Watching Thomas & Friends and have a question: is there a prototype for the engine named Emily that has one huge driver on each side of the engine? I’m not that familiar with British steam.
Yes. http://www.nrm.org.uk/collections/loco/stirlingsingle.asp
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/GNR_Stirling_1_at_Doncaster_Works.jpg
Emily is based on the Great Northern (UK) Stirling single. Great Northern became one of the constituent parts of the London & Northeastern Railway (LNER) in 1923.
Andre
A few of tthese single drivered steam locomotives were used in the USA but the Sterling Single was mostly a British engine. The Sterling clan has this interesting section on their website devoted to photos of examples:
http://www.clanstirling.org/Main/lib/photos/StirlingSingleTrain-Design.html
Dave Nelson