Stepney (T&F)

"Bluebells forever!"

- Stepney

Stepney, named after a district in London, is a "Bluebell" engine who lives and works on the Bluebell Railway. His friendly, enthusiastic attitude makes him a welcome visitor on Sir Topham Hatt's railway.

Stepney works on a Sudrian branch line neighbouring the Skarloey Railway, also known as the "Bluebell Railway".

Biography
Stepney was stranded on a siding in the scrapyard at the Vicarstown Goods Depot where Rusty found him and helped arrange for him to be put back into service. He now runs the Bluebell Branch Line. He later travelled a long distance away from his railway to Sir Topham Hatt's railway as a visitor after getting tired of travelling on his branch line.

Stepney later wanted to have a change from his branch line and he was sent back to Sir Topham Hatt's railway (again on a visiting basis) to help Toby and Mavis at Anopha Quarry. This excursion nearly ended in disaster after 'Arry and Bert tried to scrap Stepney, luckily without success, after Stepney accidentally ventured into the Sodor Ironworks.

For a long time afterwards, Stepney had little actual contact or involvement with Sir Topham Hatt's railway. On a few occasions during the sixth series, he can be seen helping out with the other engines while he visited the North Western Railway. He can briefly be seen helping the other engines out by delivering trucks filled with flowers while the stations prepared for the Most Beautiful Station competition. A short time later, a hot air balloon was flying across the island and Duck accidentally ran into him due to gazing up at it. After he helped Edward with the running of The Loop Line, Stepney had virtually disappeared (not counting his stock footage appearances in the seventh series) until a while later, when he was hit by a truck full of sugar in an incident caused by Rosie. He has not been seen in the television series since.

Personality
Stepney is a bubbly, modest and humble chap who is bursting with enthusiasm. He is very eager to please and is every engine's friend. When given a job to do, he is determined to complete it to the best of his ability. Even if an engine might not like him at first, his personality wins them over. After being saved from scrap by Rusty and the Bluebell Railway, he now runs his own branch line, but loves visiting and helping out on the Fat Controller's Railway. He has an enthusiasm for learning and listening to advice, as well as keeping busy. Stepney can feel down in the dumps if he does not get enough work to do or if he does not get a good long run to stretch his wheels. Stepney is high-spirited, lively and is keen to see fair play. He is popular amongst the engines and is always game for more work. Unlike most of Sodor's engines, Stepney loves to work with trucks.

Real-life History
Stepney was built by Brighton Works in 1875 and was rebuilt into an A1X in 1912. During his last working years, Stepney worked on the Hayling Island branch line, until he was taken out of service in 1960 and placed on an out-of-use siding. He was bought by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society and arrived on the railway on 17th May, making him the first standard gauge steam locomotive to be saved for the Bluebell Railway.

Since his first appearance in the Railway Series and Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, Stepney has become one of the most popular engines on the railway, with children all across the country coming to see him. Stepney has even participated in "Day Out with Thomas" events and has carried a face for these events.

Stepney was taken out of service in 2008, after his boiler ticket expired; but underwent a fast-track overhaul and returned to working order in 2010, just in time for the line's 50th Anniversary. In March 2014, Stepney was withdrawn from service following the failure of his main steam pipe. As of 2020, whilst he awaits to go into the workshop for new cylinders and significant work on his frames and boiler, Stepney is currently on display inside the Bluebell Railway's new 'Steam Works!' shed complete with his signature face from the former "Day Out with Thomas" events.

Livery
Stepney is painted in LB&SCR ochre gold, formally known as "Stroudley's Improved Engine Green", with green, red, white and black lining. His name is painted on his side tanks and the number "55" is painted on the sides of his bunker, both in white.

The real Stepney has a brass funnel top and brass number plates with a blue ground. He carries two builder's plates on the sides of his splashers. In 2010, he was painted in "Bluebell Black". On 14th January 2012, Stepney made an "only-morning" appearance in BR Lined Black with "cycling lion" crest and his BR number, 32655, for a special photographic charter. He carried the same BR Lined Black livery again on 17th April 2012 for another photographic charter; this time though with the later "ferret and dartboard" crest. He returned to "Bluebell Black" in time for his visit to the National Railway Museum's "Railfest" in the first week of June 2012. As of August 2014, he has returned to his famous "Improved Engine Green" livery, officially being released to the public in May 2015.

Appearances
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Thomas & Friends

 * Series 4 - Rusty to the Rescue, Thomas and Stepney, Train Stops Play and Bowled Out
 * Series 5 - Stepney Gets Lost
 * Series 6 - Percy and the Haunted Mine, James and the Red Balloon and Edward the Very Useful Engine
 * Series 7 - Edward's Brass Band and Trusty Rusty
 * Series 12 - Rosie's Funfair Special

Music Videos
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 * Series 4 - Thomas' Anthem Grand Finale, Let's Have a Race, Don't Judge a Book By its Cover and The Island Song
 * Series 5 - Night Train, It's Great to be an Engine and Come for the Ride
 * Series 6 - Little Engines and Boo! Boo! Choo-Choo
 * Series 7 - The Red Balloon, There Once Was an Engine Who Ran Away and The Whistle Song
 * Series 21 - Little Engines

Books

 * 2004 - Stepney and James and the Red Balloon and Other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories
 * 2005 - Railway Rhymes
 * 2006 - Thomas-saurus Rex
 * 2007 - Caroline
 * 2008 - Thomas' Sticker Express
 * 2011 - Caroline the Car, My Thomas Party Book, Stepney the Bluebell Engine and The Big Book of Engines

Magazine Stories
Stepney also appeared in the magazine stories, Really Useful Edward and Spotty Stepney
 * 2001 - A Special Story About Stepney
 * 2004 - Trouble for Stepney, Train Stops Play and Edward to the Rescue!
 * 2005 - I'll Eat My Hat!
 * 2010 - Steam Roasted and Fun at the Carnival!

Annual Stories

 * 1997 - Pipe Dreams
 * 2001 - Donald and Douglas

Video Games
Stepney also appeared in DVD Bingo.
 * 1996 - Let's Hang Out!
 * 2000 - Thomas the Tank Engine
 * 2001 - The Friends of Sodor
 * 2008 - Begins Educational Learning

Documentaries
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 * 2005 - Hashire! The "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" Steam Locomotive is Alive!
 * 2015 - Original 70th Anniversary History Time Travel

Official Description
1995-2000= From Official Website:

From Official Website:
 * -|2000-2005=

From Official Website:
 * -|2010-2021=

Whistles
In the fourth series, Stepney reuses and shares Rheneas' original whistle.

In the US version of Thomas and Stepney, Stepney has Smudger and Ryan's whistle.

In one scene in the UK and US versions of Thomas and Stepney, Stepney incorrectly has Duke's original whistle.

In the fifth to seventh series, Stepney has Skarloey's original whistle.

In the twelfth series only, Stepney has Thomas' whistle, but at a higher pitch. It is also Bill's whistle, but a full octave lower in pitch.

In The Whistle Song, Stepney incorrectly has a different whistle, and at the end, he shares Fergus' Whistle Song whistle.

Trivia

 * In 1997, Britt Allcroft attempted to sue the Bluebell Railway for ripping off the character of Stepney, despite the fact he was built 88 years before being introduced in the franchise. This lawsuit attempt failed.
 * Alec Baldwin gave Stepney a Cockney accent in the US dub. This may have been intentional, as Stepney is a region of East London and the inhabitants of that area, amongst others, were known as Cockneys.
 * The prototype of Stepney's 1996 Wooden Railway toy has the original face and magnets of Thomas.
 * At one time, the Official Website incorrectly stated that Stepney was a narrow gauge engine. Stepney was also incorrectly depicted as a narrow gauge engine in Railway Rhymes. He was also included in a Take Along Narrow Gauge Gift Pack. The narrow gauge engines' nameboards sequence also includes Stepney. In the fourth series, Stepney's driver wore the same uniform that the narrow gauge engines' drivers wore.
 * In the Spanish and Czech dubs of the show, he is known as the Hyacinth engine instead of the Bluebell engine. In the Dutch dub, he is known as the Violet engine.
 * Both of Stepney's appearances in the seventh series were made up of stock footage.
 * Although he has not been featured in the CGI series, Keith Wickham has voiced him in Thomas-saurus Rex.
 * According to Thomas-saurus Rex, he knew both Sir Topham Hatt and his grandfather prior to his arrival.
 * From the sixth series onwards, the block under Stepney's smokebox became the same colour as his livery.
 * Stepney is one of the four engines to be saved from scrap, with the others being Oliver, Hiro and Glynn.
 * In some promotional artwork and television series tie-in book illustrations, he is seen wearing the express headcode lamps.

External link
Stepney on the Bluebell Railway website.