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Background information[]
Bear is a fictional standard gauge diesel created by the Rev. W. Awdry. Before joining the North Western Railway, he was originally known as Diesel 7101, abbreviated D7101, and worked for British Railways.
He first appeared in The Railway Series book, Enterprising Engines, which was published in 1968. His last illustrated appearance was in James and the Diesel Engines, published in 1984. However, he was last mentioned in Sodor: Reading Between the Lines, published in 2005.
Front of Bear:
Rear of Bear:
Bear is based on the British Rail Class 35 Bo-Bo diesel-hydraulic engine. Bear's original number, D7101, is an in-joke: the Class 35 was only numbered up to D7100. One of these diesels was disguised as Bear, numbered D7101, for Days Out with Thomas events in the UK.
Television Series[]
In 1992, three stories from Enterprising Engines were adapted into two episodes for the third series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. However, due to budgetary constraints, Bear's introductory story, Super Rescue, was not adapted for television.
In a 2015 interview with Sodor Island Fansite (SiF), railway consultant Sam Wilkinson expressed his interest to introduce Bear into the CGI Series, however this never came to fruition.
Behind the Scenes[]
Awdry's Model[]
Awdry had a Hornby Railways Class 35 model that was used as illustrators' reference. The model was unmodified, painted in BR Blue, and had the number D7063 as purchased. Unlike the BoCo model, which was also unmodified, this was not specifically identified by Awdry as Bear with writing on the box. The model is currently in the Awdry Study at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Tywyn, Wales.
