Minor Locomotive Characters

This page is for minor locomotive characters who have appeared in the Railway Series and Thomas & Friends.

Percy's Ghost Engine

This Ghost Engine was mentioned in a ghost story Percy told to Thomas and Toby, which his driver told him about the night previous. However, Thomas refused to believe him and Percy's driver confirmed to him that the ghost was just television fiction. Percy could not help but feel disappointed.

When Percy crashed into a cart of lime, a signalman remarked that Percy looked like a ghost. This gave Percy an idea to scare Thomas. With the help of Toby, they convinced Thomas that Percy had crashed and returned as a ghost, thus scaring Thomas out of the shed. Later, Toby jokingly told Percy that Thomas had seen a ghost.

Appearances

Trivia

• The Ghost Engine was made using Percy's model covered in white streamers and used Edward's whistle sound.
• In the UK narration of the episode, Percy's driver says the ghost was a pretend one on television. However, in both US narrations, he simply states that it was only a pretend ghost story.

Sixteen's Friends

When Sixteen worked at the steelworks, he worked with other industrial engines who were described by Wilbert as his friends. Unlike Sixteen, they obeyed the rules and never went beyond the "DANGER" notice at the tip. They tried their best to warn Sixteen not to go beyond the "DANGER" notice, to no avail. While they were never seen, it can be assumed they were Austerity engines too.

Appearances

Earnest

This section is about the broad-gauge engine. You may be looking for the mountain engine.

Earnest is a broad gauge tender engine who appeared in a portrait in Topham Hall and the Ffarquhar Stationmaster's house.

Technical Details

Basis

Earnest has no specific basis and appears to be of a freelance design. However, he does strongly resemble a Great Western Railway Star Class, the 2-2-2 broad gauge steam locomotive. A non-working replica of a GWR Star Class named North Star was constructed for the 1923 Cavalcade and is now housed at Swindon Steam Railway Museum.

An illustration of a GWR Star Class (2-2-2)

North Star replica

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Livery

Earnest is painted light brown with a green tender, brass fittings and gold lining.

Appearances

Trivia

• According to a SiF interview, the portrait of Earnest was illustrated by Robert Gauld-Galliers and was described as a "made-up character" in the Victorian era to match the various other human portraits featured throughout the series. The portrait was roughly 80 x 60 mm.
• In 2017, Robert Gauld-Galliers confirmed that at the time of production Earnest was not named and suggested he would be named 'Earnest'.
• Earnest is the first engine in the television series to have a moustache and is the second overall.

Edward's Ghost Engine

Edward's Ghost Engine was mentioned in a story Edward told the other engines one Halloween. According to the story, the engine returns every Halloween to haunt the scrapyards, trying to look for his lost whistle. Thomas later teased Percy, saying Percy thought it was real, but he learned his lesson after remaining behind at the Smelters to take a special load and thinking that some chains touching his cab were ghostly fingers. He then believed that a whistle in the shed was the ghost's lost whistle, forcing him to race out of the smelters, frightened.

Technical Details

Basis

The Ghost Engine is based on a Caledonian Railway "McIntosh 812" 0-6-0. Donald and Douglas are other members of this class.

Edward's Ghost Engine's basis

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Appearances

Trivia

• The Ghost Engine uses either Donald or Douglas' model without the tender or nameplate. It also wears one of the twins' surprised face masks.
• Edward's Ghost Engine is the final vehicle character created by David Mitton before his departure and death.

The Halloween Engine

The Halloween Engine is a ghostly tender engine who appeared in the eighth series episode, Halloween. It was briefly seen at Tidmouth Sheds.

Technical Details

Basis

The Halloween Engine is based on an LNER A1/A3 Pacific with a 2-10-0 wheel arrangement, an LNER 4200 gallon tender and BR Standard 9F cylinders.

Engine's basis

Tender's basis

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Appearances

Trivia

• The Halloween Engine was made using one of Gordon's scrap models, Murdoch's chassis and one of the old tenders pulled by Henry in Tender Engines with an added tail-lamp.

Emily's Ghost Engine

Emily's Ghost Engine is an engine that once appeared in Emily's dream. It only appeared in a magazine story.

Technical Details

Basis

The engine is a freelance design.

Livery

The engine appears as a ghostly apparition, resembling a cloud.

Hiro's Friends

Hiro's friends are engines who live and work on a Japanese railway owned by Sir Takaboushi Hideki on Hiro's homeland. They referred to Hiro as "Master of the Railway".

Hiro first mentioned them as his "best friends at home" when he first met Percy during his restoration. Hiro later remembers his old friends when he is homesick in a magazine story.

Appearances

The Log Engine

According to Lexi, she and Theo once knew of a locomotive that was built with a type of log wheels.

Appearances

Trivia

• Due to the wheels this engine has, it would not be able to run in real life, so it is likely that this locomotive was built to run on a pole road.

Dockyard Engines

There are two dockyard engines who work by the harbour in New York City.

Biography

Great Race Friends Near and Far

When Vinnie arrived back to America after The Great Railway Show, the dockyard engines shunted some trucks for him to pull to the Big City. However, Vinnie started bragging that he could pull more. Because of this, they then added on more trucks to the point that Vinnie could not pull the train.

Technical Details

Basis

The dockyard engines are based on the H.K. Porter 0-6-0ST, built in Butler, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh. These mainly worked in the dockyards on the east coast of the United States. The Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal Railroad, which served the dockyards in Brooklyn, New York, owned several examples of the dockyard engines' design, all of which were retired after the railroad started using diesel locomotives in 1963. One of these, B.E.D.T. 15, was rebuilt into an operating replica of Thomas by the Strasburg Railroad in 1998 for use during Days Out with Thomas events throughout the US. Porter appears to be directly based on B.E.D.T. 15 prior to its rebuild. Another engine, 14, is preserved at the Ulster & Delaware Railroad Historical Society in Arkville, New York.

Porter is also based on this type of locomotive.

The Dockyard Engines' basis

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Livery

The dockyard engines' livery is viridian with yellow stripes, lining and brass fittings. They have a gold star on each side of their lamp and red window frames. Although these tank engines are of American design, all American locomotives have cowcatchers instead of buffers.

Appearances

Videos

• Great Race Friends Near and Far - Vinnie is Back in America

The Swiss Tank Engines

The Swiss Tank Engines are two tank engines who Yong Bao met while in Switzerland.

Biography

Great Race Friends Near and Far

The Swiss Tank Engines were afraid to go into a tunnel because they believed a monster was inside and they also heard strange noises coming from the tunnel. Yong Bao journeyed into the tunnel to reveal that it was only a goat.

Technical Details

Basis

The Swiss Tank Engines are based upon the Polish PKP 0-8-0T TKp No. 5485, but with minor modifications. This locomotive was built in 1959 and was used at a coal mine railway in Bytlom, Poland until the mine was shut down in 1995. It was sold to the Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough where it has operated in excursion service, undergoing an overhaul at the Flour Millworks in Gloucestershire between 2012 and 2019.

The Swiss Tank Engines' basis

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Livery

The Swiss Tank Engines are painted dark green with red running boards and buffer beams and black wheels.

Appearances

Videos

• Great Race Friends Near and Far - Yong Bao and the Monster in the Tunnel

Trivia

• At one point during the video, one of the engines gains eyelashes.

The Russian Engines

The Russian Engines are two steam engines that Ivan met while travelling home to Russia.

Biography

Great Race Friends Near and Far

Ivan found the tank engine stuck on the line while returning home from the Great Railway Show. The tank engine revealed that the coal delivery had been late, so he had run out of coal. Ivan, fortunately, had a full tank of diesel fuel and offered to pull him to the next station. On the way to the station, Ivan came across the tender engine, who had also run out of fuel, with a train full of freezing passengers. By now, Ivan's tank was half full, but he offered to push the tender engine and his train. Despite the tender engine's reservations, with great effort, Ivan was able to take the engines to the station.

Upon reaching the station, Ivan left the engines at the platform and went to the nearby depot to fetch some coal for them. The engines were very thankful, however, when Ivan tried to move he found out he had used up all his fuel. The tank engine then offered to take Ivan to the nearest diesel depot to refuel. There, Ivan said that steam and diesel engines could always help each other.

Technical Details

Basis

The tender engine is based on the C Series 2-6-2, while the tank engine is based on the 9P Series 0-6-0T. A single C Series, C68, is preserved by the Russian Railway Museum in Saint Petersburg, while numerous 9Ps are preserved across the former Soviet Union.

The tank engine's basis

The tender engine's basis

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Livery

The tank engine is painted black with red wheels and lining. The tender engine is painted green with gold lining, red wheels and white rims.

Appearances

Videos

• Great Race Friends Near and Far - Ivan's Chilly Way Home

Da Li and Xiao Hu

Da Li and Xiao Hu (Mandarin: 大力 和 小胡) are two Chinese steam engines who work on a railway in China with Yong Bao.

Biography

Da Li and Xiao Hu pull passenger trains. They used to tease Yong Bao for his appearance and the type of work he did. However, when Da Li was about to fall off a mountain with his passenger train, Yong Bao came to the rescue. Yong Bao was awarded with a new livery and the engines respected him and have been friends after that.

Technical Details

Basis

Da Li appears to be based upon the QJ Class 2-10-2 with removed smoke deflectors or, possibly a KF7 class 4-8-4 with a skyline casing while Xiao Hu resembles the ET7 Class 0-8-0T. Designated as the primary mainline freight locomotive on the Chinese rail system in the 1980s, many QJs remained in service well into the 2000s. Many QJs survive throughout China, with ten preserved at museums, while three have been preserved in the United States in operating condition and one is preserved in Japan. One KF7 is preserved in the National Railway Museum in York. At least two ET7s survive in a derelict state at the Baotou Iron & Steel Co. in Baotou, Inner Mongolia.

Da Li's basis

Xiao Hu's basis

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Livery

Da Li is painted in a dark purple-red colour with red buffer beams and a red cowcatcher. His wheels are also painted red with white lining. Xiao Hu is painted dark green with a red running board and buffer beams. Like Da Li, his wheels are painted red with white lining.

Appearances

Videos

• 2018 - Yong Bao and the Tiger

They appeared in more animated shorts exclusively released in China.

Trivia

• Their roles in the televised adaptation of the short were replaced with The Mean Engines.

The Grey Tank Engine

This tank engine appeared in a picture frame alongside Thomas in Thomas' driver's home.

Technical Details

Basis

The engine resembles Thomas and therefore it can be assumed that it is an LB&SCR E2 class.

The Grey Tank Engine's Basis

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Livery

The engine is painted light grey.

Appearances

The engine appears in a book written by Christopher Awdry and illustrated by Ken Stott.

References