Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine

"The bluebells are coming! Oh-ho, oh-ho! The bluebells are coming! Oh-ho--"

- Percy singing before Douglas cuts him off.

Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine is the eighteenth book of The Railway Series.

Foreword
Dear Friends, Percy is a kind-hearted little engine. He feels sad because many fine steam engines are cut up on the Other Railway (British Railways).

Percy's ideas, however, though natural for an engine, are a little muddled. British Railways Officials are not cruel. They are sad to lose faithful steam friends and glad to help engines to go to places like the Bluebell Railway at Sheffield Park in Sussex, where they can be cared for and useful and safe. The Author

Bluebells of England
Percy is singing about bluebells when Douglas comes up and tells him that his song is daft. Percy is cross and tells him about the "Bluebells of England" and how the engines on the Other Railway suffer from the cruel-spirit of their controllers and how they are sent to the scrapyards to be cut up, causing Douglas to remember how he might have met the same fate if he had not escaped. Percy then goes on to inform Douglas about the Bluebell Railway, where steam engines are much safer and that their engine Stepney is coming to Sodor, when Stepney suddenly arrives and the two welcome him with a chorus of whistles.

Stepney's Special
After talking to Edward about the Bluebell Railway, Stepney goes to Tidmouth to help Duck. Thomas has just left with his last train when he is stopped so Stepney, with a V.I.P. in tow, can pass. Thomas is furious, but when Stepney explains the next morning that he was running a Special and flatters Thomas by complimenting his knowledge of branch line life, Thomas is happier and begins talking about his branch line.

Train Stops Play
Percy takes pity on Stepney when he reveals he misses trucks and offers to share his train with him. Stepney later passes the Elsbridge Cricket Field when a batsman hits a six and the ball lands in one of his trucks. Stepney does not hear the cricketers shout, so four of them pile into an old car named Caroline and race after them. At Ffarquhar, they find the ball and as Caroline is exhausted, Stepney takes them all back with Caroline on a flatbed and stays to watch the match. After that, Caroline does not mind trains anymore.

Bowled Out
Stepney's stay is almost over, but in his place a rude diesel arrives and insults the engines, by boasting about how he is more up to date. Although the engines have no idea of what to do, the Diesel soon gets his just desserts when an Inspector's bowler hat lodges in his air intake. Duck and Stepney have to take his train and they reach Cronk in record time. Stepney leaves the next day in style, with the engines asking him to return and Donald and Douglas making everyone sing Auld Lang Syne, while the Diesel creeps away in disgrace.

Bluebells of England

 * Percy
 * Douglas
 * Stepney
 * Adams
 * British Railways Scrap Engines
 * D701
 * Class 52
 * D782
 * Daisy  (Mentioned) 
 * Rusty  (Mentioned) 
 * Stepney's Controller

Stepney's Special

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Duck
 * Stepney
 * Bluebell and Primrose
 * Adams
 * Cromford
 * Captain Baxter
 * Gordon
 * Stepney's Controller
 * The Important Passenger

Train Stops Play

 * Percy
 * Stepney
 * Caroline
 * The Elsbridge Cricket Club
 * Thomas
 * Toby

Bowled Out

 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Duck
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Stepney
 * Class 40
 * Sir Charles Topham Hatt II
 * Stepney's Controller
 * Edward
 * Percy
 * Toby

Locations

 * Island of Sodor
 * Wellsworth
 * Tidmouth
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Tidmouth Harbour
 * Toryreck
 * Junction
 * Ffarquhar
 * Yards
 * Sheds
 * Elsbridge Cricket Field
 * River Callan
 * Hackenbeck Tunnel
 * Cronk
 * Knapford
 * Knapford Yards
 * Knapford Harbour
 * Knapford Harbour Bridges
 * Gordon's Hill
 * The Mainland
 * Bluebell Railway
 * Brighton
 * The Scrapyards

Trivia

 * The second illustration of "Bluebells of England" is based on the illustration Peter Edwards did for the Graham Greene novel, A Gun For Sale.
 * This is the first book of The Railway Series illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards. Additionally, this is the only book with illustrations by Gunvor Edwards. From Mountain Engines to Tramway Engines Peter Edwards was the sole illustrator.
 * Percy's song "The Bluebells Are Coming" has the same tune as the Scottish song: "The Campbells Are Coming".
 * The carriages that Stepney brings to Sodor are the Bluebell Railway's well known Metropolitan coaches.
 * The Rev. W. Awdry acknowledged the help given by members of the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society in the preparation of this book.
 * In the third illustration of Bluebells of England, Stepney does not have a face. This is because Wilbert Awdry thought it was best that the engines only have faces on Sodor unless it was important to the story that the engines interact with other characters.
 * From this book onwards there are two things:
 * Duck's smokebox is black and his safety valve bonnet is brass.
 * Donald and Douglas are in their blue livery.
 * The events of this book take place in 1962.
 * This book marks the last appearances of Percy and Toby in The Railway Series until Tramway Engines and Thomas' last speaking role until that same book.
 * This is the final Railway Series book re-narrated by Michael Angelis.
 * Stepney's Special is based on an event in The Railway Gazzette in 1905.
 * In the sixth illustration of Stepney's Special, the tablet exchange system is seen in the franchise for the first time.
 * Train Stops Play is based on an incident that occurred in Stroud, Gloucestershire in May 1960.
 * Bowled Out is based on an incident in The Railway Gazzette in the early 1960's.
 * The first illustration of Bowled Out was the first illustration for the book.
 * Unlike from the book, the names "Adams" and "Cromford" weren't given to 488 and 27505 in real life.
 * This book was published in the same year that Mark Moraghan, narrator of Series 17–21, was born.

Goofs

 * Throughout the book, Duck is missing his sandboxes.
 * In the third and fourth illustrations of "Bowled Out", Class 40's eyebrows are missing and he does not have his number.
 * Class 40 was incorrectly drawn very tall in the same illustration, towering over Duck as the latter's basis was only 12 ft 31⁄16 while the Diesel's basis was only 12 ft 10 in.

In Other Languages
Stepney la Locomotora "Jacinto" סטפני מרכבת בלובל がんばりやの機関車 Stefcio, Dzwonkowa Lokomotywa