Diesel

Diesel Do Right (by himself)

Shomoy James Mitchell (US; All Engines Go)

**"Devious" Diesel**, as his name implies, is a sinister diesel shunter who originates from the Other Railway, and is the first diesel engine (at least standard gauge-wise) to arrive on Sodor. In the television series, he had been sent packing in the second, third and sixth series. But in the seventh series onwards, Diesel becomes a permanent resident of Sodor.

## Appearance

Diesel is a black diesel shunting engine, who came to help out on Sodor. He has six wheels with black siderods, and he has red buffers on the front and back.

## Personality

Diesel is, in essence, the average pantomime villain. He is oily, malicious, devious, scheming and full of ideas to get revenge. He views himself and any other diesel as highly above the steam engines and believes that all diesels are "revolutionary" - he has also claimed diesels should be "rough and tough", as an excuse for bullying the other engines. His antics give diesels on Sodor a bad reputation, which causes most steam engines (particularly Duck and Thomas) to mistrust him. His rough demeanour also affects his fellow diesels, who are often victims of his tricks alongside steam engines, mainly diesels who are friendlier to steam engines and are just nice in general, with Paxton being a prime example.

However, despite his antics, Diesel still wants to prove himself to be a Really Useful Engine. He is also very proud to be the first diesel on Sodor and seems to have a soft spot for cute ducklings.

Lately, Diesel is portrayed as a typical bully with a lack of forethought. While sinisteringly cunning, he usually neglects to think of what would happen if things were found out and due to the transparency of some of his plans, he always gets his comeuppance in the end. His distaste for Steam Engines has also been dropped, being replaced by a mean-spirited prankster nature and inflated arrogance. He also shows several hints of manipulative and self-serving tones, which happened for example almost ruining Sonny's new life on Sodor when the former was having his second chance upon arriving.

So, even though Diesel may not be the nicest engine, he still wants to be really useful.

But in the reboot series *All Engines Go*, Diesel is portrayed as one of Thomas' best friends. He is Thomas' competitive friend, always trying to one-up Thomas, and inadvertently causes trouble for everyone in his quest to be “the real Number One Engine.” However, he does still retain some of his original personality, like trying to sabotage others in order to win a race. But despite this, he still has his limits when it comes to sportsmanship, especially after he witnessed his favorite racers, Farona and Frederico try and sabotage Thomas and Kana's chance at winning the Sodor Cup.

## Trivia

* Diesel was the first diesel to be introduced in both the Railway Series and the television series.
	+ He was created when Eric Marriott, the editor of the Railway Series at the time, suggested that Awdry should introduce a diesel in order to keep the books up to date.
* In some merchandise lines, he is referred to as "Devious Diesel". It was not until the seventh series episode, Fergus Breaks the Rules that he was referred to by this name on-screen.
* In Series 2 and 3, Diesel's coupling rods were silver, but from Series 6 onwards his coupling rods are black.
* Between the thirteenth and sixteenth series, Diesel was the only character from the model series to still be voiced by the narrator in the CGI Series. However, this was only in the US narration.
* As revealed in the tenth series episode, Emily and the Special Coaches, Diesel is a record holder for most trucks shunted in a single day.
* Diesel has travelled at well over his top speed of 20 miles per hour on numerous occasions in the television series.
* Diesel is great friends with Wilhelmina, Suzi, and Jordan Buttsquat due to sharing devious personalities.
* Throughout voicing Diesel:
	+ In the UK/US narration, Kerry Shale gives Diesel a faint hoarse Cockney accent.
	+ Although Diesel does not have any in-canon number, he has been portrayed several times to have the number 1 in the Thomas Creator Collective, most notably in *The Return of Diesel* when he becomes the leader of a group of diesel shunters on the Mainland.
	+ Additionally, Diesel refers to himself as "Diesel number one" during a parody of the Series 22-onwards intro sequence in the twenty-third series episode, Diesel Do Right.
	+ Diesel was the only diesel engine who does not appear in the fifth series.
	+ Diesel's horn sound from Misty Island Rescue was reused for Mavis in the fifteenth series onwards (excluding Day of the Diesels and the sixteenth series episode, Thomas and the Sounds of Sodor).