Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia
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“Bang on time again, Connor? You remind me of me back in my heyday. So fast; I won every race!"
"I'd say you've still got it in you, Stephen.”
― Stephen and Connor[src]

Connor is an aquamarine streamlined tender engine from the Mainland, who is designed and built for speed. He has his own rake of coaches painted in the same livery as him.

Biography

Connor is excitable and energetic and like Caitlin, loves to race the other engines. Connor, however, is better at being patient (unlike Caitlin), unless he has passengers, then he can be impatient. Although it is probably unintentional, he can come across as being somewhat smug. Both Caitlin and Connor transport passengers regularly between the Mainland and Ulfstead Castle via the Vicarstown.

Soon after arriving on Sodor for his test run and time trials, Connor, along with Caitlin, helped with the search of Stephen when the old engine went missing. Once he was found, Connor attended the grand opening of Ulfstead Castle.

Connor was tricked by Bill and Ben when they challenged him to a race and he almost collided with Henry's goods train after he was trying to beat them.

Connor later had the challenge of bringing his last passengers from Sodor home in time for Christmas. With the help of Thomas, Edward, Henry, James, Percy, Emily, Hiro and the Slip Coaches, he succeeded at getting everyone home for Christmas.

Sometime afterwards, Connor was one of the engines told about the rumour of Toby being scrapped. While racing through Kellsthorpe Road Station, he failed to see red paint had spilt onto the rails and ended up covering Gordon's face with red spots of paint. Connor has also been seen racing with Caitlin when she was taking Emily to the Steamworks for repairs.

Once, he broke his coupling rod and decided that he should go slowly until Stephen told him stories about his old days which made Connor like himself again.

Much later, Connor almost crashed into Thomas who was on his way to the Great Railway Show.

Personality

Connor is a streamlined engine, designed and built for speed. Along with his friend Caitlin, Connor is an excitable and energetic character, who likes to be busy and loves to race. Both Connor and Caitlin are friendly and eager to get other engines to join in the fun with them.

Technical Details

Basis

Connor is based on a New York Central Railroad J-3a Hudson built by Alco of Schenectady, New York. Ten J-3a Hudsons, 5445 through 5454 were built with streamlined shrouds designed by Henry Dreyfuss in 1938 in order to do heavy hauling at a greater speed, most famously hauling the 20th Century Limited from New York City in New York to Chicago in Illinois. Following a grade crossing accident with a sand truck in East Chicago in 1945, the J-3a's had their streamlining removed. Although all of the NYC Hudson locomotives were scrapped, No. 5313's tender which was converted into a generator survives at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA.

Connor has been scaled down from his basis, though he is still slightly taller and wider than most engines. He has also been partially modified to work on British railways with a screwlink coupling and buffers on the back of his tender.

Livery

Connor is painted teal blue with light cyan and yellow lining. He has golden nameplates on the sides of his boiler.

Appearances

Audio Files

Whistles

Connor's whistle was recorded from South Simcoe Railway 136's Canadian Pacific 5-chime but at 10 steps higher pitch.

First used Last used Sound Effect
King of the Railway Active

In Journey Beyond Sodor, Connor is incorrectly portrayed with Caitlin's whistle.

First used Last used Sound Effect
Journey Beyond Sodor Journey Beyond Sodor

Trivia

  • Connor's Wooden Railway prototype is Spencer repainted into Connor's livery.
  • Connor's eccentric rods move at an inconsistent speed; sometimes they rotate at a consistent speed and sometimes they rotate faster on one half of the rotation than the other half.
  • In the twentieth series, Connor gained a tail-lamp and a rear brake-pipe.

Merchandise

References


International Characters

* RWS only | ** T&F only | ✦ Changed location
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