Hiro

"Thomas, my friend. You must not worry. My welcome present is right here. Being here with my friends is the biggest present of all, and the most special present from Sodor, there is nothing more special!"

- Hiro at his welcome party, The Biggest Present of All, thirteenth season

   Hiro   Hiro is a wise Japanese engine who was introduced in Hero of the Rails.
 * Class: JNR D51
 * Designer: Hideo Shima
 * Builder: Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company
 * Configuration: 2-8-2
 * Number: 51

Bio
Hiro is wise, very dignified and enormously kind. He is friendly and is able to find good in any engine he meets. He does not appear to hold a grudge; in his first appearance, he helped Spencer after an accident, despite Spencer previously trying to send Hiro to the smelter's yard.

Hiro once lived on a faraway island. He was the strongest engine on his railway, and was famously known as "Master of the Railway". He was eventually brought to Sodor where he worked for many years. However, he began to show his age, and the works didn't have the necessary parts to repair him. To avoid scrap, he was put on a siding, where he had to wait for the parts to come from his homeland.

Thomas eventually found him and, fearing Hiro would be scrapped if he wasn't Really Useful, promised to bring him back to his former glory while keeping him a secret from Sir Topham Hatt. Thomas also had many of his friends help in the restoration, and Hiro quickly gained their friendship. After breaking down again while trying to avoid Spencer, Hiro was hidden away in another siding, where passing engines visited him and kept him company.

When Sir Topham Hatt found out about the situation, Hiro was brought to the Sodor Steamworks, where Victor oversaw his restoration. Once Hiro was restored, he helped Spencer after his accident, and worked with him and Thomas to finish the Duke And Duchess's summer house. Despite everything, Hiro had grown homesick, so Sir Topham Hatt arranged for him to be sent back to his homeland.

Hiro eventually came back to Sodor to help the engines with the summer holiday traffic. Upon his arrival, Hiro went to the Steamworks to be examined and then went to Knapford station for his welcome party, which was almost delayed as Thomas was trying to find a welcome present for Hiro instead of telling the other engines about the party. But, Hiro told Thomas that having his friends at the party was the best welcome present. During his visit, Hiro told Thomas to take the load of bees through the woods, which Thomas ignored. However, Thomas took Hiro's advice after taking Hiro's flower truck to get the bees back to their hives. Later on, Hiro saw the Fat Controller, and assumed he was too busy to give orders to his engines. So, he tried to help the Fat Controller by giving out the orders - but he only suceeded in becoming "Master of the Muddle". However, he made up for his mistakes by telling the engines to go to Knapford and await orders from the Fat Controller.

Hiro is still on loan to the Fat Controller, as he saw Jobi Wood being delivered to the Docks and told Thomas about where it came from. He later pushed Henry to the Steamworks to have his side-rods repaired.

Basis
Hiro is based on a Japanese National Railways (JNR) Class D51 built by Kawasaki. However, Hiro runs on standard gauge track, while the real D51 engines were built for cape gauge.

Persona
Hiro is a wise, kind and gentle engine. He is friendly to all engines, especially Thomas because he was rescued by Thomas from the scrap yard. Whenever Thomas has some matters with him, Hiro will always be there to help the engines and Thomas.

Livery
Hiro is painted black with gold bands and fittings and red wheels. His name is written in black on gold nameplates on his smoke deflectors. He has the number "51" painted on the sides of his tender in white. His "patchwork" color scheme consists of some blue, green, purple, and rust colored parts.

Television series

 * Season 13 - The Biggest Present of All, Buzzy Bees, and Hiro Helps Out
 * Season 14 - Thomas' Tall Friend (cameo), James in the Dark (cameo), Toby and the Whistling Woods (cameo), and Henry's Health and Safety
 * Season 15 - Emily and Dash, Happy Hiro, Kevin the Steamie (cameo), Wonky Whistle (cameo), and Fiery Flynn

Specials:
 * Hero of the Rails
 * Misty Island Rescue

Magazine stories

 * 2010 - Buzzy Bees, Hiro Helps Out, and Misty Island Rescue (cameo)

Voice Actors

 * Togo Igawa (US/UK; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Tesshō Genda (Japan; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Helge Winther Larsen (Norway; Hero of the Rails onwards)

Trivia

 * Hiro says that he is the oldest engine on the Island, but the D51 class was not built until 1936, making him much younger than most of the other steam engines on the island.
 * Before the Thomas and Friends website's overhaul, Hiro's profile specifically mentioned that he is Japanese.
 * Like Hank and Flora, Hiro has only been partially modified to work on Sodor. He has been scaled up to standard gauge, and has been given buffers on his front and his tender. But oddly enough, he has a loose coupling on his tender, and a knuckle coupling on his front. This would make pushing rolling stock or being pulled away by another engine physically impossible, unless a special adapter used to connect knuckle couplers and loose couplings was fitted onto his knuckle coupling.
 * In the Norwegian version of Thomas and Friends, Hiro is known as "The King of the Railway".
 * Though Hiro's number is a reference to his class, there really is a D51 with the number 51. However, unlike Hiro, the real engine is an earlier build of D51, with its dome flush with its funnel. It is preserved at Torokko Saga Station in Kyoto, Japan.

Merchandise

 * Wooden Railway (normal, "patchwork", and "lost and found")
 * Take-Along/Take-n-Play (normal and "patchwork", both with 2-6-2 wheel arrangments)
 * TOMY/TrackMaster (normal, talking, and "lost and found"; discontinued in UK)
 * My Thomas Story Library
 * Wind-up Trains (normal and "patchwork")