Henrietta/Behind the Scenes

The Railway Series
Henrietta is a fictional standard gauge coach created by the Rev. W. Awdry. She first appeared in the Railway Series book, Toby the Tram Engine, which was published in 1952. Her last appearance was in Thomas and Victoria, published in 2011.

Illustrations of Henrietta:

Awdry's model
A model of Henrietta was constructed by Wilbert Awdry for his Ffarquhar Branch Line layout to accompany Toby and Elsie.

Gauge 1 model
Henrietta’s original model was custom built to run on gauge 1 track with a perspex body shell. It was acuformed with Gauge 1 kits by Tenmille in the production of the first to fifth series. A torpedo ventilators was used when creating Henrietta from a 3rd class Stroudley kit.

Henrietta's gauge 1 model went through several aesthetic changes in the television series:
 * Series 6:
 * Her running plate, which was only on her balconies, now runs from end to end.
 * Her windows protruded out and the wooden ledge under the window disappeared.
 * Her buffer beams slightly changed shape.

Close-up model
A close-up model of Henrietta was built to be used for scenes where she had to interact with the close-up scale figures.

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

Photographs of Henrietta's Gauge 1 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.

Henrietta's CGI model went through several aesthetic changes in the television series:
 * Hero of the Rails:
 * She increased in size to be the same height as Toby.
 * The area under the side windows change from curving inwards to square and straight.
 * Her step ladders slightly changed shape.
 * Series 18:
 * She gained a face at her back end. To accommodate this:
 * Her door disappeared, she lost two of her four windows, and the remaining ones changed shape.
 * The two vertical handrails disappeared.
 * She gained square pillars on her corners.