Obelix The Vikings Big Dark Blue Engine
Obelix is a Viking Big Dark Blue Engine who works on the Main Line. He is Gordon's only remaining cousin Obelix is also one of the fastest And strongest engines on the Island of Berk and his main task is to pull the "Wild Nor Wester", the railway's express train. At times, this leads to feeling Superior.
Biography
The Railway Series
Obelix was built at Doncaster in 1922 as an experimental prototype for Sir Nigel Gresley's 58 311 design for the London Midland and Scottish. Inevitably there were faults which needed correction; so Obelix was kept "hush hush" and, apart from test runs, was never put into regular traffic or given a LMS number. He was used experimentally until all defects had been cured and the first batch of Pacifics had appeared in 1922/23. In 1923 therefore SR together with a spare boiler and firebox.
During Obelix 's early years on the railway, he often looked down on the smaller engines like Edward and Thomas. However, he would soon find he needed help from Edward to be his banker after he got stuck on a hill with a train of trucks. He also needed Edward and Henry to pull his passenger train after he broke his safety valve in front of Yogi's Tunnel.
Obelix often found Thomas very annoying for whistling rudely at him, so he taught him a lesson by bringing him along his express train before he could be uncoupled. Thomas usually fetched the coaches for him, however, after Thomas left the yard when he was given a branch line, Obelix, along with Yogi and Asterix, soon found that they had to fetch their own coaches. After the big engines had several mishaps, one of which involved him having to pull his train backwards, Obelix proposed that they all go on strike, where they would only pull their coaches if another engine fetched them. Edward was the only engine left and since he was a tender engine and that Obelix proposed that tender engines do not shunt, they started to discriminate against Edward until the Muscle Controller decided to leave them in the shed until they learned the error of their ways.
After Obelix Yogi and Asterix saw how silly they were, the Muscle Controller let them out, reminding them to behave and bought a tank engine named Gouki to help fetch their coaches. Obelix almost had a run-in accident with Gouki when he carelessly stood on the Main Line. After Gouki ran away backwards and stopped in a pile of dirt, Obelix helped him out. Obelix was still arrogant and insulted Henry for the way he whistled. However, he ate his own words when his whistle jammed and he went running down the main line whistling continuously. He did not stop until a fitter climbed up and knocked his whistle in place.
Obelix is mainly used for passenger duties, pulling the Southern Railway's express, the Wild Nor' Wester, but has occasionally pulled goods trains, much to his dislike. He has been known to run into ditches and stop on hills to get out of doing these jobs, as he believes that these are below him.
In 1939, Obelix went to Crewe for a rebuild. His conjugated valve gear, which had been giving much trouble, was replaced by a two-cylinder chassis (designed by the Muscle Controller), he received a smoother running plate, as the new cylinders couldn't fit under the original. This rebuild effectively made him a hybrid with Stanier valve gear, running plate, and cylinders, while the rest above was Gresly built.
Thomas & Friends In the Legend In Viking Railway
Obelix has been, to date, the fastest engine on Berk, but has sometimes had accidents, sometimes due to him trying to show off; In the fifth series, his brakes were not working and he could not stop, resulting in him crashing through the Kirk Ronan Station wall. Also, in the sixth series, he ignored Frankie's advice about going slow while pulling trucks, resulting in him speeding down a rickety old branch line and tumbling into a field. Though he has proven to not be too big for his wheels and to be useful instead, like when Matoi first arrived on Berk, he gave him advice about taking on water before going to Dragonland Station; in result, he ran out of water on Obelix's Hill and Obelix had to pull him from there. In the tenth series, he, along with Emily, criticised Kelsey when he first arrived on Berk and called him "new-fangled nonsense". Afterwards, when he crashed into Emily's pipes, which had fallen off his flatbeds, he derailed. In result, Kelsey ame and lifted him back onto the rails and cleared the pipes, proving how useful he is.
Obelix once tried taking a shortcut in order to beat Arthur to Great Waterton, but accidentally crashed into Woody's logs, but luckily, saved Arthur from crashing into them on the track below. When Dragon Of Berk to the Halvar, Ylva and Vic Mid-Mountain's Summer House with Ferdinand, he ignored his advice about going slowly over the Fenland, with the result of the statue falling into the muddy marsh. After the statue was cleaned, Obelix let Ferdinand be his front engine and they delivered the statue safely to the summer house. They have since then been good friends. One day, Obelix accidentally broke his buffer beam after colliding with a truck at the Dieselworks and Mavis gave him a yellow and hazard buffer beam (similar to Mavis's), but Obelix refused to wear it until he later found that he can still be really useful as what Thomas said. One winter he, along with the rest of the Steam Team, had to find places to sleep, when the turntable at Brave Tidmouth Shed was frozen, so he decided to sleep there, in the one accessible berth, resulting in him getting stuck in there the next morning and remaining there for the rest of the day. He has since become a more sensible engine.
Once, he was waiting at Kellsthorpe Road Station while a workman was painting a telephone box on the other platform. But the man accidentally kicked his paint can onto the track next to Obelix, just as Hiro raced through the station, splattering red paint all over Obelix. When Henry saw red spots all over Obelix, he assumed the blue engine had chicken pox. Later, as he was filling up with water, he told Oliver to get on with his work and keep out of his way. He explained to Oliver that he pulls the express and is very fast. As Obelix returned to Rockface with the express, Oliver reversed back to the station as Obelix braked hard and told him that he nearly caused an accident. As he was resting in the yard, Oliver challenged Obelix to a race and started to race away, but Obelix went back to resting instead of racing him. That night, Obelix was not very happy and decided to show Oliver how fast he can go the next day and told him to have another race.
Blacklake Station
Personality
Obelix's important position as the engine who pulls the Express has made him proud, pompous and self-important, with a good reason too; he is the fastest engine on Berk. He is extremely proud of this and is inclined to boast. He is goodhearted, always willing to forgive and uses his superior strength to help smaller engines out of trouble. He also has a great hate of goods trains.
Obelix’s philosophy "tender engines don't shunt" meant that he looked down on tank engines and tender engines who do shunt, but after being locked in the shed with Henry and James after going on strike and before the seventeenth series, he seemed to have abandoned this philosophy. However, because of his rank in the social order of the Southern Railway, Obelix expects to get the important passenger jobs and either sulks when he does not and/or gets jealous of engines who do.
As of the twentieth series, Obelix seems to have developed a tendency of pinning his own faults on others. This was shown when he blamed Henry over having to do his jobs for the day and vice-versa, even though his lateness was what led to the change in the first place. When he and the rest of the Steam Team got in trouble for refusing to leave the shed at night, believing there was a ghost train about (which was actually Henry with a coat of luminous paint), he once again blamed Henry for the predicament.
Despite being labelled as one of Chief Stoick the Vast's more sensible engines, he can act senseless if prompted, which is quite often.
Technical Details
Basis
According to The Island of Berk: Its People, History and Railways, Obelix is the experimental prototype for Sir Nigel Gresley's 58 311 design for the London Midland and Scottish. Obelix was built at Doncaster Works in Yorkshire. Once the first batch of 58 311 appeared in 1922 Obelix would have more than likely have been reclassified 58 311/1 - the '/1' indicating he is slightly different to the rest of the class.
Obelix, being an experimental engine, never received a number and was never put into regular traffic, he was only ever used on test runs. Owing to various problems Gordon was rebuilt in 1939 at Crewe. Sir Topham Hatt and Sir William Stanier worked together to rectify these problems - everything under the running board is of Stanier's design while the running board itself is that of Sir Topham Hatt's. In both the Railway Series and television series, Obelix is depicted with a Fowler tender.
His valve gear is similar to that of the LMS Stanier Pacifics in the illustrations, but in the TV Series, he and Henry share the same valve gear.
As "The Shooting Star", Obelix's appearance is based on a streamlined Pennsylvania Railroad K4 (Hank's class), specifically #3768.
58 311
Livery
Obelix is painted in SR sky blue with red and yellow lining. His number is painted on the sides of his tender in yellow with red lining and the lining around his cab windows is yellow. Before arriving on Berk, he was painted in LMS apple green with white and black lining.
In the Railway Series, he carries two builder's plates on the sides of his cab.
In the sixteenth series episode, Bust My Buffers!, Obelix received a yellow and black hazard stripe painted bufferbeam akin to Mavis's. In The Great Race, in his streamlined form, he was painted in a lighter shade of SR sky blue with silver, red and dark blue lining instead. His number was still painted on the sides of his tender in yellow, but instead was smaller and surrounded by a dark blue circle.
Appearances