Troublesome Trucks

"Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! We've broken away, we've broken away! Chase him, bump him! Throw him off the rails!"

- Troublesome Trucks, A Close Shave, second season

Troublesome Trucks (called Foolish Freight Cars or simply Cars in the US narration) are so nicknamed because they can be quite troublesome and love to play tricks on the engines, except 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.

Persona
Trucks could be considered the rebels of the railway, as most of them love to cause mischief and trouble. 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 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 couldn't 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
Specials: }}
 * 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, 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), 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), Diesel's Ghostly Christmas (cameo), Den and Dart and Salty All at Sea
 * 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.

Voice Actors

 * 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, Hiromi Nishida, Noriko Shitaya, Mitsuhiro Sakamaki, Chie Kōjiro, Nobuaki Kanemitsu, and Kiyonobu Suzuki (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.
 * In the first season of the television series, the trucks had their faces embedded into their bodies, much like Annie and Clarabel. From the second season onward, they were given face masks to allow a greater variety of facial expressions.
 * The trucks were to have a larger role in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, but they were cut from the final film.
 * From the twelfth season onwards, all the troublesome trucks have the same face design. In addition, the black and grey trucks have been the only trucks seen with faces thus far.
 * Since the CGI switchover, the open-topped trucks have become taller.
 * During the fourteenth and fifteenth seasons, the trucks didn't have faces. They regained them in the sixteenth season.
 * 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 facemasks of Toad, Bulstrode, and the Spiteful Brakevan have been seen on the trucks.
 * From Season 8 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 season 1 to season 7, the wagons and Troublesome Trucks used in the TV series were made out of modified Tenmille gauge 1 kits. Tenmille still makes these trucks today. From season 6 onwards, the trucks were scratch built.

Merchandise

 * ERTL (normal, miniature, brown livery and Gold Rail; all discontinued)
 * Wooden Railway (normal and talking)
 * Take Along (discontinued)
 * Take-n-Play (normal, talking, blue, and red)
 * My First Thomas
 * Lionel Trains
 * Bachmann (HO and large scale)
 * Motor Road and Rail (discontinued outside Asia)
 * LEGO (discontinued)
 * TrackMaster (various colours)
 * Trading Cards (discontinued)
 * Hornby
 * 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