Nia

**Nia** is an orange tank engine from Kenya who befriended and accompanied Thomas on his journey around the world. She is now a permanent resident on the North Western Railway, and a member of the Steam Team. She was rewarded with the job of helping out at the Sodor Animal Park regularly after succeeding in transporting a stubborn elephant there, and she also performs mixed traffic and shunting jobs across the island. She also does odd jobs, much like many of Sodor's engines.

## Biography

### *Thomas & Friends*

Nia is a tank engine from the African country of Kenya, being built for a small mining railway within a more desolate part of the country. She worked there until the mines were stripped clean and the town abandoned, leaving the railway closed. Nia and her crew were thusly forced to find a new line of work, and they eventually moved to a railway in Tanzania, where she was repainted and befriended Kwaku. After that, she continued working without much excitement until she first met Thomas in her homeland when he stopped in her yard to collect more trucks to take to Dar es Salaam while in pursuit of Ace. Noticing how heavy his train was getting, she offered to help, but Thomas sternly refused, stating he could handle it himself. However, she later arrived to help him over a steep hill when the trucks nearly caused him to slide back down it. She later encouraged the trucks to sing to raise Thomas' mood during the journey and to help soothe an elephant that tried to charge Thomas when it was blocking the tracks. When they reached Dar es Salaam, Nia had a chat with her friend Kwaku, but Thomas interrupted when Kwaku was asking Nia if she had found a new shed yet due to the fact that her old one was destroyed. After Thomas thanked her for her help, he prepared to board a ship bound for South America and the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, suggesting Nia returned home to Kenya, unaware of how Nia could not. However, Nia decided to join him, much to his chagrin, having wanted to see the world herself.

Thomas remained unfriendly toward Nia throughout their journey, and Nia grew annoyed by Thomas wanting to find and keep up with Ace during his road rallies. However, they both began to warm up to each other after they rescued a crashed Ace and made it through the Amazon Rainforest after some difficulty. While continuing their journey through Central America and Mexico before reaching North America and the United States, Nia maintained her suspicion regarding Ace whenever he tried to remind Thomas of his motto of "living Free and Easy". As they made their way through Arizona, Ace tricked Nia into splitting their delivery to San Francisco between them and racing to see who was the faster of the two steam engines. Ace, who wanted to get to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, convinced Thomas to play a trick on Nia. This caused Nia to be separated from Thomas. This indirectly led to her thinking that Thomas was in on Ace's trick and had betrayed her by wanting to stay with Ace instead of her. As a result, she became hurt and cross, and continued on alone to China, acquiring a snowplough before making her way through Zhangye Danxia and into the treacherous Himalayas.

When Thomas caught up to her in the Himalayas, she refused to listen to his explanations for what happened, still hurt and upset about it. However, she heard his heartfelt apology and realised he never meant to upset her and was truly sorry for it. Before she and Thomas could fully make amends, an avalanche caused by Thomas trying to get Nia's attention swept her off the tracks and left her dangling precariously over a cliff. Thomas attempted to pull her back to safety, but a rock underneath her was dislodged and caused her to go over the edge and nearly pull Thomas with her. Thankfully, Yong Bao arrived just in time to save both of them. After Nia was lifted back onto the rails by the breakdown cranes brought by Yong Bao and The Chinese Diesel, she and Thomas prepared to return to the Island of Sodor, with Yong Bao advising they travel through Asia and Europe to get back to Sodor via the Mainland.

Together, Nia and Thomas made their way back to Sodor, unaware of a signalman in India seeing Thomas and phoning ahead to let the North Western Railway know he was coming home. When they reached the Vicarstown Bridge, Thomas realised that once he crossed it, he would be home, but Nia would have to return to Kenya. However, Nia revealed what she had tried to tell Kwaku back in Dar es Salaam before Thomas interrupted them - that she no longer had a home to go back to. Sympathetic to her plight, Thomas offered Nia the chance to stay and work on the North Western Railway, knowing that Sir Topham Hatt would love to have her working on his railway. The two engines crossed the bridge, returning to Knapford to find a large group of Thomas' friends, human and engine alike, welcoming him home. After Thomas formally introduced Nia to Mr. Percival and the others, Nia prepared to enjoy her new home on the Island of Sodor.

While enjoying her new life on Sodor, Nia bonded with Gordon when he was upset over Edward and Henry moving out of Tidmouth Sheds by reminding him they were still his friends, revealing to him that she felt the same way due to all of her friends being back in Africa. When Sir Topham Hatt asked her to pull Thomas' coaches, Annie and Clarabel, she could not read the numbers above the platforms, or a speed limit sign, which caused her to get derailed. She revealed her dilemma to the two coaches, who then helped her to learn her numbers. However, she also fell victim to Bill and Ben's tricks when they made up a game called "Hunt the Truck", and Edward had to step in to make them give back the truck they hid from her.

When Darcy arrived on the Island of Sodor for the first time, Nia was asked to pick her up from Brendam Docks. Darcy was excited to work on the Island, though she became a little more hesitant after her enthusiasm caused problems for Cranky, James, Max and Monty. Following these incidents, Nia helped her to regain her confidence and show the rest of the Pack her talent in digging tunnels and gained James' admiration in the process.

Another time, she and Paxton thought that Diesel was no help at all leading to the devious diesel covered in glow paint to make them find him hidden at the Blue Mountain Quarry, to when they did, they were very cross about his self-interested attitude and used his own trick on him to get him back to work.

Later, Nia was instructed to take the Sodor Rangers on a camping trip to Callan Castle. Following a storm, she gave the job to Emily so that Emily could have her own adventure while she had more time to work in the yards. Once she had finished in the yards, she realised that Emily had forgotten the truck with camping supplies and - assuming she was in trouble - went with the truck to find her. Fortunately, Emily was unharmed - though derailed - and the rangers had set up a camp using their survival skills. Nia then spent the rest of the night on a campout with the rangers and Emily, before helping her friend back onto the rails the following morning.

Once, Nia was tasked with picking up an elephant and taking it to the Sodor Animal Park. However, the elephant proved to be very difficult to handle, as it felt very uncomfortable around steam engines. Nia tried various attempts to get the elephant into her wagon, such as singing, using a truck of apples, and having Belle spray water, but to no avail. The elephant eventually ran away, prompting Nia, Belle and the Elephant Carer to find it, but had no luck doing so. Nia felt that the incident was her fault, but Belle comforted her by stating that the elephant was scared and that everything on Sodor was strange to it. This gave Nia the idea of bringing another elephant to make the first elephant feel at home. After transporting both elephants to the Animal Park, Sir Topham Hatt awarded her with the job of helping out there. This included her bringing animal feed from the Docks, fruit from the farms, and straw for the animals' bedding, and sometimes giving safari rides to visitors.

One Christmas, Nia was asked to pick up a shipment of lights from Arlesburgh Harbour for the Earl's Christmas party at Ulfstead Castle. Whilst she was at the harbour, she learned from Skiff how lighthouses work and how they help guide ships to safety. Once Nia delivered the lights to the castle, the Earl told her to pick up a special surprise from the Sodor Animal Park, which later turned out to be reindeer. On her way back from the park, she noticed that Harold, who was bringing Sir Topham Hatt, along with the Duke and Duchess of Boxford, to the castle, was struggling his way through a snow storm. After arriving back at the castle, and realising that Harold had not arrived yet, Nia remembered what she learned about lighthouses and suggested to the Earl that the big wheel be covered with Christmas lights. Thanks to her idea, Harold was able to see where the castle was and arrive there safely. Harold thanked Nia and called her a hero, with Nia saying that she was glad to have been really useful.

## Personality

In the original series, Nia is an adventurous and fun engine who taught Thomas, and even Gordon, about friendship and new things during her new beginnings. Whether she is in her homeland of Africa or travelling around the world, Nia is positive, kind-hearted and caring. Her eagerness to help can sometimes irritate her friends, but her truthfulness and kind heart always win them over. She is a good problem solver, although she once had trouble reading numbers until Annie and Clarabel helped her. Nia can be very sensitive about being abandoned or ignored, and this can quite often make her give someone the cold shoulder if they maintain this type of behavior, especially if someone is acting very rude. This doesn't stop her from befriending others though, and aside from playful retributions she will happily forgive any offenders if she feels they are truly sorry.

In *All Engines Go*, Nia is an elated, happy-go-lucky spirit who's energetic, adventurous, and up for the job. She encourages her friends to have fun such as Percy after he feels unsure about taking a twisty track, and successfully teaches others how to have fun without getting in harm. Nia also is very caring and risks herself for anyone, and makes the best out of the worst situation, and would rather sacrifice herself for any of her friends. She loves to try new things and visit new places, and having traveled more than any of her friends often has valuable insight into places Thomas has never been. She also has a love for music, and has been shown to plan her routes all by herself. However, sometimes her plans don't always work out as she hopes they do, though she does recover with help from her friends.

In *Universal Rides* and *Adventure Squad*, Nia is very similar to the original series, though she is much more concerned and fascinated about the natural world. In addition to being very supportive, Nia also gained a sense of sarcasm, which she primarily uses with the likes of Dinsmoore or Spencer. After joining the Steam Team, she began displaying more feminine traits, despite maintaining a primarily tomboyish attitude compared to Rebecca.

## Appearance

Nia is based on a Kenya-Uganda Railway (KUR) ED1 class, a class of 2-6-2 tank locomotive built by Vulcan Foundry for the Kenya-Uganda Railway between 1926 and 1930. Primarily used for shunting duties, they were also used to haul branch line trains. They were later operated by the East African Railways and were reclassified as part of the EAR 11 class. One member of this class, No. 327, has been preserved at the Nairobi Railway Museum in Nairobi, Kenya.

Nia has been modified in order to work on British railways. Whereas her original basis was metre gauge, Nia is standard gauge and she has been given buffers and screwlink couplings in order to work with the other engines.

Originally, Nia was painted in a brownish-red livery with tan lining. After moving to Tanzania, she was repainted orange with yellow lining. She has stripes with a Kenyan pattern consisting of red, yellow, green, black and purple painted along with her tanks and dome, as well as green and yellow lining on her cylinders. Nia has green stripes on her boiler and brake pump and her footplate is painted red with black buffers. Her name (Nia) and her number (18) are painted on the sides of her tanks and cab respectively in yellow within black squares (the latter with a green border). She retained this livery after moving to Sodor.

In *Universal Rides* and *Adventure Squad*, Nia's colors remain unchanged from her Tanzania/Sodor colors, though Carson eventually repainted her wheels with green hubs and yellow counterweights. A set of initials for the NWR were also added to the sides of her bunker in the same vein as her name and number, and the Steam Team Star is placed on the sides of her cab not occupied by her number.

## Trivia

* Nia's eye color originates from the *All Engines Go* reboot.