Standard Tankers

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Standard Tankers
Background Information
First appearance	Thomas and Gordon (1984)
Last appearance	Yong Bao and the Tiger (2021)
Character Overview
Country	Island of Sodor England Mauritania Kenya Tanzania Brazil United States Canada India China Australia Italy
Technical Details
Basis	14 Ton Fuel Tanker
Gauge	4'8½" (1,435 mm; standard gauge)
Vehicle	Rolling stock
Type	Tanker
Wheels	4
Railway	North Western Railway East African Railways China Railway Indian Railway South Australian Railways

Standard Tankers are unmarked tankers used for carrying liquids of no particular type.

Personalities

Standard tankers on Sodor fall into the category of Troublesome Tankers, although the ones in African countries are quite the opposite; somewhat silly, but polite, helpful and enjoy singing peaceful and uplifting songs.

Types of sentient tankers in the Television Series:

White Tankers

Black Tankers

African Tankers

Technical Details

Basis

These tankers are based on standard 14 ton pre-war tankers common across most of regions.

A real 14 ton pre-war tanker

Liveries

Standard tankers typically come in black, silver, yellow and white liveries. In African countries, they are painted purple-maroon.

Silver tankers

Silver-black tanker

Black tankers

White tankers

Yellow tankers

Purple-maroon tankers

Appearances

• Television Series
• Other Media

Thomas & Friends Series 1 - Thomas and Gordon, Edward and Gordon, The Sad Story of Henry, Edward, Gordon and Henry, Thomas' Train, Thomas and the Trucks, Thomas and the Breakdown Train, James and the Coaches, Troublesome Trucks, James and the Express, Thomas, Terence and the Snow, Trouble in the Shed, Coal, Off the Rails, Down the Mine and Thomas' Christmas Party Series 2 - Thomas, Percy and the Coal, Cows, Saved from Scrap, Old Iron, Thomas and Trevor, Percy and the Signal, Duck Takes Charge, The Runaway, Percy Takes the Plunge, Pop Goes the Diesel, Dirty Work, Better Late Than Never, Break Van, The Deputation, Thomas Comes to Breakfast, Daisy, The Diseasel, Ghost Train, Woolly Bear and Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree Series 3 - A Scarf for Percy, Gordon and the Famous Visitor, Donald's Duck, Thomas Gets Bumped, Thomas, Percy and the Dragon, Diesel Does it Again, Henry's Forest, The Trouble with Mud, No Joke for James, Thomas, Percy and the Post Train, Trust Thomas, All at Sea, One Good Turn, Tender Engines, Escape, Oliver Owns Up, Percy, James and the Fruitful Day and Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure Series 4 - Four Little Engines, A Bad Day for Sir Handel, Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady, Trucks, Rock 'n' Roll, Steam Roller, Passengers and Polish, Gallant Old Engine, Rusty to the Rescue, Thomas and Stepney, Train Stops Play, Bowled Out, Toad Stands By, Bulls Eyes, Thomas and the Special Letter, Paint Pots and Queens, Special Attraction and Mind that Bike Series 5 - Cranky Bugs, Horrid Lorry, A Better View for Gordon (deleted scene), James and the Trouble with Trees, Gordon and the Gremlin, Bye George!, Put Upon Percy, Double Teething Troubles, Thomas, Percy and Old Slow Coach, Thomas and the Rumours, Oliver's Find, Happy Ever After, Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday, A Surprise for Percy, Busy Going Backwards and Snow (stock footage) Series 6 - Twin Trouble and James and the Red Balloon Series 8 - Percy's Big Mistake Series 10 - It's Good to Be Gordon Series 11 - Thomas and the Lighthouse and Hide and Peep Series 22 - Tiger Trouble Series 23 - Crowning Around, The Other Big Engine, Batucada, Thomas Makes a Mistake, Rangers of the Rails (fantasy), Wish You Were Here and Lorenzo's Solo and Too Loud, Thomas! Series 24 - Thomas and the Forest Engines, Shankar's Makeover, Thomas' Not-So-Lucky Day and Yong Bao and the Tiger Specials 2000 - Thomas and the Magic Railroad 2018 - Big World! Big Adventures! Videos 2018 - Meet Ashima of India!

Books 1984 - Thomas and the Trucks and Thomas Goes Fishing and James and the Troublesome Trucks 1985 - Edward, Gordon and Henry and Gordon Off the Rails, Ladybird Fun Frieze, More Adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and Thomas Gets Tricked and Other Stories 1986 - Big Story Book, Four Great Stories and Thomas and Trevor and Duck Takes Charge 1987 - Percy and Harold and Percy Takes the Plunge, Pop Goes the Diesel and Dirty Work and A Close Shave, Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree and Thomas Comes to Breakfast and BoCo the Diseasel 1989 - Meet Thomas the Tank Engine and His Friends and Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends 1990 - Gordon Off the Rails, James and the Troublesome Trucks, Thomas and the Breakdown Train, Thomas Down the Mine and Thomas in Trouble 1991 - Duck Takes Charge, Percy and Harold, Percy's Predicament, Saved from Scrap, Thomas and Trevor, Thomas Comes to Breakfast and Thomas, Percy and the Coal 1992 - A Cow on the Line and Other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories, Diesel's Devious Deed and Other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories, Donald's Duck, Gordon and the Famous Visitor, Henry Helps Out, No Joke for James, Percy Takes the Plunge, Thomas and the Dragon, Thomas, Bertie and the Bumpy Line, Thomas Gets Bumped, Woolly Bear and Your Favourite Thomas the Tank Engine Story Collection 1993 - Diesel Does It Again, Edward's Exploit and Other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories, James in a Mess and Other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories, Thomas the Tank Engine Storybook and Trust Thomas 1994 - A Scarf for Percy, Henry's Forest, The Adventures of Thomas and Thomas, Percy and the Dragon 1995 - Duck and the Regatta, Tender Engines and The Mischievous Twins 1996 - Four Little Engines 1998 - Horrid Lorries 2000 - The Cranky Day and other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories and Thomas Sorts It Out 2001 - A Better View for Gordon and Other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories 2002 - Thomas and Percy to the Rescue and Thomas and the Rumors and other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories 2004 - Bill and Ben 2005 - Story Treasury, Thomas Goods Encyclopedia and Thomas the Tank Engine Encyclopedia 2006 - Thomas' Big Storybook 2009 - Thomas and the Lighthouse 2011 - Flynn Saves the Day 2016 - The Engine Shed Story Collection 2018 - Tank Engine Tales Annual Stories 1985 - James' Rest Cure Magazine Stories 1992 - No Joke for James (mentioned) 1993 - Keeping Cool! 2001 - Down at the Docks 2002 - Henry Helps 2004 - Henry's Forest, Percy and the Dragon and Thank You, Thomas! 2005 - Big Bad Roller, Daisy and the Bull, Steaming Along! and Turntable Trouble 2008 - Thomas and the Lighthouse! 2020 - Too Loud, Thomas! 2022 - Wish You Were Here 2023 - Batucada Video Games 1998 - Magical Adventure 2000 - KidsStation - Thomas the Tank Engine Miscellaneous 1984 - View-Master 3D

Trivia

• Some plain tankers appear with faces in the fourth series episode, Toad Stands By and reappear in Big World! Big Adventures! In the former, some of the faces were sourced from the narrow gauge slate trucks.
  • Two faces used for tankers in Toad Stands By are owned by Twitter users TomsProps and ThomasTankMerch.
• The tankers would later be repainted into oil tankers in the sixth series.

Merchandise

• Motor Road and Rail (discontinued)
• TrackMaster (discontinued)
• Wooden Railway (discontinued)
• Bachmann
• Motorized (discontinued)

North Western Railway

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--- Dropped | * 1991-1994 maps only | ** 2014 map only

United Kingdom

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Brazil

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United States

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* T&F only

India

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China

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Australia

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Italy

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