James

"'Allo James. Come to learn a thing or two from those who know?"

- Arry, "Middle Engine", sixth season



James is a vain mixed-traffic engine.

Bio
James was built by George Hughes at Horwich Works in 1899 as a 0-6-0 with a wooden brake and arrived on Sodor in 1934. He was unable to stop due to his wooden brake blocks. After his first accident, and he was rescued by Thomas, he was rebuilt into a 2-6-0 with a proper brake, besides the removal of the front sandboxes, and repainted red with gold stripes, black lining and brass dome. He was troublesome when he returned, ruining Sir Topham Hatt's new top-hat with his steam and jarring his coaches so much a brake pipe leaks. He was threatened to be painted blue (which James detests), but later made the line's worst trucks behave after being given a second chance.

Persona
James is very proud of his red paint, gold stripes, blue lining and shining brass dome and likes to stay clean. He hates pulling trucks, and believes that he should only pull coaches. He thinks himself superior to the others, and can be shallow, boastful and vain, particularly to those who appear old-fashioned, weak, slow or dirty. However, on a number of occasions he has found himself in need of help from those he has insulted, and is, in the end, apologetic.

James was the last engine to retain a prejudice against diesels. However, after stalling on a cold day he was rescued by The Works Diesel, and James had to admit that nothing was wrong with diesels. This appears to be one of the few lessons that has stuck.

Appearances
James' Railway Series appearances are listed below:


 * "Thomas the Tank Engine"
 * "James the Red Engine"
 * "Tank Engine Thomas Again" (not seen)
 * "Troublesome Engines"
 * "Henry the Green Engine"
 * "Toby the Tram Engine"
 * "Gordon the Big Engine"
 * "Edward the Blue Engine"
 * "Four Little Engines" (not seen)
 * "Percy the Small Engine"
 * "The Eight Famous Engines"
 * "Duck and the Diesel Engine"
 * "The Little Old Engine"
 * "The Twin Engines"
 * "Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine"
 * "Main Line Engines"
 * "Small Railway Engines" (mentioned)
 * "Enterprising Engines"
 * "Oliver the Western Engine"
 * "Duke the Lost Engine" (cameo)
 * "James and the Diesel Engines"
 * "Great Little Engines" (mentioned)
 * "More About Thomas the Tank Engine"
 * "Gordon the High-Speed Engine"
 * "Thomas and the Twins" (cameo)
 * "Thomas and the Great Railway Show"
 * "Henry and the Express"
 * "Wilbert the Forest Engine"
 * "Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines"

Contary to popular opinion, James did appear in "The Three Railway Engines". The red engine that appeared was another engine who is unnamed but un-officially known as Eagle or The Red Engine.

James has appeared in every season of the television series. In Season 9, James is given his own set of 8 light blue trucks.

Basis
In "The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways" it is claimed that James is based on a rebuild of a L&YR Class 27 locomotive from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and designed by George Hughes. However, as with most of the early Railway Series characters, this information was purely retcon.

Sodor "historian" Martin Clutterbuck has pointed out that James strongly resembles an G&SWR "Austrian Goods" 2-6-0 from the Glasgow and South Western Railway. At any rate, the Reverend W. Awdry used an engine of this class to represent James on his model railway. It is possible that he rejected this prototype for James' official "biography" on the grounds that an English locomotive would be more likely to end up on Sodor.

Model engine
According to the Reverend W. Awdry, James is a Class 28 Hughes rebuild of the Lancashire and Yorkshire's Class 27, designed by Aspinall. Hughes added a Belpaire firebox and extended the footplate and sandbox. The resulting engine, the first of the series from the Horwich works, was fitted with a Schmidt superheater. The obvious changes in James' design are the new front pony truck added "experimentally" and thus converting an 0-6-0 into a 2-6-0, besides the removal of the front sandboxes. James was rebuilt with 5ft 6 inch wheels.

James on the silver screen
Susan Roman voiced James in "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" In the movie, he was briefly threatened by Diesel 10 before being teleported away by Junior. James was also annoyed by a fly at the beginning of the movie, a reference to "Buzz Buzz".

How to tame a boastful James
Ever since the bootlace incident, and any incident after that, James has often been brought down to earth by those wanting to keep his arrogance in check:


 * ''At last, Toby lost patience.
 * ''"James," he asked, "why are you red?"
 * "I am a splendid engine," answered James loftily, "ready for anything. You never see my ''paint dirty."
 * ''"Oh!" said Toby innocently, "that's why you once needed bootlaces; to be ready, I suppose."

- A conversation between Toby and James, "Toby the Tram Engine"


 * "Sometimes Gordon and Henry would sleep in James' shed, and they would talk of nothing but bootlaces!"

- The beginning of "James and the Express" from "James the Red Engine"


 * ''"Ony wan wad think," said Douglas, "that Donal had his accident on purrpose. I heard tell," he went on, "aboot an engine an' some tar wagons."
 * ''Gordon and Henry chuckled.
 * ''"Shut up!" said James. "It's not funny."

- Douglas ribbing James, "The Twin Engines"

Whenever a taunt like this happens, James usually gets into a foul mood, which makes him get into even more awkward predicaments.

Don't tell him this, it'll make him worse . ..
A large-scale working replica of James, along with replicas of Thomas, Percy, Harold and Jack, was created by BBC Visual Effects for a tour in 2003. The battery powered locomotive is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest model railway engine ever built, at 2.64 x 1.5 x 6.52 metres.

James' twins
The Mid Hants Railway repainted a Southern Railway N Class 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.

The repainting of the engine, however, 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, unrestored LMS 2MT 2-6-0 No. 46428 has been painted as James, although his face only appears during Thomas events.

Livery
In the Railway Series, James was painted navy black with red lining before his accident and was given his red coat with yellow stripes and black lining to cheer him up. Sometime during the 1960s, James' black and yellow lining was repainted blue and gold.

In the television series, James has always been red with gold stripes and black lining, except in the tenth season episode "The Green Controller", when he was painted yellow and black, like a bumblebee, on Percy's orders.

James is currently painted NWR red with gold stripes, NWR blue-and-yellow lining, brass dome and black wheels.