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Diesel (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

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This is a behind the scenes subpage for Diesel (T&F).
 This subpage contains all behind the scenes material relating to said article.

Background Information

Diesel is a fictional standard gauge diesel locomotive created by the Rev. W. Awdry with inspiration by editor Eric Marriott.

He first appeared in the second series episode Percy Takes the Plunge, which first aired in 1986. His last appearance was in Thomas' Animal Friends, which was released in 2021.

Initially, Diesel's portrayal in the television series was faithful to The Railway Series, with his episodes being adapted straight from the book he appeared in. In the third series, Diesel made a reappearance in an original story not featured in The Railway Series, but instead based on the magazine stories.

After only appearing as a background character in the fourth series episode Rusty to the Rescue and being absent for the fifth series, Diesel returned in the following series.

Up until the sixth series, stories focusing on Diesel usually involved him causing trouble and being sent away for it. However, since the seventh series, Diesel has not had any form of acknowledgement that he belonged to the Other Railway and has remained on the North Western Railway ever since. He usually plays the role as the antagonist or the bully in most of the episodes he appears in, essentially building him up as the main antagonist of the series.

Voice

From the start of the show's CGI switch, Kerry Shale voiced Diesel in the UK dub and Michael Brandon voiced him in the US dub. When Brandon left in from 2012, Martin Sherman took over as Diesel in the US dub from 2013 to 2015. When Sherman left in 2014, Shale began to voice Diesel in both English dubs. Shale portrayed Diesel with a Cockney accent, Brandon with a gruff American accent, and Sherman with New York accent.

Behind the Scenes

Gauge 1 model

MainDieselModel
DieselModelRear

Diesel's model was custom built with a plastic body shell. Märklin locomotives were used as donors for the chassis and various other parts. The model was painted using glossy car body paint. The model was built to a 1:32 scale.[1]

Diesel's wheels and toolboxes were sourced from a gauge 1 locomotive made by Märklin, the BR 80. The bufferbeam and stepladders were sourced from the DHG 500. The coupling chain was made by Tenmille.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired.

Since Diesel's model has outside frames and cranks, his rods would sometimes jam, even when stationary. That happens because if Diesel was left in an area with a Lot of Dust, the Ballbearings for his Axles get clogged with Dust and Dirt, thus restraining movement. This can be seen in a promotional image for Pop Goes the Diesel, live in Don't Go Back (2nd Race, still at the Hopper) in some measurement pictures where his counterweights are not in sync with his side rods position. Diesel also had traction tyres on the front axle.

During production of the fifth series, Diesel's model was used to shunt and haul background rolling stock.

In the ninth series episode Flour Power, Diesel was seen with a lamp. This was powered by a hidden battery pack.

In Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Splatter and Dodge sometimes reused Diesel's chassis interchangeably together with Arry and Bert. (Look at the traction tyres on the front axle).

Reference Sheets

Series 2
Series 3
Series 8
Calling All Engines!
Series 12 (CGI Model Reference)

Model Changes

Diesel has had modifications throughout the model era. These include:

  • Series 6:
    • His paint was given a matte finish.
    • His side rods changed from silver to black (leftover from Dodge).
    • His brake pipe began facing upwards.
    • His wheels became unpainted.
  • Calling All Engines:
    • He gained a lamp under his face on the right (viewer's left)

Faces

Sixteen different facial expressions were sculpted for Diesel, although only fifteen were used on-screen and one of which, a weary face was left unused. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould.

Reference Sheets
Usage and Evolution

Diesel had been seen mistakenly wearing Cranky's smiling face on the cover of the Australian Series 7 and Series 8 Double Pack DVD cover.

Present Day

Diesel's confused and disgusted faces are currently owned by X user TomsProps. His disgusted face was previously owned by a private collector.

Diesel's sad face is now owned by The Prop Gallery as of 2025.

In 2025, as part of Propstore's Thomas & Friends Online Charity Auction 2025, Diesel's annoyed face would be put up for auction.

CGI Face

The twelfth series marked the beginning of the show's transition into CGI and the characters' faces were animated through CGI with the aid of motion capture animation. The physical models' moulded faces were replaced by white targets with triangles to fix a computer-animated face in post-production. Diesel’s resin faces were only used in background shots.

Present Day

After production of the model series wrapped in 2008, most of the models and sets would be put into storage, with some being put on display at Drayton Manor Theme Park. All other models would be logged and referenced from 2010 till early 2011 by HiT Entertainment, from this HiT would decide on which models were to enter storage once again, which would be given to crew members and which to be disposed off. Due to only having one model made in gauge 1 scale, Diesel's model would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

Diesel's television series model is now on display at the Explore the Rails exhibition and is wearing his smiling face. It was previously on display at the British Museum during the 70th Anniversary.

CGI Test Model (2008)

A CGI Diesel model appeared in the CGI test of the episode Thomas and the Stinky Cheese. It was created by Stardust Pictures in 2008. In 2016, its face would be reused for one of the Mainland Diesels in the feature-length movie, The Great Race.

CGI Model (2009-2020)

MainDieselCGI
DieselCGIRear

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

Photographs of Diesel'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.

Reference Sheets

Model Changes

Diesel has had modifications throughout the CGI series. These include:

  • Series 13:
    • His lamp disappeared. (Possibly because the Newest Reference Sheet is from Calling All Engines)
  • Misty Island Rescue:
    • His horn sound changed to a stock recording of a Nathan K3H type.
  • Day of the Diesels:
    • He regained his original horn sound and it became louder and sharper in tone.
  • Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure:
    • He gained a headlamp above his face.
    • His coupling chain became red.
    • He gained a permanent tail lamp.
  • The Great Race:
    • His coupling chain changed back to black.

Texture Variants

In addition to his standard livery, a few other texture variants exist of Diesel's CGI model. These texture variants include:

Voice Actors

References

  1. ↑ Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (Series 2 -12) on Pinewood Studios
  2. ↑ @ThomasTankMerch on X
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