Henrietta (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

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

Background Information

Henrietta is a fictional standard gauge coach created by the Rev. W. Awdry.

Henrietta first appeared in the first series episode Toby and the Stout Gentleman, which first aired in 1984. Her last appearance was in the twenty-fourth series episode Gordon and Rebecca, Coming Through!, which was released in 2021.

Because she did not have a visible face in the first seventeen series, she was often featured as more of a background character than a supporting character and she did not have a speaking role between the third to seventeenth series despite being sentient. In the eighteenth series, she was given a visible face, allowing her to have more speaking and supporting roles.

Henrietta was originally one of eleven characters to appear in every series, until she was absent in the twenty-third series.

Gauge 1 model

Henrietta's model was custom built from a Tenmille Gauge 1 3rd Stroudley coach kit. The kit was shortened and the side door handles and grab rails were removed, and the side door gaps filled. The front and back were changed to custom doors with louvres and four windows with two grab rails. The balconies were custom built from brass pipes. The torpedo ventilators also came from Tenmille parts. During the production of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Henrietta's model received a new resin coach body and brass roof, while still retaining the original underframe, steps, buffer beams and verandas.

Tenmille Stroudley coach

Tenmille Torpedo Ventilators

Original model

Resin model

Head-on model promo

Henrietta's gauge 1 model went through several aesthetic changes in the television series:

• Thomas and the Magic Railroad:
  • Her running plate has changed from only on her balconies to the entire coach.
  • The area under her side windows changed from curving inwards to vertical, and her windows protruded.
  • Her large windows with louvres have been reduced from three to two.
  • Her door handles accidentally disappeared.
  • Her ventilators turned black from the same colour as the roof.
  • Her bufferbeams slightly changed shape.

In the first series episodes Toby and the Stout Gentleman and Dirty Objects, and the fifth series episode Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday, Henrietta was seen with an open balcony door.

Henrietta's model is now on display at the Hara Model Railway Museum. It had previously been on display at Nitrogen Studios.

Reference Sheets

Second series ruler reference of Henrietta's Tenmille model

Third series ruler reference of Henrietta's Tenmille model

Eighth series ruler reference of Henrietta's resin model

Close-up model

Close-up models were required for scenes where the engines and rolling stock had to interact with the close-up scale human figures.

In the sixth series episode, Toby Had a Little Lamb, a close-up of Henrietta's interior was required. As a close-up model of Henrietta did not exist at the time, the Branch Line Coaches' close-up model was reused instead.

A close-up model of Henrietta was eventually built in the eleventh series and was used in the episode, Toby's Triumph.

Series 11 ruler reference (2007)

CGI model

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

Photographs of Henrietta'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.

Parts of the red coaches were reused for Henrietta's model, namely the side window area as the door hinges are left on despite not going anywhere.

Henrietta's CGI model went through several aesthetic changes in the television series:

• Hero of the Rails:
  • She increased in size to be the same height as Toby.
  • Her door handles have been repositioned and the doors orientation has changed.
  • Her two grab rails beside the door have disappeared.
  • Her step ladders slightly changed shape.
• Series 18:
  • She gained a face at her back end. To accommodate this:
    • Her door disappeared, two of her four windows were removed, and the remaining ones changed shape.
    • Her two balcony pillars disappeared.
    • She gained window frames and four pillars.
• Series 22:
  • She gained a slightly different nose.
• Series 24:
  • She gained wrinkles.

Balcony steps

Henrietta's face first appeared in Signals Crossed

Windows

Balcony door

Back buffer beam

Front balcony

Henrietta's new, reanimated nose first appeared in Rosie is Red

Henrietta's first wrinkles debuted in The Inventor's Spectacular Bridge

Henrietta's wheels

Voice Actors

• Maggie Ollerenshaw (UK/US; eighteenth - twenty-fourth series)
• Rachael Miller (Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes)
• Yumi Nakatani (Japan; first series only)
• Keiko Nemoto (Japan; eighteenth - twenty-fourth series)
• Marta Dylewska (Poland; eighteenth series onwards)
• Talya Barkay (Israel)
• Isabel Romo (Latin America; eighteenth series onwards, excluding Thomas the Quarry Engine)
• Adriana Casas (Latin America; Thomas the Quarry Engine only)
• Mara Brenner (Latin America; Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes)
• Mercedes Espinosa (Spain)
• Layra Campos (Brazil; eighteenth series onwards)
• Laurence Sacquet (France and French speaking Canada)
• Margret Homeyer (Germany; Toby and Henrietta only)
• Katja Brügger (Germany; Thomas and the Circus only)
• Sabine Hahn (Germany; Thomas Has a Good Idea only)
• Marion Gretchen Schmitz (Germany; twenty-second series onwards)
• Vina Papadopoulou (Greece)
• Habermann Livia (Hungary)
• Jenni Sivonen (Finland)
• Lee Je-in (South Korea)