Buster/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
Buster is a fictional steamroller created by Phil Fehrle.

In 2006, Alfie made his debut in the Jack and the Sodor Construction Company episode, A Visit from Thomas. He later appeared in the special, The Great Discovery.

Buster has not appeared in the television series since 2008.

Buster is based on a Aveling and Porter R10 class steamroller.

Live-action model
Buster's model was custom built by model maker, Dave Poole. The model was built out of aluminium and brass, and painted in a matte finish.

There were three remotes built to control Buster, one was used to control his movement and one was used to move his eyes.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired.

Four faces were sculpted for Buster. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould.