The Little Engine That Could is an American folktale (existing in the form of several illustrated children's books and films) that became widely known in the United States after publication in 1930 by Platt & Munk. The story is used to teach children the value of optimism and hard work. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". [1]
The story's signature phrases such as "I think I can" first occurred in print in a 1902 article in a Swedish journal. [2] An early published version of the story, "Story of the Engine That Thought It Could", appeared in the New-York Tribune on April 8, 1906, as part of a sermon by the Rev. Charles S. Wing. [2]
A brief version of the tale appeared under the title Thinking One Can in 1906, in Wellspring for Young People, a Sunday school publication. [2] This version reappeared in a 1910 book, Foundation Stones of Success. [2]
Another version was published under the name "The Pony Engine" in the Kindergarten Review in 1910, written by Mary C. Jacobs. [2] A different version with the same title appeared in a magazine for children in 1916 under the name of Mabel C. Bragg, a teacher. [3] She introduced new events to the story, such as the train's kid-friendly cargo, but she "took no credit for originating the story". [2] [3]
The story first appeared in print with the title The Little Engine That Could in 1920, collected in Volume I of My Book House, which is a set of books sold in the U.S. by door-to-door salespersons. [2] The Book House version began: "Once there was a Train-of-Cars; she was flying across the country with a load of Christmas toys for the children who lived on the other side of the mountain". [2] The story was labeled, [4] as told by Olive Beaupré Miller, that the first edition gave credit to Bragg, but subsequent editions did not as Miller subsequently concluded that "the story belonged to the realm of folk literature". [2] Miller was the founding editor and publisher of The Book House for Children, a company based in Chicago.
The best known incarnation of the story "The Little Engine That Could" was written by "Watty Piper" in 1930, a pen name of Arnold Munk, who was the owner of the publishing firm Platt & Munk. [3] Munk used the name Watty Piper as both an author of children's books and as the editor of many of the books that Platt & Munk published. He personally hired Lois Lenski to illustrate the book. This retelling of the tale "The Pony Engine" appeared in 1930, with a title page that stated: "Retold by Watty Piper from The Pony Engine by Mabel C. Bragg's copyrighted by George H. Doran and Co." [2]
In 1954, Platt & Munk published another version of The Little Engine That Could, with slightly revised language and new, more colorful illustrations by George and Doris Hauman. [5] Although there had been many previous editions of this classic story, "it was the work of George and Doris Hauman that earned The Little Engine the title of being worthy to sit on the same shelf as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ". [5] A 1976 reworking that featured art by Ruth Sanderson received a lot of attention at the time of its release, in part because it prompted a discussion of gender stereotypes. [5]
In the tale, a long train must be pulled over a high mountain after its locomotive breaks down. Larger locomotives, treated anthropomorphically, are asked to pull the train; for various reasons they refuse. The request is sent to a small engine, who agrees to try. Despite the steep climb and heavy load, the engine slowly succeeds in pulling the train over the mountain while repeating the motto: "I-think-I-can".
The story of the little engine has been told and retold many times. The underlying theme is the same—a stranded train is unable to find an engine willing to take it on over difficult terrain to its destination. Only the little engine is willing to try and, while repeating the mantra "I think I can, I think I can", overcomes a seemingly impossible task.
An early version goes as follows:
A little railroad engine was employed about a station yard for such work as it was built for, pulling a few cars on and off the switches. One morning it was waiting for the next call when a long train of freight-cars asked a large engine in the roundhouse to take it over the hill. "I can't; that is too much a pull for me", said the great engine built for hard work. Then the train asked another engine, and another, only to hear excuses and be refused. In desperation, the train asked the little switch engine to draw it up the grade and down on the other side. "I think I can", puffed the little locomotive, and put itself in front of the great heavy train. As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can".
As it neared the top of the grade, which had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly. However, it still kept saying, "I—think—I—can, I—think—I—can". It reached the top by drawing on bravery and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself by saying, "I thought I could, I thought I could".
A Disney version of the story was published in 1976:
The story begins with a toy-filled train pulled by a small red engine on its way to a town on the other side of a mountain but the engine shortly breaks down upon reaching the mountain. The toy clown flags down other engines to help them: a shiny yellow passenger engine and a big black freight engine. The shiny passenger engine and big freight engine both refuse to help. Finally, a little blue engine arrives. Although she is simply a switcher engine and has never been over the mountain, she agrees to help pull the train. In the end, she was able to successfully reach the top of the mountain before slowly heading down towards the town.
Later versions would revamp the story to have a more specific appeal for children – the stranded train is recast as a train of good food and anthropomorphic toys for the children across the mountain, thus in saving the train the little engine seems to be working for the benefit of the child reader, making the successful deed all the more triumphant.
In these versions another character appeared and remained a key part of the story hereafter – the clown ringleader of the toys who attempts to find help with several locomotives but is rebuffed. The number of engines in the story also eventually became standard across the tellings: The happy locomotive on the toy train who breaks down and cannot go on, the pompous passenger engine who considers himself too grand for the task and the powerful freight engine who views himself as too important. The little blue engine always appears last and, although perhaps reluctant (some editions have the engine clarify her role as a switcher not suited for excursions), always rises to the occasion and saves the day for the children over the mountain.
Each engine is defined by its appearance or function and is not given a name or personality beyond its role on the railroad. It is only in the 1991 film adaption that the engines' personalities are expanded on, including the granting of names: Farnsworth (the express engine), Pete (the freight engine), Georgia (the friendly engine of the toy train), and Tillie, the titular "little engine that could". The clown was also named "Rollo" and a sixth engine character, Doc, appeared briefly to recover the broken-down Georgia and thus tie up the hanging story-thread of what happened to the failed engine of the toy train, which all other versions leave unaddressed. The 2011 adaptation expanded the storyline, this time with the little engine now working in DreamLand with Rusty (an old steam engine) alongside other Dream Haulers, trains that carried dreams to the real world while the original personalities of the previous locomotives absent from this version.
The tale with its easy-to-grasp moral has become a classic children's story and was adapted in January 1991 as a 30-minute animated film [6] produced in the United Kingdom and co-financed in the United Kingdom and the United States. The film named the famous little engine Tillie and expanded the narrative into a larger story of self-discovery.
In March 2011, the story was adapted as a 3-D film named The Little Engine That Could , produced by Universal Studios and featuring the voices of Whoopi Goldberg, Jamie Lee Curtis, Alyson Stoner, and Corbin Bleu. [7]
Burl Ives recorded the story told as a song "The Little Engine That Could" written by Gerald Marks and Milton Pascal with an orchestra directed by Percy Faith. [8] The song was released on the album Burl Ives Sings Little White Duck and Other Children's Favorites in 1964.
From 2005 to 2008, a full-size replica of the Little Engine That Could made an annual circuit around the United States. Arranged through Rail Events, Inc., a number of tourist and museum railroad operations hosted the "I Think I Can" Rail Tour. [9] The replica was constructed in 2005 by the Strasburg Rail Road in southeast Pennsylvania who also constructed the Thomas the Tank Engine replicas that tour the United States. [10] The last tour was in 2008. [11] In 2009, the replica only appeared at the Texas State Railroad. [12] In 2011, the website for the tour said that there would be dates announced for that year, [13] but dates were never posted and the message was still present in 2012 until it went offline. [14] The last time the train ever operated was on September 16, 2012. [15] As of 2015, the replica is owned by the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, and has since been repainted to remove all references to the Little Engine That Could. It is currently displayed at the depot. [16] Reasons for why the tour stopped are unknown.
American toy company Whittle Shortline produces wooden toy trains of The Little Engine That Could as a domestic alternative to Thomas the Tank Engine . [17] Maxim Enterprise held the license prior to 2006.
A 1949 recording of the story by Paul Wing was inducted to the National Recording Registry in 2009. [26]
Railway modelling or model railroading is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale.
The William Crooks is a 4-4-0 steam locomotive that was the first locomotive to operate in the State of Minnesota, beginning in 1861. It was named after William Crooks, the Chief Mechanical Engineer for the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. He served as a colonel and commander of the 6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Crooks laid the initial 10-mile (16 km) track between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the William Crooks was the first locomotive to run on the line.
James the Red Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic red tender locomotive from The Railway Series children's books by the Reverend Awdry and the TV series adaptation Thomas & Friends. He has a 2-6-0 ("Mogul") wheel arrangement and is engine number 5 on the North Western Railway, the Fat Controller's railway on the Island of Sodor.
Notable examples of railways in fiction include:
The Railway Series is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. Twenty-six books were written by Awdry, the final one being written in October 1972. Sixteen more were written by his son, Christopher Awdry, between September 1983 and July 2011. The series features many anthropomorphic vehicles, including Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas became the most popular and famous character in the series and the titular character of the television series Thomas & Friends from 1984 to 2021. The children's television series originated as adaptations of these stories.
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The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is a railroad museum in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
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Wooden toy trains are toy trains that run on a wooden track system with grooves to guide the wheels of the rolling stock. While the trains, tracks and scenery accessories are made mainly of wood, the engines and cars connect to each other using metal hooks or small magnets, and some use plastic wheels mounted on metal axles. Some trains are made to resemble anthropomorphical, fictional, and prototypical railroad equipment.
The Little Engine That Could is a 1991 animated adventure film directed by Dave Edwards and co-produced by Edwards and Mike Young, animated at Kalato Animation in Wales and co-financed by Universal Pictures through their MCA/Universal Home Video arm and S4C, Wales' dedicated Welsh-language channel. It was released on VHS on November 22, 1991: 1993 new Name! by MCA/Universal Home Video. The film features the voice talents of Kath Soucie and Frank Welker. It is based on the 1930 book of the same name, by Watty Piper. The film was also syndicated in the US on broadcast television as an Easter special in March/April 1993.
Day Out with Thomas is a trade name, licensed by Mattel for tourist events that take place on heritage railways and feature one or more engines decorated to look like characters from the popular long-running classic British children's television series. The events are held around the world in Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. They include a full-day of activities for families in addition to rides on trains pulled by the iconic engine (Thomas).
Thomas the Tank Engine is an anthropomorphised fictional tank locomotive in the British Railway Series books by Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher, published from 1945. He became the most popular and famous character in the series, and is the titular protagonist in the accompanying television adaptation series Thomas & Friends and its reboot Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go.
"Down by the Station" is a popular song written by Paul Mills and Slim Gaillard and first recorded by The Slim Gaillard Trio in 1947. The song was most famously recorded by Tommy Dorsey in 1948.
Chuggington is a British-animated television series aimed at pre-school children, produced by Ludorum plc and Herschend Entertainment Studios. It is broadcast on the BBC's CBeebies channel and other channels internationally. Originally composed of five series running from 2008 to 2021.
The Little Engine That Could is a 2011 American direct-to-video animated adventure film based on the 1930 story by Watty Piper. The film stars the voices of Alyson Stoner, Whoopi Goldberg, Corbin Bleu, Jodi Benson, Patrick Warburton and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Thomas & Friends is a media franchise created by Rev. W. Awdry and Britt Allcroft. The franchise revolves around a railway, called the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. The current title character of the franchise is Thomas, an anthropomorphised steam locomotive, who works with other engines, including Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby and many others. The franchise began with stories told from Wilbert Awdry to his son. In 1984, it was turned into a television series, which spawned a reboot series, titled Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go.
Charlie the Choo-Choo: From the World of The Dark Tower is a children's book by Stephen King, published under the pseudonym Beryl Evans. The story was written by Stephen King and published in King's previous novel The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands: the book is found by Jake in chapter 22. The story is intended to be creepy and give children nightmares. It was published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on November 11, 2016. The book appears in the first episode of the Apple TV+ miniseries Lisey's Story (2021).
Mary Catherine Goslin Jacobs was an American horticulturalist and author, known for her story The Pony Engine, an early published version of The Little Engine that Could.