Thomas

**Thomas** is a blue tank engine who works on the North Western Railway. He initially worked as the station pilot at the Big Station. After helping to rescue James from an accident, Thomas was permanently assigned to the Ffarquhar Branch Line and two faithful coaches, Annie and Clarabel.

## Biography

Before coming to Sodor, Thomas lived at Brighton, where he worked alongside several other engines. He was brought to the North Western Railway when the Fat Controller was in need of a new tank engine to shunt trains at Knapford and was originally painted teal-green before receiving his blue livery.

While taking a break in the yard one day, Thomas saw James being pushed by his trucks unable to stop due to his burning brake blocks. Thomas bravely chased after James abandoning his Punishment and tried to stop him, but unfortunately, James derailed and landed in a field. Thomas rushed back to Knapford and retrieved Judy and Jerome, who helped him, re-rail James. As a reward for his heroic actions, Thomas was rewarded with his own branch line and two coaches of his own, Annie and Clarabel. From that point on, Thomas began proudly working on his branch line.

Not much known about him about how he got possessed by Stanley. Later, it has been likely he later got unpossessed after the events in Five Nights at Smudger's 4: Engines at war.

## Appearance

Thomas is painted in NWR bright blue with red lining. His number is painted on the sides of his tanks in yellow with red lining and the lining around his cab windows is yellow.

In Five Nights at Smudger's 4: Engines at war, he has a bunch of funnels around his smoke box, he has a blue snow plow with spikes at the front and spikes round his body. He also has a sign that says "**WARNING USEFUL TO MANGER**" next to him.

## Gameplay

#### Five nights at Smudger's 4:Engines at war

Thomas will appear on the final night (also known as Night 6),alongside with Stanley, Ratchet, Davenger, Gerald and Bulstrode. He will appear at the back of the office next to the player. To make him go away, the player (Tim) must use the camera behind themselves to take a flash photo, the player must take three photos to scare Thomas away, then delete the three pictures to take more. Failing to do so Thomas will jumpscare the player, restarting the night.

## Personality

Thomas is described as being a cheeky and fussy 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 optimistic, idealistic and altruistic with a heart of gold.

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

## Basis

Thomas is based on the LB&SCR Class E2 0-6-0T, particularly the second batch of locomotives built with extended side-tanks. These engines were built by Brighton Works between 1913-1916 to replace the ageing Stroudley E1 class and were primarily used for heavy shunting and short-distance goods trains in the London area and on the south coast. During their final working years, the E2 class worked as shunting engines at Southampton Docks alongside the USATC S100 Tank Engines (Rosie's basis), until they were replaced by the BR Class 07 diesel shunters (Salty's basis). All of the E2s were scrapped, with none surviving into preservation.

Thomas has several major differences from the original E2 class. He is much shorter in length than his original basis, he has two extra windows on the sides of his cab and he has wheel splashers, something the original E2 class lacked. In the early volumes of *The Railway Series* and the television series, Thomas' footplate is dipped at the front, but oddly enough is not dipped at the back. In *Branch Line Engines*, his footplate was levelled out from smokebox to bunker.