Sidney

**Sidney the Forgetful Diesel** is one of the deuteragonists and the ninth diesel on the North Western Railway.

## Backstory

Sidney worked at an unknown yard before he and Paxton were sold to the North Western Railway. Unfortunately, he was being overhauled right before being shipped out, and his wheels were missing.

## Norramby crew

### Arthur

Not much is known about Arthur and Sidney's relationship, but given Arthur's personality, it's possible Sidney's forgetfulness is a frustration to Arthur.

### Molly

Not much is known about Molly and Sidney's relationship, but it's implied Molly will be one of the more patient engines with his forgetfulness.

## Other relationships

### Percy

Percy showed kindness to Sidney by getting him his wheels when the order was misplaced. Sidney later returned the favour by getting Percy's wheels a few years later.

### Paxton

Paxton and Sidney are very close. Despite the latter's short-term-memory-loss, the two are always trying to think of new ways to have fun while working. He was also concerned for Sidney when he didn't have his wheels at the Dieselworks.

### Diesel

One of the better things Diesel did during his 'distant' phase was try and get Sir Topham Hatt's attention to help Sidney. He may have been a bit misguided in his methods, but his heart was in the right place.

## Personality

Sidney is on the cheerful and naïve side, but he also tends to forget things rather easily. Some engines can be irritated by this, but he genuinely does want to help.

## Technical Details

### Basis

Sidney is based on a British Rail (BR) Class 08 diesel-electric shunter. 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. His 'real life' counterpart was built on the 19th of August, 1958, withdrawn 6th of January 1986 and scrapped December 1987.

Diesel, Arry, Bert, Paxton, Ulli, Zeke, Rayker, Matias, Ali, Prisca and Lyla are also based on BR Class 08s.

### 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 name is painted on his sides in white. His number "D9" is painted in white. His paint is chipped in places and shows signs of weathering, but that is fixed after *The Case of the Missing Parts*, where he gets his name on his side.

## Differences between the episodes and this series

* Sidney's role in *Diesel 10 Strikes Back* foreshadowed *New Wheels for Sidney*. He was also mentioned in the background during the back half of the Series 13-16 redux.
* Sidney works on the Norramby branch with Arthur and Molly. Where he worked in the TV series wasn't clear.
* Sidney's Sodor number is D9. His pre-Sodor number was D3686.
	+ The numbers this engine wore in real life were D3686/08524. Like with Paxton, Sidney's RL basis is built later than Diesel's RL basis, so he's younger.
* Like with Paxton and Diesel, Sidney bears his name on his sides after *The Case of the Missing Parts*.