Henry (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

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

Background Information

Henry is a fictional standard gauge tender locomotive created by the Rev. W. Awdry. He is the No. 3 engine on the North Western Railway.

Henry first appeared in the first series episode Thomas and Gordon which first aired in 1984. His last appearance was in the twenty-fourth series episode Kenji on the Rails Again, which was released in 2021.

Television Series

Many of the early episodes focusing on Henry feature him reprising his roles from The Railway Series, however unlike The Railway Series, Henry was never painted blue following the events of the first series episode Edward, Gordon and Henry. This was done due to the out-of-sequence production and so that viewers would not mistake him for Gordon, which was a notable issue in the book Tank Engine Thomas Again.

Steam Team

In the eighth series, Henry was among the members of the Steam Team, the main cast of eight central characters. However, starting with the twenty-second series, Henry (along with Edward and Toby) was removed from the Steam Team in favour of Nia to join, in order to fix the gender imbalance at Tidmouth Sheds and diversify the Thomas & Friends franchise. Although Henry continued to appear for the rest of the series as a minor supporting character, he did not have any major roles following his removal from the Steam Team, unlike Edward and Toby. Despite this, however, Henry has appeared in more episodes than Edward and Toby.

According to Ian McCue, Henry was not originally going to be removed from the Steam Team and would have been present alongside Rebecca, whereas it was always planned to remove Edward. These plans changed when Mattel ordered for the series to be revamped.

Voice

Kevin Frank voiced the character in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, giving the character a faint but noticeable British accent. Keith Wickham assumed the character's role in the UK and Kerry Shale in the US (Martin Sherman originally auditioned for Henry before he was given the roles of Thomas, Percy, and eventually Diesel). While Wickham maintains Henry with an English accent, Kerry Shale's performance is clearly American, though earlier post-Hero of the Rails episodes had his voice at a lower pitch than usual, before his voice became higher in following productions. Shale's portrayal gives Henry a faint New Jersey accent, which is more prominent in the higher pitched version of his voice.

Behind the Scenes

Gauge 1 models

Henry's original model was scratch built from plastic sheets of varying thicknesses and used a Märklin locomotive as a donor for the chassis and other parts. It was painted using car body paint and lined with red and yellow Trimline pinstripe tape, with his numbers being custom cut vinyl stickers. The model was built to a 1:32 scale.

Four different models were used as donors to make the engines after it was decided to use a more reliable base for the props. These were all gauge 1 models made by the German company Märklin. They were the BR 38, BR 55, BR 78 and BR 80.

Henry's main chassis was sourced from the BR 78, along with several other parts. These are the handrail stanchions, tender steps, cab controls and a part from the front of the BR 78 to give his tender some more detail. There were two of these used, one on the front right of the tender mounted vertically and facing right, and the other was on the back mounted horizontally facing backwards. Since there is only one on the BR 78, his other came from Gordon's donor model, as Gordon lacks any detailed parts like this on his tender. Henry's front buffer beam was from the front of the BR 78, flipped upside down from how it originally appeared.

His tender used some parts from the BR 55. The wheels and clips that held the wheels were from the tender of the BR 55, while the buffer beam used on his tender was sourced from the front of the BR 55, which was also flipped upside down.

His model was built with the ability to be changed to his "old" shape or "new" shape when needed due to the series being filmed out of sequence. His "old" shape features splashers, a tapered firebox, and no top feed or exterior steam pipes, while his new shape did have the top feed and exterior steam pipes, as well as a Belpaire firebox. There were no splashers as they were not permanently fixed on to accommodate for this change in appearance when filming. In the second series, Henry's model had the splashers added back and they have remained on him ever since, but due to the way the rear ones interacted with his old firebox, they suddenly go flat when there seems to be no need for them to.

Henry's plastic model was originally AC powered, as this is how the Märklin locomotives were powered. This required the polarity switch, which was originally mounted in front of the motor, to be moved to the tender. This allowed space for the smoke generator to sit in between the motor and eye mechanism. During his refurbishment for Thomas and the Magic Railroad, his original AC motor was replaced with a DC motor, and he was given a new smoke generator which puffed more frequently than his original did. It puffed three times per wheel revolution, as opposed to his original, which only puffed once per wheel revolution.

The BR 55, which was used as a source of parts for Henry

The BR 78, which was used as a source of parts for Henry

Henry's original shape

Henry's new shape (without splashers)

Henry's new shape (with splashers)

Henry's model with Wilbert Awdry on 6 December 1983

Henry's model with Ringo Starr on 9 October 1984

Henry's model on display at the London Toy Fair in 1985

Henry's model being refurbished for the third series in 1991

Note: Henry's chassis at the top of the picture

Henry's model being refurbished again for Thomas and the Magic Railroad in 1999

Henry's model completely refurbished for Thomas and the Magic Railroad in 1999

Henry's plastic model in 2001

Henry's funnel

Henry's wheels

The plastic model in the first series (Old shape)

The plastic model in the first series (New shape)

The plastic model in the second series

The plastic model in the third series

The plastic model in Thomas and the U.K. Trip

The plastic model in the fourth series

The plastic model in the fifth series

The plastic model in Thomas and the Magic Railroad

The plastic model in the sixth series

The plastic model in the seventh series

The plastic model in Jack and the Sodor Construction Company

The plastic model in the eighth series

The plastic model in Calling All Engines!

The plastic model in the ninth series

The plastic model in the tenth series

The plastic model's last appearance in the eleventh series episode Henry's Lucky Day

When Henry spat out water after plunging into the sea in the fifth series episode, Something in the Air, a tube was fed through the hole in his running board under his boiler to the back of his face, which had a hole drilled in the mouth to allow the water to go through.

During the production of the tenth series, two new models of Henry were built. This was due to the original model being twenty-two years old at this point and the tight filming schedules meant there was very little room for emergency repairs.

Henry's brass model

The brass model in the eleventh series

The brass model in The Great Discovery

A selection of models kept on standby for filming of the twelfth series

Henry's wheels

The brass model's last appearance in the twelfth series episode Don't Go Back

The new models were made out of brass and equipped with a CNC machined aluminium chassis powered by a DC motor. From this point onwards the plastic model would only appear in scenes that would damage the brass models. One exception exists in the tenth series episode Big Strong Henry, where a brass model was used for the crash instead of the plastic model. This may be due to the plastic model having a previously loose middle left drive wheel, which is visible in promotional photographs and some scenes of the eighth series episode Henry and the Wishing Tree. The way this crash unfolded could have caused the old repair to fail. The plastic model was officially retired completely after the eleventh series episode Henry's Lucky Day.

Henry's Tender

During filming of the tenth series episode It's Good to be Gordon, there was an accident involving the smoke unit made to produce a large volume of dark smoke related to the story. The unit was located inside Henry's tender and accidentally exploded, resulting in a small amount of fire and sparks shooting out from the hole for the coal load. The coal load itself was shot into the air along with a figurine stood on top of it. It also had enough of an impact to derail his tender.

During filming of this scene, the smoke unit inside Henry's tender accidentally exploded in an alternate take

After the accident, the bodyshell of the tender was not paired back with the original floor. It had been put aside and a newly made acrylic bodyshell was placed on the original plastic tender floor instead. This was possible as the bodyshell was removable from the floor in earlier series where the AC polarity switch components, radio control receiver, and battery pack were mounted inside. Some of these components would have been too large to be easily maintained from the coal load opening with the bodyshell still on, plus the cavity under the rear floor was also used to have extra space for the electronics. Edward and James also shared this same construction method, where their tender bodyshells were able to be removed for easier maintenance as all of their components were mounted to the floors of their tenders as well.

Adding to the likelihood of this being the case, the only parts of the original plastic tender that are currently with the plastic Henry, are the floor and buffer beam. The floor still has the original BR 78 steps on it and it has the holes that were drilled into it for mounting the electronics in his tender when he was first built. At the 2022 Clearwater event, it was noticed that a small burn mark appears on the inside of the floor of the tender, which must be from the accident. The bodyshell on this tender may have been intended to go on the floor the original plastic bodyshell ended up on.

The original plastic tender bodyshell later reappears in the twelfth series, paired with the second newly made model. This model of Henry was painted the same colours on both the locomotive and tender for this series, so the tender did not look out of place, unlike the previous series where Henry's locomotive half was a darker and more glossy green. This second new model of Henry also used the original plastic Henry's BR 78 connecting rods and valve gear, rather than a scratch made set the same as the first new model used. It is possible the set was not ready in time for filming, so they took the ones from Henry's plastic model, possibly with the intention of swapping them back, but never got around to it despite the new set being finished. This set ended up in a box of spares which was found at a later time and given to the original plastic Henry to make him fit for display at the 2022 Clearwater event.

The plastic tender bodyshell behind a brass model in the twelfth series

The tender with the swapped bodyshell was seen in the eleventh series episode Henry's Lucky Day, where it can be seen behind one of the brass models rather than the plastic model. This was the case for the whole episode with the exception of one scene at the airport, when Henry pulls away a train of presents. Here the plastic model is seen for the final time with this tender, and it has remained with it since. Interestingly, a promotional image shows the brass model was originally going to be used for the scene. It is possible the crew recognised the tender was meant to be with the plastic model, so they switched them back around. The brass model has noticeably more glossy and darker paint than the tender, which is easy to see with the snows reflection in the paint.

Henry's brass model with the body swapped tender

The brass model was originally going to appear instead of the plastic model in this shot

The original plastic tender bodyshell is still with the second new Henry that has spent most of its time being in storage since the model series ended. The model at the Hara Model Railway Museum is the first new model that was constructed, and as these models coexisted during the production of the tenth series, it does not use any parts from the original plastic Henry. The plastic Henry's BR 78 connecting rods and valve gear are also still on the second new Henry.

Reference Sheets

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Series 8

Faces

Eighteen different facial expressions were sculpted for Henry, although only seventeen were used on-screen and one of which an exhausted face was left unused. Henry had two variants of his astonished face with the latter being made from the same sculpt as the "ah" sneezing face. The last face was only seen when one of Henry's brass models was on display at the British Museum for the 70th anniversary, where it appears to be an "exhausted" expression. The faces were first sculpted in clay, then a silicone mould was made of this sculpt which was then cast and smoothed for moulding and casting again to produce the final face which was then painted. Some of Henry's faces were duplicated in case the crew needed a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting. When the faces for the characters were recast during the production of the film Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Henry's eye sockets on some of his faces were noticeably smaller, most likely to hide the black space, most notably his smiling and concerned faces.

Reference Sheets

Series 2 - 1985/1986 (Alongside an assortment of other characters' faces)

Series 4 - 1994 (Note: His unused exhausted face between his smiling and original wincing faces)

Series 6 - 2001/2002 (Page one)

Series 6 - 2001/2002 (Page two)

Series 8 - 2004

Series 12 - 2008 (Page one)

Series 12 - 2008 (Page two)

Series 12 - 2008 (Page three)

Usage and Evolution

Henry's happy face that appeared throughout the entire model era... (1984-2002, 2005-2008)

...but did appear in a deleted scene from the seventh series episode, What's the Matter with Henry? (2003)

Henry's annoyed face as it first appeared in the Clearwater Features... (1984-1986)

...and the Britt Allcroft Company eras... (1991-1998)

...until it was recast with smaller eye sockets and modified the eyebrows in the sixth series all the way until the end of the model era (2002-2008)

Henry's smiling face as it first appeared in the Clearwater Features... (1984-1986)

...and the Britt Allcroft Company eras... (1991-1998)

...until it was recast with smaller eye sockets and had his eyebrows modified to resemble a sly face in Thomas and the Magic Railroad... (2000)

...and then had longer eyebrows in the sixth series all the way until the end of the model era (2002-2008)

Henry's angry face that appeared in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth and twelfth series, Thomas and the Magic Railroad and Calling All Engines!... (1984-2000, 2003-2005, 2008)

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

...as well as a deleted scene image from the eleventh series episode, Dream On (2007)

Henry's sad face as it first appeared in the Clearwater Features... (1984-1986)

...and the Britt Allcroft Company eras... (1991-1998)

...until it was recast with smaller eye sockets and had his eyebrows modified to resemble a concerned face in Thomas and the Magic Railroad all the way until the eleventh series (2000-2007)

Henry's ill face that first appeared in the first series episodes, Thomas' Train, Coal, and The Flying Kipper... (1984)

...along with the fifth series episodes, Haunted Henry and Something in the Air... (1998)

...before it last appeared in the seventh series episode, What's the Matter with Henry? (2003)

Henry's surprised face that appeared in the first and third to tenth series... (1984, 1991-1998, 2002-2006)

...but did appear in the cancelled second series episode, The Missing Coach... (1986)

...before it last appeared in a deleted scene image from the eleventh series episode, Henry's Lucky Day (2007)

Henry's grumpy/depressed face as it first appeared during the Clearwater Features era... (1984-1986)

…and had a background appearance in the fourth series episode, Granpuff… (1994)

...until it was recast with smaller eye sockets in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, all the way until the eleventh series (2000, 2003-2007)

Henry's stuffed-up face that only appeared in the first series episodes, The Flying Kipper and Whistles and Sneezes... (1984)

...and the tenth series episode, It's Good to be Gordon (2006)

Henry's original wincing face that only appeared in both the first series episode, Whistles and Sneezes... (1984)

...and the eighth series episode, Henry and the Wishing Tree (2004)

Henry's laughing face that first appeared in the second series... (1986)

...and later had his mouth fully painted to resemble a grinning face in the third series... (1991-1992)

...until it was reverted back to its original appearance in the sixth, eighth, ninth and tenth series (2002, 2004-2006)

Henry's unused second series astonished face that first appeared in a deleted scene image from Edward's Exploit... (1986)

...and finally appeared on-screen between the fourth and sixth series... (1995-2002)

...until it was replaced with a different astonished face that only appeared in both the tenth series and The Great Discovery (2006, 2008)

Henry's drowsy face that only appeared on-screen in the fourth series... (1994-1995)

...until it was recast with smaller eye sockets during production of the sixth series... (2002)

...additionally, it was duplicated with covered eyelids to resemble a sleeping face in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, eighth and ninth series (2000, 2004-2005)

Henry's exhausted face that was never used on-screen, but was put on display at the British Museum for the 70th anniversary (1994, 2015)

Henry's disgusted/spitting face that first appeared in the fifth series episode, Something in the Air... (1998)

...until it was recast with the mouth's hole covered when it last appeared in the tenth series episodes, Toby's New Shed and Big Strong Henry (2006)

Henry's second wincing face that only appeared in the tenth series episode, It's Good to be Gordon (2004, 2006)

One of Henry's faces being sculpted during production of the first series (1984)

Henry's astonished face during production of the second series (1986)

Some of Henry's faces during the production of the fourth series (1994)

Henry has been seen mistakenly given Gordon's faces in the fourth series episode, Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady, and the twelfth series episodes Thomas and the Billboard and Heave Ho Thomas!

Henry with Gordon's concerned/speechless face

Henry with Gordon's laughing face

Present Day

After production of the model series ended in 2008, most of Henry's faces were put into storage, where they were paired into two groups with the first group being listed as "TF00160" and the second group being listed as "TF00161".

The first group of Henry's faces taken after the model series ended (circa 2010-early 2011)

The second group of Henry's faces taken after the model series ended (circa 2010-early 2011)

Henry's duplicate grumpy/depressed face and disgusted/spitting face, are now owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. A face mould for Henry's surprised face, alongside three unpainted casts are currently owned by Twitter user SeansModels. The rest of Henry's faces are currently still in storage, including his grumpy/depressed face, and his duplicate disgusted/spitting face. However, his happy, angry and ill faces were displayed at the "History of Thomas Exhibition" at the Midland Railway Centre in May 2019. His concerned face would be displayed at the first Clearwater Event in 2021 and his happy, original wincing, ill, stuffed-up and annoyed face would be displayed at the second Clearwater Event in 2022 alongside a prototype happy face. Henry's laughing face is also being currently worn on a fan-made replica at the Discover Thomas & Friends Exhibition at Drayton Manor.

Three unpainted casts of Henry's faces owned by Twitter user Sean (@SeansModels)

Henry's surprised face mould as owned by Twitter user SeansModels

Henry's duplicate grumpy/depressed face owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch

Henry's disgusted/spitting face owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch

Henry's happy, angry and ill faces on display in 2019

Henry's concerned (formerly sad) face on display in 2021

Some of Henry's faces on display in 2022 (alongside a prototype happy face)

Henry's cross face on display in 2022

Henry's happy face on display in 2022

Henry's ill face on display in 2022

Henry's stuffed-up face on display in 2022

Henry's original wincing face on display in 2022

Henry's laughing face being worn on a fan-made replica at Drayton Manor

CGI Face

Series 12 marked the beginning of the show's transition to Computer-Generated Imagery (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. Henry's resin faces were only used in background shots.

Model Changes

Henry's gauge 1 models had gone through several aesthetic changes in the television series:

• Series 1 (only):
  • After his rebuild, his splashers were removed.
• Series 2:
  • He regained his splashers, with the third pair being cut off from where his tapered firebox was.
  • His tender steps had thick sheets of plastic glued to the back of them for added strength. This was done as the original parts were very thin and fragile.
  • He gained two extra brake pipes, all four now facing downwards.
  • In Duck Takes Charge, and in some scenes of Dirty Work and A Close Shave, his whistle sound is Duck's, five steps higher in pitch, but for the rest of the series, he had his original whistle sound.
• Series 3:
  • His eyebrows became smaller.
  • His front right brake pipe was facing upwards again and his rear right brake pipe began facing upwards.
  • In Tender Engines, his front left brake pipe was removed.
  • He was painted in a slightly duller and darker shade of green.
• Series 4:
  • He was partially repainted, but a slightly darker shade of green was used; this was on his firebox, topfeed, cab sides only, tender and wheels.
  • His rear right brake pipe was removed.
• Series 5:
  • He was almost completely repainted to a darker green with a more bluish tint to it compared to previous series, though his cylinders retained their third series green which lasted through the fourth series as well.
  • For this series only, there was extra yellow lining added to his quarter windows. This was to match the whole windows and keep continuity since the large scale model featured lining on both areas.
• Thomas and the Magic Railroad:
  • His paint was given a matte finish.
  • His whistle sound changed again and shared the same with Percy.
  • The gap between his second and third boiler bands became larger due to misplaced lining.
  • His tender lining had its spacing from the edge made even all around, thus making it no longer match the lining on his cab which was higher at the bottom due to the thick red stripe running along his side.
  • His two safety valves were reduced to a single safety valve due to one of Gordon's going missing, where Henry's second one was used to replace it.
  • His eyebrows became more slanted.
  • His window frame lining became thinner.
  • His front right bogie wheel became a 12 spoke type due to being mixed-up with one of Gordon's tender wheels which was on a 12 spoke set. Gordon had his and Henry's 10 spoke bogie wheels fitted on his tender along with a 12 spoke on the front right side of Gordon's leading truck.
  • His back left brake pipe faced upwards again and was moved to the right side.
  • His smokebox length decreased slightly due to the black paint ending further forwards than previous series.
• Series 6:
  • His eyebrows became longer.
  • He regained his original whistle sound.
  • The ends of his crank pins were painted green.
  • Gordon's former 12 spoke tender wheel on Henry's leading truck was moved from the right side to the left side.
  • His middle splashers moved slightly closer to his first splashers.
  • His rear brake pipe returned to being on the left side.
• Series 10:
  • His front cab windows became slightly wider and shorter (brass model).
  • The riveting and brake pipe extrusion on his front buffer beam disappeared (brass model).
  • His front left bogie wheel became a 10 spoke type again (brass model).
  • The gap between his second and third boiler bands was shortened (brass model).
  • His splashers increased in size (brass model).
  • His plastic model had visible damage to his front left side.
  • His plastic tender shell was put on a newly made tender floor after the smoke generator accident.
• Series 11:
  • The damage seen on the plastic model in the previous series was repaired.
  • The floor of his plastic tender is seen with a newly made bodyshell, where they were likely swapped by accident.
• Series 12:
  • His eyebrows became thicker.
  • His crow's feet disappeared.
  • The uneven spacing of his boiler lining went back to how it was originally (same as the plastic model at the Clearwater Weekend event).

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 until 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 would be disposed off. Due to the size of Henry's plastic model and the cost to make it, the plastic model would be kept, alongside the newer brass models used at the time and all would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership. Briefly, one of Henry's brass models would also be exhibited on the Tidmouth Sheds set alongside the rest of the Steam Team at Drayton Manor for a special event during the same year.

Henry at the Tidmouth Sheds Exhibit at Drayton Manor

The first of Henry's brass models is on display at the Hara Model Railway Museum where he is shown with his concerned face. It had previously been on display at Nitrogen Studios. The second brass model was put on display at the British Museum during the 70th anniversary and he was shown with his unused exhausted face, after which, the model was returned back to Mattel's storage unit, where it resided before the event. In March 2025, his second brass model was brought out of storage and sent to Japan to be put on display for The World of Thomas the Tank Engine Exhibition at the Kyoto Railway Museum.

Henry at Nitrogen Studios

Henry at the Hara Model Railway Museum

Henry at the British Museum

Henry at the Kyoto Railway Museum

Sometime in August 2021, Henry's plastic model was taken to the Clearwater Weekend event at the Midland Railway Centre, but only present in the "V.I.P" area along with BoCo, Caroline, Duck, Lady, City of Truro, one of the Old Tenders, Toad's scrap model, Diesel 10, Annie and Clarabel's Gauge 3 models, the Sodor Suspension Bridge, the Lighthouse and the Warehouse. Visitors were asked to not take photos of Henry due to him not being ready for full public display at the time, as he was missing a few parts that had not yet been replaced. This was due to the crew members removing some for one of the new tenth series brass models. During day two of the event, Henry was put back in his padded box and the plastic Gordon was put on display in place of him.

In August 2022, Henry's plastic model would be publicly displayed at the second Clearwater Event along with some of his faces, his original and HiT Era snowploughs, and his old shape firebox in the V.I.P area of the event, recreating a scene from the fourth series episode Fish along with Duck's model. The repairs done to the model required borrowed handrails from the brass Edward, meaning the model was not presentable and so was put back in its storage case. On day two of the event, Henry, his snowploughs, and old shape firebox would be moved to the main exhibit, taking the place of the brass Edward which was previously there to free up space in the V.I.P area to recreate a scene from the second series episode A Close Shave. The model, snowploughs and faces would all be later displayed again in October 2022 and in Spring 2023 at the Tugs The Exhibition 10 Year Anniversary Event at the Midland Railway Centre in 2023. For the Awdry Extravaganza 3 in 2023, Henry's model would be displayed alongside the Rev W. Awdry's model of Henry for a display dedicated to the BBC's Sad Story of Henry.

Henry's old shape firebox in Mattel's storage unit in Southampton, England, UK in the 2010s

Henry's plastic model in 2022

Henry's chassis

Henry's original snowplough

Henry's HiT Era snowplough

Henry's two snowploughs and old shape firebox

Henry on day two of the event

Henry in October 2022

Henry in Spring 2023

Henry's model in storage inside the exhibition coach in May 2023

Henry's snowploughs and old shape firebox in storage inside the exhibition coach

Henry's model at the Awdry Extravaganza 3

Additionally two spare unused number decals, one on its own and another part of a larger transfer, were sold by The Prop Gallery in 2022. These were sourced from a spare unused larger decal sheet from the production of the eleventh series, which was cut up and sold individually. Duplicate copies of this sheet are also currently owned by Twitter user TomsProps.

One of the spare unused number "3" decals as prior to being sold by The Prop Gallery

Another on a larger transfer sheet as prior to being sold by The Prop Gallery

A decal sheet containing Henry's number owned by Twitter user TomsProps

A scan of the decal sheet

Present Day Ruler Reference Photos

Complete measurement reference photos of Henry's plastic model at the Clearwater Event in 2022 (courtesy of Twitter user Alex Hargreaves)

Close-up models

Close-up models were required for scenes where engines had to interact with the close-up scale human figures. In the first series, due to budget limitations, a close-up model of Henry was not built, so Gordon's close-up model was reused instead and the blue parts of the model were covered with green vinyl.

Cab side boards for Henry were eventually built in the fourth series. The side boards were made to be attached to Gordon's close-up model, similar to James' and Edward's close-up cabs. All of the blue parts were strategically hidden with camera angles, though production footage from the fifth series shows Gordon's firebox. By the eighth series a dedicated close-up model was constructed. The model was not complete and consisted only of a cab and tender.

It later appeared in the fifth, seventh and eighth series.

Henry's whistle (Old shape)

Sir Topham Hatt in crewman's uniform

Note: There is blu-tak on the driver's left arm and Gordon's tender is covered with green vinyl

Note: Gordon's firebox is visible

Henry's whistle (New shape)

Series 11 ruler reference (2007)

CGI model

In 2009, the television series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Henry was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. These CGI models have rigs specifically designed for their facial features, wheels, and to power the lights on them. The coal bunkers are made separate from the model, and are only used for close-up shots, similar to the model series. His CGI model was identical to his Gauge 1 model but has had slight modifications:

• Hero of the Rails:
  • He gained a regulator on either side of his cab controls.
  • He lost his front brake-pipe outlet.
  • His crow's feet reappeared.
  • His whistle sound gained an echo effect.
  • The red lining on his wheel arches became thinner and he got lining on the back of his cut-off wheel arch.
  • The inside of his tender became green.
  • His tender slightly decreased in size.
  • His eye sockets became smaller.
• Series 17:
  • He regained his permanent lamp and tail lamp.
• The Adventure Begins:
  • His connecting rods became silver.
• Series 24:
  • He gained window glazing.

Final render

Undercarriage

Henry's cab

Bufferbeam

Boiler

Whistle

Leading wheels

Driving wheels

Number

Tender water tank

Jam Filled Toronto would later reskin the model for the Big World! Big Adventures! rebrand as background characters in some of the international episodes.

In the twenty-fourth series episode, The Great Little Railway Show, a modified version of Henry's CGI model was used to represent Wilbert Awdry's original OO scale model. Changes to the model include:

• The paintwork was given a more rough hand-painted texture.
• The lamps, lamp irons, rivets, stepladders, cab doors and rear cab side handrails were removed.
• His face was replaced by Kwaku's smokebox door.
• He was given a copper-capped chimney.
• His number was removed.
• His cab window portholes were painted green.
• He was given a gold bar inbetween his buffers, imitating the OO scale model's couplings.
• His handrails were moved further down his boiler.

Texture Variants

In addition to his standard livery, several other texture variants exist of Henry's CGI model. Many only appear once, however a few are reused mutliple times. These texture variants include:

Henry covered in soot (Steamy Sodor and Henry's Happy Coal)

Henry covered in mud (Splish Splash Splosh)

Henry covered in snow (Last Train for Christmas, Snow Place Like Home, The Beast of Sodor and Thomas' Animal Ark)

Henry with scratches and mud (Rocky Rescue)

Glow in the dark Henry (Henry in the Dark)

Henry with dust and dents (Journey Beyond Sodor)

Pantone colours

The following pantone colours are used on Henry's CGI model:

• ■ PMS 116 (yellow)
• ■ PMS 361 (green)
• ■ PMS 428 (white)
• ■ PMS 485 (red)
• ■ PMS 873 C (gold)
• ■ PMS 877 C (silver)

Reference Sheets

Henry's 2009-2020 CGI model orthographics sheet

Henry's expression sheet

Voice Actors

• Kevin Frank (Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
• Keith Wickham (UK)
• Kerry Shale (US)
• Martin Sherman (US; declined)
• Simon Hepworth (UK; Railway Adventures only)
• Ryō Horikawa (Japan; first - eighth series)
• Kenji Utsumi (Japan; James and the Trouble with Trees - first half)
• Jun'ichi Kanemaru (Japan; Calling All Engines! - twenty-fourth series, excluding Edward the Hero)
• Kenta Miyake (Japan; Edward the Hero only)
• Fabrice Trojani (France and French speaking Canada)
• Espen Sandvik (Norway; Hero of the Rails - Tale of the Brave)
• Ambrogio Colombo (Italy)
• Jesús Cortés (Latin America; Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
• Luis Alfonso Padilla (Latin America; Thomas and the Magic Railroad; TV Version)
• Ricardo Silva (Latin America; Hero of the Rails - The Great Race, excluding Tale of the Brave)
• Arturo Mercado Jr. (Latin America; twentieth series onwards)
• Wolf Rüdiger Reutermann (Germany; Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
• Christian Stark (Germany; twelfth series only)
• Michael Bideller (Germany; Hero of the Rails onwards)
• Lutz Herkenrath (Germany; audiobooks only, excluding Thomas Has a Good Idea and Thomas and the Shooting Star)
• Q. Gray (Germany; Thomas Has a Good Idea and Thomas and the Shooting Star only)
• Cezary Kwieciński (Poland; Hero of the Rails onwards, excluding Blue Mountain Mystery (re-dub))
• Krzysztof Korzeniowski (Poland; Blue Mountain Mystery (re-dub) only)
• Reinder van der Naalt (The Netherlands)
• Dov Reiser (Israel; Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
• Dor Srugo (Israel; fifteenth series - King of the Railway)
• Yoli Seker (Israel; The Great Race onwards)
• Caspar Phillipson (Denmark)
• Sérgio Corcetti (Brazil; Hero of the Rails - King of the Railway)
• Henrique Reis (Brazil; eighteenth - twenty-fourth series)
• Anibal Munhoz (Brazil; Tale of the Brave only)
• Juan Navarro Torelló (Spain; Hero of the Rails - twenty-first series)
• Jos Gómez (Spain; Big World! Big Adventures! - twenty-third series)
• Jukka Voutilainen (Finland; Hero of the Rails - King of the Railway)
• Jarmo Koski (Finland; Tale of the Brave onwards)
• Trưởng Tân (Vietnam)
• Seder Gabor (Hungary)
• Alexander Kotov (Russia)
• Loukas Frangoulis (Greece)