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

Earnest

This article is about the tender engine. You may be looking for the mountain engine.

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

Technical Details

Basis

Earnest appears to be a Jenny Lind type 2-2-2 locomotive, designed by David Joy. 'Jenny Lind' was the first of the class, built for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway by E.B. Wilson and Company in 1847 and named after a famous opera singer from the era. The design was so successful that it would later go on to be mass-produced as one of Wilson and Company's standard designs and adopted by a number of other railways in Britain and Portugal, including the Midland Railway. Other manufacturers also copied and improved upon the design, variations being produced as late as the 1860s. None of these locomotives have been preserved. One notable feature on E.B. Wilson and Company products were the fluted safety valve and dome covers, which are both visible on Earnest.

Livery

Earnest is painted light green with red frames and gold fittings.

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 third overall.

Percy's Ghost Engine

Thomas & Friends

This Ghost Engine was mentioned in a ghost story Percy told to Thomas and Toby, which his driver told him about the night prior. The story stated that the ghost steam train fell to its doom in a ravine where a viaduct was going to be built, and its ghost continues to run every year on the anniversary of the accident as a warning to others. 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.

Technical Details

Basis

The Ghost Engine shares the same basis as Percy, an Avonside 0-4-0 saddle tank engine. Several official Thomas & Friends media, suggests that Percy most closely resembles the Avonside SS Class "Trojan" 0-4-0ST saddle tank engine of the Great Western Railway.

Appearances

Audio Files

Whistle

Percy's Ghost Engine reuses Edward's whistle.

Only used Sound Effect
Ghost Train

Trivia

  • The Ghost Engine was made using Percy's model covered in white streamers.
  • 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".

Old Smoky

“Old Smoky, you stay right here until I get back.”
― Mr. Conductor[src]

Old Smoky is the train next to Mr. Conductor's signal and switch house station deep on the mural at Shining Time. Mr. Conductor occasionally has one-sided conversations with him.

Technical Details

Basis

Old Smoky is based on a Union Pacific FEF series. The original Rainbow Sun featured in Shining Time Station shares the same basis.

Livery

Old Smoky is painted black and grey.

Appearances

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 (CR) McIntosh 812 Class 0-6-0 goods engine. Donald and Douglas are other members of this class.

Appearances

Audio Files

Whistle

Only used Sound Effect
Scaredy Engines

Trivia

  • The Ghost Engine uses a cast of Donald or Douglas' model without the tender and nameplates. It also wears one of the twins' surprised faces.

The Halloween Engine

The Halloween Engine is a ghostly tender engine.

Technical Details

Basis

The Halloween Engine is an amalgamation of various parts. Its boiler and cab come off of an LNER A1/A3 Pacific, while its cylinders, wheels and frames are from a BR Standard Class 9F. Its tender is an LNER 4200 gallon "Group Standard" tender.

Appearances

Thomas & Friends

Books

Magazine stories

Trivia

  • The Halloween Engine was made using a cast of Gordon's model with Murdoch's chassis and one of the old tenders with an added tail-lamp.

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

“We know a guy who was built to run on logs!”
― Lexi, Journey Beyond Sodor

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

Technical Details

Basis

The engine is a freelance design.

Appearances

Thomas & Friends

Specials

Music Videos

Trivia

  • It is quite possible this engine's appearance was misinterpreted as it literally running on logs as its wheels, and it may have originally been intended to be one of two things:
    • A locomotive built to run on a pole road, a type of track laid with logs instead of steel rails, on which specialised locomotives ran.
    • A locomotive which burns logs as fuel, similar to Bash, Dash and Ferdinand.

Dockyard Engines

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

Biography

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, Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal 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 USA. 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.

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

The Swiss Tank Engines

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

Biography

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.

Livery

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

Appearances

The Russian Engines

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

Biography

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.

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

The Patentee-Class Replica

The Patentee-Class Replica is an old-fashioned looking steam locomotive. Percy first encountered this engine while passing by an abandoned quarry, and later found out it was a replica which had been secretly tested there when he saw it at a steam show.

Technical Details

Basis

The engine is based on the Patentee class locomotives introduced by Robert Stephenson and Company in 1833, as an enlarged version of their earlier Planet class locomotives.

The engine in the magazine stories appears to be specifically modelled after the German locomotive Adler (German for "Eagle"), as noted by the twin lamps either side of the smokebox. Adler was built in 1835, and is widely considered to be the first commercially-used passenger and goods engine in Germany. The original locomotive was scrapped in 1855 after briefly being used as a stationary boiler, though a working replica of it was later constructed in 1935 to celebrate the centenary of Germany's railways.

Livery

The engine is painted grey and red with a brown wooden boiler. It has a brass chimney and dome, as well as brass lamps, fittings, boiler bands, works plates and nameplates, though no name is visible on these within the illustrations.

Appearances

The Red Tank Engines

Two Red Tank Engines appeared in a magazine story. They were never named and their origins are unknown.

Technical Details

Basis

These engines do not appear to be based on any specific design.

Livery

These engines are painted red with yellow lining and black wheels.

Appearances

Magazine Stories

  • These engines appear in a "Counting Time" activity from the 1998-1999 Fun to Learn magazine.

Trivia

  • They appear to be an illustration error of James portrayed as two different engines.

The Poster Engine

The Poster Engine is a faceless unnamed blue express engine which made an appearance in a magazine story. It appeared on a poster advertising summer excursions on Sodor.

Technical Details

Basis

The poster engine is based on the LNER A1/A3 Pacific, with an added top feed and fowler tender. [[Gordon (T&F)]|Gordon]], Flying Scotsman and Flying Thistle are other members of this class.

Livery

The poster engine is painted blue with red and black lining and has a crest on its tender.

Appearances

Magazines

The Blue Tender Engine

An unnamed blue tender engine once appeared in the magazines. It annoyed Daisy after some coal dust got blown into her face from its tender.

Technical Details

Basis

The engine's basis is unknown.

Livery

The engine is painted blue with red lining. Its handrails are painted grey.

Appearances

Trivia

  • It is possible that this engine is Edward, but illustrated incorrectly.

Emily's Ghost Engine

Emily's Ghost Engine is an engine that once appeared in Emily's dream, it only appeared in the magazine story Peep and Sleep, in which Emily is having trouble sleeping, due to Duck blowing his whistle too loudly. One night Emily has a dream, in which the ghost engine makes her fall asleep for 100 years. Following this, Emily decides she won't sleep the next night, until the other engines arrive at the sheds first.

Technical Details

Basis

The engine appears to be a freelance design.

Livery

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

Appearances

The Red Tender Engine

A red tender engine appears on a photograph in the Fat Controller's office.[1]

Technical Details

Basis

This engine has no precise basis, however it appears to be either a 2-6-0 or 0-6-0 with no dome. The engine also has a Fowler tender.

Livery

This engine is painted red, with black lining and a black smokebox.

Appearances

The Green Engine

This green engine appeared in a poster for the "Railway Me!" magazine.

Technical Details

Basis

The basis of this engine is unknown.

Livery

The engine is painted green with a brass dome and white buffers.

Appearances

Books

The Lost Tank Engine

An unnamed blue tank engine made an appearance in the book, The Monster Under the Shed.

Biography

This engine was mentioned in a story told by James, and was said to always be ready to help. One night, a stationmaster asked him to get a coach that was left behind. The engine went to get it, but when the weather turned bad, he had to sleep in an old shed. Later, he woke up to a noise and when he opened his eyes, he saw fingers reaching for him from under the shed. He was chased out of the shed by a monster and never seen again, supposedly being eaten by the monster.

Personality

James emphasised that he was a brave blue engine who was eager to help.

Technical Details

Basis

The Lost Tank Engine loosely resembles an LSWR 0298 class Beattie well tank locomotive.

Livery

The Lost Tank Engine is painted blue with red lining.

Appearances

JNR Class DE10

The JNR Class DE10 is a diesel-hydraulic engine that works on the JR Kyoto line.

Biography

During Thomas and Percy's visit to the Kyoto Railway Museum, a JNR Class DE10 diesel engine passed the museum yard while travelling on the JR Kyoto line.

Technical Details

Real-Life History

The JNR Class DE10 was developed by Japanese National Railways, and was predominantly introduced to head passenger and freight services in rural areas and replace steam locomotives. It has also commonly been used for shunting duties at depots.

A total of 708 locomotives were built between 1966 and 1978, and an additional 14 were converted from the nearly identical JNR Class DE15. As of 1 April 2016, 138 locomotives remained in operation.

Livery

This diesel is painted red and grey with white lining.

Appearances

Books

The Little Blue Engine

The Little Blue Engine is an unnamed blue engine who made an appearance in Mr. Perkins' Sleepover. He is the main protagonist of a story Mr. Perkins reads titled "The Little Engine's Big Day". He is similar to Thomas.

Biography

The Little Blue Engine loves nothing more than puffing along the track pulling important loads. One day at a junction, he meets a Big Silver Engine, who calls him a "slow coach". The Little Blue Engine feels insulted and goes as fast as he can to prove the Big Silver Engine wrong. However, he comes off the tracks from going too fast. Once he was back on the tracks, he continues his journey carefully to the Docks, this time ignoring the Big Silver Engine's teasing. He is praised by the Dock Manager for being really useful and he toots happily with pride.

Personality

The Little Blue Engine loves puffing along the track pulling important loads. He does not like being teased and is determined to prove others wrong, but strives to be really useful.

Technical Details

Basis

The Little Blue Engine is a well tank engine that looks similar to Bash and Dash.

Livery

The Little Blue Engine is painted blue.

Appearances

The Big Silver Engine

The Big Silver Engine is an unnamed silver engine who was mentioned in Mr. Perkins' Sleepover. He appears in a story Mr. Perkins reads titled "The Little Engine's Big Day". He is similar to Spencer.

Biography

The Big Silver Engine met the Little Engine at a junction one day, and he teased him, calling him a "slow coach."

Personality

The Big Silver Engine enjoys teasing smaller engines and can be rather impatient.

Technical Details

Livery

The Big Silver Engine is painted silver.

Appearances

The Crowd Engines

The Crowd Engines are a pair of engines which feature in the background when Diesel is imagining a statue of himself as a super hero being unveiled.

Technical Details

Basis

As the duo are recolours of Ryan and Paxton, they are based on a Great Northern Railway (GNR) Class N2 and a British Rail (BR) Class 08 diesel-electric shunter respectively. Due to the video they feature in being stylised with graphics based on the Minis range of merchandise, both have significantly squashed proportions and run on four-wheeled chassis.

Liveries

The tank engine is painted brown, while the diesel shunter is painted blue.

Appearances

The Red Tank Engine

The Red Tank Engine makes a cameo appearance in Adventures on Sodor. It is seen travelling over a bridge near Dryaw station.

Technical Details

Basis

The Red Tank Engine is based on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway 0-6-0 E2 class with extended side tanks. Thomas shares the same basis and modifications.

Livery

The Red Tank Engine is painted red with black lining, cab door, running board and wheels.

Appearances

Trivia

  • The Red Tank Engine is a pre-textured render of Thomas and reuses James' whistle sound.
  • It resembles the Bachmann Junior red livery 0-6-0T '2005' steam locomotive, which is a recolour and retooling of the Bachmann Thomas model.
  • On the Czech Rise and Shine DVD menus, a mirrored image of Thomas is photoshopped to look painted red and James' face is edited onto Thomas' smokebox.

Audio Files

Whistle

First used Last used Sound Effect
Adventures on Sodor Active

See Also

References



* RWS only | ** T&F only
International Characters

* RWS only | ** T&F only | ✦ Changed location
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