Redid Thomas and Edward's pre-NWR designs because they've been on the brain again lately ✨
Some lore tidbits below 👇
Thomas: Appears to be an amnesiac, unable to remember much about himself aside from his first name, and that he's lived on the streets for some time. Isn't even entirely sure about his own age, Edward estimates he's around 18-20. Hitch-hiked across the railway until he ended up in Barrow where Edward caught him rummaging for scraps of food. Joined Edward as his fireman to help the latter get to Sodor in exchange for a hot meal and ended up sticking around. Has a stolen LBSC sweater and when questioned by Sir Topham why a supposed FR fireman was wearing such a thing, Thomas quickly came up with some tale that it belonged to his "old man" who gave it to him for good luck. Hatt was non the wiser that Thomas wasn't even supposed to be there until it came to light that FR weren't interested in Edward (or his loco) returning. Initially distrustful of anyone that wasn't Edward, it wasn't until about a year after Henry arrived that Thomas finally started feeling safe with opening up to others.
Edward: Has made a name for himself on the Furness Railway for being followed by a string of bad luck, either running late, breaking down or in some need of rescuing. Coworkers have taken to calling him "Shy-steam", "worst driver on the railway" or "a fireman's worst nightmare". Edward believes that the only reason he was chosen to go to Sodor was so that he could "be someone else's problem instead". The night Edward was supposed to take his train across the bridge his fireman was a no show, leaving Edward stranded. Edward was pretty sure he was about to be fired if he failed this task, and during his panicked pacing stumbles across Thomas digging through the bins. Edward takes pity on him and offers him part of the sandwich he'd packed for the journey, and even offers him a hot meal if Thomas helps him get his train across the bridge. He feels guilty asking such a thing, but it works out in the end as Thomas ends up sticking around and the two become great friends with Edward teaching Thomas everything there is to know about working with steam engines until the day Sir Topham mysteriously got his hands on a little tank engine that was in need of a driver.
