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Thomas & Friends

Several types of narrow gauge coaches appear throughout Thomas & Friends.

Notable Coaches

The following types of Narrow Gauge Coaches have their own separate pages or are listed on other pages:

Blue Narrow Gauge Coaches

"Stop! Stop! Stop! You've left the Refreshment Lady behind!"
― Skarloey Railway Coaches[src]

These coaches are enclosed four-wheeled coaches used by the Skarloey Railway and formerly the Mid Sodor Railway.

Biography

They are the most commonly used coaches and have endured many accidents and adventures; such as leaving the Refreshment Lady behind, derailing several times, stopping at wrong places, being stuck in tunnels and having a full train of passengers on a stormy day.

The coaches are very fond of Peter Sam, due to the fact he treats them with respect, and they took a dislike to Sir Handel because he insulted them by calling them "cattle trucks".

Technical Details

Basis

The blue narrow gauge coaches are based on the Talyllyn Railway's No. 4 coach. This coach (also known as "Limping Lulu") was built by the Lancaster Wagon Co. in 1866. Lucy from The Railway Series shares the same basis.

Livery

These coaches are painted light blue with cream window surrounds.

Appearances

Trivia

Merchandise

Red Narrow Gauge Coaches

"I'm ashamed of you! You might have hurt your passengers!"
Skarloey scolding the coaches[src]

These coaches are enclosed four-wheeled coaches used by the Skarloey Railway and formerly the Mid Sodor Railway.

Biography

Since Sir Handel insulted the coaches, they do not trust him, even when he tries his best to be kind towards them. They are considered to be awkward and rude. They bumped Sir Handel off the rails when he had to stop suddenly to avoid running over a flock of sheep. Skarloey scolded the coaches severely and had to pull Sir Handel's train instead.

Peter Sam found a dilapidated red coach and it was later restored into a mobile Refreshment Coach. Later, Rusty took the Sodor Brass Band around on a tour of the Skarloey Railway using one of these coaches. On Mrs. Percival's birthday, Mr. Percival arranged for Sir Handel to take them to Culdee Fell Hill for a picnic, using one of these coaches.

Technical Details

Basis

The red narrow gauge coaches are based on the Talyllyn Railway's No. 1-3 coaches. These three coaches were built by Brown, Marshalls and Co. Ltd. between 1866-1867. The Refreshment Coach - as well as Agnes, Ruth and Jemima from The Railway Series - share the same basis.

Livery

These coaches are painted red with yellow lining and the number "1" painted on their doors, signifying them as being first-class coaches. Their liveries are based on coaches found on the Leighton and Buzzard Railway.[1]

Appearances

Trivia

  • The red narrow gauge coaches have "1" on their doors, signifing that they are First Class.
  • A small scale version of one of these coaches from the fourth series is owned by Twitter user, ThomasTankMerch. Three others are also owned by TomsProps.
  • In the merchandise ranges, these coaches reuse tooling from pre-existing coaches.

Merchandise

Green Narrow Gauge Coaches

"I'm used to smart coaches, not these cattle trucks."
― Sir Handel[src]

These coaches are open-sided four-wheeled coaches used by the Skarloey Railway and formerly the Mid Sodor Railway.

Biography

These open air coaches are mainly used on sunny days for tourist trains and excursions. They were a part of Duke's Picnic Train on the Mid Sodor Railway. Rheneas pulled one of these coaches during a school excursion.

Once, Mighty Mac accidentally derailed one of them and pushed it into a mountain. This caused a rock slide and the passengers had to help lever the coach back onto the rails. Duncan and Peter Sam took the Percival Twins for a train ride on their birthday using one of these coaches.

Technical Details

Basis

The coaches appear to be based on Leighton and Buzzard open coaches, albeit with four wheels instead of bogies.

Livery

They are painted green with cream window surrounds. Whenever these coaches had faces, their ends were entirely cream-coloured. However, if they did not have faces, the green stripe on their sides was continued onto their ends.

A light blue version of this type of coach can be seen in the My Thomas Story Library book Mighty Mac.

Appearances

Trivia

  • The coaches resemble Ada, Jane and Mabel from the Railway Series, but with added roofs.
  • All three coaches' faces (including the blue and red coaches) are made similar to Annie and Clarabel's faces.
  • When these coaches returned in the seventh series in large-scale form, their bodies seem to increase in size and their roofs became more rounded.
  • Three small-scale versions of these coaches are owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. One of the coaches faces was later sold to ThomasTankMerch from The Prop Gallery.
  • In the merchandise ranges, these coaches reuse tooling from pre-existing coaches.
    • The Capsule Plarail coaches are repainted from Annie and Clarabel. An entirely cream version of this coach was also introduced in later releases.
    • The Motor Road and Rail had limited release of the motorized coach featured with Mighty Mac in a blue and cream livery.[2]

Merchandise

Talyllyn Railway Four-Wheeled Coaches

These coaches are enclosed four-wheeled coaches used by the Skarloey Railway.

Technical Details

Basis

These coaches are based primarily on the Talyllyn Railway's first three coaches built by Brown, Marshalls and Co. Ltd., though feature straight sides and a more similar profile to the railway's fourth coach built by the Lancaster Wagon Company.

Livery

These coaches are painted in the Talyllyn Railway's standard carriage livery of middle brown with cherry red panels and deep bronze green lining.

Appearances

Trivia

  • The CGI models of these coaches are notably thinner, taller and longer than their real-world counterparts.

Merchandise

Talyllyn Railway Semi-Open Coaches

These coaches are a pair of four-wheeled coaches with semi-open sides used by the Skarloey Railway.

Technical Details

Basis

These coaches are based on Talyllyn Railway carriages 11, 12 and 13, specifically their current guise with roofs. Carriages 11 and 12 were originally built as two of several Quarrymen's Carriages for the Penrhyn Quarry Railway in Wales, six of which were acquired by the Talyllyn Railway in 1953. No. 13 was built in 1957 by the Talyllyn Railway to a somewhat larger and sturdier design, which was based on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway's open carriages. Carriages 11 and 12 were rebuilt to a similar design in 1959 and 1958, respectively. All three were rebuilt again with roofs in 1966-67.

Ada, Jane and Mabel from The Railway Series are also based on these coaches.

Livery

These coaches are painted in the Talyllyn Railway's standard carriage livery of middle brown with cherry red panels.

Appearances

Glyn Valley Tramway Coaches

These coaches are enclosed four-wheeled coaches used by the Skarloey Railway.

Technical Details

Basis

These coaches are based on the Talyllyn Railway's ex-Glyn Valley coaches, Nos. 14 and 15.

Livery

The coaches are painted dark green with white window surrounds.

Appearances

Trivia

  • The Glyn Valley coaches were actually modelled by Nitrogen Studios and went unused by Arc and Jam Filled Productions until the twenty-second series.[3]

Other Narrow Gauge Coaches

In magazines and annuals, these coaches are commonly portrayed as Orange Stroudley Coaches scaled down as narrow gauge. Some of these have been illustrated with faces. These coaches were also illustrated as coaches on the Culdee Fell Railway in magazines.

Five small four-wheeled brown coaches (resembling the Ffestiniog Railway's "Bug Box" coaches) appear in the 2000 magazine story A Special Story About Peter Sam. Three olive coaches with cream window surrounds and black fronts also appear in another 2000 magazine story, this one being A Special Story About Duke, where they are part of the Picnic. The 2006 magazine story Splendid Sight features long open-sided coaches in plain yellow and white with a yellow stripe.

In the original My Thomas Story Library book cover of Rheneas, a coach is erroneously painted in the same livery as the Red Express Coaches. In the Ravensburger puzzles, Rheneas and Duncan were also illustrated pulling a Red Express Coach and Red Stroudley Coach scaled down to narrow gauge respectively.

A few open carriages strongly resembling Ada, Jane and Mabel were set to appear with Peter Sam in the original script of the seventh series episode Rheneas and the Roller Coaster.

In the merchandise ranges, pink coaches were introduced in Capsule Plarail. Pocket Fantasy produced yellow, dark green and grey variants of the Blue Coaches. The TrackMaster 2010 Big Friends Rusty release included a dark blue coach numbered "1" on its doors. The prototype model had yellow lining.

See also

References



* David Mitton map only | ** Sam Wilkinson map only | --- Dropped
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