| This article is about the sentient vans. You may be looking for their non-sentient counterparts. |
The Troublesome Vans are enclosed pieces of rolling stock which 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[]
Like their open wagon counterparts, the Troublesome Vans 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 vans begin their tricks. Common antics of the vans include singing, name-calling, holding back, bumping and teasing the engines. The vans 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.
In Big World! Big Adventures, vans 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 vans 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 Vans appear throughout Thomas & Friends. These include:
Standard Gauge:
.png "BR12TonVans(T&F).png (1.49 MB)")
Narrow Gauge:
.png "TroublesomeVan(narrowgauge).png (2.51 MB)")
.png "TroublesomeBrakevan(narrowgauge).png (2.22 MB)")
Liveries[]
The majority of Troublesome Vans on the North Western Railway are painted either brown, grey, or cream. In Big World! Big Adventures!, some vans seen in Africa are painted green and light grey.
Appearances[]
Thomas & Friends
Specials
Music Videos
Videos
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Official Description[]
From Official Media:[1]
| “ | Silly Trucks: On a windy stormy night James is pulling the Silly Trucks along. They reach the Fogman's old station house and become scared and frightened, but good old James looks after them. | ” |
| “ | 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.
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Audio Files[]
Laugh[]
| First used | Last used | Sound Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Series 2 | Series 7 |
Trivia[]
- After the eighth series, the vans were faceless. They regained faces in the twentieth series, although the faces were raised and the front vent was removed. In the fifth series episode, Haunted Henry, a van had a rectangular face because its vents were removed.
- All scratch built vans from the seventh series to the twelfth series have raised vents; this was most likely done to allow for easier use of the larger face masks. Many more of these vans were built for the eighth series, although they were not used as much due to the fact that open wagons ended up being used for all Troublesome Trucks.
Merchandise[]
- Ertl Company (sold as "Silly Trucks"; discontinued)
- Motor Road and Rail
- Capsule Plarail
- Departing Now (discontinued)
- Tomica
- Hornby (discontinued)
- Bachmann
- Tomix Trains