George

"*Railways are no good. Turn 'em into roads. Pull 'em up. Turn 'em into roads.*"
— George, Steamroller, fourth season

**George** is a grumpy and bitter steamroller whose interactions with engines generally lead to trouble.

## Bio

George took an instant disliking to Sir Handel which resulted in rivalry and an accident.

Once, on Lady Hatt's birthday, the Fat Controller was running late. His car had broken down, and when he was offered a ride by Caroline, she overheated. George pulled up alongside them and called Caroline "a disgrace to the roads". George's driver, who was fairly even-tempered, offered the Fat Controller a ride, but George lost control and veered into a muddy ditch.

George later worked at Boulder Quarry with Skarloey and Rheneas, and made rude remarks despite their assertion that their stone would be used to pave George's roads. George was still rude while Percy carried him on a flatbed to his new work site.

George was later creating a road on an old railway line, but was intentionally careless when he paved the road over a level crossing, later causing Thomas to become derailed and crash. Finally, George refused to allowDuck to pass him at the yard. As a result, a truck from his train was still on the main line. When the express came through, Gordon collided with the truck, smashing it. The Fat Controller was furious with these recent disturbances and punished George by taking him off of the roads for a week to be used as a generator at the lumber mill.

For a long time afterwards, George had little actual contact with the engines. On one occasion, Thomas retrieved him to repair the runway of the new airport at the last minute. In the ninth and tenth seasons, he can be seen working at McColl Farm.

## Persona

George is a grumpy, rude and bitter steamroller. He is no friend of the railway, often heard rebelling that "railways are no good", and that they should be ripped up and turned into roads. George is happiest when rolling, but enjoys hating the engines across the island too. He is incredibly impolite and his unpleasant attitude and his rough and obstinate behaviour is often the cause of chaos and disruption. He can occasionally show his use if there is tarmac to be flattened and was very important in helping the steam engines and Diesel engines in repairing the runway at the Sodor Airport, so that the first aeroplane could land. Perhaps he has a good streak in him too, after all.

## Livery

George is painted green with gold boiler bands and his funnel and smokebox painted black. His front-forks are painted bright red and his name is painted on both sides of his boiler in white.

## Appearances

* Season 1 - James and the Big Red Balloon (*cameo*) and Toby Saves the Lambs (*cameo*)
* Season 2 - Slow Coaches
* Season 3 - Bertie's Foggy Day and Snowed up Engines (*cameo*)
* Season 4 - George and Buster
* Season 5 - Stanley's Branch Line (*mentioned*)
* Season 7 - George and the Trouble with Brakevans and Thomas and Toad (*mentioned*)

Specials:

* Thomas and the Storm (*cameo*)

## Trivia

* He was to appear in Thomas and the Magic Railroad as one of Diesel 10's henchmen, but his model was never brought to Canada for filming, and as a result, his role never passed the storyboard stage. He was supposed to have been used to destroy the buffers on Sodor, to find the ones that led to the Magic Railroad, and in return he could destroy the Tidmouth Sheds turntable and make it into a roller rink.