Harvey/Behind the Scenes

Main Page

Behind the Scenes

Merchandise

Gallery

This is a behind the scenes subpage for Harvey. This subpage contains all behind the scenes material relating to said article.

Background Information

Harvey is a fictional standard gauge crane tank locomotive created by Jonathan Trueman.

Harvey first appeared in the sixth series episode Harvey to the Rescue, which first aired in 2002. His last appearance was in the twenty-fourth series episode A New Arrival, which was released in 2020.

Voice

Since his return in 2013, Harvey has been voiced by Keith Wickham in both the British English and American English dubs of the series. Keith Wickham gives Harvey a Scottish accent; reflecting his basis' origins.

Behind the Scenes

Gauge 1 model

Harvey's models were scratch-built to run on gauge 1 track by model maker, Kenny Gittens. The models were made out of brass. They were painted in a matte finish and lined with yellow automotive pinstripe tape. The numbers and letters were custom printed stickers.

Two models of Harvey were built. Both were track powered, so pick-up contacts were attached to the metal wheels, which ran into the motor to power them. The electricity ran from the track to the wheels/pick-up contacts and went into the motor to power him. One model of Harvey was built for scenes where he had to move around, so his chassis had the motor inside it. The other was for scenes where he used his crane, so the motor was in the crane mechanism which was operated by a remote controller.

Concept art

Harvey's models during production of Series 6

One of Harvey's models being refurbished during production of Series 8

Both models were fitted with an eye mechanism. The eye mechanisms 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.

In the ninth series episode, Thomas' New Trucks and the learning segment, Right Sized Engine for the Job, Harvey was fitted with a clamshell claw bucket used to pick up mineral items. The claw was only seen opening and closing in closeup shots, as the standard model did not have room for a motor to make it move.

Reference Sheets

Series 8

Faces

Ten different facial expressions were sculpted for Harvey, although only nine were used on-screen and the other, a sleeping face was left unused. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould.

Reference Sheets

Series 6 - 2001/2002 (Note: His unused sleeping face at the bottom)

Series 12 - 2008 (Page one)

Series 12 - 2008 (Page two)

Usage and Evolution

Harvey's smiling face that appeared between the sixth series and The Great Discovery, excluding the tenth series and Jack and the Sodor Construction Company... (2002-2005, 2007-2008)

...but did appear in the tenth series Learning Segment, Right Sized Engine for the Job (2006)

Harvey's happy face that appeared between the sixth and eighth series, excluding Jack and the Sodor Construction Company... (2002-2004)

...before it last appeared in the tenth series Learning Segment, Right Sized Engine for the Job (2006)

Harvey's sad face that appeared between the sixth and tenth series, excluding the ninth series, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company and Calling All Engines!... (2002-2004, 2006)

...but did appear in a deleted scene image from Calling All Engines! (2005)

Harvey's concerned face that only appeared during the Gullane Entertainment era (2002-2003)

Harvey's tired/worried face that appeared between the sixth and tenth series, excluding the seventh and eighth series, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company and Calling All Engines! (2002, 2005-2006)

Harvey's chuckling face that first appeared in the Gullane Entertainment era... (2002-2003)

...before it last appeared in the twelfth series with a fully painted mouth to resemble a grinning face (2008)

Harvey's unused sixth series angry face that only appeared in a deleted scene image of the seventh series episode, Peace and Quiet (2002, 2003)[1]

Harvey's unused sixth series wincing face that only appeared in a deleted scene from the eighth series episode, Thomas Gets it Right (2002, 2004)

Harvey's unused sixth series shocked face that only appeared between the tenth and twelfth series, excluding The Great Discovery (2002, 2006-2008)

Present Day

Two of Harvey's prototype faces are owned by the preservation group Top Props after being sold by The Prop Gallery. Harvey's annoyed (formerly concerned) face was also sold by The Prop Gallery in 2022, it is now owned by Twitter user Machan of Sodor alongside his sad face.

Harvey's annoyed (formerly concerned) face before it was sold on The Prop Gallery

The face with it's storage bag as prior to being sold

Harvey's annoyed and sad faces as owned by Twitter user Machan of Sodor

The storage bags the faces came in as owned by Twitter user Machan of Sodor

One of the prototype smiling faces prior to being sold by The Prop Gallery

The other prototype smiling face prior to being by The Prop Gallery

One of Harvey's semi-complete laughing faces as owned by the Top Props preservation group

The face alongside several other semi-complete faces

The face alongside a second semi-complete face on display

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. However, Harvey’s CGI face was only seen in three promotional images and was not seen on-screen at all in the twelfth series.

Model Changes

Harvey has had modifications throughout the model era. This includes:

• Series 8:
  • His paint livery became darker.
• Series 9:
  • In Thomas' New Trucks, he had a claw. He also used it in two scenes in the tenth series Learning Segment, Right Sized Engine for the Job.
• Series 10:
  • One of his faces had more teeth painted to resemble a grinning face, but was not used on-screen until the twelfth series.
  • He regained his hook, excluding two scenes in the tenth series Learning Segment, Right Sized Engine for the Job.
• Series 12:
  • His whistle sound changed.

Fonts

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

• Times New Roman Bold (name and number)

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 set of models made in gauge 1 scale, Harvey's model would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

One of Harvey's television series models was on display at the Discover Thomas & Friends Exhibition at Drayton Manor with his happy face but was returned to HiT Entertainment in 2011. Sometime when Harvey was on display, his happy face fell off, however it would later be put back on.[2]

A spare unused decal sheet for Harvey's model is also currently owned by Twitter user TomsProps.

Close-up model

Close-up shots of Harvey's cab were required for scenes in where he had to interact with close-up scale figures. Most of the engine was built, excluding the wheels, and a visible face, however, only the back half of Harvey was shown on screen. Harvey's close-up model only appeared in the ninth series episode, Thomas' New Trucks.

Reference Sheets

Eleventh series ruler reference of Harvey's close-up model

CGI model

In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. In 2012, Harvey was created in CGI by either Nitrogen Studios or Arc Productions. The model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

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

• Series 17:
  • He gained permanent head and tail lamps.
  • He gained a brake pipe on his front and back, despite his basis not having one.
  • His coupling hook base was painted black instead of red.
  • His bufferbeam became the same colour as his body.

Final render

Rear coupling

Wheels and cylinders

Gears and number

Crane and hook

Tail-lamp and back buffers

Smokebox

Texture variants

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

Harvey with Thomas' livery and face (The Great Race)

Harvey with paint scratches (Stuck in Gear)

Fonts

The following fonts were used on Harvey's CGI model:

• Times New Roman Bold (name and number)

Voice Actors

• Keith Wickham (UK/US: seventeenth - twenty-fourth series)
• Hikaru Midorikawa (Japan; sixth - eighth series)
• Toshiharu Sakurai (Japan; ninth - twenty-fourth series, excluding the twentieth series)
• Kunihiro Kawamoto (Japan; twentieth series only)
• Enrique Cervantes (Latin America; seventeenth series only)
• Víctor Covarrubias (Latin America; eighteenth-twentieth series)
• Jorge Palafox (Latin America; twenty-first series onwards)
• Sigbjørn Solheim (Norway; seventeenth series only)
• Martin Lohmann (Germany; seventeenth series onwards)
• Roy Martens (Germany; audiobook; Calling All Engines! only)
• Konstantin Graudus (Germany; audiobooks; Thomas and the Circus and Hello Percy!)
• Paul Disbergen (The Netherlands)
• Jacek Król (Poland; seventeenth and eighteenth series)
• Tomasz Borkowski (Poland; twenty-first series onwards)
• Leopoldo Ballesteros (Spain; seventeenth series onwards)
• Denis Bespaliy (Russia; seventeenth series onwards)
• Haris Grigoropoulos (Greece)
• Bruno Lähteenmäki (Finland)
• Baek Kyung-hoon (South Korea; eighteenth to twenty-first series only)
• Kwon Seong-hyeok (South Korea; twenty-second series only)