James/Behind the Scenes

The Railway Series
James is a fictional standard gauge tender locomotive created by the Rev. W. Awdry. He is the No. 5 engine on the North Western Railway.

He first appeared in the Railway Series book, Thomas the Tank Engine, which was published in 1946. His last appearance was in Thomas and his Friends, published in 2011.

Front of James:

In real-life
The Reverend's first model of James was a 2-6-0 Glasgow and South Western Railway locomotive, the "Austrian Goods", designed by Peter Drummond. The Reverend later rejected that prototype on the grounds that an English engine would most likely end up on Sodor. Awdry's second model of James was based on a 1960s Tri-ang "Johnson 3F" 0-6-0; a conversion which Hornby themselves would use for the production version of their model of James, several decades later.

Television Series
James was introduced in the first series of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and has appeared in every series as one of the main characters since. He reprised his roles in the Railways Series from the first to the fourth series and also appeared in original stories written by various writers.

Unlike the Railway Series, he made many background cameos before he was properly introduced in the episode Thomas and the Breakdown Train and was not painted black when he was first introduced. However, in the CGI special the Adventure Begins, which re-tells the events of the book Thomas the Tank Engine, James was painted black as he was in the book.

Originally to be voiced by Michael Angelis in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, American test audiences claimed that he made James sound "too old." Susan Roman voiced him in the final cut, giving James a faint British accent. Keith Wickham would later take over as James in the UK and Kerry Shale in the US, the former giving James a British accent and the latter American. Rob Rackstraw would later take over from Shale in 2015, before taking the role from Wickham in 2017. Uniquely, Rackstraw maintains both British and American accents in the show's respective English dubs.

Gauge 1 model
James' original model was custom built with a perspex body shell and used a Märklin locomotive as a donor for the chassis and various parts. It was painted using automotive paint and lined with black and gold automotive pinstripe tape with the numbers being custom cut vinyl stickers.

James' main chassis and tender wheels were taken from a gauge 1 locomotive made by Märklin, the BR 55, and the front pony truck from a bogie of the BR 78. The front bufferbeam came from the BR 78 and the rear bufferbeam came from the BR 55. The handrail stanchions were also sourced from Märklin locomotives.

James' perspex model was originally AC powered as this is how the Märklin locomotives were powered. During a refurbishment his AC motor was replaced by a DC motor to allow for easier running and maintenance.

Gauge 3 model
A gauge 3 model of James was built in the tenth series to be used alongside the large-scale models of Skarloey Railway engines, which had been used since the fifth series for ease of filming and reliability.

The model was made from brass. The wheels and chassis were custom machined (CNC). The model was track powered, so pickup contacts were attached to the metal wheels, which ran into the motor to power it. The electricity ran from the track to the wheels/pickup contacts and went into the motor to power him. The model was also fitted with a smoke unit.

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.

Six different facial expressions were created for the model. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould.

The gauge 3 model was used in the tenth and eleventh series, and The Great Discovery.

Life-size model
During production of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Junior was supposed to be flung onto James from Diesel 10. As his gauge 1 model was too small and figurines would not work, a large facsimile of James' cab and boiler were built for the scenes of Junior on top of him. The scene was filmed with a greenscreen method, so the life-sized model and the background for filming were green. Due to the fact that Junior's landing was right on top of his roof, James' whistle was absent to avoid damage to it and Michael E. Rodgers' back.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. James' model was modified:
 * Hero of the Rails:
 * He increased in size, making the top of his boiler the same height as Gordon's. His cab, funnel and tender were also scaled up accordingly. His Gauge 1 model was originally the same size as Edward however James even points out the fact that he is now bigger than Edward in The Adventure Begins.
 * The curve on James' cab lining became even more shallow.
 * His eyes increased in size.
 * Series 17:
 * He gained permanent lamps on his front and tender.
 * The Adventure Begins:
 * He was painted in his black Railway Series livery and received external brake shoes with wooden blocks added on his rear driving wheels. Following his accident, he still had his brake shoes, but the wood blocks were replaced and he was repainted into his current livery. This change only appeared in this special and briefly in The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor.
 * His brake pipe now faces upwards again.
 * His side rods became silver.
 * In his black livery, he gains lining on the rear of his tender. This disappears when he is repainted red (however the back lining briefly appears again when he dreams of being different colours in the twenty-second series episode, An Engine of Many Colours).
 * Series 23:
 * He gained brass handrails on his cab and tender, and rivets on his bufferbeams, cab, roof, tender, smokebox, smokebox saddle and boiler saddles, as well as the center of his boiler. He also gained black lining on the rear of his tender permanently.

James' Twins
The Mid-Hants Railway repainted a Southern Railway N Class 2-6-0, No. 31874, into the livery of James. The engine retained this colour scheme for many years and participated in the Railway Series Golden Jubilee celebrations at the National Railway Museum. However, following the withdrawal of the N Class in 1998, the Mid-Hants Railway quickly repainted its cousin-engine, a Southern Railway U Class 2-6-0, No. 31625, into James for the 1999 series. After the withdrawal of the U Class, the N Class reprised its role as James, only wearing a face during Thomas events. However, due to the fact that both of these engines were privately owned, they left the Mid-Hants Railway in 2014. For the Mid-Hants Railway's "Steam Railway" supported gala in September 2012, it was decided to repaint N Class No. 31874 in wartime black to carry its Southern identity of No. 1874; this meant that James no longer appears at the Thomas events at the Watercress Line.

However, the repainting of the engine created a stir among railway enthusiasts, who felt that it was wrong to paint a historic main line locomotive in such a garish livery. Nevertheless, the locomotive was popular with the railway's younger visitors.

On the East Lancashire Railway, the unrestored LMS 2MT 2-6-0 No. 46428 has been painted as James, although his face only appears during Day Out with Thomas events.

Voice Actors

 * Michael Angelis (Thomas and the Magic Railroad ; original workprints only)
 * Susan Roman (Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
 * Keith Wickham (UK, Hero of the Rails - The Great Race, excluding Tit for Tat)
 * Kerry Shale (US, Hero of the Rails - eighteenth series)
 * Rob Rackstraw (US; The Adventure Begins onwards - UK; Tit for Tat onwards, excluding remainder of twentieth series and The Great Race)
 * Sébastien Reding (Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
 * Fabrice Trojani (France and French speaking Canada; eighth series onwards)
 * Katsuji Mori (Japan; first - eighth series)
 * Masashi Ebara (Japan; Calling All Engines! Onwards)
 * Helge Winther Larsen (Norway; Hero of the Rails - Tale of the Brave)
 * Paul Ottar Haga (Norway; eighteenth series onwards)
 * Simone Crisari (Italy)
 * Gianluca Crisafi (Italy; nineteenth series onwards)
 * Uranus Huerta (Latin America; Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
 * Eduardo Garza (Latin America; Thomas and the Magic Railroad; TV Version)
 * Mario Castañeda (Latin America; Hero of the Rails onwards; excluding Over the Hill)
 * Arturo Mercado Jr. (Latin America; Over the Hill only)
 * Beto Castillo (Latin America; singing voice)
 * Gustavo Carrillo (Latin America; Hugo and the Airship only; one phrase)
 * Christian Strempler (Latin America; DC Super Friends ™ San Diego Comic Con Only)
 * Wanja Gerick (Germany; Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
 * Tobias Schmidt (Germany, Audio Books and Hero of the Rails onwards, excluding Day of the Diesels)
 * Waldemar Barwiński (Poland; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Jeremy Luton (The Netherlands)
 * Asaf Corman (Israel; Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
 * Gadi Levy (Israel; fifteenth series onwards except Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure)
 * Gilan Shachaf (Israel; Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure only)
 * Troells Toya (Denmark)
 * Fabio de Castro (Brazil, Hero of the Rails onwards, fifteenth series only)
 * Lucas Gama (Brazil, seventeenth series onwards, excluding Tale of the Brave)
 * Ulisses Bezerra (Brazil; Tale of the Brave only)
 * Jorge Teixeira (Spain)
 * Petri Hanttu (Finland; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Gyurik Istvan (Hungary)
 * Martin Geraskov (Bulgarian)
 * Olga Kuznetsova (Russia, Hero of the Rails onwards, except Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure)
 * Anton Savenkov (Russia, The Great Race onwards)
 * Um Sang-hyun (South Korea)
 * Roger Storm (Sweden; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Haris Grigoropoulos (Greece; first - fourteenth series)
 * Loukas Frangoulis (Greece; King of the Railway onwards)