When Gordon came to Sodor, he originally competed for the Sodor Cup, even winning the tournament.[1] He even once held a speed record from Peel Godred to Norramby Beach.[2]
Personality[]
Gordon is a wise engine who supervises the other engines. He likes to see others happy and help the younger engines with his superior strength, but not when they are disobeying his expectations. Gordon is shown to have an interest in bird watching.[3]
Gordon's boastful personality has been toned down significantly compared to the original show. While he stills remains stern, grumpy, and easily annoyed, he no longer belittles the smaller engines. Additionally, unlike Diesel or James, Gordon's arrogant traits are almost dropped completely. However, his egotistical personality can be seen in episodes such as The Super-Long Shortcut and Carly's Screechy Squeak.
Technical Details[]
Basis[]
Gordon is based on a prototype of the GNR Gresley A1 Pacifics, of which Flying Scotsman (his brother in the original series) is the sole surviving example. Unlike his basis - and his appearance in the original series - Gordon is a 2-6-2 in All Engines Go!, therefore making him look more like an LNER Gresley Class V2, of which Green Arrow (his cousin in the original Railway Series) is the sole surviving example.
Gresley A1
Green Arrow, a V2's wheel configuration inspiration for Gordon in All Engines Go.
Livery[]
Gordon is painted bright blue with red lining. His windows are outlined in yellow, and he has the number 4 painted in yellow and red on his tender.
In the US dub, Gordon is voiced by Neil Crone, who also voiced him in the 2000 movie, Thomas and the Magic Railroad. As such, Gordon is the only character whose voice actor reprises their role from a previous iteration of the franchise.
Gordon was the first engine to be confirmed to return for the reboot aside from Thomas himself. This unintentionally mirrors the original show, in which Gordon was the first engine to be introduced by name after Thomas.
In the original series, Gordon was a part of both the original and reformed Steam Team. However, in All Engines Go, he is not a part of the main cast and is the most recurring secondary/supporting character.
All Engines Go portrays Gordon as the one responsible for managing trains and deliveries on the Island of Sodor, as opposed to Sir Topham Hatt as with the original series.
Gordon is the only engine introduced in the first Railway Series book (Edward, Henry, and himself) who still speaks.
As revealed in a storyboard for the test animation, Gordon originally lacked his tender, and had a completely red footplate.
Since Gordon's last appearance in Thomas and Friends, he gained notable changes in his design:
His boiler is considerably larger.
He lost a set of leading wheels, making him a 2-6-2 rather than a 4-6-2.
His tender is now connected with buffers and chain-link couplings.
He is missing a gap in his tender for coal to come through.
He now has dark blue irises.
His handrails have been removed.
His brake pipe has been removed.
He lost a headlamp, giving him the freight headcode like the original series up until the twenty-third season.
His safety valves have been removed.
His buffers are smaller.
He is now much taller.
Only the first half of his running board remains grey, while the rest of it is now red.
His cab is no longer open.
He has a new whistle which is a stock sound effect.
His whistle vector has a slightly different design compared to the other steam engines, making him one of four engines to have different whistle designs. The others being Edward, Henry, and James.
Even though Gordon has an express route in All Engines Go, the series has yet to include his express coaches from the original series.
Rick Suvalle has stated that the absence of Gordon's express coaches in AEG is due to Gordon's role as the "boss" of deliveries, and because Gordon often contributes to the deliveries he instructs, it would be harder to see his delivery if it was behind one of his coaches.[4]
