The Spiteful Brake Van was a troublesome brake van.
Biography
The brake van took an instant dislike to Douglas and blatantly delayed his trains, with Douglas subsequently being the one directly and unfairly blamed. Donald, angry for how his twin was being treated by the brake van, bumped him violently to teach him a lesson. The brake van would then behave better for several days. [1]
However, the brake van's attitude adjustment was short-lived after Donald accidentally ran into a signal box at the end of a siding. With Donald indisposed, the brake van no longer took his threats seriously and continued his old tricks when he was saddled with James' goods train. Douglas, as a result, had to help James up Gordon's Hill. James was short of steam and the brake van was soon squeezed between both the Troublesome Trucks and Douglas. Between the weight of the train and Douglas' force, he subsequently crushed the van into pieces. The van never got rebuilt afterwards and his remains were scrapped. [1]
Ever since then, the trucks have never forgotten the brake van incident and they do not dare play tricks on neither Donald nor Douglas. It had been an accident really, but no one told the trucks that; they thought that Douglas smashed him on purpose. Because of this, Sir Topham Hatt questioned whether the twins should stay, but in the end, he readily accepted the good plan to keep them both. [1]
Personality
Like the Troublesome Trucks and as his name implies, the Spiteful Brake Van was spiteful, very rude, disrespectful and impolite to the engines, especially Donald and Douglas, particularly to the latter.
Technical Details
Basis
The Spiteful Brake Van was based on a British Railways (BR) 20 ton brake van, which were built to the LNER 20 ton brake van design.
Livery
The Spiteful Brake Van is painted in a grey livery.
In the Bachmann merchandise range, he is depicted with his livery from The Railway Series.
Appearances
Thomas & Friends
Faceless
The Spiteful Brake Van's angry face, that was never featured on his model on-screen, was reused on a Short Wheelbase Truck in the second series episode. |
Books
Faceless:
His angry face also appears on a 3-plank truck in the books, Daisy & Percy's Predicament & Woolly Bear and Percy's Predicament. Magazine Stories
Annual Stories
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Official Description
From Official Media:[2]
| “ | The Spiteful Brake Van: The NW Brakevan is a spiteful nuisance with ill will towards Douglas. He is known for encouraging the other trucks to play tricks on the engines, but is taught a lesson when one of his schemes goes wrong and he gets caught between James and Douglas. | ” |
From Official Media:[3]
| “ | Brakevan is a brown Guard's engine. He is a disagreeable engine who always causes trouble. He does however work very hard with Donald & Douglas to keep the trucks in order. | ” |
Trivia
- The Spiteful Brake Van is the only character introduced in Series 2 to appear in just one episode.
- In the magazine story Donald and Douglas, the Spiteful Brake Van is portrayed as a standard van.
- The Spiteful Brake Van sustains a black eye due to being crushed by Douglas. This marks the first time an engine, rolling stock, or vehicle suffers a physical injury to their face.[1]
- One of the Spiteful Brake Van's face masks would later be used on a Troublesome Truck.[2]
- Along with Annie and Clarabel, the Spiteful Brake Van is one of the many rolling stock characters whose basis is different in The Railway Series and television series.
- The Spiteful Brake Van's Ertl description card incorrectly refers to him as a "guards engine" and incorrectly says that "He does, however, work very hard with Donald and Douglas to keep the trucks in order"; The reason why this is incorrect is because he was causing trouble for the twins and was actually encouraging the trucks to cause trouble which resulted in him getting crushed to pieces by Douglas.[1]
- Several trucks in the annual stories Galloping Sausage, Rusty Red Scrap Iron, Old Square Wheels and Donald and the Breakaways have similar faces to the Spiteful Brake Van. This is due to the trucks being based on a reference photo from the second series, which features a truck with the Spiteful Brake Van's angry face.
Quotes
- “Ye're a muckle nuisance", said Donald one day". It's tae leave ye behind I'd be wantin'".
- "You can't", said the van, "I'm essential".
- "Och are ye?" Donald burst out. "Ye're naethin' but a screechin' an' a noise when a's said an' done. Spite Douggie wad ye? Take that!".
- "Oh! Oh! Oh! Ooh!" cried the van.
- "There's mair comin' should ye misbehave!.”
- ― A conversation between Donald and the Spiteful Brake Van, Break Van
Merchandise
References
| Locomotives | Steam | Thomas | Henry | Gordon | James | Donald and Douglas | Emily | Murdoch | Molly | Nia | Rebecca |
|---|---|---|
| Diesel | BoCo | |
| Former | Edward | |
| Rolling Stock | Passenger | Annie and Clarabel | Emily's Coaches | Green Express Coaches | Red Express Coaches |
| Former | The Spiteful Brake Van | Slip Coaches | |
| Trains | Passenger | The Express | The Local | The Great Waterton Special |
| Goods | The Flying Kipper | The Midnight Goods | |
| Infrastructure | Stations | Tidmouth | Lower Tidmouth** | Knapford | Crosby | Wellsworth | Maron | Cronk** | Killdane** | Balladrine** | Kellaby** | Whispering Woods Halt** | Kellsthorpe Road** | Crovan's Gate | Great Waterton** | Vicarstown | Barrow-in-Furness** |
| Sheds | Tidmouth Sheds | Tidmouth Yard Sheds | Knapford Sheds | Crovan's Gate Sheds* | Vicarstown Sheds | |
| Tunnels and Bridges | Tidmouth Tunnel (South) | Henry's Tunnel | Crosby Tunnel** | Crosby Bridge* | The Viaduct | Sodor Suspension Bridge** | Maron Bridge* | Standard Gauge and Narrow Gauge Viaduct | Vicarstown Bridge** |