| The Little Blue Engine | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Unknown |
|
First Appearance |
Story of the Engine That Thought It Could (April 8th, 1906) |
|
Original Publisher |
New-York Tribune |
|
Created by |
Charles S. Wing |
Origin[]
The Little Blue Engine is the titular blue switch engine in Walty Piper's The Little Engine That Could, known for her famous quote, “I think I can” - “I think I can”. She is seen after the Shiny New Engine, Big Strong Engine, & Rusty Old Engine all decline to help the toys & the Happy Little Engine, and despite her initial reluctance and lack of confidence, seeing the toys' desperation causes her to muster up the willpower to get them over the mountain, chuffing her famous catchphrase, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." She triumphs over the hill, earning the praise from the toys, as she chuffs steadily downhill chanting, "I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could."
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
All published appearances of The Little Engine published before January 1, 1931 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
- "Story of the Engine That Thought It Could"
- ”Thinking One Can” (1906)
- ”The Pony Engine” (1910)
- ”My Book House Vol.1 (1920)
- "The Little Engine That Could"
- The Little Engine That Could (1930)
Notes[]
- The most widely known version by Arnold "Watty Piper" Munk was published in 1930 by Platt & Munk.
- In the 1991 film, the blue engine is named Tillie.
- The Little Blue Engine appears to be based on M&SRR's "Middleburgh" 4-2-4T in her early years of service, minus the roof above the bunker. Alternatively, she resembles the famous "C.P. Huntington" locomotive (albeit with a diamond stack), which is currently on static display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California. It is worth noting that these locomotives had a very small water capacity (meaning a boiler explosion was very likely if the water level wasn't watched) and lacked much adhesion (meaning they couldn't pull very much on level ground, let alone up a hill)., This means much more when you consider that the Little Blue Engine topped the hill with a heavy train despite these flaws, practically risking her life to do so, when the other engines refused or were too tired.