-as-the-ship-of-Theseus meme that did the rounds on Lemmy the other week springs to mind…
The Island of Sodor was intended to be fully canon, as a sourcebook for parents reading to children who wanted more detailed information about the world of the books in order to answer questions. It’s just more in-depth.
You can think of it as the Railway Series being the simplified ELI5 version, and TIS being the “real” version. For instance, the RS only mentions Sir Topham Hatt, without the clarification given in TIS that this relates to a father or his son depending on in which period of Sodor’s history the story is set.
Some youths were throwing rocks at trains going under a bridge, so one of the engines purged soot from its chimney as it went under the bridge as revenge, covering the youths in sticky black stuff.
Okay, I need more context to this. N-word in any of these franchises feels something so far off.
Boys on a bridge threw rocks at a train, smashing windows. Next time the train made sure to cover them in soot so they were “black as n—“.
And here I thought George Carlin was the hardest Thomas ever went. Turns out he used to roll coal on hooligans 🤣
The TV adaptation definitely glosses things over. For instance, in the show Henry has a big crash and is sent to England to be repaired. In the canon of the books, he was scrapped and swapped out for a better locomotive, who was then given the same name.
They also punish a locomotive by sealing it behind a brick wall. Considering those things are sentient and basically immortal that’s some new levels of fucked up.
That was also Henry I. The whipping boy of Sodor.
They really hate that one guy eh?
No, he’s sent to Crewe for a rebuild and returns with a new shape - mostly changes to his firebox iirc as he’s been struggling to build up enough steam with anything other than high-quality (expensive) Welsh coal.
Source: literally re-read the relevant book over the weekend.
The canonical history book The Island of Sodor expands on this:
So as Henry I was a bootleg Gresley and then a Stanier Black 5, they are two different engines.
I really respect your answer, but surely The Island of Sodor should be considered a separate canon rather than more canonical than The Railway Series? I don’t have a copy, given it’s sadly been out of print for around 40 years, but does it include things like talking, sentient, opinionated steam engines? ;)
Henry the Green Engine reads:
He is clearly the same Henry in terms of personality and memories, post-rebuild, even if he has miraculously morphed into a Black 5. If The Island of Sodor takes a more realistic approach, that’s fine, but even your quote says “rebuilt” instead of “scrapped”.
That Thomas-as-the-ship-of-Theseus meme that did the rounds on Lemmy the other week springs to mind…
The Island of Sodor was intended to be fully canon, as a sourcebook for parents reading to children who wanted more detailed information about the world of the books in order to answer questions. It’s just more in-depth.
You can think of it as the Railway Series being the simplified ELI5 version, and TIS being the “real” version. For instance, the RS only mentions Sir Topham Hatt, without the clarification given in TIS that this relates to a father or his son depending on in which period of Sodor’s history the story is set.
Some youths were throwing rocks at trains going under a bridge, so one of the engines purged soot from its chimney as it went under the bridge as revenge, covering the youths in sticky black stuff.