Diesel

"Devious" Diesel

* Current
* Debut

Background information

**First episode**
"Wilbert and Tiger Moth" (*cameo*)

Character information

**Full name**
* "Devious" Diesel
* Diesel the Diesel Shunter
* Diesel the Naughty Engine
* Diesel the Diesel Engine

**Other names**
* Mister Oily (*by Stephen and Paxton*)
* Diesel Do Right (*by Himself*)

**Age**
Unknown (*Engine*)

**Home**
Island of SodorEngland (*formerly*)

**Friends**
* Sonny
* Daisy
* 'Arry and Bert
* Den
* Dart
* Paxton
* Norman
* Sidney
* Diesel 10

**Quote**
"Your worthy Sir Topham Hatt thinks I need to learn. He is mistaken. We diesels don't need to learn. We know everything. We come to a yard and improve it. We are revolutionary."

**"Devious" Diesel**, as his name implies, is a black diesel engine who originates from the Other Railway, and is the first known standard-gauge diesel to ever arrive on Sodor. Initially, he was sent away for bad behaviour, however after a number of return visits he eventually became a permanent member of the North Western Railway.

Personality
Diesel is, in essence, the average pantomime villain. He is oily, malicious, devious, scheming and full of ideas to get revenge. He views himself and any other diesel as highly above the steam engines and believes that all diesels are "revolutionary" - he has also claimed diesels should be "rough and tough", as an excuse for bullying the other engines. His antics give diesels on Sodor a bad reputation, which causes most steam engines (particularly Duck and Thomas) to distrust him. His rough demeanour also affects his fellow diesels, who are often victims of his tricks alongside steam engines, mainly diesels who are friendlier to steam engines and are just nice in general, with Paxton and Sidney being prime examples. As such, Diesel has very few friends, mostly associating with diesels whose personalities align with his, such as Diesel 10 or ‘Arry and Bert. He also enjoys using gullible engines (such as Paxton and Rebecca) as pawns in his plans.
However, despite his antics, Diesel still wants to prove himself to be a Really Useful Engine. He is also very proud to be the first diesel on Sodor and seems to have a soft spot for cute ducklings, which he is embarrassed by because he believes it ruins his tough exterior. Diesel will also more often than not focus more on his own work than help anyone else, but he will help any engines, steam or diesel, when it comes down to it. Due to the amount of chaos his web of lies set off on his first day on Sodor, Diesel has often been seen as a liar by the other engines, leaving them to blow off his news as bluffs until absolutely proven. This is not helped by the fact that he lies whenever he gets the chance, further reinforcing their beliefs.
Lately, Diesel is portrayed as a typical bully with a lack of forethought. While sinisterly cunning, he usually neglects to think of what would happen if things were found out and due to the transparency of some of his plans, he always gets his comeuppance in the end. His distaste for steam engines has also been dropped (most likely due to the show targeting a younger audience), being replaced by a mean-spirited prankster nature and inflated arrogance. He also shows several hints of manipulative and self-serving tones, as he can be found as very lazy. Proving this, he managed to trick Sonny into doing his jobs for him, though much like Daisy and Dennis (both of whom who have tried similar tactics), Diesel was immediately struck by karma, having his luck deteriorate due to his selfishness. He also made fun of James when he was painted pink and Thomas when he was dressed up as a monkey, finding both to be humorous contrary to how they actually felt. Diesel does know when he goes too far, however, and usually owns up for his misdeeds if the situation demands it. This has allowed him to form genuine lasting friendships with such engines as Daisy and Harvey.
Despite his devious and malicious nature, Diesel is shown to be nice and caring towards children, (a side that is never present when it comes to other engines) even feeling guilty for making them upset when he did not bring the roof tiles for the school roof and owning up for his mistakes which made them happy when he finally brought the tiles.

Technical Details
Basis
Diesel is based on a British Rail (BR) Class 08 diesel-electric shunter. In the real world, BR Class 08s were in fact the most successful shunting engines in the world with 996 of them built. Over seventy of them are preserved by heritage railways, such as the Dean Forest Railway and museums, such as the National Railway Museum. Around one-hundred BR Class 08s also remain in service on the national rail network. 08850, a BR Class 08 preserved by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, appears in a Mr. Perkins' Railway segment.
'Arry, Bert, Splatter, Dodge, Paxton, Sidney, Ulli, the Mainland Diesels and Fernando are also based on BR Class 08s along with the international Brazilian, Indian and Chinese diesels.

Diesel's basis
Livery
Diesel is painted in the BR mixed-traffic black livery, which was the standard livery for shunting engines from 1948 until the mid-1960s. His side rods were painted silver until the sixth series, where they were painted black. His paint is chipped in certain places and shows signs of weathering.

Appearances
Television Series* **Season 1** - Wilbert and Tiger Moth (cameo) and Frank and the Trucks (cameo)
* **Season 2** - Skarloey and Rheneas Depart for Crewe (does not speak)
* **Season 3** - Cranky's Delivery and Diesel's Dilemma
* **Season 5** - Fergus' Market Day
* **Season 6** - Diesel Knows It All
* **Season 7** - Rails on Fire
* **Season 8** - The New Controller (cameo)
* **Season 9** - The Arlesdale Rumor and Railway Stowaway
* **Season 10** - A Normal Day for Dennis
* **Season 11** - Stepney and the Bluebell Branchline, Just Duck's Luck (mentioned) Spencer Goes Too Far (not named, mentioned) and Old Square Wheels
* **Season 12** - Greetings, Montague! (does not speak), Stafford's Electric Slide and Henry's Handcar Havoc
* **Season 13** - Sam I Am
* **Season 14** - Hatt Trick (cameo)
* **Season 15** - The Maron Station Makeover (does not speak), Nightmare on Sodor (fantasy), Ice Ice Daisy (cameo), Polar Express Coming Through! (cameo) and A Christmas Caroline
* **Season 17** - Unidentified Flying Scotsman, Tender Love and Care, Wellsworth the Wait (cameo) and Diesel Gets the Bronze

Specials* Thomas and the Storm
* Sodor's Last Stand
* Claw of the Law

Trivia* Like in *The Railway Series*, Diesel was also the first diesel engine to be introduced in the television series.
* In some merchandise lines, Diesel is referred to as "Devious Diesel". It was not until the seventh series episode, Fergus Breaks the Rules that he was referred to by this name on-screen.
* Between the thirteenth and sixteenth series, Diesel was the only character from the model series to still be voiced by the narrator in the CGI Series. However, this was only in the US dub.
* As revealed in the tenth series episode, Emily and the Special Coaches, Diesel is a record holder for most trucks shunted in a single day.
* Diesel has travelled at well over his basis' top speed of 15 miles per hour on numerous occasions in the television series.
* Throughout voicing Diesel:
	+ In the UK narration of the thirteenth series onwards and the US narration of the nineteenth series onwards, Kerry Shale gives Diesel a faint hoarse Cockney accent.
	+ In the US narration, Michael Brandon gave him a gruff American accent and Martin Sherman gave him a gruff New Jersey accent.
	+ In the Learning with Thomas segments, Rob Rackstraw gave Diesel a voice that sounds similar to Spud the Scarecrow from Bob the Builder, a series Rackstraw has voiced in.
* Up until the thirteenth series, Diesel was female in the Greek dub.
* Diesel's face in the magazine stories is often smaller than in the television series.
* According to the magazines and the DVD Bingo game, it reveals that Diesel and Bulgy are good friends.
* Nathan Clarke did an audio sample for Diesel on his DAA Management Page.
* Not counting deleted scenes, the fifth series is the only series that Diesel does not appear in after his introduction in the second series,
* Diesel is Ringo Starr's favourite character.