Daisy

Daisy is a diesel railcar who came to work on the Ffarquhar Branch Line after Thomas crashed into the Stationmaster's house. In the television series, she now works on the Harwick Branch Line carrying out passenger duties, while Ryan runs the goods duties.

Biography

The Railway Series

Daisy was built specially for service on the Ffarquhar Branch Line. After Thomas was sent to the Works to have his bufferbeam repaired in 1960, Daisy arrived to do his work. Daisy was nasty to Henrietta and Annie and Clarabel, refused to sleep in the Ffarquhar engine sheds on the grounds that it was "smelly" and blatantly refused to pull freight because it was "bad for her swerves". Daisy later called Toby cowardly for having side plates and cowcatchers and claimed that one only needed to "toot and look them in the eye" to shoo animals away. This, of course, was proven false when Daisy tried to shoo an inquisitive bull named Champion. The Fat Controller discovered that Daisy was lazing about, but gave her a second chance after Daisy helped clear up the mess made when Percy crashed into a train of stone. Daisy promised to change her ways.

In 1962, after Douglas claimed all diesels were "devils", Percy used Daisy as an example of a good diesel to try and change his opinions about them.

Once, Mavis sought Daisy's advice about how to show Toby that her method of doing things was correct. This was not exactly the best move, as Daisy knew next to nothing about trucks.

In the latter half of 1990 and the former half of 1991, Daisy was put in charge of Thomas' fast run to Knapford while Thomas was in York. Daisy later claimed that she was not afraid of snow, but changed her mind after getting stuck in a snowdrift for a week.

When Thomas finally returned from York, Daisy was given charge of a special train to bring guests to Knapford for the welcome-home party, but was delayed after running over some cones left inside the crossing gates at Dryaw crossing. She only just made it in time.

In 1993, Daisy, along with Thomas, Percy and Toby, saw Wilbert off when he returned to Gloucestershire.

While the Railway was preparing for the Golden Jubilee of the Railway Series in 1995, Daisy became stranded on the Main Line when the stretch before Dryaw was declared unsafe as rabbits had burrowed beneath it and so she was given the task of ferrying passengers from the airfield to Knapford. She later tried to cheer Henry up when he started to worry about the Golden Jubilee.

In 2007, Daisy teased Percy for being afraid of grass snakes, but was humiliated when she blew a fuse out of fright when a crate of eels dropped beneath her.

In 2011, Daisy attended the ceremony where the bust of the Thin Clergyman was unveiled at Tidmouth.

Thomas & Friends

Daisy was introduced the same way as the Railway Series. After being confronted by the Fat Controller, Daisy had a change of heart.

Daisy has also been seen on the other railway as an unfamiliar diesel. Daisy ignored Toby's advice about bulls.

During the steamie and diesel rivalry, Daisy was one of the diesels who joined the meeting at the Coaling Plant and later helped Toby take workmen to repair the Sodor Airport.

Ever since the Harwick Branch Line was built, Daisy had been working on that line with Ryan, managing the passenger trains while he handles the goods, although she can still help out on Thomas' branch line if passenger duties are not too busy on her line.

Daisy regained her original attitude when she encouraged Ryan to help her out with some of her passenger duties, but her laziness backfired when Ryan took on even more of her responsibilities and ended up causing confusion and delay. Daisy apologised and agreed to do Ryan's extra duties for a while: taking trucks to and from the Quarry.

The Fat Controller asked Daisy to take some special passengers to the holiday town of Harwick, but she decided that they were so special that she does not want to allow children eating ice lollies on board and refused to pull a dusty baggage truck. Without props or an audience, the puppeteers' Punch and Judy puppet show could not go ahead. With no time to go back to the station to get the props, the puppeteers put on their performance from one of Daisy's windows.

She was finally able to pulling rolling stock without worrying about her swerves when The Fat Controller asked her to pull Annie and Clarabel during her help on Thomas' Branch Line. The coaches paid her back for saying rude things to them by convincing her she was falling apart, when there was actually nothing wrong with her. However, their plan backfired as Daisy panicked and abandoned them with their passengers at Maithwaite so she could speak to a professional. She returned to Harwick soon after, and since Thomas was still in quarry duty at the time, Annie and Clarabel were left with an even worse substitute: Diesel.

After years of virtually no accidents at all, Daisy derailed when a bull blocked her way back to the Arlesburgh Yard Sheds  and Judy and Jerome had to help her get back on the tracks.

Diesel damaged Daisy's springs when he bumped into her and later, thinking that she was asleep, explained that it is his way to make friends. Diesel later told her that Harvey was boasting about being unique, which caused trouble between the two engines. At Christmas, Daisy was upset that Christmas was not going out as planned.

Sometime later, a storm damaged the Harwick school and Daisy had to take them to Knapford school. She complained about it so Duck later found Dexter so she did not have to take the children.

Personality

Daisy is a diesel railcar, who has been known to consider herself "highly sprung and right up to date". She was brought to help run passenger services on Thomas' Branch Line, while Thomas was "indisposed" after running into the stationmaster's house. She can be hard to please, mostly indignant, and highly opinionated. She is extremely authoritative, trustworthy, and confident in herself and can sometimes boast of her abilities in particular situations, unconcerned, despite having never actually been in such a position before. She will sometimes presume she can show other engines a thing or two, despite knowing little on the matter, until she actually learns for herself.

After arriving on Sodor, Daisy insisted that she required delicate handling and considered pulling trucks and vans to be below her. She was very lazy and stubborn, but the Fat Controller spoke severely to her, telling her that his engines must work hard and that he sends lazy engines away. However, the Fat Controller felt she deserved another chance after she worked hard clearing up after an accident Percy had. Daisy is now good friends with the other engines on Thomas' Branch Line, tries to work much harder to be a useful engine and is better capable of handling things alone. Daisy can be described as a self-obsessed diva.

In newer episodes, Daisy was heard speaking French, such as when she said "Merci beaucoup" (Thank you very much) to Den and Dart after she was repaired, and when she used the terms to describe the entertainers she was to carry to Duck and Oliver, which indicates that she has knowledge in the French language as well.

Technical Details

Basis

Daisy is based on the BR/Metro-Cammell Class 101/102 DMU. She is, however, a single railcar instead of the traditional two to four-piece units. These were one of the longest serving class of "First Generation" DMUs, with its service life of 47 years only being replaced by the Class 121. A total of 41 cars are preserved. A preserved Class 101 set (#101680) appeared on a Mr. Perkins' Railway segment.

Daisy's Basis

Livery

In the Railway Series, Daisy is painted in BR Brunswick green with yellow lining with the 'Cycling Lion' British Railways crest, similar to the livery of British Railways DMUs in the 1960s. In the television series she is painted in a much lighter shade of green. She wears makeup, including eyelashes, red lipstick, blush and blue eyeshadow.

In the Railway Series, Daisy's face is the same colour as her livery; in the television series, it is light grey like all other engines.

Appearances

Trivia

• Daisy was the first female engine introduced in the series.
• Some of the stories involving Daisy reflect events in real life that were faced by railway staff when it came to dealing with "highly sprung" diesel engines in the earlier phases of dieselisation.
• Daisy was the only character from the first to third series who was not featured on Shining Time Station, although she did appear in Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales.
• Daisy's classic theme is a musical variation of The Stripper by David Rose.
• Daisy was known as Marguerite in the French version of Series 2 and 4. 
• While Daisy has an embedded face in the Railway Series, she was given the traditional grey face masks in the television series. This was most likely to keep her similar to the rest of the engines. Also, it would have been a lot easier to create.

Quotes

Merchandise

• ERTL (discontinued)
• Wooden Railway (two versions; discontinued)
• Take Along (discontinued)
• Adventures (cancelled)
• TrackMaster (cancelled)
• My First Thomas (discontinued)
• My Thomas Story Library (discontinued)
• Thomas Engine Collection Series (discontinued)
• Mini Die Cast Collection (discontinued)
• Brio (discontinued)
• De Agostini (discontinued)
• Trading Cards (discontinued)
• Nakayoshi (discontinued)
• Pocket Fantasy (discontinued)