Branch Line Coaches

"Your lazy and slack! Your lazy and slack!"

- Orange Coaches, Tenders and Turntables, first season

 Model Series= |-|Railway Series=   Orange Coaches  CGI Series= |-|Model Series=   Red Coaches There are two types of Branch Line Coaches on the North Western Railway.

There were a number of orange four-wheeled coaches used on secondary and branch line services. They were usually pulled by Edward, Henry and James. As of the third season, Annie and Clarabel seem to be the only type of these coaches left. In the Railway Series, these coaches were depicted as boogie coaches. James once bumped the coaches so hard, that a passenger's bootlace had to be obtained to mend the brake pipe.

In the television series, the red coaches are usually pulled by Duck and Oliver on their branch line, by Edward on his branch line and by Percy on Thomas' Branch Line, but are also used by Henry and James on the Main Line. They were also pulled by Stepney on his branch line. Thomas even pulls these when Annie and Clarabel are being repaired.

Basis
The branch line coaches are based on LBSCR Stroudley four-wheel coaches. Annie and Clarabel are also members of this basis.

Appearances
The orange coaches only appeared in the first and second seasons, however they were also seen in a Learning Segment. The red coaches appeared in every season from the second onwards.

Voice Actors

 * Kōzō Shioya, Shinobu Satouchi, and Toshio Kobayashi (Japan)

Trivia

 * In the annual story, Pantomime Pranks, one of the orange branch line coaches was painted green. In the magazine story, Rain or Shine, one of the orange branch line coaches was painted yellow.
 * In Hero of the Rails and The Lion of Sodor, one of the red branch line coaches is painted brown. Coaches painted blue, green, yellow, orange, black, and white were featured in a game on the Official Website.
 * The orange branch line coaches resemble Annie and Clarabel, and from the third season onward, the two are the only known coaches left.
 * The orange branch line guard compartments did not have the duckets that feature on the red or LB&SC Railway examples. Instead a piece of card or plastic covers over this area.
 * The duckets on the red branch line coaches are beaded. This makes them similar to the Stroudley coaches that received modification from 1911 onwards, as they were originally flush and fashioned from three sections of iron sheet.
 * The red branch coaches also differ from the Stroudley coaches with their oil lamp pots, as they have a round base instead of the square base ones that were used on the LB&SC Railway.
 * In Really Useful Around the World, Thomas is accompanied by a green variation of the Red Branchline Coaches.
 * Annie, Clarabel and The Play Coach are the only known orange branch line coaches to have faces.
 * In the first season, Annie and Clarabel were often used to represent the orange coaches during a speaking role.

Merchandise

 * Motor Road and Rail (red coaches; discontinued)
 * TrackMaster (red coaches; discontinued)
 * Wooden Railway (blue and orange; Day Out with Thomas Exclusive 2009, 2013 and 2016)
 * Bachmann (red coaches)
 * Waku Waku (orange coaches)