Gordon the Proud Predecessor

Gordon has pulled the express - known as the "Wild Nor'Wester" - for many years.  But following Privatization on the mainland, Sir Topham Hatt had decided to purchase a high-speed train for a faster express service to go directly to London.  The two power units of the train are called Philippa (or "Pip" for short) and Emma, who had visited Sodor previously.  Gordon, having no longer been obsessed with pulling the express, had accepted Sir Topham's reasoning for purchasing them.  Nowadays, Gordon pulls a local passenger train, and in fact enjoys it, as he can now have a rest every so often.  Here, Gordon is smiling proudly at his successors, wishing them good luck with his former job in years to come.

This is based on official information from the last book of the RWS, "Thomas and his Friends" (yes, the same book that has that awful "Buffer Bashing" story in it, but enough about that).  Gordon had actually been retired from the express in the beginning of the book's first story, "Thomas and the Swan", which was actually based on an annual story written back in the 1980s.

And yes, I've put James and Henry in there, just to have some stuff going on in the background.

I've also got another pic of Gordon in the works.  Stay tuned.

Thomas the Tank Engine © HiT Entertainment and Mattel