Tankers

Tankers, also known as Wagons, are round wagons designed for transporting liquids and other gaseous commodities.

Standard tankers

Standard tankers are used for transporting any type of liquid, rather than a specific type. These tankers feature no logos from other companies.

Personalities

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

Types of sentient tankers

Basis

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

Liveries

Standard tankers typically come in black, grey, silver and white liveries. Sentient tankers in African countries are painted purple maroon.

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.

Merchandise

• Motor Road and Rail
• TrackMaster

Fuel tankers

Fuel tankers are used for carrying fuel and petrol. The utmost care must be taken with these in case of fire.

Personalities

A fuel tanker with a face was seen in the Railway Series. In the television series they've never been seen with faces, however they have been seen amongst the Troublesome Trucks who tricked Bill and Ben. James once referred to his fuel tankers as "stupid trucks".

Types of sentient tankers

Livery

The fuel tankers are painted yellow. They originally had red warning signs and "SODOR FUEL" written in black on both sides. Since the switch to CGI, the tankers now carry an image of a red petrol can on both sides, replacing the original "SODOR FUEL" title. James once pulled a train of black liveried fuel tankers.

In The Railway Series, fuel tankers painted green, red, blue and black have also appeared. Some of these tankers carry logos from companies such as BP and Shell.

Basis

Most of these tankers are based on standard pre-war tankers common across most of regions. However some are based on DB Shell tankers from Germany.

Trivia

• Fuel has also been transported in plain black and yellow tankers without any labels.
• The title "Sodor Fuel" is an in-joke; apparently it was intended to sound like "sod off, you all".^[1]
• One fuel tanker model was previously on display at Nitrogen Studios.

Merchandise

• Bachmann (HO and G scale)
• Capsule Plarail
• Lionel Trains
• Motor Road and Rail
• Tomica
• Tomix
• TrackMaster
• Boss (with Busy Bee James; discontinued)
• ERTL (discontinued)
• Hornby (discontinued)
• Märklin (discontinued)
• Mini Die Cast Collection (discontinued)
• My First Thomas (discontinued)
• Nakayoshi (discontinued)
• Pocket Fantasy (discontinued)
• Take Along (discontinued)
• Thomas Engine Collection Series (discontinued)
• Wooden Railway (discontinued)

Tar tankers

Tar tankers are used for transporting tar. The tar is mostly used for the roads.

James once crashed into some tar tankers after running out of control with a goods train.^[2]

Personalities

Tar tankers fall into the category of Troublesome Trucks.

'Type of sentient tankers

Basis

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

Livery

The tar tankers are painted black with "TAR" written in white on both sides.

Trivia

• Eight tar tanker models are currently on display at Drayton Manor.
• The tankers had black lines going through their writing in the first series, these lines were re-positioned in the third series and removed completely in the tenth series. The lines were readded on their CGI models, which were based off their series 1 design, albeit with the lines being slightly thinner.
• The tar tankers were dropped after the CGI switch, with their role being fulfilled by oil tankers. The tar tankers would not appear in CGI until the twenty-third series, ten years after the switch to CG animation. Similar to their Model Series appearance.
• The tanker that was destroyed in Dirty Objects had "TAR" written on its front and back ends as well as its sides. This was the only tanker to be designed like this until the twenty-third series where all the tankers now include the extra writing.
• Some tar tankers with faces appeared in Toad Stands By. The faces were sourced from the narrow gauge slate trucks. Some of these are owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch.
• In the first two series, due to budget limitations, the tar tankers were painted black on one side and white on the other, the latter side being used for the milk tankers.^[3]During production of the sixth series, one of the tar tankers was repainted into the oil tankers.
• In the fourth series, there was only one tar tanker model that had the "TAR" writing on only one side, as seen in Rusty to the Rescue.

Merchandise

• Capsule Plarail
• Motor Road and Rail
• Tomica
• Bachmann (HO and G scale; HO discontinued)
• Boss (with Diesel 10; discontinued)
• De Agostini (discontinued)
• ERTL (with milk tanker; discontinued)
• Hornby (discontinued)
• Nakayoshi (discontinued)
• Take Along (discontinued)
• TrackMaster (discontinued)
• Wooden Railway (discontinued)

Oil tankers

Oil tankers are primarily used for transporting oil. They have also been used for transporting diesel fuel.

Personalities

Sentient tankers fall into the category of Troublesome Trucks.

'Type of sentient tankers

Basis

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

Livery

The oil tankers are painted black. They originally had the word "OIL" painted on both sides in white, but since the switch to CGI, they now feature an olive logo depicting an oil rig with oil gushing out of it.

Trivia

• Some oil tankers gain faces in Journey Beyond Sodor. Faceless ones are still seen regularly though.
• One oil tanker model is currently on display at the Hara Model Railway Museum. Another oil tanker model and it's face is owned by Twitter user TomsProps. A third oil tanker with its face is owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch.
• Their models were repainted from the tar tankers and the standard tankers dating back to the second series when the latter was painted silver.

Merchandise

• Bachmann (HO and G scale)
• Lionel Trains
• Mega Bloks (discontinued)
• Motor Road and Rail
• Tomica
• TrackMaster
• Hornby (discontinued)
• Take Along (discontinued)
• Take-n-Play (discontinued)
• Wooden Railway (discontinued)

Milk tankers

Milk tankers are used to transport milk from local farms to the dairy at Elsbridge. Each morning, Toby collects one from the dairy on his way to Anopha and leaves it at Ffarquhar for Thomas to take on his first train. Occasionally, Daisy also pulls the milk tanker, though she used to avoid this job.

Personalities

Milk tankers on Sodor fall into the category of Troublesome Trucks.

'Type of sentient tankers

Basis

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

Livery

The milk tankers are painted white. They originally had "TIDMOUTH MILK" painted on their sides in blue, but since the switch to CGI, they now carry a logo of a cow in a blue circle. In The Railway Series, the tankers are painted yellow.

Trivia

• In the first two series, due to budget limitations, the milk tankers were painted half white and half black, with the latter side being used for the tar tankers.^[3]
• Three milk tanker models are currently on display at Drayton Manor.
• In The Railway Series, the tankers have six wheels instead of four.
• In the televised adaptation of Daisy, the milk tanker is called a van due to the script being copied nearly word-for-word from the original story.
• Milk tankers with faces were seen in the fourth season episode Toad Stands By.

Merchandise

• ERTL (discontinued; with a tar tanker)
• Wooden Railway (discontinued)
• Take Along (discontinued)
• Motor Road and Rail (with Diesel) (discontinued)
• TrackMaster (discontinued)
• Thomas Engine Collection Series (discontinued)
• Mini Die Cast Collection (discontinued)
• Bachmann (HO and large scale)
• Hornby (available as part of a triple pack with a fuel and oil tanker)
• Lionel Trains (discontinued)
• Tomica (with Percy)
• My First Thomas (discontinued)
• De Agostini (discontinued)
• Capsule Plarail
• Pocket Fantasy (discontinued)
• Boss (with Emily; discontinued)
• Nakayoshi (discontinued)

Raspberry syrup tankers

Raspberry syrup tankers are used for transporting raspberry syrup. One appears in the eighth series episode, Too Hot for Thomas.

Basis

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

Livery

The raspberry syrup tanker is painted maroon with a logo of a raspberry on both sides.

Trivia

• The raspberry tanker model is currently on display at Drayton Manor.
• Bachmann's HO and G scale models both depict the tanker with a logo different to the one used on the actual model.

Merchandise

• Bachmann (HO and G scale)
• Hornby (discontinued)
• Motor Road and Rail (discontinued)
• TrackMaster (discontinued)

Cream tankers

Cream tankers are used for transporting cream.

Livery

The cream tankers are painted cream with a logo depicting three milk churns on both sides.

Trivia

• One cream tanker model is currently on display at Drayton Manor.

Merchandise

• Bachmann (HO and G scale)
• Hornby (discontinued)
• Take Along (discontinued)

Jam tankers

Jam tankers (named jelly tankers in the US dub) are used for transporting jam. Gordon once crashed into a train of jam tankers.^[4]

Livery

The jam tankers are painted silver.

Toffee tankers

Toffee tankers (named taffy tankers in the US dub) are used for transporting melted toffee. Thomas once took one of these tankers to a costume party when Toby was unable to.^[5]

Livery

The toffee tankers are painted orange.

Merchandise

• Bachmann (G scale)

Water tankers

Water tankers are used for transporting water. They first appeared in Toad and the Whale.

Livery

The water tankers are painted sky blue.

Merchandise

• Interactive Learning Railway (discontinued)
• Motor Road and Rail
• Wood
• Bachmann (HO and G scale)
• TrackMaster (discontinued)
• Wooden Railway (various versions; all discontinued)

Sugar tankers

Sugar tankers are used for transporting sugar. They appear in the book Dustin Comes in First.

Livery

The sugar tankers are painted sky blue. They have the words "SODOR SUGAR" and an image of a sugar bag painted on the front and rear ends.

Merchandise

• My First Thomas (discontinued)

References