Diesel

**"Devious" Diesel**, as his name implies, is a sinister diesel shunter and the first diesel engine to arrive on Sodor who originates from the Other Railway. Diesel is now a permanent resident of Sodor.

## Biography

In 1957, the Railway board of the North Western Railway had requested Sir Topham Hatt II a chance to trial one of the new 08 class shunters and see if there's any chance of modernising the railway like the Other Railway on the mainland. Enter BR No.D3855 or most famously refer to as 'Diesel'. When he came to the Fat Controller's railway after the visit of the Railway Society with ex-GWR 3700 Class 3440 'City of Truro', he was arrogant and boastful about being revolutionary for being a modern diesel and wants to show it off, much to Duck's displeasure and told him to collect some of his trucks while he fetches Gordon's coaches. But thanks to Diesel's stupidity, he took some old trucks and made a fool of himself and ended up blaming Duck for it.

Thanks to him, he made the trucks believe that Duck called Henry, Gordon and James names and they told the big engines about it, with them blaming Duck for it. However, the Fat Controller discovered that it was Diesel's fault and sent him away back to the Other Railway. There were times Diesel had returned to the Island. Sometime in the mid-60's he returned by ex-BR No.48102 to be part of the Strategic Steam Reserve (SSR), a secret government plot to use steam engines as backup incase the cold war became a hot one. This later turned out to be NWR's 'Peter' in 2015. He came back to the Island in 1968 around the time of 'The Great Railway Show', In 1973 he returned when Duck and Percy needed help at Knapford Harbour. While proving how useful he can be by shunting some trucks into sidings, Diesel proved to be as bad as ever and was expelled for good after shunting some trucks of china clay into the sea and bumping into Percy after his driver failed to put his brakes on properly. In 1974 after Henry's accident with the trucks and he ended up an attempt to pull 20 trucks and caused a derailment to himself. In 1975 he came to help at the Cement Works to help CW No.1 'Fergus' and made up an order from the Fat Controller making him go to the smelters near Killdane. But he ended up going to work in the smelters as an act of punishment. He even returned in 1976 and despite not doing much devious deeds, he went home after his help on the railway. He came back to the Island to help out with the construction of the Sodor Airport in summer 1977 and he returned in 1980 to help with the shunting and was taught how to deal with trucks by Hiro. In 1982 he helped out at the Quarry with Mavis, despite not letting her go back to the quarry to help Thomas.

He came back in 1987 to help on Thomas' branch line while Percy was away at the works with boiler problems. However despite some development in the past, he is still his devious self and he ended up crashing the trucks off the rails. However while he was glad to be going home, he saved Thomas from a derailment after oil from Daisy was spilt everywhere along the line that lead to a runaway siding derailing Clarabel's wheels. Everyone was happy for what Diesel had done and he was always welcomed back to the railway. However, it didn't last long.

Diesel was then withdrawn from British Railways in 1991 and was deemed for scrap. However there was a huge tourist boom on the Island of Sodor, thanks to the popularity of the television series and with Thomas' visit to the National Railway Museum, Sir Topham Hatt III purchased Diesel due to his popularity in the TV show, officially making him the 7th diesel of the NWR. He was quiet since then but by 2013, he was back to his usual self by teasing NWR No.11 'Oliver' and NWR No.2 'Edward' for being old, teasing Duck for his water problems after a water pipe had burst, making a story about James at Christmas time (despite being sorry). But that didn't end his behavioural problem. In 2014, the Fat Controller had enough of him after he had pulled a long heavy train as far as Wellsworth, which failed his engine, and for having an argument with NWR D8 'Shane'. He was then sent to the National Railway Museum in York to be repaired and to understand the importance and respect for steam engines. One of the museum engines, and a very famous one too, said to him in their workshops that without steam engines there would be no railway and with no railway there wouldn't be any diesels.

He returned around December 2014, hiding his respect for steam engines so as not be embarrassed. However by 2015 he began to flesh out of his respect and didn't care if anyone sees him differently. After all Sir Topham Hatt told him in 2013 to act his age.

## 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.

## Basis

Diesel is based on the BR Class 08. Over seventy members of this class survive today in preservation, while around 100 remain in service on the national rail network. They were in fact the most successful shunting engines in the world, with 996 of them built. Splatter, Dodge, 'Arry, Bert, Paxton, Sidney, Ulli and the Mainland Diesels are also members of the class. Diesel is painted in British Railways' black livery, which was the
standard livery for shunting engines from 1948 until the mid-1960s.

## Appearances

### Season 1

* Henry's Nightmare (cameo)
* Diesel's Christmas Carol

### Season 2

* Getting Old
* Duck Runs Dry
* A Christmas for Diesel
* Thomas and the New Bell (cameo)
* Happy Hogmanay (cameo)

### Season 3

* Fireman for the Night (does not speak)
* Engine Who (cameo)
* A Gronk and Bucket Rivalry
* The Past Is In The Past (mentioned)
* NWR 100 (cameo)
* Diesel Returns
* A Kyndley Christmas

### Season 4

* High Speed Sneeze (does not speak)
* The Fishy Smell (does not speak)
* BoCo's New Driver (does not speak)
* Derek (episode)
* Dynamite For The Quarry
* The 'Unlucky' Engine
* Tender Engines Don't Shunt (mentioned)
* The Lost Engine of Ballahoo
* Respect
* Rumours and Reveals
* A Christmas Wish
* New Year, New Life

### Season 5

* Goodbye Percy (cameo)
* Slow Down, Thomas and Bertie! (does not speak)
* The Train Protection and Warning System
* Forgotten? (cameo)
* Duck and Scott (does not speak)
* Ryan (episode) (cameo)

### Season 7

* The Lady of the Clay-pits (does not speak)
* Bill and Ben's Christmas Rescue (cameo)

### Season 8

* Tender First *(cameo)*
* Paxton (episode)
* Changed?
* Revenge Isn't Sweet
* Amends
* Lobster on the Line *(cameo)*

### Season 9

* Philip's Royal Rescue (cameo)
* Percy and the Express (cameo)
* The Missing Kippers
* Christmas Day Emergency!

### Season 11

* Really Useful Engine (mentioned)
* Diesel's Christmas Carol (10th anniversary remake)

### Season 12

* Framed! (*mentioned*)
* A Stuffed Friend for Duck (*mentioned*)
* A Cranky New Year!

### Series 1

* Thomas and Timothy (cameo)
* Cursed Coaches
* Duck Comes Around (does not speak)
* Diesel's Demons
* A Missing Van
* The Lonely Scrapyard
* In Demand

### Series 2

* Gordon's Trucks (cameo)
* Diesels and Dogma (indirectly mentioned)
* One Bump Too Many (cameo)
* Percy's Ploy