Four Little Engines

"I miss Rheneas very much. Yesterday one of the new engines pushed him on a truck, and now he's gone to be mended. I wish I could be mended too, and pull coaches again."

- Skarloey talking to Edward

Four Little Engines is the tenth book of The Railway Series.

Foreword
Dear Friends,

Sir Handel Brown is the owner of a little Railway which goes to Skarloey and Rheneas. Skarloey means Lake in the Woods, and Rheneas means Divided Waterfall. They are beautiful places, and lots of people visit them.

The Owner is very busy, so Mr. Peter Sam, the Thin Controller, manages the Railway.

The two engines, who are called Skarloey and Rheneas, grew old and tired, so the owner bought two others.

The stories tell you what happened. The Author

Skarloey Remembers
Edward meets his old friend Skarloey, a narrow gauge engine. Skarloey talks to him about his friend, Rheneas, who is being repaired on the mainland, the two new engines, Sir Handel and Peter Sam, his coaches and his work. When Edward goes to the works for repairs, Skarloey dozes off in the sunshine.

Sir Handel
The two new engines have arrived. Peter Sam is good natured, but Sir Handel is in a bad temper. The next morning, he insults the furious coaches by calling them cattle trucks and they get vengeance by holding back on a hill. The Thin Controller scolds Sir Handel, and he behaves until he is sent to work at the quarry one day. He purposely derails himself, and when he is put back on the rails, he is sent to the shed in disgrace.

Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady
While Sir Handel is left in the shed, Peter Sam has to do all the work himself. One day he has so much fun getting ready that he is late, and Henry threatens to leave without Peter Sam's passengers if it happens again. Peter Sam is so worried that at the lake he starts off without the Refreshment Lady. She is rather miffed, but bursts out laughing when she hears Peter Sam's story, and explains that Henry was joking. Peter Sam is furious, but Henry has wisely left.

Old Faithful
It is Market Day, and Peter Sam is away for maintenance, so Sir Handel has to take the coaches. They still do not trust him and when he has to stop suddenly they are bumped, so to pay him out they derail him at the points. Skarloey offers to take the train home, but a spring breaks and Skarloey tilts. Despite this, he braves the journey home, and the Owner sends him to be mended. Sir Handel then learns a lot from Skarloey about how to handle the coaches and hopes for him to come back soon.

Characters
Full book=

Full Book

 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Sir Charles Topham Hatt II

Characters Introduced

 * Skarloey
 * Sir Handel
 * Peter Sam
 * Agnes, Ruth, Lucy, Jemima and Beatrice
 * Sir Handel Brown II
 * Mr. Peter Sam
 * Refreshment Lady
 * Rheneas
 * Mrs. Last
 * -|Individual stories=

Skarloey Remembers

 * Edward
 * Skarloey
 * Agnes, Ruth, Lucy, Jemima and Beatrice
 * Rheneas
 * Sir Handel Brown II
 * Mrs. Last
 * Sir Handel
 * Sir Charles Topham Hatt II
 * Peter Sam

Sir Handel

 * Gordon
 * Sir Handel
 * Peter Sam
 * Agnes, Ruth, Lucy, Jemima and Beatrice
 * Mr. Peter Sam
 * Skarloey

Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady

 * Henry
 * Skarloey
 * Sir Handel
 * Peter Sam
 * Agnes, Ruth, Lucy, Jemima and Beatrice
 * Refreshment Lady

Old Faithful

 * Skarloey
 * Sir Handel
 * Agnes, Ruth, Lucy, Jemima and Beatrice
 * Sir Handel Brown II
 * Mr. Peter Sam
 * James
 * Peter Sam

Locations
Full book=

Full Book

 * Crovan's Gate
 * Skarloey Engine Sheds
 * The Thin Controller's House
 * Crovan's Gate Works
 * Cros-ny-Cuirn
 * Glennock
 * Glennock School
 * Wayside Halt
 * Skarloey
 * Skarloey Slate Quarry
 * -|Individual stories=

Skarloey Remembers

 * Crovan's Gate
 * Skarloey Engine Sheds
 * Crovan's Gate Works
 * Cros-ny-Cuirn
 * Glennock
 * Glennock School
 * Wayside Halt

Sir Handel

 * Crovan's Gate
 * Skarloey Engine Sheds
 * Cros-ny-Cuirn
 * Skarloey Slate Quarry

Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady

 * Crovan's Gate
 * Skarloey Engine Sheds
 * Glennock
 * Skarloey

Old Faithful

 * Crovan's Gate
 * Skarloey Engine Sheds
 * The Thin Controller's House
 * Cros-ny-Cuirn

Trivia

 * This is the first book between Edward the Blue Engine and Percy the Small Engine not adapted in the second series, following the sequence of books, despite some stories and some books being adapted out of order, also, this is the only book (along with the Henry and the Elephant and Paint Pots and Queens story) illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby to only be adapted to the fourth series.
 * Skarloey Remembers was based on the fact that Talyllyn was left in an open-air shed - to make room in the main shed for Sir Haydn and Edward Thomas - until it left the railway to be overhauled in 1957.
 * In Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady, Jemima is revealed to be deaf.
 * Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady was inspired by an incident that occurred on the Talyllyn Railway. However, it was not the engine's fault but the fault of the guard - who happened to be the Rev. W. Awdry - and the woman left behind was in fact the driver's mother-in-law.
 * At the end of Old Faithful, there is a short message about the Talyllyn Railway; "If you have enjoyed these stories, you will enjoy a visit to the Tal-y-llyn Railway at Towyn in Wales."
 * Sir Handel's derailments in this book were inspired by a frequent occurrence with his basis, Sir Haydn, who kept falling between the rails of the Talyllyn Railway due to the trackwork being half an inch wider than 2'3" to accommodate Talyllyn and Dolgoch's long wheelbases.
 * This is the first book that Thomas does not appear in since his introduction in Thomas the Tank Engine.
 * The events of this book took place in 1952.
 * This book was published in the same year that Ted Robbins, who narrated most Railway Series books by Christopher Awdry, was born.

Goofs

 * The majority of this book is centered on Skarloey, Sir Handel and Peter Sam despite its title.
 * In Skarloey Remembers:
 * In the second illustration, the engines' numberplates are oversized.
 * In the third and fourth illustrations, some of the coaches have too many windows and panels.
 * In the seventh illustration, Skarloey's wheels are missing.
 * In the first illustration of Sir Handel, the brick part of the engine sheds appears smaller than later illustrations.
 * In Sir Handel and Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady, Agnes is a third-class coach.
 * In Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady:
 * In the second illustration, no sidings can be seen behind the sheds.
 * In the third illustration, Henry has no handrails on the side of his boiler.
 * In Old Faithful:
 * Sir Handel's face changes size in the second illustration. The bridge at Crovan's Gate Wharf is also red in this illustration, but changes to blue in the sixth illustration.
 * In the fourth illustration, Skarloey is pulling five coaches instead of four.
 * In the last illustration, Skarloey is not crooked.

In Other Languages
Cuatro Pequeñas Locomotoras ארבעה קטרים קטנים 4だいの小さな機関車 Cztery Małe Lokomotywy (książka) Четыре маленьких паровозика