Harleen

**Harleen the Excitable Electric Engine** is one of the deuteragonists and the eighth electric engine on the North Western Railway. Though she was technically the ninth one to arrive.

## Backstory

Harleen arrived on Sodor some time after the Peel Godred branch line was upgraded.

## Personality

Harleen is the youngest of the current Peel Godred fleet, and as a result, she is extremely excitable, especially when meeting someone for the first time; even Philip and Rebecca think she's a bit much at times! Thankfully, she hasn't met Murdoch yet, and the other engines dread the day that it actually happens.

## Technical Details

### Basis

Harleen is based on a British Rail Class 87 electric locomotive. A total of thirty-six locomotives were constructed, to work passenger and freight services over the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

The type was developed in response to the need to add extra capacity to the electric traction fleet operated by British Rail (BR), in addition to the desire to introduce a higher performance electric locomotive than the existing Class 86, upon which the Class 87 was based. Class 87s were British Rail's flagship electric locomotives from their introduction until the late 1980s, at which point they began to be superseded by members of the newly-developed Class 90 fleet – itself an improved derivative of the Class 87 design.

As a consequence of the privatisation of British Rail during the mid 1990s, all but one of the Class 87s were transferred to Virgin Trains. Under this operator, the type continued their passenger duties until the advent of the new Class 390 Pendolinos, after which they were gradually transferred to other operators or withdrawn between 2002 and 2007. For a time, the type was a staple of electrified freight operations, before it was displaced by the Class 90 in this capacity as well. By the end of the 2010s, there was only one Class 87 that remained in an operational condition in Britain, 87002, which had been initially preserved by the AC Locomotive Group and is presently owned by Locomotive Services Limited. It was previously in use with Serco Caledonian Sleeper and is intended for use on charter services. A large proportion of the fleet has been exported to Bulgaria, where they have entered regular use once again.

### Livery

Harleen is painted in red with black window surroundings and roof and yellow ends. Harleen's facial features are based upon Margot Robbie's and she has blue eyeshadow and red lipstick.

## Trivia

* Harleen is based on Harley Quinn from the *Batman* stories published by DC Comics.
	+ Harley Quinn's real name is Dr. Harleen Quinzel, which is where the electric engine's name is derived from.
	+ Harley Quinn is sometimes depicted as being romantically involved with Poison Ivy; Harleen is implied to have romantic attraction towards Pamela.
* Harleen is based upon the BR Class 87.
* The preferred voice actress for Harleen is Margot Robbie, who portrayed Harley Quinn in the DC Extended Universe films *Suicide Squad* (2016), *Birds of Prey* and *The Suicide Squad* (2021).
* Harleen's pre-Sodor number was 87101; the last Class 87 to be in service, yet the first one to be withdrawn in real life. Her Sodor number is E8, as Stafford is classified as S1 (Shunter 1).