Wilbert the Forest Engine

"You and Percy make a fine pair. He had the porridge and you had the milk."

- Thomas to Wilbert

Wilbert the Forest Engine is the thirty-eighth book of The Railway Series.

Foreword
Dear Friends, Wilbert works in Gloucestershire, on the Dean Forest Railway. He kept asking if he could meet Thomas and at last the Fat Controller managed to arrange it. The visit was not without its mishaps, but I know that Wilbert enjoyed himself. We hope that you will enjoy the stories of his adventures on the Island of Sodor as much as he and the other engines did. The Author

Percy's Porridge
Donald and Douglas are exhausted, so the Fat Controller arranges to borrow an engine, Wilbert, from the Dean Forest Railway. Percy is disappointed to hear Wilbert may not come to Thomas' Branch Line, but forgets it when the weather becomes cold and wet. One day at Elsbridge, the stationmaster and a porter are stacking poorly-sealed sacks of oatmeal on the platform. When Percy comes in, some sacks fall on the ground, scattering oatmeal everywhere. Percy runs into the sacks and is covered in the resulting glop and Wilbert is quickly re-routed to Thomas' branch line to take Percy's place.

Cab Over Wheels
Wilbert's first job is at the lead mines. Thomas warns him to follow the rules as he disobeyed the rules once, but Wilbert, who once worked in a colliery, knows what to do and proceeds to tell the engines the story of Sixteen, a bored engine who worked at a steelworks taking trucks of slag to a place called the "tip". Sixteen wanted to go past a "danger" board and despite several warnings not to, managed to do so one wet day, attributing it to the trucks. Sixteen's fireman was told to shunt him back, but it was too late: some unsafe rails tilted and Sixteen landed on his side on the ground. He was sent to the shed in disgrace, but, luckily for him, he was bought by a preservation society and now works in the Midlands.

Foaming at the Funnel
There is a dairy at Toryreck. Wilbert is given the job of taking milk tankers to Knapford each morning. One day, he spends too much time talking to James at Knapford and has to take on water at the dairy. Unfortunately, he stops at the wrong hosepipe and instead of water being poured into his tank, milk flows in. Thomas takes him back to Ffarquhar and Wilbert's tank is emptied out.

Wired-Up
Percy returns and Wilbert is sent to the Little Western, where Duck, Oliver and the small engines make him welcome. One day, Wilbert is taking some ballast trucks to Tidmouth when the coupling gear on a truck falls off. Thinking quickly and with advice from Bert, Wilbert borrows a coil of wire and has it looped around the hole and his coupling. Wilbert gets home safely and when it is time for Wilbert to return to the Dean Forest Railway, the Fat Controller has no doubts about him.

Percy's Porridge

 * Percy
 * Wilbert
 * Sir Stephen Topham Hatt III
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Thomas
 * Toby
 * Daisy

Cab Over Wheels

 * Thomas
 * Toby
 * Wilbert
 * Sixteen

Foaming at the Funnel

 * Thomas
 * James
 * Wilbert
 * Annie and Clarabel

Wired-Up'

 * Wilbert
 * Bert
 * Sir Stephen Topham Hatt III
 * Percy
 * Duck
 * Oliver
 * Mike
 * Jock
 * Thomas
 * Toby
 * Daisy
 * Henrietta
 * Rex
 * The Austerity Engine

Locations

 * Island of Sodor
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Ffarquhar
 * Ffarquhar Sheds
 * The Carriage Shed
 * Elsbridge
 * St. Pedroc's Dairy
 * Arlesburgh West
 * Arlesburgh West Ballast Chute
 * Knapford
 * Knapford Sheds
 * Knapford Harbour
 * The Lead Mines
 * River Els
 * The Little Western
 * Crosby Tunnel
 * The Mainland
 * Dean Forest Railway

Trivia

 * Percy's Porridge was written as an exercise in creative writing by a class at Abingdon School and therefore the book is dedicated to them.
 * This was the last book of a few things:
 * The last book to have narration done by Ted Robbins as well as the last book to have narration audio released altogether.
 * The last book of The Railway Series where Thomas appears in all four stories.
 * The last appearance of Oliver, the Arlesdale Railway and its engines in The Railway Series.
 * Cab Over Wheels bears some resemblance to "Down the Mine" and "Percy Takes the Plunge". Furthermore, Thomas makes a reference to the former story when he warns Wilbert about the Danger notice.
 * In Wired Up, Bert makes a reference to "Sticking Power".
 * The events of this book take place in 1993.
 * This is Wilbert's only appearance.
 * This book was a request by the Dean Forest Railway, of which Wilbert Awdry was then President.
 * Foaming at the Funnel was based on a story that George Awdry told to Christopher Awdry.
 * Christopher Awdry can be seen signing this book during The Making of Thomas the Tank Engine at a Day Out With Thomas Event and was seen in both the original feature in 1994 and later the following year.

Goofs

 * In the fourth illustration of "Foaming at the Funnel", Wilbert has milk tankers behind him and empty trucks in front of him. In the previous page, Wilbert said he would leave the empty trucks in the dairy siding.
 * In the second illustration of "Wired-Up", Oliver appears with his side rods continuing past his second pair of wheels, implying that he is not an 0-4-2 but an 0-6-0. In the same illustration, Oliver's wheel splashers are blocks and not curved and Duck appears to be smaller than Oliver.
 * In the sixth illustration of "Wired-up", Wilbert's coupling rod is coloured black instead of grey.
 * In "Foaming at the Funnel", it mentions that the dairy is at Toryreck, but it is at Elsbridge.

Wilbert, la Locomotora del Bosque וילברט קטר היער Wilbert, Leśna Lokomotywa