Sidney

**Sidney** is a forgetful blue diesel engine who is good friends with Percy. He often takes goods trains to the Mainland.

## Biography

Sidney started life as a shunter on the Mainland, until he unwittingly followed some diesels onto a steamship bound for Sodor.

He appeared very briefly on a hoist without wheels. He was still on the hoist even two months later and was often referred to as a Christmas decoration by the other diesels, literally being used as one by Diesel 10 as well. As a Christmas present, Percy gave Sidney a new set of wheels and he is now a really useful engine again.

In the twelfth season, he (along with Diesel, Den and Dart) hid from Paxton. But after Paxton was unable to find them, Sidney, along with Den and Dart started to think that Diesel's joke went a little too far, but Paxton managed to find them again at the end of the day.

In the fourteenth season, Sidney was sent by the Fat Controller to collect new wheels for Percy. Sidney was worried he would forget his job and let Percy down, so Thomas, Annie and Clarabel suggested that he sing a song to remind himself what to do. Sidney thought this was a great idea and started to sing his song until he stopped at Wellsworth to talk with Gordon. After talking with him, Sidney completely forgot the words to his song and while trying to remember what he was supposed to do, ended up running all around Sodor, first to Whiff's Waste Dump, then to the Suddery Animal Park. Eventually, he decided that it would be best to go back to Knapford to confess to Sir Bertram Topham Hatt that he had failed to complete his special job. But upon arriving, he found a crowd of passengers waiting impatiently for their train to Brendam Docks. Thinking that taking the passengers was his special, Sidney found some coaches and took them to the docks. The Fat Controller was waiting there by Percy's new wheels, grumbling about the forgetful diesel's lateness. When Sidney arrived, the passengers praised him and the Fat Controller reminded him that he still had to take Percy's wheels to the Steamworks. Sidney - who thought he had already completed his special - gladly accepted the supposed second special and took the wheels to the Steamworks, where Percy was waiting.

## Basis

Sidney is based on a British Rail (BR) Class 08 diesel-electric shunter. Diesel, 'Arry, Bert and Paxton are also based on BR Class 08s. In the real world, BR Class 08s were in fact the most successful shunting engines in the world with 996 of them built. Over seventy of them are preserved by heritage railways, such as the Dean Forest Railway and museums, such as the National Railway Museum. Around one-hundred BR Class 08s also remain in service on the national rail network.

## Livery

Sidney is painted navy blue with yellow lining and hazard stripes under his face. His coupling rods and front bufferbeam are painted dark orange. His rear bufferbeam, ladders, vents, lamps, railings, running board and footsteps are all painted black. His paint and number 35 are chipped in places and shows signs of weathering.

## Appearances

### Season 14

* Sidney Sings
* Pouty James (cameo)
* The Big Freeze

### Season 15

* The Great Race
* A Most Singular Engine (cameo)
* Springtime for Diesel
* Philip's Number
* P.A. Problems (cameo)

## Trivia

* Sidney may suffer from short-term memory loss, a condition where someone involuntarily forgets most things.