Thomas

## Thomas the Tank Engine

### Aliases

Little Thomas (by Gordon, The Fat Controller and Beresford)Lazy Bones (by Henry)

Slow Coach (by Bertie and Emily)

Useless Little Bug(s) (by Cranky along with Percy)

Mite(s) (by Cranky along with Percy)

Cowardly Cranky Worn-Out Hunk of Metal (by Diesel 10 along with James)

Partner (by The Tumbleweed along with Percy)

Little Blue Buckaroo (by The Tumbleweed)

Blue Puffball (by George ,Diesel 10, Splatter and Dodge)

Little Puffer (by Elizabeth)

Silly Tank Engine (by Salty and Cranky along with Percy)

Stripy Boiler (by Diesel)

Very Bossy Engine (by Billy)

Tiny Toy Tank Engine (by Spencer)

Tricky Tank Engine (by Spencer and Diesel)

Tiny Thomas (by Cranky)

Little Fellow (by Spencer)

Boss (by Kevin)

Tiger (by Yong Bao)

Mr. Thomas (by Toad)

Sweet Little Engine (by Annie)

Silly Thomas (by Annie and Clarabel)

Shrimp (by Vinnie)

Funny Little Tank Engine (by Ashima)

Cowboy (by Beau)

Lazy Boiler (by James)

Little Tank Engine (by Spencer, Frankie and Duchess)

Mr. Blue Tank Engine (by Nia and a Batucada Player)

Nia's Friend (by Kwaku)

Mate (by Ace)

Tommo (by Shane)

Little Engine (by Gustavo)

Thomas of Sodor (by himself and Duchess)

Gallant Thomas (by Elizabeth II)

Big Thomas (by Little Thomas)

Mr. Number One Engine (by Professor Friedrich)

Big Blue Tank Engine Thomas (by Nia)

Grumpy Monkey (by James)

Silly Monkey Thomas (by Gordon)

Cheeky Monkey Thomas (by Himself)

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Eddie Glen (Thomas and the Magic Railroad)Ben Small (UK: S13-18)

Martin Sherman (US: S13-18)

John Hasler (UK: S19-24)

Joseph May (US: S19-24)

### Debut

Thomas & Gordon (T&F)

**Thomas** is a little blue tank engine who works on the North Western Railway, and a friend to everyone on Sodor, as well as Ian Sweeney, Wilhemina Witch and her witch friends.

He formerly worked as the station pilot at Vicarstown/Knapford but dreamed to leave his yard to go out and see the world. After helping to rescue James from a nasty accident, Thomas was rewarded with two new coaches, Annie and Clarabel, and was given the responsibility of running the Ffarquhar Branch Line, where he works on to this day, and finally saw the world. He is the central protagonist of the TV series. He also has a set of 8 Trucks.

## Appearance

Thomas is a LB&SCR E2 tank engine without the extended side tanks. He's painted in NWR bright future blue with red and yellow lining. His number 1 is painted on the sides of his tanks in yellow with red lining and the lining around his cab windows is yellow.

He also has six small wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler and a short stumpy dome. And he has a lamp on his left lamp iron, and he has a shiny brass whistle with a sound that everyone loves to hear.

In *The Adventure Begins*, before he received his current blue livery, Thomas was formerly painted teal green with white lining. His company's initials, LBSC were painted on the sides of his tank and his number 70 was painted on the sides of his cab, both in yellow with red lining. His wheel rims were painted white. In real life, the E2s were painted in either LBSCR Brown, Southern Railway malachite green, or BR Goods Black with its British Railways number painted on the coal bunker.

In the first three series of the television series, Thomas had red lining on the back of his coal bunker, but during the production of the third series episode, *All at Sea*, the lining was removed. This also happened in *The Railway Series* once Clive Spong took over as illustrator. The lining was reapplied in *The Adventure Begins*.

## Personality

Thomas is described as being a cheeky engine. He often gets into scrapes, usually by being over-eager to do things best left to bigger and more sensible engines. But clouds never last long in Thomas' life and he is soon bustling about again, playing his part in the yard and on his very own branch line, of which he is extremely proud.

He loves teasing the others, especially the bigger engines, such as Gordon and on occasion brags about his superiority, but is always brought down to earth in due course by anyone willing to correct him, especially the Fat Controller and his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel. If Thomas has one major character flaw, it is that he is forgetful and rather impatient. However, he is also cheerful, optimistic, idealistic, altruistic, kind hearted and helpful.

A friend to all engines and a popular member of the Fat Controller’s railway, Thomas is No.1 and does his best every day to live up to that through helping his friends and those that he cares about. He lives to be a Really Useful Engine and encourages everyone else to do the same. He likes to be better than James and Bertie in races. He can, however, also get annoyed about being useful such as the time when Rosie followed him around because she idolised and loved him so much.

While he might drive others away, Thomas is very good at luring back friends should the situation demand it.

Despite all this, he does have his pride and will sometimes take wrong advice at the wrong time - such as from Sailor John or Ace, as well as refusing help even when he needs it.

In other cases, Thomas can be highly curious and positive, with slight hints of skepticism, stubbornness, and forgetfulness, including tendencies to daydream. He is also however depicted with a subtle tone of wisdom, helping engines like Sonny and Rajiv be really useful, despite their difficulties or insecurities in the past. Thomas also has a high perspective on odd objects or people, quickly growing suspicious upon seeing the tiger hunters' hidden cage, Diesel 10's plans to take over the railway of steam engines with his fellow diesels and Baz and Bernie's whispering. Backing up his perception is a very high sense of creativity, allowing him to quickly adapt to a tricky situation.

## Trivia

* Thomas was the first character in the *Railway Series* to have a number. According to Brian Sibley in Thomas The Tank Engine Man, Awdry used the number one because it was the easiest to draw.
* Thomas was the first character to be introduced in the television series.
* Thomas' Gauge 1 model had a total of thirty-nine facial expressions during the model series era, four of which (jovial, snarling, and frustrated) were never shown on-screen, and his elderly face was created as a prank. However, his unused second series jovial face mask was designed in 3D to be featured of the PC Game, The Great Festival Adventure in a cutscene where Thomas was teasing Gordon about being on the turntable.
	+ His Pack-Scale model had a total of eleven facial expressions during the sixth series to The Great Discovery.
	+ His Wharf scale model had a total of eight facial expressions, one of which (an alarmed face) was never used on-screen.
* Christopher Awdry lost the original Thomas toy when he was in the United States. However, a replica was made for a 70th-anniversary sizzle reel. The second version of the original toy was made as a "thank you" gift by Michael White.
* In the American and Finnish cast, Thomas is the only character voiced by Joseph May and Juha Varis in the series.
* Thomas' LBSC number, 70, was actually carried by a real LB&SCR locomotive, an A1 named "Poplar" currently preserved by the Kent & East Sussex Railway. The number also represents the top speed of his basis and the 70th anniversary of the *Railway Series*. All the actual E2s, however, were only numbered from 100 to 109.
* Thomas and James are the only engines to have two different colours in The Adventure Begins.
* According to Sir Topham Hatt on the 2001 version of the official website, Thomas was given his name by the engine workshop which built him.
* Thomas is one of three characters to have a speaking role in every series and special, the other two being Henry and James.
* A Wooden Railway toy of Thomas, along with one of Stepney's, appeared in the second series of *The Big Bang Theory* in an episode called "The Friendship Algorithm".
* An Ertl toy of Thomas along with one of James' also appeared in the sixth series of Full House in one of its episodes called "Be True to Your Preschool".
* Following Mr. Conductor in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Thomas became the second character to narrate in first-person.
* In Calling All Engines!, Thomas sleep-whistles. This is apparently the steam engine version of snoring, though instead typical snoring sounds, Thomas makes warbling whistles after pausing before the next toot. This was only mentioned in Calling All Engines as it might be because his crew never shut off his steam properly.
* A model of Thomas has a major appearance in the film Ant-Man.
* Thomas has the most nicknames of any character, with nineteen in total.
* Thomas is the first Sudrian engine with a separate driver in international locations.
* Thomas is the only vehicle character with headwear (a nightcap in the series 9-12 closing segments, a party hat in the ninth series episode Thomas' Milkshake Muddle, an aviator pilot hat in the tenth series episode Sticky Toffee Thomas and a top hat in the same episode and the eleventh series episode Smoke and Mirrors (if one were to also count The Fat Controller's top hat in Topped Off Thomas), not counting Whiff's glasses or Darcy's visor (or the Santa caps on all the vehicles in the early Christmas episodes).
* Thomas is the first character in the show to have lost his voice onscreen with the twenty-third series episode, Too Loud, Thomas!. With this, he is the third character on the show with a speech impediment (albeit temporarily) after Fergus and Theo.
* Thomas has sometimes been seen going well over his top speed of seventy miles per hour.
* Despite having lining present on his bunker, only a select few merchandise items have had it during their course. They were subsequently removed in renovations and to date, items of Thomas with the bunker lining are rare to find.
* Thomas is the only original member of the current Steam Team not to have handrails across his boiler or side tanks.
* He has the most appearances in both the TV Series and the Railway Series.
* To celebrate Easter in 2017, a giant 140 kg chocolate sculpture of Thomas was displayed at Kings Cross Station. Made out of real Belgian chocolate, the display piece was sculpted in two-hundred-fifty hours by three master chocolatiers and was surrounded by TrackMaster engines running around. An actor dressed as Sir Topham Hatt was on hand to hand out easter eggs.
* In episode 5 of Season 3 of *Gavin and Stacey* a ride on Thomas can be seen in the background of one of the scenes.
* One of Thomas' television series brass models is currently on display at the Explore the Rails exhibit and is wearing one of his happy face masks.
	+ The other brass model from *Thomas and the Magic Railroad* is currently on display at the Hara Model Railway Museum in Japan and is wearing one of his happy face masks (Previously on display at Nitrogen Studios in Canada)
	+ One of the tenth series brass model is currently on display at Drayton Manor and is wearing one of his alternate happy face masks.
	+ Four of Thomas' face masks are now owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. One of Thomas' alternative happy face masks was on his television series model when he first arrived in 2009 and was put on display at Drayton Manor, but it was replaced with a replica face. One of his alternate happy face masks was put back on his restored television series model in early 2020.
* Thomas' normal whistle sound was reused for Edward in Trouble in the Shed, most international versions of Saved from Scrap, Better Late Than Never and Duck and the Slip Coaches, as well as some intermission segments from Series 8 along in one page in Little Engines Easy Reading: James the Red Engine, one page in Little Engines Easy Reading: Henry the Green Engine and the intro of Little Engines Easy Reading: Edward the Blue Engine in the mobile app, Read and Play!. It was also reused for Percy, but in an intermission segment from Series 8, on the Thomas, Rosie and Percy Engine Tours ride at Drayton Manor Theme Park, the game Whistle and Peep and one scene in the twenty-fourth series episode A New Arrival, however Percy's normal whistle sound can be heard when Every Cloud has a Sliver Lining still plays there. It was also reused for Rosie, but on the Thomas, Rosie and Percy Engine Tours ride at Drayton Manor Theme Park.
* As Thomas is shorter than an actual E2, this means his tanks are smaller as well. His coal bunker is also notably bigger.
* Between *The Adventure Begins* and the twenty-fourth series, Thomas was the only steam team member with lining on the back of his bunker.

## Quotes

* **Cinders and Ashes!**
* **All aboard for a big adventure!**