RWS #38: Wilbert the Forest Engine

Another week, another set of reviews, starting off with Wilbert the Forest Engine!

THE OPINIONS, THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS IN THIS BLOG POST ARE SOLELY THOSE OF ZACK WANZER, NOT THE THOMAS FANDOM IN GENERAL

(special thanks to the Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia for the images)

The Railway Series Book #38

Wilbert the Forest Engine

Written by Christopher Awdry

Illustrated by Clive Spong

Published August 8, 1994

At one point, Wilbert Awdry was president of the Dean Forest Railway, and years later, in this honor, 3806 G. B. Keeling was renamed in Awdry's honor. And now, come 1994, Wilbert gets a book all to himself.

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

When Donald and Douglas feel overworked, the Fat Controller arranged to borrow an engine from the Dean Forest Railway named Wilbert. Percy is disappointed that he won't get see Wilbert, but one cold, wet day, the little green engine has a mishap with some poorly-sealed sacks of oatmeal, and he ends up covered in the resulting glop. As a result, Wilbert is instead rerouted to Thomas' branchline instead, although Percy is pleased to meet with him after all.

This story was actually written as an exercise in creative writing by a class at Abingdon School. However, why did Percy have to go to the works? They never mentioned if he was damaged in any way - was it his brakes? If they had, then Wilbert's presence on Thomas' branchline would make more sense. A nice story, but it has an obvious plot hole.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Cab Over Wheels

When Thomas tells him about his accident at the lead mines, Wilbert recalls a steelworks engine numbered Sixteen, who longed to got past a danger board at the tip. One wet day, Sixteen got his chance and blamed it on the trucks, even though he asked them to drag him on past the sign, but it's too late for him to get back on firm ground and ends up on his side. Afterwards, Sixteen was sent to the shed in disgrace, but luckily for him, he was saved for preservation and now works in the Midlands.

I've read a couple of reviews saying that Sixteen (and his story) are a rip-off to Godred (and Bad Look Out), and while I kind of see the similarities personality-wise, Sixteen at least had a happy ending. But then, the story does also take elements from Down the Mine and Percy Takes the Plunge, although the former had its events referenced - was Christopher taking ideas from his father? Yeah, this is definitely one of the lower quality RWS stories, even if the story has a natural flow in pacing.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Foaming at the Funnel

One of Percy's jobs is to take milk tankers from Toryreck to Knapford each morning. One day whilst on the job, Wilbert spends too much time talking with James, and so he has to take on water at the dairy. Unfortunately, the hosepipe puts milk instead of water in his tank - they had stopped at the wrong hosepipe! Wilbert's fire is put out, and Thomas takes him back to Ffarquhar where Wilbert's tank is given a thorough clean.

"You and Percy make a fine pair - he had the porridge, and you had the milk!" Yeah, I liked that line, although I'm not so sure how the driver and fireman could've mixed up the two hosepipes at Toryreck (the illustration shows that it's at Elsbridge). Further, in the fourth illustration, Wilbert was shown to have the milk tankers behind him and empty trucks in front of him, but in the previous page, he said he would leave the empty trucks in the dairy siding. Can we have consistency between the story and the illustrations, please? It's, again, a nice story, but the flaws really held the score back.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Wired-Up

After Percy returns from the works, Wilbert is finally sent to work on the Little Western where Duck, Oliver, and the Arlesdale engines make him feel welcome. One day, Wilbert is about to take some ballast trucks to Tidmouth, but a coupling gear on the front truck breaks off. Wilbert comes up with a clever idea by using a coil of wire looped around the hole and his coupling to shunt the truck away, before carrying on with the rest. The Fat Controller is pleased with Wilbert's performance and just knows where he'll find an engine like Wilbert.

Of the stories in this book, this is the least problematic. I'm not aware of any incidents where signal wire was used to shunt one truck onto a siding, but it could happen. As for the ending, it was never resolved as to whether or not the Fat Controller did eventually buy an Austerity tank engine since the books' run has come to an end...

Rating: 9 out of 10

Stray Observation

Good grief, what is up with Duck and Oliver in the second illustration of Wired-Up? Oliver has suddenly become a 0-6-0, and Duck is smaller than Oliver! And people criticize Arc for making Oliver too small...

Overall

After Henry and the Express, this book feels like a massive step down; there's one story with not enough originality, and the book in general was plagued with illustration and story goofs. As a character, Wilbert the tank engine doesn't really feel that interesting, it's like he's just... there for the sake of a book. Like I said in Wired-Up, the book on whole could've been a perfect build up to the Austerity engine's first days on Sodor. Instead, they gave us nothing, and it makes the book feel... pointless.

Now, I wish to emphasize that I do not hate Christopher's writing; he is a good writer, but what I'm trying to say here is that nobody's perfect - so far, three of his books have received ratings lower than 8/10, and Wilbert only had one book (James the Red Engine) lower than 8/10. This book was good, but it wasn't great.

Overall Book Rating: 7.6 out of 10

The Railway Series Scorecard

1. The Three Railway Engines: 8.4

2. Thomas the Tank Engine: 9
3. James the Red Engine: 7.5
4. Tank Engine Thomas Again: 9.5
5. Troublesome Engines: 8.1
6. Henry the Green Engine: 8.4
7. Toby the Tram Engine: 9
8. Gordon the Big Engine: 8.6
9. Edward the Blue Engine: 9.3
10. Four Little Engines: 8.8
11. Percy the Small Engine: 8.9
12. The Eight Famous Engines: 8.8
13. Duck and the Diesel Engine: 8.5
14. The Little Old Engine: 8.9
15. The Twin Engines: 9.1
16. Branch Line Engines: 9.3
17. Gallant Old Engine: 9.3
18. Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine: 8.5

19. Mountain Engines: 8.9
20. Very Old Engines: 9.1
21. Main Line Engines: 9
22. Small Railway Engines: 9.3
23. Enterprising Engines: 9.5
24. Oliver the Western Engine: 8.9
25. Duke the Lost Engine: 9.4
26. Tramway Engines: 9.1
27. Really Useful Engines: 8.3
28. James and the Diesel Engines: 7.5
29. Great Little Engines: 9
30. More About Thomas the Tank Engine: 8.5
31. Gordon the High-Speed Engine: 9.3
32. Toby, Trucks and Trouble: 9.1
33. Thomas and the Twins: 9.3
34. Jock the New Engine: 7.9
35. Thomas and the Great Railway Show: 8.5
36. Thomas Comes Home: 8.6
37. Henry and the Express: 9.4
38. Wilbert the Forest Engine: 7.6