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The Mainland Diesels are a group of at least four diesel shunters who work in various shunting yards on the Mainland. One of them is named Ulli.[1]

Biography

During the Great Railway Show, these diesels were seen shunting trucks around the yard for the contestants. Three of them later watched the Shunting Competition.[2]

When James went to Bridlington Goods Yard to search for Thomas, he bumped into one of the diesels and asked him if he had seen the tank engine, who replied he could not remember. When James provided more details, the diesel asked another diesel, Ulli, if he had seen Thomas, who also said that he had not. The diesel then explained that Bridlington was a busy goods yard and left. After finding out from Thomas' trucks that he was at the Steelworks, James tried to ask the diesel if he knew where it was, only to be ignored.[1]

Two of the diesels were shunting when Thomas arrived at a station on his way to London and went to the washdown after getting covered in mud.[3]

Technical Details

Basis

The Great Railway Show Shunters are all based on British Rail (BR) Class 08 diesel-electric shunters. In the real world, BR Class 08s were in fact the most successful shunting engines in the world with 996 of them built. Over seventy of them are preserved by heritage railways, such as the Dean Forest Railway and museums, such as the National Railway Museum. Around one-hundred BR Class 08s also remain in service on the national rail network. 08850, a BR Class 08 preserved by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, appears in a Mr. Perkins' Railway segment.

Diesel, 'Arry, BertSplatter, Dodge, Paxton, Sidney and Fernando are also based on BR Class 08s along with the international orange, blue and Chinese diesels.

Livery

The Mainland Diesels are all painted red with large yellow stripes in the middle. They all have black and yellow hazard stripes painted on their fronts with white ladders, yellow counterweights and red buffers. Their livery is based on the English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS) livery that some BR Class 08s were painted in.

Appearances

Audio Files

Horns

First used Last used Sound Effect
Journey Beyond Sodor Active

Trivia

  • The diesels' roles in The Great Race were at one point planned to be filled by Splatter and Dodge.
  • Ulli is the only one of the diesels to be named.
  • Several of the diesels' faces are reused or modified from other characters:
    • The diesel shunter James speaks to has a modified version of Diesel's face (eyebrows and nose changed and resized to Paxton's face size).
    • Ulli's face is altered from Paxton's.
    • One of the diesels' faces was later reused for Fernando.
  • Two of the diesels' horn sounds heard in Journey Beyond Sodor are recorded from BR Class 37s, while the other is sourced from an American diesel.
  • It is unknown how many of those diesels are at Bridlington goods yard.

Merchandise

References


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