Skarloey/Behind the Scenes

Background Information
Skarloey is a fictional narrow gauge tank locomotive working on the Skarloey Railway created by the Rev. W. Awdry. He first appeared in the Railway Series, Four Little Engines, which was published in 1955. He is based on the Talyllyn Railway No.1 locomotive, Talyllyn. In the books, Talyllyn is mentioned as being Skarloey's twin.

In 1995, Skarloey was introduced in Season 4 of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. The season placed a great focus on him and the other Narrow Gauge characters, with a number of tales from the original books televised. In the classic era of Thomas and Friends, Skarloey is portrayed as an old and wise engine. However, as the series progressed, Skarloey's character gradually becamed altered to a more younger personality under the influence of HIT Entertainment. The Narrow Gauge engines took a full absence in 2004, but returned the following year.

When the show transitioned into full CGI in 2009, Skarloey and the other narrow gauge engines were absent for 3 years. He later returned in the 2012 special, Blue Mountain Mystery, along with Rheneas, Sir Handel, Peter Sam, and Rusty. In the CGI series, his classic personality returned and he is seen frequently working at the Blue Mountain Quarry. Since Season 19, the Skarloey Railway have been underutilised, this may be due to the fact that Mattel, the current owner's of the Thomas franchise, have deemed them too obscure.

From Spring 2012 onwards, Skarloey is now currently voiced by Keith Wickham (UK/US) in the CGI version of the series on both sides of the Atlantic, respectively.

Awdry's model
The Reverend Wilbert Awdry built an OO9 scale model of Skarloey. Skarloey's model is now on display at the Narrow Gauge Museum in Tywyn, Wales, UK located near the Talyllyn Railway along with the other Skarloey Railway engines and rolling stock. .

O gauge model (Small scale)
Skarloey's small model was custom built to run on O gauge track to the Gauge 1 Scale Standard during production of Season 4. 10 different facial expressions worn by Skarloey on screen. The faces were first sculpted in clay, and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mold.

The model had a motor to power it mounted inside the chassis as well as an eye mechanism. There was no room to fit a smoke mechanism or the battery and receiver needed for the R/C eyes. Wires connecting to the battery, servo and receiver were usually hidden off camera or carried in rolling stock behind the engine.

The eye mechanism used servos mounted in the cab, the servos were hidden by blacking out the cab doors and windows. Metal rods went from the servos in the cab to a bracket in the smoke box behind the faceplate, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. This limited the range of movement of the eyes as well as being cumbersome and jamming often. .

Nearly all drivers and firemen for the small scale locomotives were cut down the middle and black tacked to the engines' cab because the electric motors would not allow them to stand half in the cabs.

O gauge model (Large scale)
For ease of filming and reliability, Season 5 introduce larger-scale versions of the narrow gauge engines, and from Season 6-12 these larger models were used almost exclusively. They were built to a larger scale than the gauge 1 engines and ran on O gauge track. They were close to 16mm scale, but slightly larger.

9 different facial expressions worn by Skarloey on screen. The faces were first sculpted in clay, and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mold. The model was made from brass. The wheels and chassis were custom machined (CNC). The model was track powered, so pickup contacts were attached to the metal wheels, which ran into the motor to power it. The electricity ran from the track to the wheels/pickup contacts and went into the motor to power him. The model was also fitted with a smoke unit.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket, and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired.

Three bodies of Skarloey were made to this scale, a weathered model, a clean model and a dented model. The dented model was required for the tenth season episode, Wharf and Peace, when several logs tumble down a slope, hitting and dent his saddletank.

In the fifth season episode, Duncan Gets Spooked, Rusty's Ghost Engine was made using Skarloey's model. According to Models on TV, an online magazine, the model used was specially modified so that it could only travel a certain distance before a motor swung it off from the bridge.


 * Skarloey's large scale model underwent many modifications throughout the television series. These include:
 * Season 5:
 * The Cab handrails present on his previous model counterpart disappeared on the large scale model and his buffers changed from grey to silver.
 * His whistle sound changed pitch.
 * Season 6:
 * The brass ring around his funnel and his buffers were painted black.
 * His model is significantly less weathered.
 * Season 9:
 * A tail lamp was added.
 * His whistle sound went back to its original pitch.
 * His livery became a dark crimson colour.
 * Season 12:
 * His pupils became bigger.

Close-up model
A large scale model of Skarloey was built in Season 4. It was required for scenes where he had to interact with the close-up scale figures and cab interior shots. Smoke would emit from the whistle and firebox when required.

Most of the close up scale models did not have faces seeing as most of the time the models were not complete on top of the fact the faces would never need to be seen in this scale.

It appeared in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, tenth and twelfth seasons.


 * The close-up model underwent a few changes throughout the television series. These include:
 * Season 5:
 * Part of Skarloey's cab roof became snapped.
 * Season 6:
 * His cab roof is now repaired.
 * The brass gold porthole rings inside the back of his cab have moved and now face around his front windows.
 * His model is significantly less weathered.
 * Season 9:
 * His livery became a dark crimson colour.
 * Season 12:
 * His cab interior has changed from black to dark crimson.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Skarloey was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios in 2012 for production of the special Blue Mountain Mystery. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of Skarloey's large scale model were used for referencing. According to 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.

In addition, Nitrogen Studios went to the Talyllyn Railway and took measurements of Skarloey's basis, Talyllyn, so that his CGI model would resemble Talyllyn as closely as possible.

Skarloey has had modifications throughout the CGI era. These include:
 * Blue Mountain Mystery:
 * His pupils became smaller.
 * Accurate bufferbeam to his basis.
 * His boiler is painted black instead of red.
 * Handrails across the top of his smokebox and saddle tank like his basis.
 * His cab handrails returned, but now gold instead of red.
 * His cutout windows gained brass frames and contained glass.
 * Sanding gear.
 * Black siderod guards.
 * Extra lining on his cab.
 * Differently designed front sandboxes.
 * Footsteps underneath his cab.
 * He gained a new whistle sound.
 * A number plate on the back of his cab, similar to Talyllyn.
 * Season 22:
 * He gained a new headlamp.

Voice Actors

 * Keith Wickham (UK/US; Blue Mountain Mystery onwards)
 * Tomohisa Asō (Japan; fourth - seventh seasons)
 * Hideyuki Umezu (Japan; ninth season onwards, excluding The Great Race)
 * Hiroaki Tajiri (Japan; The Great Race only)
 * Jens Wendland (Germany)
 * Jacek Król (Poland)
 * Gilan Shachaf (Israel; King of the Railway)
 * Simen Sand (Norway; Blue Mountain Mystery only)
 * Sigbjørn Solheim (Norway; sixteenth - seventeenth season)
 * Bruno Marçal (Brazil)
 * Marcos Patiño (Latin America; Blue Mountain Mystery onwards)
 * Jorge Teixeira (Spain)
 * Alexander Kotov (Russia; sixteenth season only)
 * Denis Bespalyy (Russia; seventeenth season - Duncan the Humbug)
 * Jukka Voutilainen (Finland; Blue Mountain Mystery onwards)
 * Loukas Frangoulis (Greece)