7-plank trucks are mostly utilised for the transportation of stone and coal. Due to their ubiquitous nature on the railway, they have been employed for transporting a variety of other materials, such as wood, sand, china clay, bricks and even debris after large storms.
These are the most common type of Troublesome Trucks and are therefore cheeky and troublesome. The Brazilian trucks were shown to be rather polite, excitable and somewhat timid compared to the ones on Sodor.
Types of sentient trucks
Troublesome Trucks (embedded faces)
Troublesome Trucks (face on the backend)
Troublesome Trucks (square faces)
Troublesome Trucks (rectangular faces)
Troublesome Trucks (square faces with buck teeth)
Troublesome Trucks (rectangular faces with buck teeth)
Troublesome Trucks (large rectangular faces)
Troublesome Trucks (small square faces)
Troublesome Trucks (long rectangular faces)
Troublesome Trucks (extra large rectangular faces)
Troublesome Trucks (large square faces)
Technical Details
Basis
These are based on 7-plank mineral wagons often found on the eastern and midland regions.
Types of truck designs
(with upside down front)
(with lowered rear buffers)
(face on the backend)
(without handrails)
(with handrails)
(with reversed sides)
(with reversed sides and face on backend)
(with lowered front buffers)
(with a hole for lamp)
(with parallel frame on front; edited scene)
Livery
7-plank trucks have been seen in many liveries such as dark grey, dark green or brown with black frames, although over time, they have also been seen in red, green, blue, pink and many other liveries. Privately-owned trucks typically have their own specific livery.
The 7-Plank Trucks are the most common basis for the Troublesome Trucks.
Two models of 7-plank trucks (one small scale and the other large scale) made for the seventh series and the ninth series of the television series are now owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch.
In the CGI series, they became slightly bigger.
Since the seventeenth series, the primary colour for faceless 7-plank trucks is pale red. The grey trucks are now primarily Troublesome Trucks.
In an interview with SiF, Steve Asquith explained that complaints about fish being carried in trucks were ignored due to the belief that children would understand a story better if they could see what was in the trucks. As a result, from the eighth to the eleventh series, all fish were carried unhygienically.
However in the fifth series episode Baa!, vegetables were transported in 7-Plank Trucks.