Mike Whitehouse

Mike Whitehouse or Whitehouse as he is mostly referred to is the station shunter and spare driver on the miniature railway. 
== About ==
Born in 1992, Whitehouse's fascination with steam trains grew whenever he sees one pass his house as a young boy. During his school days, he first met his long time friend Casey, whom interested him in joining the Model Engineers Society in 2007. While working as a trainee, Whitehouse mostly tackled the guard duties but found being in a guards van wasn't as exciting as he had hoped it to be. So he decided to take at becoming an engine driver. Tutored by Casey, he slowly got the hang of knowing the basics of driving an engine but there were other controls that he doesn't seem to know. He soon resulted in buying himself an engine and with it became the railways' shunter. He mainly works round the carriage sheds or down at the Old Mine. 
During the railways' endeavour with the Motor Car Society, Whitehouse is always ready to lend a hand whenever possible. He is sometimes known to be the one to turn to when some knowledgable advice is needed or basically someone to talk to. He takes time from his work to listen to those that need to share something important or offers helpful advice whenever they are in need of a guide. 
== Hair today... ==
it is not hard to spot Whitehouse in a crowd for the main distinctive feature of his appearance is his hair. Unlike everyone else's, Whitehouse's hair is shown to be a rich Yale Blue. His hair was originally coloured chocolate brown but in 2008, while helping out with the whereabouts of a missing club loco, he fell into a vat of black market petrol and the result of which permanently dyed his hair. He doesn't mind this as blue is his favourite colour. 
== The Trouble with Whitehouse ==
While Whitehouse is part of the main cast, he doesn't have that much of an arc to be going on with. Michael White stated that when he was properly developing the series in 2013, he mentioned that Whitehouse was the only character he found the most difficulty writing for. 
"What can you say about him other than he's a fictionalised version of me with blue hair? Since the first story he didn't have that much of a backstory nor had anything other than daily mishaps with his shunting that would make him a memorable character. he's just the blue hair guy"
Because of this, Michael actually had plans to write Whitehouse out of the series entirely. However, in 2019, new ideas came about that would see Whitehouse being kept in the series where he has remained since.
== Appearance ==
Whitehouse is 6ft 3 inches tall, has blue eyes and Yale Blue hair, styled similar to that of the actor David Tennant when playing the 10th Doctor in the BBC Si-Fi series Doctor WHO.
His clothing sometimes changes but is mostly seen wearing the following:
* Scarlet polo shirt
* Navy blue sleeve-less jacket (With M. E. S. in gold stitching)
* Light blue jeans
* Brown belt/ small utility pocket. 
* He wears Quiksilver Red, white and light brown trainers.
== Voice Actor ==
Since 2008-2013, he was voiced by series creator, Michael White. 
Michael returned to voice the role from 2023 onwards. 
== Trivia ==
* Mike Whitehouse is based on the creator, Michael White.
* He was the first character created for the stories.
* In early drafts, the stories were depicted from Whitehouse's memories in a similar fashion to how the TV series 'TUGS' was narrated. 
* His surname is loosely based off the surname of 'Railway Roundabout' presenter Patrick Whitehouse
* Michael White originally wanted to dye his hair blue when he left secondary school. But when he couldn't, he decided to let his character have the hairstyle.
* It is recently revealed that Whitehouse's favourite narrow gauge railway is the Talyllyn Railway, Wales. 
Category:Characters