'Arry and Bert/Behind the Scenes

## Background Information

### *Television Series*

'Arry and Bert are fictional standard gauge twin diesel locomotives created by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton. They work on the North Western Railway. Despite being twins the two are not quite identical: Bert has more stubble.

In 1998, 'Arry and Bert made their debut in the fifth series of *Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends* in the episode, *Stepney Gets Lost*.

After being absent in 2006, 'Arry and Bert returned to the series in 2007.

When the show transitioned into full CGI in 2009, 'Arry and Bert were absent for a year and later returned in the fourteenth series.

From their return in 2010 until 2011, Kerry Shale provided the voices for 'Arry and Bert in both the British English and American English dubs of the series. In 2012, William Hope took over the role of Bert, leaving the role of 'Arry to Kerry Shale.

'Arry and Bert are based on the BR Class 08.

## Behind the Scenes

### Gauge 1 Models

'Arry and Bert's models were designed to run on gauge 1 track. They were built out of moulds of Diesel's model. Their buffers and couplings were made by Tenmille.

'Arry and Bert's chassis' were constructed from scratch, utilising Tenmille split-spoke wagon wheels instead of a Märklin BR 80 chassis which Diesel used. They were powered by electricity from the track via the pickups on the metal wheels.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired.

‘ArryBert
Seventeen different facial expressions were sculpted for both 'Arry and Bert, although only fourteen were used on-screen and only thirteen were seen in *Stories From Sodor*. The faces were first sculpted in clay, and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. One of Bert's faces is owned by Twitter user TomsProps.

'Arry and Bert's annoyed face that appeared between 1998 and 2005'Arry and Bert's smiling/devious face that appeared between 1998 and 2005'Arry and Bert's sly face that appeared between 2002 and 2005'Arry and Bert's sad face that appeared between the 2004 and 2007'Arry and Bert's smug face that appeared between 2004 and 2008'Arry and Bert's surprised face that only appeared in 2004'Arry and Bert's spooked face that appeared between 2004 and 2007'Arry and Bert's scared face that only appeared in 2004'Arry and Bert's miserable face that only appeared in 2004 and 2005'Arry and Bert's happy face that appeared between 2005 and 2008'Arry and Bert's shocked face that appeared in 2005, 2007, and 2008'Arry and Bert's content face that only appeared in 2007'Arry and Bert's sniggering face that only appeared in 2007'Arry and Bert's faces during production of the sixth series (2002) (Note: The unused upset face is on the top left)Page one of 'Arry and Bert's faces during production of the twelfth series (2008)Page two of 'Arry and Bert's faces during production of the twelfth series (2008)Page three of 'Arry and Bert's faces during production of the twelfth series (2008)
In *Thomas and the Magic Railroad* 'Arry and Bert's models were repainted to create the characters Splatter and Dodge. After the events of the film, the models were later reverted back to 'Arry and Bert.

The hazard stripes from them are even visible under Splatter and Dodge paintwork
In the episode, *Stepney Gets Lost*, 'Arry and Bert were seen with lamps. These were powered by a hidden battery pack.

The twelfth series marked the beginning of the show's transition into CGI and the characters' faces were animated through CGI with the aid of motion capture animation. The physical models' moulded faces were replaced by white targets with triangles to fix a computer-animated face in post-production. 'Arry and Bert's resin faces were only used in background shots. In addition, their faces became smaller in size. One promotional picture, however, shows them with larger faces.

'Arry and Bert have had modifications throughout the model era. These include:

* Series 6:
	+ The position of their hazard stripes changes, giving the illusion of their faces becoming smaller
	+ Their side rods change from silver to black (likely a remnant from their repaint to Splatter and Dodge).
	+ The tops of their running boards change from yellow to black.
	+ The "Sodor Ironworks" writing on their sides became taller.
	+ Their models were significantly less weathered than the previous series.
	+ They gain handrails on their cabs.
* Calling All Engines!
	+ Their horn sounds changed to Diesel's at three and five steps lower-pitched.
* Series 12:
	+ Their CGI faces became smaller (as a result of the animators tracking the scale of the eye plate rather than sizing to the scale of the face).

'Arry and Bert's models used to be on display in Canada at w:c:ttte:Nitrogen Studios and wore their sly and cross faces.

### Close-up model

Close-up shots of 'Arry and Bert's cabs were required for scenes in where they had to interact with close-up scale figures. Only one model was ever built which was not complete and only portions of the cab were built. 'Arry and Bert's close-up model only appeared in the Calling All Engines! Learning Segment, Which Things are the Same?.

### CGI Models

In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. 'Arry and Bert were recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. However, test footage was created by Stardust Pictures as they recreated scenes from Thomas and the Stinky Cheese. Their models were "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modeling software. Photographs of 'Arry and Bert's Gauge 1 models were used for reference. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.

'Arry and Bert have had modifications throughout the CGI series. These include:

* Series 14:
	+ Their faces became slightly larger in size.
	+ They gained new horn sounds.
* Series 18:
	+ They each gained a tail-lamp.

Bert's Test model in 'Thomas and the Stinky Cheese'
## Voice Actors

**Arry**:

* Kerry Shale (*UK/US; fourteenth series onwards*)
* Moriya Endo (*Japan; fifth series only*)
* Yūki Satō (*Japan; sixth - eighth series*)
* Shinichi Namiki (*Japan; Calling All Engines! - twenty-first series*)
* Jürgen Holdorf (*Germany; fifteenth series onwards*)
* Holger Potzern (*Germany; Audio Books; Calling All Engines! only*)
* Ben Hecker (*Germany; Audio Books; Emily Can Do It! and Percy Gets Loud!*)
* Christoffer Staib (*Norway; fourteenth - sixteenth series*)
* Jan Kulczycki (*Poland; fifteenth series onwards*)
* Víctor Delgado (*Latin America; fourteenth - sixteenth series*)
* Óscar Gómez (*Latin America; twentieth series onwards*)
* Fernando Castro (*Spain; fourteenth series onwards*)
* Michel Lasorne (*France and French speaking Canada; eighth - eleventh series*)
* Jukka Voutilainen (*Finland; fourteenth series only*)
* Pasi Ruohonen (*Finland; fifteenth series onwards*)

**Bert**:

* Kerry Shale (*UK/US; fourteenth and fifteenth series*)
* William Hope (*UK/US; sixteenth series onwards*)
* Keiji Hirai (*Japan; sixth - eighth series*)
* Shinichi Namiki (*Japan; Calling All Engines! - twenty-first series*)
* Rainer Schmitt (*Germany; fifteenth series onwards*)
* Lutz Harder (*Germany; Audio Book; Calling All Engines! only*)
* Klaus Dittmann (*Germany; Emily Can Do It! and Percy Gets Loud!*)
* Sigbjørn Solheim (*Norway; fourteenth - sixteenth series*)
* Mieczysław Morański (*Poland; fourteenth series only*)
* Piotr Bąk (*Poland; fifteenth series onwards*)
* Jorge Roig (*Latin America; fourteenth - sixteenth series*)
* César Soto (*Latin America, twentieth series onwards*)
* Michel Lasorne (*France and French speaking Canada; eighth - eleventh series*)
* Pasi Ruohonen (*Finland; fourteenth series onwards*)