Henry

Henry is a large mixed-traffic engine.

Persona
Henry is generally well-behaved, but he is occasionally arrogant and vain. Henry is at heart a hard worker, but his frequent bouts of illness hinder his work. His illness almost always involves his boiler having some sort of issue.

In the television series, Henry has been portrayed with a much kinder and softer personality. He has been shown as a nature-lover as evidenced in Henry's Forest. This personality carried on throughout the more recent seasons with Henry being occasionally a tree-hugging engine too as he tried to prevent the tall pine tree and the wishing tree from being cut down.

In the newer seasons, Henry is portrayed as not too bright, and sometimes really worrisome, as shown in multiple episodes.

Basis
Henry's history is unusual. He was built from rejected plans for Sir Nigel Gresley's A1. The plans were stolen from Gresley by a rival. The resulting engine was a mix of a GNR A1 Pacific and a GNR C1 Atlantic, with a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement. Henry in this shape developed performance issues from flaws in the design, compounded by his stay in the tunnel. Henry was a "bad steamer": with good-quality coal he could get enough heat to make plenty of steam, but when there was a poor lot delivered, his undersized firebox could not hold enough coal to make a proper fire. On advice from Henry's fireman, the Fat Controller ordered high-grade Welsh Coal, which made an appreciable difference in Henry's performance. When Henry suffered an accident and severe damage that winter, the opportunity was taken to send him to Crewe, where he was rebuilt an LMS Stanier 5MT "Black 5" 4-6-0. After "The Eight Famous Engines", Henry's LMS Stanier 5MT tender was replaced by a Fowler tender.

In the television series, Henry has always had a one-window cab and an LNER-style tender. The main difference between his shapes was removed splashers and the Belpaire firebox replacing the tapered.

Appearances
Season 1 (shorts) : To much puff and not enough steam