Gordon is a blue 4-6-2 (#Pacific# wheel arrangement) steam engine with the number 4 painted on his tender. Gordon first appeared in the 1st book in Reverend Wilbert Awdry#s The Railway Series, entitled #The Three Railway Engines,# in 1945 and two other books in the series are dedicated to him, No.8 #Gordon the Big Engine# and No.31 #Gordon the High Speed Engine.# He pulls the express coaches used on fast trains.