'Arry and Bert

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**Arry** and **Bert** (also known as **Iron 'Arry** and **Iron Bert**) are twin diesel engines who work at the smelters and scrapyards of the Sodor Ironworks. They have also been seen frequently working at Ffarquhar Quarry.

## History

### Thomas & Friends

In their first appearance, 'Arry and Bert crept alongside a lonely Stepney, who had traveled to the smelters by mistake. They shunted Stepney into the larger smelting shed underneath a giant grabber and left him there to be scrapped. Thankfully, Stepney was saved by Sir Topham Hatt at the last second.

As well as being villainous, 'Arry and Bert are also known for playing tricks on steam engines such include making them "middle engines". Once, they shunted trucks in front of and behind Percy. This later led him to being pushed onto the coal tipper by mistake. When James took over Percy's duties following the incident, 'Arry and Bert played the same trick on him. Some time later, they gave Fergus - who was tricked into going to the smelters by Diesel - such a fright that he broke the rules and ran away. On another occasion, they bullied Neville by making him think he was not close enough to his trucks. This caused him to bump into them and ended up with 'Arry and Bert insulting and laughing at him for his mistake, calling him "clumsy wheels".

On some occasions, 'Arry and Bert's teasing ways backfire; they once played a ghostly prank on Thomas and Emily during Halloween, though they ran away when they thought Emily was a ghost. Another time, 'Arry and Bert teased Percy when he whistled hello. Bert responded by loudly blowing his horn to one-up Percy, rattling him. Percy paid them back by creeping up behind them and blowing his whistle as loudly as possible. Later, they and Diesel began teasing Thomas for being smelly, but later got covered in stinky cheese. By the time they had a washdown, Diesel, 'Arry and Bert were assigned the task of shunting Thomas' delivery of stinky cheese while Thomas got a washdown, much to Thomas' delight.

'Arry and Bert were also part of the group of diesels that took over the Sodor Steamworks. Soon after that, the pair teased Henry because of the coal he had to use by calling him "Mr. Special Steam". They also laughed at Gordon after he ran into Diesel's flatbed and damaged his buffer beam.

Diesel claimed that his friends, 'Arry and Bert, like him because he is rough and tough, to which they responded in kind as they passed by, despite chasing a butterfly when they said so. Thomas later attempted to blackmail Diesel into being nice with the threat of telling everyone of his secret affection for a group of ducklings. When Diesel broke this promise, Thomas took 'Arry and Bert to the ducklings while Diesel followed behind them. Although Thomas had intended to embarrass Diesel like this, the two found out that 'Arry and Bert also took a liking to the ducklings and are just as big softies as Diesel when it comes to them.

After Diesel had bumped Daisy (which broke her springs), Mavis told 'Arry and Bert that Den and Dart were having trouble repairing Daisy and thought she would be possibly scrapped, horrifying them. They told Diesel, who thought that they were blaming him.

### Lukeillie's Series

When Diesel needed one more diesel for his plan, 'Arry and Bert invited their triplet to help them. After the triplet betrayed them and attempted to scrap Diesel, they got Thomas and Percy to help them, and together they saved Diesel's life.

## Personalities

'Arry and Bert are unquestionably devious and scheming. They feel superior to steam engines and working at the scrapyards, they enjoy the chance to break up engines or at least make their lives more difficult. Due to their grim task, they have earned a reputation on Sodor as "The Grim Messengers of Doom". According to their merchandise bios, they wish to scrap Oliver and Stepney who have both escaped the cutter's torch once before. They have also attempted to scrap Fergus.

'Arry and Bert also have a tendency to act scheming, slimy, greasy and oozy, playing tricks and coming up with schemes to make the steam engines' lives miserable and more difficult.

However, despite their prejudices, the diesels have co-operated with steam engines on occasions. The steam engines have also often come to the rescue when they are in trouble.

They also have a soft spot for ducklings and chase butterflies, and they appear to be more level-headed and have a caring side when it comes to hearing about a fellow diesel potentially having to be scrapped.

## Liveries

Arry and Bert are painted green-grey with yellow cabs and yellow hazard stripes on their fronts. They have their company's name (Sodor Ironworks) painted on their sides in white.

## Appearances

* Season 2 - A New Diesel
* Season 3 - Marion and the Three Olivers (*Bert only; mentioned*)

## Trivia

* 'Arry and Bert are actually not quite identical: Bert has more stubble.
* Bert is the first character in the franchise to share his name with another character, the second being Oliver sharing his name with Oliver.
* The 1998 official website and Question Time with Sir Topham Hatt refers to 'Arry and Bert as "**The Yellow Diesels**".
* In merchandising and the official website, the twins are named "**Iron 'Arry**" and "**Iron Bert**".
* 'Arry and Bert were possibly named after the nicknames of two brothers, from the 1970s BBC animated children's show *Adventures of Sir Prancelot*. These characters full names were Harold and Albert respectively.
* 'Arry's name was not revealed until merchandising of him was released.
* 'Arry was referred to as **Harry** in the Series 8 face reference sheets. Splatter and Dodge were mistakenly listed as Harry and Bert in the Series 6 face reference sheets. This suggests Harry is his full name.
	+ He is also called "Harry" in various international dubs of Thomas & Friends.
* 'Arry and Bert's television series models do not have handrails, although some of their merchandise lines do.
* 'Arry and Bert's fifth series models were repainted and constructed into Splatter and Dodge for *Thomas and the Magic Railroad*.
* On 'Arry's trading card and Bachmann model, he has more stubble than Bert, the opposite of how they actually are.
* There were a few occasions where 'Arry and Bert went faster than their basis' top speed.
* 'Arry is the only character whose Minis toy does not have a normal variant, despite having a DC comics variant.
* Arry and Bert's liveries might have been inspired by the NS Class 600's livery of black and yellow in some merchandise, even though the NS Class 600 resembles a BR Class 11 more than 'Arry and Bert's basis, a BR Class 08.
* In a Ravensburger puzzle, 'Arry and Bert are depicted in a BR Black livery.

## Gallery

'Arry and Bert in black liveries on a RavensBurger puzzle.