Troublesome Trucks

"Troublesome Trucks can play tricks on you, Thomas! It's not the same as in the yard! They'll push you off the rails if you're not careful!"

- Edward to Thomas, The Adventure Begins "On! On! Faster Faster!"

- The Trucks' usual chant while pushing an engine

The Troublesome Trucks (called Cars in the US narration) are always nicknamed because they can be very troublesome and love to play tricks on the engines, except for Edward, Stepney, Hiro and Salty. The trucks have been the cause of most of the railway's accidents. However, since Douglas smashed the Spiteful Brakevan and Oliver pulled S.C. Ruffey, their leader, apart, they have been frightened of some engines.

There have, however, been some cases where the trucks and engines are on the same side, such as when Diesel was given a third chance on Sodor, but the trucks tricked him into misbehaving and getting sent away again.

Bio
When Thomas and Edward switched jobs back when Thomas was a station pilot, the trucks pushed him down Gordon's Hill all the way to a siding. They then decided to trick James and pushed him into a field. When James was given a second chance after ruining a coach's brake pipe, they tried to discourage him. The tail of the train uncoupled and the rest of the trucks rolled down the hill for James to recover.

Trucks were also a nuisance in the second season, as they refused to let Diesel move them out of a siding. This lead to an accident and as Diesel was forced to clear the mess, they taunted him with a song. Diesel blamed Duck for it and to get Duck back, made the trucks insult the three tender engines using Duck's name. Devastated, Duck went to help Edward with his trucks up a hill, only for them to break away and crash Duck into a barber shop. They also pushed Percy into the sea, tired out James, shoved Percy into a brakevan and pushing James into tar tankers.

They also bumped Thomas into a condemned track after losing their chance to pay James out and pushed Oliver into the turntable well. When Oliver came back from the works, the trucks still laughed at him, but after he pulled S.C. Ruffey into pieces, they became loyal to him to minimise their chances of being ripped apart themselves.

The trucks also pulled Thomas down a hill into Salty and got James covered in melons. They have since been known as "trucks" in both narrations.

The trucks teased James when he smashed them into the snow. When the Pack was building a new bandstand, they refused to move until Percy used his "do-as-I-say" whistle. They have since been good, but they soon decided to put a stop to their good streak by pulling Thomas and Percy down a hill, chasing Stephen into Ulfstead Mine. They have since been troublesome after this incident.

Thomas had once accidentally shunted them too hard and were just as confused as everyone else when Thomas blamed an imaginary engine named Geoffrey. They also laughed at Den when he was working for Mavis.

Persona
Every wise engine knows trucks cannot be trusted. Trucks could be considered the rebels and the troublemakers of all rolling stock on the railway, as most of them love to cause mischief and trouble and show no remorse for whatever they do. If an engine is having a bad day, makes a mistake, or is easily played upon, then the trucks begin their wild antics of singing, name calling, holding back, shoving, bumping, giggling and so on. They will play tricks on an engine based on how they treat them. Most accidents caused by the trucks are a form of revenge due to mistreatment and they are not known for considering the consequences of their actions; they will carry out their plans even if they result in derailing, damaging or destroying themselves.

Trucks can also be described as territorial; when they get used to certain engines pulling them, another engine in the yard to take them may cause confusion or anger for the trucks. In Percy's Predicament for example, Toby and Percy switched jobs, making Toby's trucks furious and causing Percy to crash. In Oliver Owns Up, the trucks refused for Oliver to take them and demanded Duck, Donald or Douglas instead.

To the trucks, one engine is as good as another, as on one occasion they took their anger out on Thomas when they could not get back at James for bumping them.

During the thirteenth and sixteenth seasons, they behaved unusually well but were easily annoyed. From King of the Railway onwards, they have gone back to their old personalities, misbehaving and causing accidents.

Basis
The Troublesome Trucks are mostly 7 plank and 8 plank end door open wagons. The van variety are mostly BR 12 ton twin ventilated and BR 12 ton single vent vans with corrugated ends.

Livery
Trucks are traditionally painted either dark grey, dark green, or brown with black frames, although in recent years, they have also appeared in red, green, blue, pink and many other colours. Privately-owned trucks typically have their own specific livery.

Appearances
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Railway Series

 * Thomas the Tank Engine
 * James the Red Engine
 * Troublesome Engines
 * Toby the Tram Engine
 * Gordon the Big Engine (do not speak)
 * Percy the Small Engine
 * The Eight Famous Engines
 * Duck and the Diesel Engine
 * The Twin Engines
 * Branch Line Engines
 * Oliver the Western Engine
 * Tramway Engines
 * Toby, Trucks and Trouble
 * Wilbert the Forest Engine

Television series

 * Season 1 - Thomas and Gordon (do not speak), Edward and Gordon, Thomas and the Trucks, Thomas and the Breakdown Train, James and the Coaches (do not speak), Troublesome Trucks, James and the Express (do not speak), Thomas, Terence and the Snow (deleted scene cameo), Percy Runs Away, The Flying Kipper (do not speak) Dirty Objects, Off the Rails (do not speak) and Down the Mine (do not speak)
 * Season 2 - Thomas, Percy and the Coal, Old Iron (cameo), Saved from Scrap (cameo), Percy and Harold, Percy Takes the Plunge, Pop Goes the Diesel, Dirty Work, A Close Shave, Break Van, Percy's Predicament and Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree (cameo)
 * Season 3 - A Scarf for Percy (deleted scene), Gordon and the Famous Visitor, Thomas Gets Bumped (deleted scene), Diesel Does it Again, The Trouble with Mud (do not speak), No Joke for James (cameo), Trust Thomas, Mavis, Toby's Tightrope, One Good Turn (cameo), Oliver Owns Up, Heroes and Percy, James and the Fruitful Day
 * Season 4 - Train Stops Play (do not speak), Toad Stands By and Special Attraction
 * Season 5 - James and the Trouble with Trees, Bye George! (do not speak) Put Upon Percy, Haunted Henry, Double Teething Troubles (cameo), Oliver's Find, A Surprise for Percy and Busy Going Backwards
 * Season 6 - Salty's Secret, Harvey to the Rescue, The World's Strongest Engine, Middle Engine (do not speak), Percy's Chocolate Crunch, Buffer Bother and Edward the Very Useful Engine
 * Season 7 - What's the Matter with Henry? (deleted scene), The Spotless Record and Something Fishy
 * Season 8 - James Gets a New Coat, Thomas Saves the Day (mentioned), Thomas, Emily and the Snowplough (cameo), Emily's New Route, Thomas and the Firework Display (do not speak) and Fish
 * Season 9 - Emily Knows Best, Thomas' Day Off (do not speak), Thomas' New Trucks and Saving Edward
 * Season 10 - Follow that Flour (do not speak) and The Green Controller (do not speak)
 * Season 11 - Dirty Work and Hector the Horrid!
 * Season 12 - James Works it Out and Percy and the Bandstand
 * Season 13 - Splish Splash Splosh (cameo)
 * Season 16 - Ho Ho Snowman, Thomas Toots the Crows, Percy and the Calliope (cameo), Thomas and the Sounds of Sodor (do not speak) and Sodor Surprise Day (do not speak)
 * Season 17 - Not Now, Charlie! (cameo), Bill or Ben? (cameo), The Smelly Kipper and No More Mr. Nice Engine
 * Season 18 - Thomas the Quarry Engine and Missing Gator
 * Season 19 - Who's Geoffrey?, The Truth About Toby (cameo), Salty All At Sea, Den and Dart, Diesel's Ghostly Christmas (cameo) and The Other Side of the Mountain

Specials: }}
 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad (cameo)
 * The Great Discovery (music video cameo)
 * King of the Railway
 * Tale of the Brave
 * The Adventure Begins

Usage
Trucks are mostly utilised for the transportation of quarry rock and coal. Due to their ubiquitous nature on the railway, they have been employed for carrying a variety of other materials, such as wood, sand, china clay, bricks and even debris after large storms. From the eighth season until the sixteenth season, they have been known to transport specific goods which would be better suited for closed wagons; some of these goods include books, cocoa powder, sugar, presents and raw fish. Since the seventeenth season, they carried these goods such as fish in closed crates.

Voice Actors

 * Junior Campbell (second season - seventh season; laughing and singing)
 * Neil Crone and Kevin Frank (Thomas and the Magic Railroad; cut from final film)
 * Ben Small (UK/US; sixteenth season - eighteenth season)
 * Christopher Ragland (UK/US; The Adventure Begins onwards)
 * Thierry Kazazian (France and French speaking Canada)
 * Shinobu Satouchi, Kōzō Shioya, Yasuhiro Takato, Kōhei Miyauchi, Ryō Horikawa, Yūki Satō, Yasuhiko Kawazu, Katsuji Mori, Toshio Kobayashi, Naoki Tatsuta, Hisao Egawa, Yasunori Masutani, Tetsu Inada, Naoki Kinoshita, Moriya Endo, Tomohisa Asō, Ryōtarō Okiayu, Hideo Ishikawa, Keiji Hirai, Hiromi Nishida, Noriko Shitaya, Mitsuhiro Sakamaki, Chie Kōjiro, Nobuaki Kanemitsu, Kōtarō Nishiyama, Takayuki Kawasugi, Kunihiro Kawamoto, Hinata Tadokoro, Masanori Nakai and Anju Nitta (Japan)
 * Sarah MacDonald Berge, Marianne Westby, Øyvind Borgemoen Lyse and Espen Sandvik (Norway)
 * Caspar Phillipson (Denmark)
 * Bruno Mello and Caio Guarnieri (Brazil; eighteenth season onwards)

Trivia

 * Trucks are never named; however, those that are privately owned tend to take on the name of their owner, like S.C. Ruffey, Fred Pelhay, U. L. P., Bennett and Co. and possibly Rickety.
 * From the sixth season onwards in the US, the term "truck" is used more often. In more recent seasons, however, the US has been more consistent in using the term "car", unless referring to the trucks with faces.
 * The audio clip of the trucks laughing heard from the second through seventh seasons is actually a higher-pitched version of Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell laughing, as is the clip of the trucks singing "Pop Goes The Diesel".
 * This makes the trucks the first characters to have individual voice actors in English-speaking countries.
 * The Troublesome Trucks have gone through several modifications:
 * Season 2:
 * The Trucks gained face masks to allow a greater variety of facial expressions.
 * Season 12:
 * The Trucks have the same face design.
 * Season 13:
 * The open topped wagons became taller.
 * The black and grey trucks seem to be the only ones that have faces.
 * Season 14:
 * The Trucks faces disappear, leaving all trucks without faces.
 * Season 16:
 * The grey and black trucks regain their faces.
 * The trucks were to have a larger role in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, but they were cut from the final film.
 * Until King of the Railway, the Troublesome Trucks caused no accidents after the ninth season episode, Emily Knows Best and had no speaking roles after the twelfth season.
 * According to the Railway Series book, Oliver the Western Engine, ballast trucks are considered to be the worst of all.
 * Some face masks of Toad, Bulstrode and the Spiteful Brakevan have been seen on the trucks.
 * From the eighth season onwards, only the open wagons have been referred to as "Troublesome Trucks".
 * In both the UK and US narrations of the CGI series, the trucks have American accents, apart from one truck in Tale of the Brave who had an English accent.
 * From the first season to the fifth season, the wagons and Troublesome Trucks used in the television series were made out of modified Tenmille gauge 1 kits. Tenmille still makes these trucks today. From the sixth season to the twelfth, the trucks were scratch built.

Merchandise

 * ERTL (normal, miniature, brown livery and Gold Rail; all discontinued)
 * Wooden Railway (normal and talking, both discontinued)
 * Take Along (discontinued)
 * Take-n-Play (normal, talking, blue and red)
 * Minis (yellow, blue and Creatures)
 * My First Thomas
 * Lionel Trains
 * Bachmann (HO and large scale)
 * Hornby
 * Motor Road and Rail (discontinued outside Asia)
 * LEGO (discontinued)
 * TrackMaster (various colours)
 * Trading Cards (discontinued)
 * Thomas Engine Collection Series (discontinued)
 * Mini Die Cast Collection (discontinued)
 * Departing Now (discontinued)
 * Thomas Town (discontinued)
 * My Thomas Story Library (discontinued)
 * Tomix Trains
 * De Agostini (discontinued)
 * Brio (discontinued)
 * Nakayoshi
 * Tomica (with Percy)
 * Limited Edition Collection
 * Wind-up (normal and metallic)
 * Pocket Fantasy (discontinued)
 * Mega Bloks (discontinued)
 * Departing Now
 * Boss (discontinued)
 * Choro-Q
 * New Block
 * Collectible Railway