![]() Edward tries to pull the train, but cannot. Gordon is pulling the Express when he bursts his safety valve outside Henry's Tunnel. Eventually, they have him bricked up, and they bore a new tunnel. His crew, the passengers, another engine and even the Fat Director try to get him to move, but to no avail. ![]() One rainy day, Henry stops in a tunnel and refuses to move. At the top of the hill, Gordon races ahead, and Edward gets puffed out but is pleased with the prospect of a new coat of paint. ![]() Gordon deliberately stalls at a hill and Edward comes as a "banker". Gordon is bragging about pulling the express, but while Edward is shunting Gordon comes past with a long goods train. Edward goes to get some coaches, and, after a few moments of panic waiting for the guard, they start off and Edward has an enjoyable day. The big engines are teasing Edward that he will not be allowed out because he is too weak, but when the driver sees him upset he offers to take him out. I feel very privileged, not only to have been asked to write it but to have the chance to dedicate the stories to the memory of my father, their creator. Now, for this new edition, more than 50 years later, a foreward is thought appropriate. Twenty-five books were to follow, all with forewords, in a sequence that became known as The Railway Series and yet, despite numerous reprintings, the little book that started the wheels turning remained without a preface. Within six months, however, it became clear that the book wasn't going to be the slight affair that had perhaps been expected. When The Three Railway Engines was first published in May 1945, a foreword to it was probably not considered. ![]()
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