James

**"Here's James!"**

James' catchphrase

**James** is a red mixed-traffic tender engine who lives on the Island of Sodor and works on the North Western Railway, usually working along the Main Line. He can be vain and sometimes boastful, thinking he's a "splendid engine", but he means well and is a hard worker.

## Appearance

James is a red tender engine, who works on the Island of Sodor. He has a tall funnel, a golden dome and a whistle on top of his cab roof. He has two leading wheels at the front. And he has six driving wheels that are not as big as Gordon's but not as small as Thomas'. He has a coal tender with a number five painted on it.

James was seen in different liveries.

* 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. This livery also appears in *Meet James* as part of a reference to the episode.
* In *The Great Race*, James, along with Emily, 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 the twenty-second series episode, *An Engine of Many Colours*, after hearing Kevin mention the Steamworks did not have any red paint, James dreamed he was painted in many different colours including blue, green and silver and many more on a turntable near the last dream's final scenes. By the end of the episode, he was repainted in his normal red livery.

## Personality

James is very proud of his splendid red paintwork. He dislikes pulling trucks and believes that he should only pull coaches. He is so self-centred that he thinks himself superior to the others and can be shallow, boastful, overconfident, arrogant, prideful, 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, as well as Thomas, Gordon, Henry and even Philip lately on occasion. He has acted like this even before he was repainted red. 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.

James was the last of the steam engines to retain a prejudice against diesels, insulting them the same way other visiting diesels would insult the steam engines on Sodor, with BoCo and Bear barely being spared from his opinionated view. However, after stalling on a cold day, he was rescued by the Works Diesel and had to admit that nothing was wrong with diesels. This appears to be one of the few lessons that have stuck. Despite this, James can remain highly opinionated on someone's character, refusing to believe Sonny had given up life as a criminal, only to find out the hard way that when Sonny bumped him at the docks, it was to save him from being splattered and dented by watermelons. In similar situations, James often feels remorse and guilt for his actions, often leading to his apologies coming out meekly.

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. However, following a particularly mean-spirited prank he played on Percy in the time he scared with a monster made of scrap, this gimmick seems to have died down. As of the meeting videos, he has been labelled as the "Joker" of the Steam Team by Thomas.

Despite all of that, James has shown a caring side to him. He has a heart of gold and wants to help anyone in a time of need. He is normally hard-working and, like everyone else, wants to be responsible, reliable and really useful on Sir Topham Hatt's railway. Although his vanity can hide it, James actually is capable of realizing when he crosses the line, though in most cases, it takes scolding from others to make his penny drop, and even then it is too late to prevent trouble.

## Technical Details

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 leading splashers.

The Rev. W. Awdry's original model of James was modified from that of a G&SWR 403 Class 2-6-0 and materials related to Awdry's model layout indicate this was originally considered to be James' prototype.

## Trivia

* Starting from the Adventure Begins, James' catchphrase "Here's James!" is a reference to Jack Torrance's catchphrase "Here's Johnny!" which is heard in the famous 1980 horror film *The Shining*.
* James was originally illustrated in *The Three Railway Engines* as the red engine who tried to push Henry out of the tunnel. However, children began sending letters to Awdry asking why James was painted red prior to the events of *Thomas the Tank Engine*. In response, Awdry decided to make the Red Engine a completely different character altogether.
* In *Sodor: Reading Between the Lines*, James is said to have been sold to the NWR in 1923; this creates anachronisms with events laid out in *The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways*.
* James has a rivalry with Suzi, Wilhelmina and Buttsquat, mainly Suzi. James and Suzi always argue about who was the most splendid, always making rude remarks to one another. But they do sometimes get along with each other.
* In "Toby's New Whistle", James reveals that he used to have a three-chime steam whistle.
* James is the only Steam Team member with a one-syllable name. He also has the shortest name out of all the Steam Team members in pronunciation terms.
* James is the only 2-6-0 (mogul) locomotive in the television series to be named and seen.
* Since the twenty-first series, James along with Belle are the only characters to have the same voice actors in both English dubs, albeit with different accents. He is also the only male member of the Steam Team to have the same voice actor in both English dubs.