Sir Robert Norramby

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This article is about the television series character. You may be looking for the Railway Series character or his predecessors.

Sir Robert Norramby
Background Information
First Appearance	King of the Railway (T&F)
Last Appearance	Thomas and the Inventor's Workshop (T&F)
Creator(s)	Andrew Brenner Ian McCue Halim Jabbour
Voice Actors
UK/US Voice Actor	Mike Grady
Character Overview
Name	Sir Robert Norramby
Gender	Male
Country of Origin	Island of Sodor
Affiliation	Estate Railway
Biographical Background
Occupation	Noble, railway controller

Sir Robert Norramby is the current Earl of Sodor. He owns Stephen, Millie, Glynn, and Ulfstead Castle, and is a good friend of Sir Topham Hatt. In the TV series, he is also Duke's current grace.

Biography

Thomas & Friends

After spending many years travelling the world, the Earl returned to Sodor to restore King Godred's Castle on his estate at Ulfstead. Later, he sent Stephen to the Sodor Steamworks to have him restored in time for the opening of the castle. However, when Stephen went missing in a mine, he managed to find King Godred's golden crown, something that the Earl was desperately looking for.

One Christmas, he convinced Sir Topham Hatt to dress up as Santa Claus to entertain the children at the Ulfstead Castle Christmas Fair. He also sent Stephen to get tea and scones for castle tea rooms.

The Earl attended to the display of the dinosaur that had been found at the Clay Pits. He later built and opened a new Dinosaur Park on his estate. He also attended the opening ceremony for the Harwick Branch Line and held a Christmas Luncheon at his castle.

Another Christmas, Thomas informed him of Glynn, an old "Coffee Pot" engine who he believed the Fat Controller would scrap. Believing Glynn to be a "very special engine", The Earl arranged for him to be restored at the Steamworks. When Glynn's restoration was complete, The Earl happily welcomed him to the Castle (and even declared him "the best Christmas present" he could wish for). Soon afterwards, he took Glynn on a tour of the Estate, making Stephen jealous. The old engine believed The Earl preferred Glynn over him, a thought that increased when Millie said she suspected that he was planning on building a railway museum. The two engines decided to have a race to decide who would stay on the Estate and who would go into the museum. Millie informed the Earl of this, who went to Knapford to inform the engines that he was building a railway museum and that both of them would be the star attractions.

When his old friend, Franz came to visit with his engine Hugo, Sir Robert took a ride on Hugo. Soon afterwards, he arranged for the Fat Controller to also have a ride on Hugo.

In the twenty-fourth series, he took a ride on Ruth's road plane and hosted the inventions fair.

He owns a yellow car.

Personality

Sir Robert Norramby is a railway buff and a gentleman explorer, who owns an estate on the island of Sodor. With his white beard and hair, he may seem a little eccentric, but he is an old friend of Sir Topham Hatt and has come home to the island after many years travelling the world. Sir Robert often says "I love a good surprise!". Sir Robert is a kind and caring man, but he can be stern to his engines if they misbehave. Sir Robert is always willing to do things for the benefit of others or attempt new feats, always bold with his ideas.

Due to keeping many treasures in Ulfstead Castle, Sir Robert is wary of thieves, and always takes great care in protecting the castle - though not without a wide smile on his face!

Attire

Sir Robert wears a black dress jacket over a red patterned waistcoat, white shirt and blue ascot, with grey trousers and black boots.

Appearances

• Television Series
• Other Media

Thomas & Friends Series 17 - The Switch, Too Many Fire Engines (cameo), Santa's Little Engine and The Afternoon Tea Express Series 18 - Missing Gator (mentioned), Duncan the Humbug (cameo), Marion and the Dinosaurs, Samson at Your Service (does not speak) and Millie and the Volcano Series 19 - Slow Stephen (dropped), Reds vs Blues and Diesel's Ghostly Christmas Series 20 - Sidney Sings, Engine of the Future, The Christmas Coffeepot and Over the Hill Series 21 - Runaway Engine, Terence Breaks the Ice, Daisy's Perfect Christmas (cameo) and Confused Coaches (cameo) Series 22 - Forever and Ever (cameo; fantasy), Samson and the Fireworks (does not speak) and Hunt the Truck (does not speak) Series 23 - Heart of Gold Series 24 - Emily's Best Friend, The Great Little Railway Show, A New Arrival, World of Tomorrow, Nia's Bright Idea and Thomas and the Inventor's Workshop Specials 2013 - King of the Railway 2014 - Tale of the Brave 2015 - Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure (cameo) 2016 - The Great Race (cameo) 2017 - Journey Beyond Sodor (cameo) 2018 - Big World! Big Adventures! (cameo) Music Videos King of the Railway - Working Together, Searching Everywhere and It's Gonna be a Great Day Series 17 - Hey, Hey Thomas! and On a Journey Today Series 18 - It's Christmas Time and The Best Friends Express Thomas' YouTube World Tour - Never, Never, Never Give Up, It's Great to be an Engine and Thomas' Anthem Series 19 - Engine Roll Call and There's Snow Place Like Home Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure - We Make a Team Together Series 20 - Glynn's Christmas Wish, James the Really Splendid Engine and Accidents Will Happen Series 21 - Set Friendship in Motion Big World! Big Adventures! - We're Friends Series 22 - All the Girls Around the World and The Steam Team Series 24 - Party Train and The Little Engine Who Believed Storytime Series 1 - Marion and the Dinosaurs and The Story of Toby the Tram Engine

Magazine Stories

• 2014 - The Afternoon Tea Express and Emily Makes a Splash! (speaks in speech bubble only)
• 2015 - Marion and the Dinosaurs and Missing Gator (mentioned)

Voice Actors

• Mike Grady (UK/US)
• Bernd Stephan (Germany)
• Miłogost Reczek (Poland)
• Shingo Fujimori (Japan; King of the Railway theatrical version only)
• Kiyonobu Suzuki (Japan; King of the Railway Netflix version onwards, excluding Reds vs. Blues)
• Shigenori Sōya (Japan; Reds vs. Blues only)
• Gadi Levy (Israel; seventeenth - twentieth series)
• Nir Ron (Israel; twenty third and twenty fourth series)
• Per Skjøldsvik (Norway; King of the Railway only)
• Helge Winther Larsen (Norway; seventeenth series only)
• Humberto Vélez (Latin America; King of the Railway - nineteenth series, excluding Tale of the Brave)
• Rolando de Castro (Latin America; Tale of the Brave only)
• Raúl Anaya (Latin America; twentieth series onwards)
• Stan Limburg (The Netherlands)
• Torbjørn Hummel (Denmark)
• Sérgio Rufino (Brazil)
• Leopoldo Ballesteros (Spain)
• Pekka Saaristo (Finland; King of the Railway only)
• Petri Hanttu (Finland; seventeenth series onwards)
• Aron Laszlo (Hungary)
• Alexander Kotov (Russia)

Trivia

• The Earl also has his own segments which feature on DVD releases in which he asks viewers questions about episodes entitled The Earl's Quiz.
• The character of Sir Robert Norramby was derived from the Rev. W. Awdry's material about the Norramby family. This makes him the first character introduced in the television series whose creation was inspired by the supportive material for The Railway Series rather than the books themselves or being a television series original character.
  • He is also the only human character whose creation was drawn from said material (the other character being Glynn).
• It is revealed in The Earl's Quiz segment, The Lost Puff, Color and Percy's Lucky Day that Sir Robert's favourite colour is purple.

Ulfstead Castle

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