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Henry the Green Engine is a fictional mixed-traffic engine in the British Railway Series books by Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher, published from 1945. He is one of the first engines to appear in the franchise with Edward the Blue Engine (who was the first) and Gordon the Big Engine. He also accompanied Thomas the Tank Engine and the other characters in the television adaptation series Thomas & Friends (aka Thomas the Tank Engine or Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends). According to The Unlucky Tug, he has appeared in more books than Thomas himself.
Why He Should've Stayed in the Show
- First of all, he has very good designs over the years, pretty similar to other characters of the franchise.
- His earlier design in the Railway Series during Wilbert's life is pretty nice with the shape of a GNR Gresley A1 (an 4-6-2 locomotive), which was similar to Gordon, in which he would gain problems when out on the run.
- After his accident with the Flying Kipper, Henry was mended into a LMS Stanier Class 5 "Black Five" (a 4-6-0 locomotive), this version from Wilbert would become his current look on the TV series adaptations from the model to CGI era.
- In later books, his appearance would change into a more realistic approach, which does look similar to his real-life counterpart.
- While his All Engines Go! counterpart isn't that great, he at least still has his new shape.
- He is pretty sympathetic due to having a poor run in his old shape and being teased by others for it, not to mention his other problems.
- He had a small firebox with some elements of his poor system put into his old shape, due to some drawings being stolen from Sir Nigel Gresley, his original builder.
- This is seen in how slow he moves in "Thomas and the Conductor", he even got ill in "A Big Day for Thomas".
- His anger towards Thomas in "Thomas and the Conductor" is justified, as Thomas just assumes that he is by quote "Lazy Bones" due to his speed. Henry even states that no one understands his problem, as he has been that way for a long while every time he ran with that old shape to ask Thomas to at least empathize in his suffering, to which Thomas hurts him more.
- In "What's the Matter with Henry", he felt ill again due to his boiler grumbling, to which he is teased by Thomas and Percy, along with some empathy from Emily, not to mention that he does stand up for himself when someone bullies him during those early seasons, for the most part anyway.
- Speaking of illness, he got ill so much in his earlier years on the railway, that he didn't work at all for sometime. This is shown through his lack of presence in few of the early books in "The Railway Series".
- He has suffered from a few accidents, such as his accident with the Flying Kipper (as stated before) and his accident of trucks later on in "World's Strongest Engine".
- Despite having these issues, he is willing to push through and prove his worth on the railway the best he can.
- He never tried to give up despite his poor status of movement from his old shape, as he was still willing to work and eventually got Welsh Coal that Sir Topham Hatt bought for him, so he could move well.
- In the book "Super Rescue", he was willing to go the extra mile by helping not one, but two diesels that were broken down along with their trains, which shows how capable he is in being an engine as well as being nice. Not to mention that it was Wilbert's last book.
- In "What's The Matter with Henry", he was willing to pull a train of coal despite being ill.
- In "Henry's Hero", he is at his best, as he is willing to finish the job with Hiro despite taking bad coal and pushing both him and the heavy train as his back engine when he breaks down.
- Not only did Henry prove his worth in several occasions, he also paved the way for more engines to debut in the books with the basis from real-life locomotives, despite being intended to be originally written off by Wilbert himself.
- His constant presence in the books was made due to a few kids having an interest in him, as he did lack some relevance in the earlier ones.
- He is pretty considerate towards others and cares for them the best he can.
- He felt pretty concerned for himself and Hiro in "Henry's Hero", due to the information of bad coal that was stated by Duck in his reintroduction.
- He was willing to offer his job of "The Flying Kipper", to Caitlin in "Calm Down Caitlin". As a way to let her enjoy her stay on Sodor while the Vicarstown Bridge was being fixed that very evening, to which she agrees and gains Gordon's approval with the offer.
- He also asks Caitlin to act calmly while pulling the train, so she wouldn't make noise to the residents of Sodor, not to mention the other engines.
- He tells Gordon that he is running late, to feel concerned for his punctual status in "Gordon Runs Dry".
- He at least tries to explain the so-called ghost train to the other engines in "Henry In The Dark", much to the teasing of Gordon and James.
- He is pretty clever...
- He gave proper comeuppance to the boys that threw stones to his coaches in "Whistles and Sneezes", where he intentionally sneezed coal powder onto the boys, much to the delight of his crew, passengers and coaches. While it isn't suggested to take revenge for people when they hurt you, it was still justified since people that do wrong shouldn't get away with bad actions.
- He was able to manipulate Gordon in taking "The Flying Kipper", by stating that it would be hard for him to pull. This makes Gordon willing and able to pull it in the episode "Henry Gets The Express", which results in him getting the Express again after his negligence.
- He paid both James and Gordon back by scaring them and the other engines with his glowing paint during one evening in "Henry In The Dark", for teasing him when they stated his fear of rain.
- He made a nice reference to The Railway Series book "Gordon Goes Foreign" in "Thomas and The Royal Engine", where he states about Gordon's confusion with the stations in England.
- All of his voice actors did good jobs in portraying him, mostly Keith Wickham; who gave him an old voice to show his proper age.
The Only Confusing Quality
- While "Henry's Forest" is a good episode, Wilbert Awdry felt offended that Henry cared for the trees, which understandably looks unrealistic for a steam engine to do.
Pompous Qualities
- One major thing that affected his character for a while, was the fact that he needed special coal to run properly despite being rebuilt.
- His first appearance with this inconsistency was in "Thomas and the Magic Railroad", where he suddenly had this change with no explanation whatsoever. This led to him having this trait moving forward, as it is mentioned in the Sharon Miller era.
- He runs badly with normal coal when Gordon takes his special coal by accident, while the episode "It's Good to be Gordon" shows a good moral, it still downsized Henry's character.
- In "Henry's Happy Coal", it is stated that Henry's special coal makes him happy, and it is true, for the first season and early books. The episode goes on further to show that Henry doesn't need actual coal to run properly again since it makes him weak, which just offends the problem even more.
- Thankfully though, his misinterpretation was fixed when Toby states that the problem was solved years ago, when Gordon says in the relatable groan about the issue in "King of the Railway", which was in the beginning of the Brenner era.
- He tends to act like a pompous, rude equivalent to Gordon.
- In "The Sad Story of Henry", he went inside a tunnel due to his nonsensical pain to rain, which led to him being left in the tunnel. Thankfully, he did learn his lesson later on and was willing to save Gordon's train and Gordon himself along with the help of Edward.
- He went on a strike with Gordon and James in "Trouble in the Shed", which led to the three of them getting shoned into their sheds for a long while. Though thankfully, they did learn their lesson later on.
- He demands to have two tenders just like Scotsman, which is flat out embarrassing to see and/or hear.
- He was rude to Duck and the Scottish Twins when they first arrived to the railway.
- While most of these are due to his self-consciousness, which is somewhat understandable due to his hard life in the earlier pieces of the franchise. It isn't justified since his needs were already met there and he should've acted better because of that.
- He was flanderized into being a hypochondriac during seasons 12-16 and surprisingly, seasons 18 and 19 during the Brenner era.
- In "Henry Gets It Wrong", he fears that the workmen would cut down the Wishing Tree, so he blocks the workers from coming in contact with it, only to find out later that the workmen were actually gonna save the tree. He could've just asked Sir Topham Hatt and/or the workmen on what they were gonna do to the tree, rather than jumping to conclusions.
- He is afraid of snowmen in "Ho Ho Snowman" and "The Beast of Sodor". He thinks snowmen talk in "Ho Ho Snowman", when it was just Charlie acting like an annoying trickster. When Spencer talked to him and the other characters about the Abominable Snowman in "The Beast of Sodor", he was very frightened enough to later mistake Sir Topham Hatt (who was covered in snow), to be the monster. While he did stay there with a hypocritical Spencer to face his fears, he wasn't supposed to be afraid of that silly thing.
- While he did act like in himself in season 17, he reverted back to his fearful flanderization in "Flatbeds of Fear". In that episode, he is scared of a story that Salty told Thomas, when it reality, it was just the wind blowing through the train of pipes he was delivering. He was so scared that he stopped on a siding, which would result in him being late.
- He gets scared of chicken pox when he finds out about them in "Henry Spots Trouble" and assumes that engines get them when it was just stains on their faces which can easily be washed off.
- His screams of fear is pretty loud and feels obnoxious when heard from Kerry Shale; his actor for the US dub.
- As mentioned in WHSSitS#4, he was originally gonna be removed by Wilbert himself. This was due to the illustrators making Henry look completely opposite to the model Wilbert was going for in his heyday of the series. This irritated him as the result, though he changed his mind about the matter when kids had an interest to him as mentioned in WHSSitS#5. This would lead to Henry getting an interesting backstory as stated above.
- He can be confused with Gordon in the much earlier books of Wilbert Awdry, since he got a blue coat of paint to replace the one spoiled when he was punished for staying in the tunnel. Not to mention that he also got rectangular buffers just like Gordon, just to add on the stress and fluster. Thankfully though, Henry did get an accident that broke his rectangular buffers, which resulted in Topham giving him a new green coat of paint along with regular buffers to stop the confusion forever.
- Overall, he has come off as a very inconsistent character, when written from time to time (being nearly a complete grump in seasons 1-2 along with Wilbert's early books, then coming off as more openly kind though still occasionally grumpy in seasons 3-7 also with Wilbert's books along with the later books by Christopher and becoming a worrywart in seasons 8-20; somewhat in seasons 8-11 and completely in seasons 12-16, 18 and 19, though somewhat in season 20) even with these inconsistencies at hand, he is still a likable character.
- Just like Edward and Toby, he was written off during the BWBA! (Big World, Big Adventures!) era, as he lacked in relevance there despite maintaining his good character.
Videos
Thomas & Friends In Real Life: "Henry The Green Engine" (Episode #3)
Trivia
- His basis; LMS Stanier Class 5 "Black Five", still exists in real life, as there are 18 of these still working to this very day.
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