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- “You're looking so much better."
"Well, they've mended my tubes, but they didn't even look at my brakes, my gauges, my squeaky wheels..."
"All in good time, Henry!” - ― Emily and Henry, What's the Matter with Henry?, seventh season
Emily is a Stirling Single tender engine. She works mostly on the Main Line and once ran the Misty Valley Branch Line. She also has her own set of coaches.
Bio
When Emily was new to Sodor, she was ignored by the other engines for borrowing and pulling Annie and Clarabel without Thomas', permission or knowledge. The matter was resolved after she saved both Thomas and Oliver from a nasty accident on the cross-points and she was rewarded with two new coaches. Emily proved to be kind-hearted, as she was the only engine concerned about Henry when he was ill due to leaky tubes and when she stuck up for Salty when Thomas and Percy were teasing him.
However, Emily has proven to be a nuisance on occasion as she bossed everyone about when they were clearing up after a storm; Thomas when taking passengers and Percy when shunting trucks. When pulling the express for the first time, she was determined to keep to Gordon's timing, only to run out of water.
When Thomas had to stay at Knapford Sheds, Emily did not like his company at first as she didn't want any noise; she just wanted some sleep. However, she learned how comfortable it is to have the company of friends and once Tidmouth Sheds was rebuilt, she was transferred there to be with her new shed mates.
Later on she was assigned to the Flour Mill, while James was assigned to the Misty Valley Branch Line, primarily the Black Loch. James told her that there was a monster in the Loch. She had trouble with the Flour Mill and ended up crashing some trucks off the line. She was later reassigned to the Misty Valley Branch Line replacing James. She discovered that the monster was just a family of seals. She is presumed to still work the line as it has never been stated otherwise.
Like most engines, Emily can get quite puffed up in the smokebox. When she was called "Excellent Emily", she ignored the advice of Murdoch, Thomas and Duck only to get herself into trouble. Afterwards, she took their advice to get her job done.
Emily tries her best to make her friends happy. When she assumed that Mavis was sad, she took flowers to the quarry, but only created a mess. When she tried to help her friends with the football/soccer match, she neglected to fetch the dirty washing, which turned out to be the football/soccer team's uniforms. Also, when the Fat Controller lost his top hat, Emily went to find it without success and then took the special Christmas train without permission. However, she always makes amends for her friends' sake.
She later took Paxton to the Vicarstown Dieselworks after he was damaged during an accident at the Blue Mountain Quarry.
When Thomas hid his snowplough, Emily had to do Thomas' work and saved him when he got stuck in the snow again.
Thomas told Emily about the Flatbeds of Fear, but Emily did not believe in it and said there was a sensible explanation. She eventually believed in it, until Thomas told her that it was just one of Salty's tall tales.
When the Steam Team tried to clear the tracks of snow for Connor to deliver the last train for Christmas, Emily was unable to clear them from the Sodor side, but was happy to see Hiro as he cleared it from the other direction, then was disappointed when they mistook Harold for Father Christmas by believing his red port lamp to be Rudolph's nose.
She was later informed by Paxton about the rumour that Toby was to be scrapped, but Henrietta overheard and knew it was not true. Emily took her to find Toby and once they found him safe, Emily gave him some of her coal.
When Henry confided in Emily that he feared catching chicken pox from Stephen and Bridget Hatt, she assured him that he could not get chicken pox, joking that he worries too much.
She became fascinated with Caitlin being able to go at such high speeds and wondered what it would be like to be fast, becoming depressed when she could not do so. However, in the end, she managed to save Caitlin when she descended down a steep hill with broken brakes.
When Thomas was fed up with Diesel's selfishness during the holidays, Emily partook in his plan to mend the diesel's ways, much to her joy and amusement. She later attended the Earl's Christmas lunch with several other engines, including Thomas and a reformed Diesel.
Emily went with the other Sodor engines to be part of The Great Railway Show, competing in the Best Decorated Engine Parade along with James, Carlos, Rajiv and Yong Bao, but she and James lost to Rajiv. After Percy dropped out of the Shunting Challenge, she encouraged Thomas to take his place, declaring him Sodor's last chance to win.
Once, when the Fat Controller was ill, Dowager Hatt took charge of the railway. She assigned Emily to Thomas' job of pulling Annie and Clarabel, while Gordon was assigned to her job of taking scrap to the scrapyards. This resulted in lots of confusion and delay, culminating with a massive hold up outside of Knapford. Emily pointed this out to the Dowager, and was able to help her get things back on track before the Fat Controller returned.
Later, she helped Donald and Douglas pull a heavy train of steel pipes to Vicarstown, but the journey became difficult when the twins kept teasing each other and arguing about swapping places. When they stopped on Gordon's Hill, Emily was left holding the train while Donald and Douglas continued to bicker. Eventually, Emily slipped down the hill and was knocked off the rails by a giant, heavy snowball, which had formed from a lump of coal shaken out of Donald's tender when Douglas bumped him. Once Harvey had cleared up the mess, Emily took the front while both twins pushed, and they reached Vicarstown without any further trouble.
Persona
In the seventh season, Emily acts as a sisterly figure to the others. Emily is kind and compassionate, and is always sensitive to the other engines' feelings. If she wrongs someone, knowingly or not, she is quick to apologise.
From the eighth to the sixteenth seasons however, Emily developed a habit of being rather bossy and testy to others. She strives to be one of the best and sometimes causes mishaps, although she usually makes up for her mistakes when she realises what she has done wrong.
From the seventeenth season onwards, Emily has matured and has been portrayed with her original personality again, along with subtler shades of bossiness or overconfidence. She often acts as a voice of reason to the rest of the Steam Team, particularly when James gets too big for his wheels, or when a friend needs moral support.
Basis
Emily is based on a Great Northern Railway G3 Stirling Single 4-2-2. Designed by Patrick Stirling in 1870 with 8ft 1in driving wheels and outside cylinders, they were specifically built for high speed expresses between London and York. These locomotives were capable of hauling 280 ton trains at 50 mph, though they could reach 85 mph on lighter services. A total of 53 were built at Doncaster between 1870 and 1895, in three series introduced in 1870, 1884 and 1894 respectively; the last was withdrawn in 1916. The only surviving member of her class (No. 1) is on display at the National Railway Museum.
Livery
Emily is painted emerald green with gold and yellow lining. She has chocolate coloured running-boards and her buffers were originally bronze but are now silver. For the Great Railway Show, gold trim and flowers were added to her coat for her participation in the best decorated engine parade.
Appearances
Voice Actors
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Trivia
- Although the second female steam engine to ever appear in the television series (the first being Lady), Emily is the first female steam engine to appear and remain on a regular basis.
- Michael Angelis, Pierce Brosnan and Teresa Gallagher give Emily a Scottish accent reflecting the origin of her designer, while Michael Brandon and Jules de Jongh gave Emily an American accent.
- One of Emily's models was on display in Canada at Nitrogen Studios, it is now part of the touring Thomas and Friends: Explore the Rails exhibit.
- Emily is the first character besides Thomas himself to say his infamous phrase, "Cinders and ashes!", which was done in the thirteenth season episode, Tickled Pink.
- Some literary articles show her being sisterly mostly to Thomas and James: according to a magazine bio, she has a particular fondness for James and treats him like a little brother. In Railway Rhymes, the author states that Emily and Thomas act like brother and sister.
- Emily's seventh season whistle sound would later be re-used for Peter Sam and Freddie.
- Up until the Big World! Big Adventures!, Emily was the only member of the Steam Team not created by Wilbert Awdry, as well as the only female member.
- According to Robert Gauld-Galliers's concept art, Emily was originally going to have handrails on top of her smokebox, three front coupling chains and a gold builder's plate on her wheel arch.
- Emily was called Emilie in the French dub of the seventh season.
- Emily had many modifications throughout the television series. These include:
- Season 8:
- Her buffers changed from bronze to silver.
- She shares the same whistle sound as Henry.
- Season 9:
- She had Edward's fourth season whistle sound, which is really Henry's in a whole step higher in pitch. This whistle sound was used until the twelfth season.
- Season 11:
- Her forward buffer housings' colour changed from black to red.
- Season 12:
- Her face became larger.
- Hero of the Rails:
- Her face became a bit thinner.
- Her whistle sound is the same as Henry again.
- Season 13:
- Steam incorrectly emits from her safety valve.
- Tree Trouble:
- Steam no longer comes out of her safety valve.
- No Snow for Thomas:
- She gains a permanent headlamp and tail-lamp, as well as lamp irons.
- She gains a new whistle sound, which sounds almost identical to her seventh season one and is actually Stephen's in a higher pitch.
- Season 19:
- She gains brake pipes.
- She received more prominent front and rear brake-pipe outlets. Strangely, the front ones that have been there since she was introduced have not been removed.
- Her side rods became silver.
- Snow Place Like Home and parts of Best Engine Ever only:
- Her brake pipe faces downwards.
- Season 8:
Merchandise
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