Spencer

**Spencer** is a silver streamlined tender engine from the Mainland who is privately owned by The Duke and Duchess of Boxford and is Gordon's cousin. He commonly visits the Island of Sodor with his owners.

## Biography

Spencer is very arrogant, snobby, egotistical, bossy and pompous and considers himself to be above doing menial duties such as shunting. He is very proud of his speed, with his ego far exceeding the likes of Gordon and James. Although the engines were impressed by him when he first came to Sodor, he constantly antagonized them and they would eventually grow to dislike him, especially Thomas and Gordon. When he came to build the summer house, the engines dreaded his arrival, saying that having him around for one day was already horrible. During his prolonged stay on Sodor, Spencer proved himself to be very nosy, sneaky, disobedient and rather neglectful, and was willing to abandon his work in order to get petty revenge on Thomas.

While most steam engines have a sense of camaraderie due to dieselization, Spencer has no such sympathy and is willing to scrap even fellow steam engines if he views them as beneath him. Following Hiro’s discovery, Spencer spent the entire summer trying to get him scrapped, going to great lengths in his efforts to do so and only stopping after Hiro was successfully restored.

Gordon and Spencer strongly dislike each other despite being “cousins”. This is mainly because of Spencer's pompous behaviour, which exceeds even that of Gordon's. His arrogance has also shown that he is not willing to take advice from other engines, which only results in him needing help from those he shrugs off. Despite this, he has shown a kind side when he realized his mistakes, especially when reprimanded by the Duke and Duchess or The Fat Controller for causing trouble. Despite his pompousness, he also wants to be really useful just like all the other locomotives.

While Spencer does dislike goods trains to an extent, he will pull trucks when needed. He does have some preferences though, as he hauled construction supplies for the Duke and Duchess of Boxford's summer house without complaint, while he grumbled when he was to pull stone trucks for Ulfstead Castle's restoration.

During his first visit to Sodor, Spencer took the Duke and Duchess of Boxford on a trip around Sodor. He ignored Gordon's warnings about taking on water and thus ran out on his hill; however, he blamed the incident on a leaky tank and had to rely on Gordon to take him to Knapford.

Spencer has since developed a rivalry with Thomas and Rosie, with the latter often trying to outshine Spencer - largely without success.

Spencer returned to Sodor to help build a new summer house for the Duke and Duchess of Boxford, much to the annoyance of all the engines. First, he insulted the other steam engines - especially Thomas by calling him a "toy tank engine", which as a result they had a competition of strength. However, Spencer neglected to build the new summer house when he became suspicious about Thomas, thinking he was being a tricky tank engine and ended up getting slate down his funnel at Ffarquhar Quarry. When Spencer discovered Percy's mail vans (thinking that Thomas was hiding them from Percy), he got into trouble with Sir Bertram Topham Hatt, who thought that Spencer was hiding the mail coaches all the time. Afterwards, Spencer lost his pride when his owners turned up for their holiday. He then got stuck in the mud when he chased Thomas to Knapford. After being rescued by Hiro, Spencer apologised to Thomas and Hiro and they all worked together to finish the summer house.

## Basis

Spencer is based on a London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Class A4 Pacific, a type of streamlined 4-6-2 tender locomotive designed by Sir Nigel Gresley and built between 1935 and 1938.

## Livery

Spencer is painted metallic silver with black lining. He has a red nameplate with his name painted on them in gold on the sides of his smokebox. His livery may have been inspired by that of the first four A4s, which were painted in a silver-grey livery for use on the LNER's 'Silver Jubilee' service.

## Appearances

### Season 10

* Hero of the Rails
* Tickled Pink
* Welcome Stafford

### Season 11

* King of the Railway
* The Afternoon Tea Express

### Season 13

* Who’s Geoffrey?
* Two Wheels Good
* The Beast of Sodor

### Season 15

* The Great Race
* Confused Coaches

## Gallery

Spencer’s design and liverySpencer’s nameplate
## Trivia

* Spencer was described in his introduction to be the fastest steam engine in the world, that is until Connor and Caitlin arrived.
* Spencer is the first steam engine to be the main antagonist in a special, with that special being Hero of the Rails. Overall, he is the only major villain in the series to be a steam engine.
* Fitting his position as a chauffeur, Spencer's name has been affiliated with several fictional characters with similar positions.