Rosie/Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes

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

Background Information

Rosie is a fictional standard gauge tank engine created by James Mason. She is currently the No. 37 engine on the North Western Railway.

Rosie made her debut in the tenth series episode, Thomas and the Birthday Mail, which first aired in 2006, and made her last appearance in the twenty-fourth series double-length episode, A New Arrival, which first aired in 2020.

Voice

From the thirteenth to sixteenth series, she was voiced by Teresa Gallagher and Jules de Jongh in the UK and the US respectively. The character rarely saw any significant roles between the seventeenth and twentieth series, but since Journey Beyond Sodor, she became the series regular and now speaks in several episodes. Gallagher gave Rosie an English accent, while Jules de Jongh gave her an American accent. The twentieth series was the only series where she does not appear at all since her introduction due to the production team updating her model for the following series. As of Journey Beyond Sodor, Nicola Stapleton took over as her new voice actor on both sides of the Atlantic, giving her an English accent much like Teresa Gallagher, as opposed to Jules de Jongh's American accent.

Behind the Scenes

Gauge 1 model

Two models of Rosie were scratch-built from brass to run on gauge 1 track, whilst her wheels and chassis were constructed from CNC. The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement, and one for left and right movement.

In the episode, Rosie's Funfair Special, Rosie was briefly seen with a lamp. This was powered by a hidden battery pack.

Reference Sheets

Series 10

Faces

Six different facial expressions were sculpted for Rosie and used on-screen.^[1] The faces were first sculpted in clay by Sean Hedges-Quinn and from that 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. The faces were also duplicated in case the crew needed a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting.

Reference Sheets

Usage and Evolution

Present Day

The earliest finished version of Rosie's happy face was formerly owned by Twitter user IsaacM6991, and before then, was formerly owned by Sean Hedges-Quinn alongside the earliest finished version of her clenched face, which Sean is still currently in possession of. Rosie's content face is now owned by Twitter user ThomasTheorist. Rosie's sad face would also be sold by The Prop Gallery in 2022 and Rosie's screen-used happy face is currently on her model on the new Discover Thomas Exhibition at Drayton Manor Theme Park.

Present Day Ruler Reference Photos

CGI Face

The twelfth series marked the beginning of the show's transition into 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. Rosie's resin faces were only used in background shots.

Changes from Basis

Rosie's shape in Thomas & Friends is heavily modified from that of her basis. Some of the changes made to her include:

Rosie has both her whistle and connecting rods in different positions compared to her prototype:
Rosie's whistle is positioned behind her rear dome whilst her prototype has its whistle positioned on the right side of the middle dome.
Rosie's connecting rods are attached to her middle driving wheels whereas her prototype has its connecting rods attached to the rear driving wheels.
Her funnel is also taller than that of her basis.

Model Changes

Rosie had some modifications throughout Thomas & Friends, which included:

Series 12:
- Her tail-lamp was removed.

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 till 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 off. Due to only having one set of gauge 1 scale models made, Rosie's models would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

One of Rosie's models used to be on display at the Discover Thomas & Friends Exhibition at Drayton Manor with her smiling face. The other model used to reside in Mattel's storage unit in Southampton England. Throughout the years, the model at Drayton Manor has been damaged or is missing parts, such as:

The whistle has been missing since the exhibition opening.
Sometime in 2017, the back of her left siderod had broken off.
Some brass chips appear on the model throughout 2018.
The motor gave out in 2019.

In 2022, Rosie was put on Thomas' line on the layout and is now pulling the two branchline coaches Thomas used to pull. After the exhibit closed and a new layout was constructed elsewhere in the park, the model was returned to storage.

As of late 2023, Rosie's second model is currently on display on the new Discover Thomas & Friends Exhibition layout at Drayton Manor alongside her happy face.

Close-up model

Close-up shots of Rosie's cab were required for scenes where she had to interact with close-up scale figures. It was also used for close-up whistle shots; smoke would emit from the whistle when required. Most of the engine was built, excluding the wheels, and a visible face. However, only the back half of Rosie was shown on screen. With the exception of a face, wheels, and running gear, the model was essentially complete.

Rosie's close-up model was built by model maker, Nick Richardson.

Present Day

Rosie's close-up model is currently in Mattel's storage unit in Southampton England.

CGI model

In 2009, Thomas & Friends introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Rosie was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. Her model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of Rosie's Gauge 1 model were used for reference. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original Thomas & Friends models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.

Rosie has had modifications throughout the CGI series. These include:

Hero of the Rails:
- Her face became slightly smaller.
- Her funnel and steam pipes became thinner.
- Her lamp-irons were removed, although the holes where they were located remained.
- The combination lever on her valve gear no longer sticks out past her cylinders.
- The detail on the back of her coal bunker is now pushed in.
Series 13:
- Her whistle sound is softer in pitch and a secondary tone is mixed in with the original.
Mid-Series 17 (starting with Percy's Lucky Day onwards):
- She gained Ferdinand's lamp mounted permanently in front of her funnel.
Tale of the Brave:
- She regained her tail-lamp.

New Livery

Due to an abundance of fan mail asking for more of Rosie, the production team decided to completely rebuild her from scratch. The process took four months, most likely between January and April 2016.^[2]

According to a tweet from SiF, other new liveries considered for Rosie included blue and green. However, these were eventually rejected in favour of the red livery.^[3]

Rosie's overhaul included the following modifications:

She received a new cherry red livery, with light grey lining and dark raspberry tank panels.
"NWR" is now painted on her side tanks and the number "37" painted under her side cab windows, both in light grey with a gold shadow.
The area above her wheels and around her ladder was repainted to gold.
She lost her lip gloss and blush.
She gained rivets across her cab, side tanks, the sides of her buffer beam, and around her smokebox and cylinders.
She also received window panes.