Spencer

"He's all silver steam and bossy boiler, that one!"

- Victor, Hero of the Rails

   Spencer   Spencer is a sleek streamlined engine privately owned by the Duke and Duchess of Boxford. He is the brother of Mallard and the cousin of Gordon, Flying Scotsman, Green Arrow, and Flying Thistle.
 * Class: LNER A4 Pacific
 * Designer: Sir Nigel Gresley
 * Builder: LNER Doncaster Works
 * Built: Sometime between 1935 and 1938
 * Gauge: 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
 * Configuration: 4-6-2

Bio
During his first visit to Sodor, Spencer took the Duke and Duchess of Boxford on a trip around Sodor. He ignored Gordon's warnings about taking on water and thus ran out; however, he blamed the incident on a leaky tank.

Upon his next visit, Spencer challenged Edward to a race and maintained a lead for the majority of the race, but vainly fell asleep while the Duke and Duchess stopped to take photos and lost to Edward, after Edward got onto the summer house branch first.

Spencer has since developed a rivalry with Thomas, with the latter often trying to outshine Spencer - largely without success.

Spencer returned to Sodor to help build the new summer house for the Duke and Duchess of Boxford, much to the annoyance of all the engines. First, he insulted the other steam engines - especially Thomas by calling him a "toy tank engine", which as a result they had a competition of strength. However, Spencer neglected to build the new summer house when he became suspicious about Thomas, thinking he was being a tricky tank engine and ended up getting slate down his funnel at Sodor Slate Quarry. When Spencer discovered Percy's mail coaches (thinking that Thomas was hiding them from Percy), he got into trouble with Sir Topham Hatt, who thought that Spencer was hiding the mail coaches all the time. Afterwards, Spencer lost his pride when his owners turned up for their holiday. He then got stuck in the mud when he chased Thomas to Knapford. After being rescued by Hiro, Spencer apologises to Thomas and Hiro and they all work to finish the summer house.

Sir Robert Norramby borrowed Spencer as his private engine during the restoration of Ulfstead Castle. He transported the Earl around, and, much to his embarrassment, had to pull some stones for the job. During that time, he attempted to have races with Gordon, but when the two met Connor and Caitlin during one of their runs, they called off the race. After the restoration was complete, Connor, Caitlin, Gordon and Spencer had another race from Ulfstead's grounds.

Spencer brought a VIP from the Mainland to present the Fat Controller with an award. Due to showing off, he ended up on Edward's Branch Line. Once he finally arrived at Knapford, the Deputy Minister crossly announced that he would not travel back to the mainland with Spencer. Throughout the day, as the other engines were showing off, Spencer felt sorry for himself and wished he had done his work properly. He learned from his mistake and successfully brought the Deputy Minister back to Sodor the following day.

One day, Spencer was travelling through Henry's Tunnel and almost ran into Thomas, who was hiding in the tunnel pretending to be a made-up engine called Geoffrey, to trick the Fat Controller. At winter, he had to stay on Sodor because the Vicarstown Bridge was blocked with snow. He teased Henry by telling him he might see an abominable snowman. But when the two engines saw something covered in snow walking towards them, Spencer tried to run away, but his valves blocked. Luckily, it was only the Fat Controller, who had gotten into trouble in the snow.

Spencer would then go on to participate in The Great Railway Show where he serves as a UK representative and competes in The Great Race event alongside his cousins, Gordon and Flying Scotsman. He came second, narrowly losing to Etienne.

Persona
Spencer is very arrogant and pompous and considers himself to be above doing menial duties such as shunting. None of the engines like him, especially Thomas and Gordon. When he came to build the summer house, Spencer proved himself to be very nosey, sneaky, disobedient and rather neglectful. Despite being closely related, Gordon and Spencer have never gotten on very well with each other. This is mainly because of his pompous behaviour, which exceeds even that of Gordon's. Despite this, he has shown a kind side when he realised his mistakes. This side once came through when he helped Percy find his way home to Tidmouth Sheds.

Basis
Spencer is an LNER Class A4 pacific. Mallard, holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives, is another member of this class. An additional five members of this class survive in preservation.

Livery
Spencer was painted blue-grey with black lining. From the tenth season onwards, he was painted metallic silver, still with black lining.

Appearances
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Television series

 * Season 7 - Something Fishy (cameo) and Gordon and Spencer
 * Season 8 - Edward the Great
 * Season 10 - Topped Off Thomas
 * Season 11 - Emily's Rubbish and Dream On
 * Season 13 - Creaky Cranky, Tickled Pink, Steamy Sodor, and Snow Tracks
 * Season 14 - O the Indignity
 * Season 15 - Edward the Hero (cameo), Spencer the Grand, and Kevin the Steamie
 * Season 16 - Thomas and the Rubbish Train (mentioned), Sodor Surprise Day (cameo), Whiff's Wish, and Welcome Stafford
 * Season 17 - The Afternoon Tea Express
 * Season 18 - Signals Crossed (cameo) and Spencer's VIP
 * Season 19 - Who's Geoffrey?, The Beast of Sodor and Two Wheels Good

Specials:
 * Hero of the Rails
 * Misty Island Rescue (does not speak)
 * Day of the Diesels (mentioned)
 * King of the Railway
 * The Great Race

Magazine stories

 * 2004 - The Engine Clock (cameo)
 * 2006 - Steamed Up
 * 2007 - The Right Shape
 * 2011 - Who's Highest?, Special Carriage, Little and Light, Tickled Pink (mentioned), Speedy Spencer, Steamy Sodor (speaks in speech bubble only), and O, the Indignity! (speaks in speech bubble only)
 * 2012 - The Fat Controller's Bedtime Story (Issue 648), Welcome Stafford, Thomas and the Rubbish Train (mentioned), The Fat Controller's Bedtime Story (Issue 650), and Paint for Percy (mentioned)
 * 2013 - Whiff's Wish, Spencer's Statue and The Fat Controller's Bedtime Story (Issue 665) (speaks in speech bubble only)
 * 2014 - The Afternoon Tea Express
 * 2015 - Spencer's Star
 * 2016 - Thomas in Charge! (speaks in speech bubble only)

Spencer also appeared in the magazine story, Spotty Spencer. }}

Voice Actors

 * Matt Wilkinson (UK; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Glenn Wrage (US; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Yasuhiko Kawazu (Japan; seventh and eighth seasons)
 * Shigenori Sōya (Japan; tenth season onwards)
 * Till Huster (Germany; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Marek Robaczewski (Poland; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Paweł Galia (Poland; Creaky Cranky and O the Indignity only)
 * Espen Sandvik (Norway; Hero of the Rails - seventeenth season)
 * Tony Marot (France and French speaking Canada; eighth season onwards)
 * Leonardo García (Latin America; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Danny Houtkooper (The Netherlands; Hero of the Rails only)
 * Reinder van der Naalt (The Netherlands; until nineteenth season)
 * Paul Disbergen (The Netherlands; nineteenth season onwards)
 * Gadi Levy (Israel)
 * Torbjørn Hummel (Denmark)
 * Ángel Amorós (Spain)
 * Taisto Oksanen (Finland; Hero of the Rails onwards)
 * Denis Bespalyy (Russia; King of the Railway - eighteenth season)
 * Anton Savenkov (Russia; nineteenth season onwards)

Trivia

 * On the Steamies vs. Diesels DVD, Spencer is called a diesel. This is because in the game, Spencer says he does not have a whistle, but an electric horn instead. However, his picture clearly shows him having a whistle.
 * One of Spencer's models used to be on display in Canada at Nitrogen Studios.
 * Spencer's television series model was based on an A4 Pacific, but was slightly modified. The smoke box was much less angled than it should have been due to the eye mechanism inside. This trait was carried on into the CGI switchover.
 * Spencer's whistle is a stock sound effect of a GWR whistle.
 * In late 2013, Spencer's Take-and-Play model was referenced in the BBC television programme "Have I Got News For You" being described as "A train that looks like David Cameron".
 * Spencer's Hornby model incorrectly features him with black wheels. All other merchandise models have him with correct silver wheels.
 * In his The Great Race promotional video, it states he is the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives. In the actual special, it's stated that he's a former world record holder.
 * Spencer is the first steam-powered antagonist in a special.
 * Spencer has been through several changes through the series. These include:
 * Season 8:
 * Spencer's bronze buffers changed to silver ones.
 * Season 10:
 * His blue-grey livery changed to metallic silver.
 * Season 19:
 * He gained two LNER headlamps and a tail lamp.
 * The Great Race:
 * His livery became much more reflective.
 * His whistle is now silver.

Quotes

 * "Who are you!?"
 * "This is Spencer, he's the fastest engine in the world!"
 * "Humph!" but secretly Gordon was impressed.
 * "I'm the Duke and Duchess' private engine. I take them everywhere!"

- James introduces Gordon to Spencer, Gordon and Spencer, seventh season.
 * "Next to him we have Spencer. And just listen to those local crowds go wild!"
 * "Ha, ha, ha! No, no! Thank you! Ha, ha, ha!"
 * "He's certainly well known on the Mainland and a former world record holder in his own right."

- The Great Railway Show Announcer about Spencer, The Great Race.

Merchandise

 * ERTL (discontinued)
 * Wooden Railway (several versions)
 * Take Along (discontinued normal and metallic)
 * Take-n-Play (normal and talking)
 * Motor Road and Rail (discontinued outside Asia)
 * TrackMaster (normal, coal moustache, and talking version)
 * My First Thomas (talking)
 * Hornby (discontinued)
 * Bachmann
 * Tomica
 * My Thomas Story Library (discontinued)
 * Nakayoshi
 * Limited Edition Collection
 * Wind-up Trains
 * Pocket Fantasy (discontinued)
 * LEGO (discontinued)
 * Mega Bloks (discontinued)
 * Diablock
 * Collectible Railway
 * Push Along
 * Padlock and Key
 * Micro Rubber Engines
 * Pico Pico
 * Boss (with blue express coach and pull-back; discontinued)
 * Minis (classic, racers, old school, electrified, DC super friends and SpongeBob SquarePants)
 * Thomas and Friends Adventures (coming soon)