Percy/Behind the Scenes

The Railway Series
Percy is a is a fictional standard gauge saddletank locomotive created by the Rev. W. Awdry. He is the No. 6 engine on the North Western Railway.

He first appeared in the Railway Series book, Troublesome Engines, which was published in 1950. His last appearance was in Thomas and his Friends, published in 2011.

Front of Percy:

Green Caterpillar
The Reverend W. Awdry and C. Reginald Dalby did not get along very well. Awdry considered Dalby's drawings "toy-like"; this relationship was worsened by the creation of Percy. When Percy the Small Engine was published, Awdry wrote to Dalby, criticising his illustrations and claiming Percy resembled "a green caterpillar with red stripes". This was too much for Dalby and he promptly resigned. However, the insult was not forgotten: Thomas called Percy "a green caterpillar with red stripes" in Tramway Engines as well as the televised episode Woolly Bear.

Arrival
It is debated as to what year Percy arrived. The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways states that Percy was made the station pilot at Tidmouth in 1949, somewhat implying that he arrived on Sodor in that year. However, Henry is said to have been rebuilt in 1935 and Percy makes several appearances before Henry's overhaul. This suggests that either Henry was rebuilt later on or that Percy arrived before 1935. A post on SiF states that Christopher Awdry affirmed the arrival date in The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways to be incorrect and that Percy came to Sodor before 1935.

Television Series
Percy 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 is easily described at Thomas' best friend.

Originally to be voiced by Michael Angelis in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, American test audiences claimed that he made Percy sound "too old." Linda Ballantyne voiced him in the final cut, given Percy a faint British accent. Keith Wickham would later take over as Percy in the UK and Martin Sherman in the US, the former giving Percy a British accent and the latter American. Nigel Pilkington and Christopher Ragland would later take over their roles in 2015, giving Percy a British and American accent in their respective English dubs. As another note, Ragland and Pilkington's performances gave Percy a higher and softer voice, most likely to further distinguish him from Thomas, whose voice became bolder in pitch.

Awdry's models
Percy was kit bashed from a Larko Dockland saddle tank body kit and 'Spare Percy' from a Tri-ang 'Nellie'; in the 1979 annual Awdry wrote:

"I built Percy in 1949 (the year I wrote "Troublesome Engines" - the book in which Percy first appears), and I soldered him together out of brass and other parts cut and filed to shape. I wanted another engine - Thomas was then the only one I had - and I also wanted a model of Percy to help our then artist draw his pictures; but the artist didn't pay much attention, so my Percy - the proper one - looks different from the Percy in the books. Stewart Reidpath made a chassis for me and fitted it with one of his motors, so Percy is sometimes as temperamental as Thomas, and for the same reason. He will run and shunt beautifully for weeks on end and then suddenly, and for no apparent reason, decide to be 'awkward'. This can be exasperating, especially at exhibitions. He did this at Nottingham Exhibition 1978, and the only thing to do then was to use my 'Spare Percy' which I had made for just such an emergency.

To make 'Spare Percy' I cut out the boiler and side tanks from a Tri-ang 'Nellie', and filled the resulting space between the cab and smokebox with a section of saddletank cut from an Airfix kit. The outside cylinders came from another Airfix kit, and were cemented to 'Nellie's' metal frames with Evostick. I fitted scale size wheels in place of 'Neillie's' rather clumsy ones, and filled up the body with plasticine. The good wheels and extra weight has made 'Spare Percy' into a smooth running engine almost as good as the real Percy in his best moments".

Gauge 1 model
Percy's 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 red automotive pinstripe tape with the numbers being custom cut vinyl stickers.

Percy's chassis was sourced from a gauge 1 locomotive made by Märklin, the BR 80. The front bufferbeam was sourced the tender of the BR 55, and the rear bufferbeam was sourced from the BR 78.

Percy's 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 3.5 model
During the fifth series the production team were having discussions about scaling up the models to gauge 3.5. Models of Thomas and Percy were built to this scale for testing, but the production team ended up deciding to stick with the gauge 1 models.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Percy was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of Percy's gauge 1 model were used for referencing. According Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.

Percy has had modifications throughout the CGI era. These include:


 * Hero of the Rails:
 * His cab became open again.
 * He goes back to his original size.
 * The counterweights on his wheels vanished.
 * Series 19:
 * His side rods become silver.
 * Series 23:
 * He gained handrails across his saddle tank and on either side of his cab entrances.
 * He gained holes on the fronts of his cylinders.
 * He gained rivets across his saddle tank, the boxes on his sides, the sides of his roof, bufferbeam front and sides, and around his cab entrances, smokebox, his cylinders fronts and sides.

Voice Actors

 * Michael Angelis (Thomas and the Magic Railroad; original workprints only)
 * Linda Ballantyne (Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
 * Keith Wickham (UK; Hero of the Rails - Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, excluding the nineteenth series)
 * Nigel Pilkington (UK; nineteenth series onwards, excluding Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure)
 * Martin Sherman (US; Hero of the Rails - eighteenth series)
 * Christopher Ragland (US; nineteenth series onwards, UK singing voice; The Great Race)
 * Chisato Nakajima (Japan; first-eighth series)
 * Chie Kōjiro (Japan; Calling All Engines! onwards)
 * Anders Sundstedt (Norway; Hero of the Rails - seventeenth series, excluding King of the Railway)
 * Erik Skjøld (Norway; King of the Railway and Tale of the Brave only, excluding the seventeenth series)
 * Ingve Connolly Gran (Norway; eighteenth series onwards)
 * Frédéric Millaire-Zouvi (French speaking Canada; Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
 * Tony Marot (France and French speaking Canada; sixth series onwards)
 * Mattia Nissolino (Italy; twelfth - eighteenth series)
 * Chiara Oliviero (Italy; nineteenth series onwards)
 * Diana Santos (Latin America; Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
 * Gabriel Gama (Latin America; Thomas and the Magic Railroad; TV Version)
 * Javier Olguín (Latin America; Hero of the Rails - The Great Race, excluding the twentieth series)
 * Héctor Ireta de Alba (Latin America; twentieth series onwards, excluding The Great Race)
 * Frank Schröder (Germany; Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
 * Robin Brosch (Germany; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Achim Schülke (Germany; Audio Books only)
 * Grzegorz Drojewski (Poland; Hero of the Rails onwards, excluding Samson at Your Service)
 * Jarosław Domin (Poland; Samson at Your Service only)
 * Reinder van der Naalt (The Netherlands)
 * Yehonatan Magon (Israel)
 * Troells Toya (Denmark)
 * Bruno Marçal (Brazil; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * María Rubio (Spain; Hero of the Rails - seventeenth series)
 * Carmen Gambín (Spain; Tale of the Brave onwards)
 * Taisto Oksanen (Finland; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Szokol Peter (Hungary)
 * Radovan Vaculík (Czech Republic; seventeenth series onwards)
 * Olga Kuznetsova (Russia)
 * Um Sang-hyun (South Korea)
 * Adam Fietz (Sweden; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Haris Grigoropoulos (Greece)