# Chuggington

Chuggington, also known as Chuggington: Tales from the Rails in series 6, is a British animated television series aimed at pre-school children, produced by Ludorum plc and Herschend Entertainment Studios. It is broadcast on the BBC's CBeebies channel, Disney Jr., and other channels internationally. Originally composed of five series running from 2008 to 2021.

## Setting

In the fictional town of Chuggington are young novice anthropomorphic railway locomotives, called "Trainees", Koko, Wilson, Brewster, Hoot, Toot and Piper. The trainees and sometimes the more experienced chuggers learn the value of loyal friendship, telling the truth, listening carefully, persisting under adversity, completing tasks, resolving conflict without violence and similar values. The locomotives, called "Chuggers", are intelligent, empathetic, independent and somewhat self-directed. They have mobile facial and body features (i.e. other than Olwin, all chuggers have eyebrows that resemble windscreen wipers). Chuggers have no crews, yet some have crew doors that can open. Chuggers regularly interact with humans such as passengers and maintenance crews. Some chuggers are modeled after well-known locomotives from various countries.
The town of Chuggington has a central area of large modern buildings. Side-by-side railway tunnels coloured red, blue, yellow and green run under the town centre, leading to the outside world. Countryside settings include a farm, a safari park and a quarry. A 'Chugston Hotel' is mentioned. "Old Chuggington", an abandoned old town with a similar name to the titular town, overgrown with wild vegetation, is occasionally visited.

## Episodes

| Series | Series | Episodes | U.K. airdate | U.K. airdate | U.S airdate | U.S airdate |
| Series | Series | Episodes | First aired | Last aired | First aired | Last aired |
| | 1 | 52 | 29 September 2008 | 11 May 2009 | 18 January 2010 | 7 January 2011 |
| | 2 | 26 | 13 September 2010 | 15 December 2010 | 14 February 2011 | 16 January 2012 |
| | 3 | 14 | 28 November 2011 | 15 December 2011 | 26 March 2012 | 3 August 2013 |
| | 4 | 26 | 27 August 2013 | 21 April 2014 | 20 October 2013 | 5 December 2014 |
| | 5 | 10 | 18 May 2015 | 29 May 2015 | 6 March 2015 | 28 November 2015 |
| | 6 | 46 | 2 January 2021 | 12 March 2021 | 29 June 2020 | 1 November 2021 |
| | Specials | 7 | 26 August 2013 | 19 December 2021 | 20 October 2013 | TBA |
| | Badge Quest | 46 | 24 July 2010 | 14 February 2012 | 26 September 2011 | 2 July 2013 |

## Characters

Wilson, Brewster, and Koko are the main characters in Chuggington.

### Young trainees
#### Main

| Name | Description | Voiced by (UK) | Voiced by (US) |
| Wilson | A red diesel-electric hybrid chugger whose enthusiasm is opposed by his short attention span and most of his adventures as of the fourth series are in Chug Patrol as an advanced trainee. He is the main protagonist in the series. | Morgan Overton (Series 1 & 3) Edward Sharpe (Series 4 & 5) Teddy West (Series 6) | Tony Terraciano (Series 1 & 5) Jordan C. Reed (Series 6) |
| Brewster | A strong, blue and yellow diesel chugger built to pull heavy loads. He is as of the fourth series a member of the Chugginers, the building team on Chuggington. He likes to haul heavy loads on pickups and often picks up too much load. Other chuggers may rush when given a task, but Brewster asks questions if he is unsure. He is dependable, respectful and can be relied on when there is trouble. | Charlie George (Series 1 & 3) Toby Davies (Series 4 & 5) Harry Reeve (Series 6) | Miles J Harvey (Series 1 & 5) Jack Dean (Series 6) |
| Koko | A green, white, and purple electric engine who was built for high speed, being one of the fastest chuggers in Chuggington and serving as a part of the city's "Speed Fleet" since the fourth series. She loves to explore, have adventures and to challenge her friends to a dare or a race. Although she can get into mischief, she always means well and knows when to apologise. | Imogen Bailey (Series 1 & 5) Alyssa Burton (Series 6) | Brigid Harrington (Series 1 & 5) Madigan Kacmar (Series 6) |

#### Non-advanced

| Name | Description | Voiced by (UK) | Voiced by (US) |
| Hoot and Toot | Two conjoined twin diesel-electric trainees who are nearly always joined back-to-back, but in at least two episodes by strong pulling they manage to separate. | Tommy Romer Lee and Mihira Philip (Series 2 & 5) Beau Robertson and Matilda Majilton (Series 6) | Ben Hudson and Tori Feinstein (Series 2 & 5) Ethan Cutilo and Vivian Watson (Series 6) |
| Hodge | A one of a kind, and a brown six-wheeled chugger built from hodge-podge parts. He normally works with Eddie and is a bit like a pickup truck. He is also often tasked with taking the rubbish to the recycling yard. With his "seen it all" attitude, it takes a lot to get Hodge excited. | Arthur Lee (Series 1 & 5) Lawrence Matthews (Series 6) | James Lukens (Series 1 & 5) Gideon Modisett (Series 6) |
| Emery | A gray electric multiple unit passenger chugger often seen on elevated lines or in tunnels. He likes tricking and harassing other engines into thinking that they have a problem. He often carries an additional carriage or truck with him permanently, although in at least two episodes, he disconnects his carriage to go faster. He often announces his actions with transit announcements. He has heterochromia iridium. In the Polish dub, he is female and named Emilla. He has most English voice actors of all characters, with 5. | Jordan Clarke | Troy Doherty (Series 1 & 2) Hugh Reynolds (Series 3) Jake Tanner (Series 4 & 5) Austin Connelley (Series 6) |
| Zephie | A young scissor-lift lime green and brown chugger who can lift and rotate her cab which allows Eddie to work on things not normally accessible. She is particularly flighty and giggly. | Jadie Rose (Series 1 & 4) Series 6 Lola Shepleve (Series 6) | Isabella Palmieri (Series 1 & 4) Lily Sanfelippo (Series 6) |
| Piper | An orange cab-forward steam engine. In her first episode, Old Puffer Pete says that she runs on vegetable oil. In another episode we find out that Piper can be mischievous. Though she means well, she is very inexperienced and won't often take time to think, but realises her mistakes and does well in the end. | Eve Bentley (Series 3 & 5) Faith Delaney (Series 6) | Eve Bentley (Series 3 & 5) Dakota Philips (Series 6) |
| Tai | A purple trainee shunter from Zheng-Chu who works at the Docks. She reuses Calley's Series 1-3 model. | Mia Lakha | Angelica Hale |

### Adult chuggers

| Name | Description | Voiced by (UK) | Voiced by (US) |
| Old Puffer Pete | An elderly black and red steam chugger in Chuggington and the annual Chugger Championship Race winner. Pete loves passing his wisdom on to the trainees or anyone who is willing to listen. He drives them mad with his endless stories and can never seem to remember the chuggers' names, but they are very fond of him. He works at the central distribution centres for Chuggington: The Drop Load and Freight Yard. | Paul Painting | Brian Greene (Series 1 & 5) Mick Wingert (Series 6) |
| Olwin | An old dark green steam locomotive who refers to the "trainees" as her "little chugg-a-chuggs". Olwin's coal is stored just forward of the cab, while her water is stored inside of her boiler, making her a tank locomotive. Olwin has orange arch-shaped handles for eyebrows, unlike all of the other chuggers whose eyebrows resemble windscreen wipers, making her the only chugger with this distinction. | Jill Shilling | Margaret Robertson (Series 1 & 4) Bernie Stegers (Series 5) |
| Harrison | A blue diesel-electric hybrid locomotive who is often proud of himself and therefore tends to show off and is often admired by Wilson. He, along with Hanzo and Koko, is considered one of the fastest chuggers in Chuggington. | Colin McFarlane | Colin McFarlane |
| Irving | A dark red diesel engine who handles the rubbish and recycling chores around the depot. He is proud to boast that nothing is thrown away in Chuggington. | Paul Painting | John Pohlhammer |
| Dunbar | A lime and green Scottish diesel-electric hybrid chugger who is largely responsible for the training of the Chuggers: Hoot, Toot and Piper. He leaves Chuggington during the third series and is replaced by Skylar as the trainer. | Andy Nyman | Tom Clarke-Hill |
| Calley | A small orange and green shunting engine who spends most of her time as a rescue chugger, but can also sometimes be seen shunting rolling stock. She was Dunbar's assistant from the first & third series until she joined Jackman in the fourth series and became a member of the rescue squad Chug Patrol, where she was repainted in Chug Patrol's signature colours. She loves rescuing more than anything and her catchphrase is "Breakdown chugger coming through-oooooooo!" Her old model was reused and modified for Tai, who first appeared in the sixth series. | Nicole Davis | Phillipa Alexander |
| Chatsworth | A white, red, and gray diesel chugger who generally performs the same tasks as Harrison. He can overreact easily, for example, he thinks that if his horn or coupler are broken that he cannot drive. He also loves his spotless paint and hates getting dirty. | Andy Nyman | John Cancer |
| Mtambo | A yellow, camouflage, and brown Kenyan-accented African tourist chugger who works around the safari park, giving tours to visitors. His name means "engine" in Swahili. | David Gyasi | David Gyasi |
| Frostini | A yellow and brown Italian-accented ice cream chugger, popular with the children of Chuggington and seen by the trainees as very cool. He is normally seen handing out ice creams or at the factory working on a creation. He is quite proud of his accomplishments. In many episodes, he has the most emotions than any other chugger - mostly due to his stress at work at the Ice Cream Factory. | Angelo Cola (speaking voice) Randy Crenshaw (singing voice) | Angelo Cola (speaking voice) Randy Crenshaw (singing voice) |
| Action Chugger | A yellow and orange super jet-powered chugger who responds to emergencies after being informed that he is needed by a flashing red light on his nose. He can unfold parts of his sides into short wings, each with a jet motor under it and fly. After flying, he always lands on a railway track. Action Chugger's flight range extends at least as far as low Earth orbit. He normally resides in Chuggington. | Marc Silk (Original) Pax Baldwin | John Pohlhammer (Series 1 & 4) Dave Berry (Series 6) |
| Speedy McAllister | A large purple Yorkshire-accented, later Western-accented streamlined steam locomotive who is somewhat gruff and blunt in character but means well and is helpful to experienced chuggers and trainees alike. He prefers more industrial jobs as opposed to those with a high degree of customer relations. He mans the Rocky Ridge Quarry and Rocky Ridge Mine, along with the human: Frank. Speedy's whistle is the deepest of the four steam locomotives in Chuggington. | Warren Clarke | Stefan Ashton Frank |
| Skylar | A yellow rail crane who has just completed training. His crane ends in a two-fingered grab. He can use his crane and his side prop legs to flip himself end-for-end or onto an adjacent track. His model would be reused and repainted for Rosa, who appeared in the sixth series. | Michael Ouartney | Brendan Dooling (Series 3) Tony Denman (Series 4) Jason Durran (Series 5) |
| Decka | A double-decker transit engine built for heavy loads and passengers. She is brightly coloured and she has a big personality. She loves to incorporate her name into things, for example; "It was a deckalightful day!" | Ninia Benjamin | Ninia Benjamin |
| Jackman | The chief of Chug Patrol and the bravest chugger on the tracks. With a twinkle in his eye and strong leadership skills, Jackman makes the perfect leader for all four of the chug patrollers. Here is a saying: "If he uncouples now, he'll go flying." | Michael Byers (Series 4) | Michael G Stern (Series 6) |
| Asher | A red firefighting chugger from Tootington who is the newest member of the rescue squad Chug Patrol. Strong, brave and reassuring, he takes care of the fires in Chuggington. | Marcel McCalla | Marcel McCalla |
| Zack | The leader of the Chuggineers. This foreman is organised, hardworking and extremely safety conscious, making him the perfect leader of the Chuggineer crew. Joined by his fellow team members Tyne, Brewster and Fletch, this engineering team is responsible for all the heavy lifting, loading and building of bridges, tunnels and stations as well as laying track and making repairs. | Paul Dodds | Stuart Milligan (Series 4 & 5) Mick Wingert (Series 6) |
| Tyne | A member of the Chuggineers who loves to blow up unneeded buildings, she says that she is "proud to be loud". Tyne also shares a friendly rivalry with her peer, Fletch. | Carina Reeves | Jessica McDonald |
| Fletch | A member of the Chuggineers who is strong, and likes playing small jokes on other chuggers. Fletch also shares a friendly rivalry with his peer, Tyne. | Joe Sims | Earl Perkins |
| Hanzo | A white and blue bullet train who is the fastest chugger in Chuggington. Mentor to Koko, Hanzo is sleek, streamlined and has a photographic memory. He believes there is no greater honour than transporting passengers quickly, but always safely, to their destination. Respectful, dedicated and precise, Hanzo encourages fellow Speed Fleet chuggers to be the best they can through rigorous practice. He is always extremely punctual. He also has a calm peaceful tone when he speaks. | Dai Tabuchi | Dai Tabuchi |
| Cormac | A forklift chugger who works with Pete in the Drop Load and Freight yard, the central distribution site for Chuggington. Besides working in the Drop and Load yard, Cormac has many jobs around Chuggington. He loves driving around and having adventures! He sometimes assists the Chuggineers and Speedy. | Jez Edwards | Brandon Finn (Series 4 & 5) Tim Chase (Series 6) |
| Payce | A tunnel runner from Tootington, Chuggington's neighbouring town. Like the speed fleet, Payce is faster than the speed of light. She is good friends with Koko, yet shares a small friendly rivalry with her. | Ruth Zielinski | Siu-see Hung |
| Daley | A high-speed courier chugger who reuses Payce's model. | Harry Lawtey | Nile Bullock |
| Skipper Stu | A blue diesel who works is in charge of everything at Chuggington Harbour. | James Goode | James Goode |
| Harry and Hamish | Twin orange and green diesels who work at Chuggington Harbour. In the sixth season, only Hamish appears. | Stephen Critchlow and Richard Ridings | Stephen Critchlow and Richard Ridings |
| Russ | A yellow reach stacker diesel working at the Chuggington Harbour. | James Naylor | Joe Slovick |
| Rosa | A turquoise Spanish crane chugger from San Locomota. She is a member of the Chuggineers and reuses Skylar's model. | Tiana Camacho | Tiana Camacho |

### Ambiguous

| Name | Description | Voiced by (UK) | Voiced by (US) |
| Vee | The head of the railway department and is the announcer, with speakers all over Chuggington, in the depot and in remote areas. She keeps everything running on time and to schedule. After giving the chuggers their tasks, her dispatch board shows the destination and shows which coloured tunnel to take when leaving the depot. She can be stern with disobedient chuggers. Vee has never been anything other than her public address system. She may be a human or a self-intelligent system similar to the chuggers. | Maria Darling (Series 1 & 5) Jacqueline Davis (Series 6) | Johnnie Flori (Series 1 & 5) Julie Wions (Series 6) |

### Humans

| Name | Description | Voiced by (UK) | Voiced by (US) |
| Captain Charlie | The captain at Chuggington Harbour. | Stephen Critchlow | John Cancer |
| Dr. Gosling | The safari park vet. | Paul Painting | Mac McDonald |
| Dr. Ling | A scientist and researcher in Chuggington. She often develops various inventions for the chuggers to test out. | Meg Kubota | Meg Kubota |
| Eddie | A young mechanic who turns his hand to all manner of tasks, including track maintenance and fixing signals and points. He currently lives in a caboose, similar in appearance to Morgan's house, close to Chuggington. He used to live with his parents some distance away and was frequently late to work, but the trainees found an abandoned caboose and Morgan fixed it so Eddie could live in it. | Sacha Dhawan | Trevor White (Series 3 & 5) Nick Hagelin (Series 6) |
| Felix | The farmer in Chuggington. | Andy Nyman | Elisha Sessions |
| Howie | The control person at the Working Wheels yard where chuggers get refueled/cleaned/get their jobs for the day. | Steve Devereaux | Morgan Deare |
| Frank | The manager who works at Rocky Ridge Quarry along with the steam engine: Speedy McAllister. | Maria Darling | Lorelei King |
| Lori | An Irish brunet haired girl who is Morgan's assistant at the Repair Shed and was also tasked with cleaning engines before the arrival of the ChugWash. She is apprenticed to Morgan and attends college. | Maria Darling (Series 1 & 4) Jacqueline Davis (Series 6) | Babara Barnes (Series 2 & 4) Julie Phillips (Series 6) |
| Mayor Pullman | The current mayor of Chuggington. | Floella Benjamin | Lachele Carl (Series 1 & 5) Carla Fisher (Series 6) |
| Morgan | The chief engineer mechanic at the depot in charge of the Repair Shed. He lives in a house that looks like a caboose in Chuggington yard. | Paul Painting | Taylor Clarke-Hill (Series 1 & 5) William Stern (Series 6) |
| Vicki | A zookeeper and looks after the animals. | Nicole Davis | Laila Pyne |

## Production

The creative core behind Chuggington is Sarah Ball, a producer and director who worked on Bob the Builder, and Don Toht, who designed the characters and sets.
The animation is made with Autodesk Maya software.
As well as the regular ten-minute episodes, there are four-minute shows, Chuggington: Badge Quest, focusing on the trainees' efforts to earn reward badges for their "Chugger" training.
Three Chuggington specials were commissioned for release on DVD from 2013 onwards.
On 29 November 2017, Fuji Television took over the Japanese rights to the show (including production, distribution and licensing) in Japan from Ludorum.
On 10 December 2018, Herschend Entertainment Studios acquired the rights to the series.

## Broadcast

The first series of 52 episodes was sold to broadcasters including the BBC, ABC (Australia), TF1 (France), ⁣Super RTL (Germany), and Fuji TV (Japan) in a deal announced in February 2008. A second series of 26 episodes was purchased by the BBC and many other broadcasters throughout the world. Aimed at children between the ages of 3 and 6, Chuggington made its UK debut as a "soft launch" on BBC Two on 29 September 2008.

## Reception

Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the show four stars out of five, saying that "Young 'trainees' teach preschoolers important social skills."

### Criticism

Many people have derided the show for being a "Thomas ripoff" due to its perceived similarities to Thomas & Friends.

## Merchandise

In January 2009 it was announced that RC2 would be producing Chuggington toys under their Learning Curve brand; the toys were released to the market in 2010. RC2 contributed to half of the series' production budget in exchange for long-term global toy licensing rights.

### Media

DVDs from Anchor Bay Entertainment include the first, entitled Chuggington: Let's Ride the Rails, was released in March 2009 containing six episodes. A second DVD, Action Stations, released in October 2009, contained another six. The third DVD release, Wheels to the Rails, with another eight episodes, released in November 2010. Anchor Bay's Chuggington: Let’s Ride the Rails! was the first Chuggington DVD to be released nationwide in the United States on 8 February 2011.
In the UK, several children's books have been released, including Koko on Call: A Nightlight Adventure, based on an early episode. Publications International and Scholastic introduced Chuggington books to the US market in late 2010 and early 2011, respectively.

### Toys

In early 2010, the Chuggington Diecast Series of model trains was released in the UK. The Chuggington Diecast Series by Learning Curve was released in the US nationwide in late 2010. In 2012, the system was rebranded to StackTrack, in which children can stack the railway tracks on top of each other with supports. This system was discontinued by 2017, however the StackTrack track system is still in use.
Later in 2010, the interactive range was released in the UK. The chuggers and Vee, their dispatcher, can interact with each other using 'Smart Talk' technology and over 300 stored phrases. Each chugger can recognise the other chuggers, and their train stops. The interactive phrases spoken depend on which chuggers and locations are placed together, giving a more varied, but not random, conversation. The Chuggington Interactive Railway was released in the United States in February 2011. This system was discontinued by 2017.
The Chuggington Wooden Railway was released in September 2010 to Canada, and on 1 March 2011 to specialty retailers in the United States. It is compatible with all other wooden railway systems. This system was discontinued by 2017.
In late 2011, Mega Brands released the 'Chuggington Construction' range, but was now discontinued, as of 2013.
In the United States, other Chuggington products include games (I Can Do That! Games), puzzles (Cardinal), and activity sets (Crayola).
In 2012, the Plarail Chuggington range was released and was made to work with the Thomas & Friends range, sadly was discontinued around 2017.
In 2013, Bachmann Trains made a series of Chuggington electric train sets and separate sale engines and cars. It is compatible with all other HO scale systems by other companies and is made to work with the Thomas & Friends range. In 2017, Bachmann Trains have discontinued the Chuggington range.
In 2019, Alpha Group Co., Ltd. acquired the rights for any future Chuggington vehicle toys.

## Train and Tramway

According to Okayama Electric Tramway press report on 12 January 2018, it will be operated in 2 cars and 1 train with its own decorated appearance that reproduced Wilson and Brewster in Japan. With the all-seat reservation system, the operation start date is 16 March 2019. It is confirmed as the world's first in the railroad and tram related motif with this character as a motif.