Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki
Behind the Scenes

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

Background Information

Molly is a fictional standard gauge tender locomotive created by Paul Larson.

Molly first appeared in the ninth series episode Molly's Special Special, which first aired in 2005. Her last appearance was in the special The Great Discovery, which was released in 2008.

Molly is based on a Great Eastern Railway D56.

Behind the Scenes

Gauge 1 model

MainMollyModel2

Production orthographics were drawn up for Molly's gauge 1 model by Conrad Ayling on 2 July 2004. Molly's model was scratch built from brass to run on gauge 1 track, whilst her wheels and chassis were constructed using CNC. The eye mechanism had two servos one for up and down movement, The other for left and right movement. The model was built to a 1:32 scale.[1] A second model was planned to be built, however it was left incomplete and never used on screen.

Like other tender engines, Molly had wires between her cab and her tender. This was also seen in side view promotional art drawn based on production measurement reference photographs.[2]

In the episode Molly's Special Special and the music video Favourite Place, Molly is seen with a lamp. This was powered by a hidden battery pack.

Reference Sheets

Series 9

Faces

A total of four different facial expressions were sculpted for Molly, all used on-screen. The faces were first sculpted in clay by Sean Hedges-Quinn, from which resin casts were made using a silicone mould. Following this, a few faces would be test painted and using those as examples, the final on-screen variants would be produced. Molly's content face was duplicated in case the crew needed the face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting.

Molly's original face

Originally, Molly had a much larger face, albeit it was deemed too frightening to be used and it never made its way into the television series. Almost all of her merchandise depicts her with her prototype face, including on packaging art. Three of Molly's prototype faces are now owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch.[3] A production cast of one of her prototype faces is also currently owned by Twitter User SkarloeyRailwayAdventure. A new smokebox was also sculpted to accomodate the new, much smaller faces.

Reference Sheets
Usage and Evolution
Present Day

All of Molly's faces were displayed at The World of Thomas The Tank Engine Exhibition at the Kyoto Railway Museum on March 15th 2025. The earliest finished versions of Molly's happy and worried faces are currently owned by Sean Hedges-Quinn, as well as a prototype version of her worried face.

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 between 2010 and 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 of.

During this time, Molly's second unfinished model would be placed in a lot with a few other unfinished models listed as "TF00643". Due to only having one full gauge 1 scale model made, Molly's model alongside her unfinished second model, would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

Molly's main model used to be on display in Canada at Nitrogen Studios with her happy face. In 2020, it was put on display at the Discover Thomas & Friends Exhibition at Drayton Manor Theme Park with her content face. In July 2022, Molly took Daisy's place on the layout after the latter was returned to storage. In late 2022, when the exhibition closed and a new layout was constructed elsewhere in the park, Molly was removed from the display and returned to storage. On 15 March 2025, the model was put on display at The World of Thomas the Tank Engine Exhibition at the Kyoto Railway Museum.

Since being moved to the Discover Thomas & Friends Exhibition, Molly's model has sustained some damage. This includes smudges and chips on her paintwork, as well as two of her lamp irons being removed to be used for Thomas.

The Snow Engine

An unused snow engine prop based on the GER Class D56 - Molly's basis - appears in ruler reference photographs taken during production of the eighth series.

Voice Actors

References