Toby the Tram Engine

Toby the Tram Engine
Author	Wilbert Awdry
Illustrator	C. Reginald Dalby
Publication date	July 26, 1952-Present
Published by	Egmont Publishing Edmund Ward
Publication Order
Preceded by Henry the Green Engine	Followed by Gordon the Big Engine

Toby the Tram Engine is the seventh book in The Railway Series.

Foreword

Dear Friends,

Poor Thomas has been in trouble. So Sir Topham Hatt asked Toby to come and help run the Branch Line. Thomas and Toby are very good friends.

Toby is a funny little engine with a queer shape. He works very hard and we are fond of him. We hope you will like him, too.

The Author

Stories

Toby and the Stout Gentleman

Toby works on a tramway with his coach, Henrietta who had fewer passengers. One day, a stout gentleman and his grandchildren go to the tramway and notices Toby. The tram engine gives them rides although being offended by the stout gentleman's daughter for calling him "electric". The stout gentleman thanks Toby and leaves with his grandchildren for a fortnight. Months passed, but Toby's tramway had to be closed down. But, next morning, Toby is awoken by his crew when they receive a letter from the stout gentleman.

Thomas in Trouble

Thomas surprises a policeman with his whistle coming down with stone trucks from the quarry at Ffarquhar. The policeman stubbornly tells Thomas that he's breaking the law by not wearing sideplates and cowcatchers at the front, but his driver says this is rubbish and Thomas has never had an accident. Sir Topham Hatt has to leave breakfast after being telephoned and his butler tells him that someone is on the telephone. The police said to the Fat Controller that the "law is the law" and aren't allowed to change it. A comment from Thomas made the Fat Controller an idea to send Toby down to Thomas' Branch Line. The two engines became good friends after Toby frightens the policeman who was rude to Thomas at the beginning with his new bell.

Dirty Objects

James makes some rude fun about Toby and Henrietta for having shabby paint. While Toby makes a snide comment about bootlaces, James has to collect a "slow goods" train which is to pick up and set down trucks. He bumps the train so badly that the Troublesome Trucks decided to pay him out. With a runaway made on Gordon's Hill, James crashes into two tar wagons at the bottom and both Percy and Toby help out with removing the trucks and James from the wreckage. Toby is given chocolate and blue paint by the Fat Controller who agreed with him that Henrietta should have one also and James to be cleaned immediately.

Mrs. Kyndley's Christmas

Mrs. Kyndley lives in a cottage near the line. Although she waves to Thomas every day, she can't wave more because she felt very ill. Thomas makes his way to Ffarquhar one rainy December morning when a red dressing-gown waving at a window stops him. With his driver and a doctor going up to see her, the fireman finds that her gown saved the train from crashing into a landslide near the mouth of the tunnel. With it being cleared up, Thomas and Toby hauled a special passenger train to her cottage. The Fat Controller offers her tickets to Bournemouth where she will recover from her illness for the time being.

Characters

• Thomas
• James
• Percy
• Toby
• The Fat Controller
• The Rude Policeman
• Annie and Clarabel
• Henrietta
• Stephen Hatt
• Bridget Hatt
• Mr. Kyndley
• Mrs. Kyndley
• The Policemen
• Lady Hatt (does not speak)

Trivia

• From this book now on, James's splashers are consistently painted with black lining.

Goofs

• Toby does not have eyebrows in the second-last picture of the book.
• In the first two illustrations of "Thomas in Trouble", the signpost spells Ffarquhar with one "F".
• Throughout "Mrs. Kyndley's Christmas", Thomas's valence is straight.
• In the first illustration of "Dirty Objects", James's wheel arches are missing their black lining.