BoCo (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Thomas & Friends

Behind the Scenes

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

Background Information

BoCo is a fictional standard gauge diesel created by the Rev. W. Awdry. BoCo lives and works on the North Western Railway.

BoCo first appeared in the second series episode The Diseasel, which first aired in 1986. His last appearance was in the fifth series episode Double Teething Troubles, which was released in 1998.

BoCo is a Metropolitan-Vickers Type 2 Class 28 diesel-electric locomotive, named after its wheel arrangement, which is known as "Co-Bo". Originally, BoCo carried the number D5702, which belonged to a real BR Class 28. The real D5702 was built in 29 September, 1958, and was withdrawn on 7th September, 1968, before being scrapped at J. Cashmore Scrapyards the following year.

In a 2015 interview with Sodor Island Fansite (SiF), railway consultant Sam Wilkinson expressed his interest to reintroduce BoCo into the CGI Series, however this never came to fruition.

Behind the Scenes

Gauge 1 model

BoCo’s model was custom built with a plastic body shell. It was painted using glossy car body paint and the numbers were custom cut vinyl stickers. BoCo’s buffer housings were sourced from a gauge 1 locomotive made by Märklin, the BR 80. The original buffers were replaced with custom oval buffers. The coupling frame and brake pipes were sourced from 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.

BoCo had a custom built chassis that was shared with Daisy.^[1] The back bogie carried the motor while the front bogie was unpowered so that it could be changed between a four-wheeled bogie and a six-wheeled bogie depending on which diesel was using the chassis. The powered bogie utilised a heavily modified Märklin "25" Diesel Shunter.

Despite appearing on-screen for the final time during the fifth series, BoCo's model was refurbished during the production of the eighth series. It was, however, never used in an episode.

Reference Sheets

Series 2

Series 3

Series 8

Faces

Seven different facial expressions were sculpted for BoCo, although only five were used on-screen and two, a sleeping face and a laughing face, were used in some promotional images. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. Some of BoCo's faces have shared the same sculpt appearance as Daisy's but with added make-up on. Some of BoCo's faces were duplicated in case the crew needed a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting.

Reference Sheets

Usage and Evolution

Present Day

Four of BoCo's original faces are currently owned by Twitter user TomsProps. All six of BoCo's faces have also been displayed at the 'Clearwater Weekend' events at the Midland Railway Centre, the happy, laughing, cross and shocked faces displayed were duplicates, while the sleeping and neutral faces were the original casts.

Fonts

The following fonts were used on BoCo's Gauge 1 model:

Univers Condensed (number)

Modifications

BoCo has had some modifications throughout the television series. These include:

Series 3:
- His horn sound changed completely to a two-toned horn that he used which is Mavis', but some steps lower-pitched.
Series 4:
- His horn sound changed back to its original sound and shared the same with Daisy.

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, BoCo's model would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

In August 2021, BoCo's model was displayed at the 'Clearwater Weekend' event at the Midland Railway Centre. However, the body rested in an express coach bogie, as BoCo's original Märklin "25" Diesel Shunter bogie was being used for Daisy in Drayton Manor at the time. BoCo would be displayed again in August 2022, this time featuring his original chassis which was removed from Drayton Manor for the event.