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Troublesome Trucks (T&F)

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For other uses, see Troublesome Trucks.

“Chase him! Bump him! Throw him off the rails!”
― Troublesome Trucks[src]

The Troublesome Trucks, also called Freight Cars, originally Foolish Freight Cars, in the US dub, are pieces of open wagons which they carry goods on the North Western Railway and abroad, nicknamed because they can be very troublesome and love to play tricks on the engines.

Personalities

Troublesome Trucks delight in mischief and any wise engine knows that they are not to be trusted. If an engine is having a bad day, makes a mistake, or is naive and easily played upon, the trucks begin their tricks. Common antics of the trucks include singing, name-calling, holding back, bumping and teasing the engines. The trucks are not known for common sense, and will cause trouble regardless of the consequences. They are also shown to be somewhat manipulative and can take advantage of other engines that do not know much about them.

Trucks most often play tricks on engines based on how they are treated; many accidents involving them come as a form of revenge due to mistreatment. Trucks can also be described as territorial. When they get used to certain engines pulling them, another engine in the yard may cause confusion or anger for the trucks. When it comes to playing tricks, however, one engine is as good as another and they will carry out their plans regardless of who is pulling them.

It is very rare that the trucks will behave and few engines are known to be able to handle them. The only engines the trucks are known not to play tricks on are Edward, Stepney, Hiro and Salty, who are experienced with handling trucks and know how to properly discipline them when they misbehave. Salty in particular handles them by singing musical tunes, which the trucks like to sing along to. The trucks are also fearful of Oliver after he pulled a privately owned truck called S.C. Ruffey - who was also their leader - apart. Although this was an accident, the trucks were never told that and since then, they always keep in mind never to play tricks on Oliver out of fear of being pulled to pieces. Rebecca was also unintentionally able to handle them by unknowingly playing along with their tricks.

In Big World! Big Adventures, trucks in other countries are shown to act very differently than the ones on Sodor, being very polite and even helpful to the engines instead of causing trouble. Like their Sodor counterparts, these trucks sing songs for their enjoyment but do so for the engines that pull them to enjoy rather than to tease them.

Technical Details

Basis

Several types of Troublesome Trucks appear throughout Thomas & Friends. These include:

Standard Gauge:

Narrow Gauge:

Liveries

In the early television series, Troublesome Trucks appeared in a variety of colours, predominantly black, brown and dark green. Since the seventeenth series, the Troublesome Trucks have been almost exclusively painted grey.

Under the Big World! Big Adventures! rebrand, Troublesome Trucks in other countries appeared in several different liveries. In Brazil, the trucks are painted purple-red. In China, the trucks are painted black with red bufferbeams and solebars. In India, trucks appear in several colours including orange, white, blue and light green.

Privately-owned trucks have their company's name, initials or logo painted or placed on both sides. They are also painted in their company's livery. Several private-owner wagons with unique liveries were created exclusively for the merchandise ranges.

Appearances

Thomas & Friends

Specials

Music Videos

Learning Segments

DVD Games

Videos

Storytime

Magazine Stories

Official Description

From Official Website:[1]

“ Troublesome Trucks: Troublesome Trucks are the rascals of Sir Topham Hatt's railway who take great delight in causing trouble for whichever engine has to pull them. Noisy and silly, they talk a lot and do not attend to what they are doing.


Historical Note: The trucks are mixed goods wagons which date from various periods.

”

From Official Website:[2][3][4] [5]

“ Troublesome Trucks: The Troublesome Trucks are the rascals of Sir Topham Hatt's railway who take great delight in causing trouble for whichever engine has to pull them. Noisy and silly, they talk a lot and do not attend to what they are doing.


Fun Fact: The Troublesome Trucks are actually mixed goods wagons, so they can be used at all areas on the island, but especially enjoy causing trouble at the coal mines and quarries.

”

Audio Files

Laugh

First used Last used Sound Effect
Series 2 Series 7

Voice Actors

Trivia

  • In the first series, the Troublesome Trucks had paper eyes and a paper mouth similar to how Annie and Clarabel's were made. No other emotions besides an angry expression were able to be used until the following series when they were given faces to present a greater variety of expressions.
  • In the second series episode A Close Shave, a brake van is seen with a troublesome truck's face.
  • Faces from the Spiteful Brake Van, Toad, S.C. Ruffey and Bulstrode have been seen on the trucks at various points throughout the model series.
  • The audio of the trucks' high-pitched giggling from the second through seventh series is actually a pitched-up recording of Junior Campbell and Mike O'Donnell laughing, as is the clip of the trucks singing their songs, "Pop Goes the Diesel" and "Pop Goes Old Ollie". However, Junior did both their laughing and singing voices while Mike only did their laughing voices.
  • From the sixth series onwards in the US, the term "truck" is used more often. In more recent series, however, the US has been more consistent in using the term "car", unless referring to the Troublesome Trucks in particular.
  • Despite their prominence during the show's earliest series, the trucks were, for unknown reasons, largely absent for several years following the show's conversion to CGI; while sporadically present in background shots or brief non-speaking roles, they played no major speaking roles in any productions between the twelfth series episode James Works It Out and King of the Railway.
  • Most trucks are unnamed, however some merchandise ranges give names to individual trucks:
  • The Capsule Plarail toys of the Troublesome Trucks are repainted from JNR Tora55000-type's toys.

See Also

--- Dropped | * 1991-1994 maps only | ** 2014 map only
Locomotives Steam Thomas | Edward | Henry | Gordon | James | Percy | Toby | Duck | Donald and Douglas | Oliver | Emily | Bill and Ben | Stepney | Harvey | Fergus | Arthur | Murdoch | Molly | Neville | Rosie | Whiff | Billy | Stanley | Hank | Flora | Victor | Charlie | Bash and Dash | Ferdinand | Scruff | Belle | Porter | Timothy | Marion | Ryan | Dustin | Nia | Rebecca | Sonny
Diesel Diesel | Daisy | BoCo | Mavis | Derek | 'Arry and Bert | Diesel 10 | Salty | Dennis | Den | Dart | Paxton | Norman | Sidney | Philip
Other Flynn | Winston | Stafford
Former Hiro | Glynn | Coffee Pots
Rolling Stock Passenger Annie and Clarabel | Henrietta | Old Slow Coach | Slip Coaches | Hannah | Dexter | Green Express Coaches | Emily's Coaches | Toby's Museum Coach | Flora's Tram Coach | Open-Topped Carriages
Goods Troublesome Trucks | Troublesome Vans | The Spiteful Brake Van | Toad | Troublesome Tankers | James' Trucks | Thomas' Trucks | Hector | The Calliope
Other The Breakdown Train (Judy and Jerome) | Rocky | Gordon's Snow Machine | The Pump Trolley | The Photographer's Draisine
Non-Rail Vehicles Cranky | Kevin | Carly | Big Mickey
People Sir Topham Hatt | Old Bailey | Mr. Conductor | Grandfather Hatt | Mr. Arkwright | Mr. Perkins
Lines The Main Line | Ffarquhar Branch Line | Brendam Branch Line | The Little Western | Toby's Branch Line | Stepney's Branch Line | The Loop Line | The Headland Line* | The Secondary Loop Line* | Peel Godred Branch Line** | Kirk Ronan Branch Line** | Norramby Branch Line** | Coaling Plant Branch Line** | Ulfstead Branch Line** | The Main Line Loop** | Misty Valley Branch Line** | Killdane Branch Line** | Harwick Branch Line**
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