James (JSS)

## James the Red Engine

**James** is a mixed-traffic tender engine who works on the North Western Railway, usually working along the Main Line. He can be vain and sometimes boastful, but means well and is a hard worker.

## Bio

James' history in Jacob's Sudrian Stories is largely the same as his television series counterpart.

He first appeared in Meet My Friends, where Jacob introduced him to the audience.

## Persona

James is very proud of his splendid red paintwork. He dislikes pulling trucks and believes that he should only pull coaches. He thinks himself superior to the others and can be shallow, boastful, overconfident, naughty, and vain, particularly to those who appear old-fashioned, weak, slow, or dirty. This has caused him to have somewhat of a rivalry with Edward, Percy, Toby and Duck. However, on a number of occasions, he has found himself in need of help from those whom he has insulted and is, in the end, apologetic. Even before he was repainted red he was rather boastful.

James was the last of the steam engines to retain a prejudice against diesels. However, after stalling on a cold day, he was rescued by the Works Diesel and James had to admit that nothing was wrong with diesels. This appears to be one of the few lessons that has stuck.

Since the seventeenth season, James has also been portrayed as a prankster, often tricking or scaring the other engines for fun, or to get out of jobs he dislikes doing. Following a particularly mean-spirited prank he played on Percy in Tale of the Brave, this gimmick seems to have died down.

Despite everything else, James has shown a caring side, is normally hard-working and like every other engine, wants to be responsible, reliable and really useful on Sir Topham Hatt's railway.

## Basis

James is based on the L&YR Class 28, a class of 0-6-0 mixed-traffic tender locomotive designed by George Hughes for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and built by Horwich Works between 1909 and 1912. It was a rebuild of Aspinall's Class 27, with the addition of a Belpaire firebox, a Schmidt/"twin-plug" superheater, and the extension of the footplate and front sandboxes.

According to *The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways*, James is an experimental member of the Class 28s; he is fitted with a front pony truck (thus making him a 2-6-0 instead of an 0-6-0), 5'6" driving wheels instead of the class' original 5'1" ones and a Fowler tender. His front sandboxes also appear to be mounted underneath his footplate rather than joined to his leadings splashers.

## Livery

James is painted in NWR red with black lining and gold boiler bands. His dome is brass and his number is painted on the sides of his tender in yellow with black lining. In the *Railway Series*, James' black lining became blue after *Main Line Engines*. His roof colour was also inconsistently illustrated as either black or red; since Clive Spong became illustrator, James has been consistently illustrated with a red cab roof.

James has also been seen in several other liveries aside from his red one:

* In the *Railway Series*, James would of originally been painted in L&YR passenger black, but any white has never been depicted making his appearance akin to their goods livery instead. In the television series, James was originally depicted as having always been red, even when he was a new engine, (except for his appearance in his black livery in *The Adventure Begins*. He also had red lining on the back of his tender, which was removed after his repaint).
* In *The Green Controller*, James was mistakenly painted in yellow and black stripes on Percy's orders. He was quickly repainted back into his original livery when the problem was noticed.
* In *Tickled Pink*, James was painted in a pink undercoat before his standard red coat could be applied. Although he was said to be in an undercoat, James still retained his lining, number and black wheels and smokebox.
* In *The Great Race*, James was painted in golden floral patterns for the Great Railway Show. He was repainted back into his original livery when he returned to Sodor.
* In *An Engine of Many Colours*, after hearing Kevin mention the Steamworks didn't have any red paint, James dreams he's painted in many different colours including blue, green and silver. But by the end of the episode, he is repainted in his normal red livery.

## Appearances

* Meet My Friends

**Jacob's Sudrian Stories**