Thomas

## Thomas the Tank Engine

### Nicknames

Little Thomas (by Gordon, Sir Topham Hatt and Beresford)Really Useful Engine (by Sir Topham Hatt, Mr. Conductor and Lily)

Lazy Bones (by Henry and Percy)

Slow Coach (by Bertie and Emily)

Useless Little Bug(s) (by Cranky along with Percy)

Mite(s) (by Cranky along with Percy)

Cowardly Cranky Worn-Out Hunk of Metal (by Diesel 10 along with James)

Partner (by The Tumbleweed along with Percy)

Little Blue Buckaroo (by The Tumbleweed)

Blue Puffball (by George, Diesel 10, and Splatter)

Little Puffer (by Elizabeth)

Silly Tank Engine (by Salty and Cranky along with Percy)

Stinky Old Steamie Engine (by Diesel)

Stripy Boiler (by Diesel)

Very Bossy Engine (by Billy)

Tiny Toy Tank Engine (by Spencer)

Tricky Tank Engine (by Spencer and Diesel)

Tiny Thomas (by Cranky)

Little Fellow (by Spencer)

Boss (by Kevin)

Really Stinky Engine (by Diesel)

Tiger (by Yong Bao)

Mr. Thomas (by Toad)

Sweet Little Engine (by Annie)

Really Useful Hero(es) (by Sir Topham Hatt along with Stephen)

Silly Blue Engine (by Monty)

Silly Thomas (by Annie and Clarabel)

Shrimp (by Vinnie)

Funny Little Tank Engine (by Ashima)

Cowboy (by Beau)

Lazy Boiler (by James)

Little Tank Engine (by Spencer, Frankie and Duchess)

Stinky Steamie (by Diesel, Arry and Bert along with Percy)

Mr. Blue Tank Engine (by Nia and a Batucada Player)

Nia's Friend (by Kwaku)

Mate (by Ace and Tamika)

Tommo (by Shane)

Rock Star (by Shane)

Tank Engine (by Madeleine and Samson along with Percy and Duck)

Little Engine (by Gustavo)

Silly Little Engine (by Spencer, Gordon and Gustavo)

Fiery, Funny Little Engine (by Gustavo)

Cobber (by Shane)

Best Friend (by Percy and Hiro)

Thomas of Sodor (by himself and Duchess)

Gallant Thomas (by Elizabeth II)

Big Thomas (by Little Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt)

Mr. Number One Engine (by Professor Friedrich)

Big Blue Tank Engine Thomas (by Nia)

Lazy Wheels (by Percy)

Grumpy Monkey (by James)

Silly Monkey Thomas (by Gordon)

Cheeky Monkey Thomas (by Himself)

## Technical Details

### Owner

Sir Topham Hatt

**Thomas** is a little blue tank engine and the leader of the steam team who works on the North Western Railway, and is number 1 Engine, Thomas has always risked his life to help his friends over the years and "he’s always there whenever you need a hand". When he first came to the Island of Sodor, Thomas worked as the station pilot at the big station. After helping to rescue James after a nasty accident, he was rewarded with two new coaches, Annie and Clarabel, and was tasked with running the Ffarquhar Branch Line. Aside from branch line work, Thomas performs several jobs on the railway, namely pulling passenger and goods trains. He also occasionally works as a shunter, performs odd jobs and pulls the post train with his best friend Percy.

## Biography

Before coming to Sodor, Thomas lived at Brighton, where he worked alongside several other engines. He was brought to the North Western Railway when the Fat Controller was in need of a new tank engine to shunt trains at Knapford and was formerly painted teal-green before receiving his blue livery.

Thomas was cheeky at first and enjoyed teasing Gordon by waking him up while he was resting at Knapford. Gordon managed to get back at Thomas by leaving the station too quickly before he could be uncoupled and though Thomas learned his lesson about teasing Gordon, he wanted to see more of the world and go beyond the yard at Knapford station. He was given the chance to pull his first passenger train when Henry became ill but left the station too early when he mistook the guard's whistle for Edward's train for his own, leaving behind his coaches and passengers. Thomas was stopped by a signalman and he went back to the station to fetch his train.

Thomas was teased relentlessly about this mistake by Gordon and James, though Edward felt sorry for him and offered to let Thomas take his goods train while he took care of his shunting duties in the yard. Thomas could hardly contain his excitement and was too excited to listen to Edward's warning about the trucks, believing that he could handle them easily. However, as he reached the top of Gordon's Hill, the trucks began pushing Thomas down the line, causing him to run out of control and nearly crashed until he stopped in a siding.

Upon noticing that Henry had not come out of the sheds to pull his train during a rainy day, Thomas raced back to Tidmouth Shedsand managed to convince a paranoid Henry that the rain would not hurt him, finally helping him get over his fear of the rain. Thomas continued to work in the yard and over time, he became more skilled at shunting. While taking a break in the yard one day, Thomas saw James being pushed by his trucks unable to stop due to his burning brake blocks. Thomas bravely chased after James abandoning his punishment and tried to stop him, but unfortunately, James derailed and landed in a field. Thomas rushed back to Knapford and retrieved Judy and Jerome, who helped him, re-rail James. As a reward for his heroic actions, Thomas was rewarded with his own branch line and two coaches of his own, Annie and Clarabel. From that point on, Thomas began proudly and happily working on his very own branch line.

## Personality

Thomas is described as being a cheeky engine. He often gets into scrapes, usually by being over-eager to do things best left to bigger and more sensible engines. But clouds never last long in Thomas' life and he is soon bustling about again, playing his part in the yard and on his very own branch line, of which he is extremely proud.

He loves teasing the others, especially the bigger engines, such as Gordon and on occasion brags about his superiority, but is always brought down to earth in due course by anyone willing to correct him, especially the Fat Controller and his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel. If Thomas has one major character flaw, it is that he is forgetful and rather impatient. However, he is also cheerful, optimistic, idealistic, altruistic, kind-hearted, supportive and helpful.

A friend to all engines and a popular member of the Fat Controller's railway, Thomas is No.1 and does his best every day to live up to that through helping his friends and those that he cares about. He lives to be a Really Useful Engine and encourages everyone else to do the same. He likes to be better than James and Bertie in races. He can, however, also get annoyed about being useful such as the time when Rosie followed him around because she idolized him so much.

Because of his popularity amongst his fellow engines and the people of the railway, Thomas often likes to view himself as a leader to the other engines. He is quick to take action when necessary and - despite the dangers or fears he might experience - has a strong sense of bravery and will never leave any of his friends behind, even despite any previous conflicts. Because of this, the other engines often follow in his tracks. However, he can feel jealous or threatened if he feels a newer tank engine is trying to replace him, as shown with Stanley and Ryan. But in the end, Thomas is always willing to make amends with those whom he previously distrusted, proving his leadership.

Thomas is infamous to the other engines for his dislike of wearing a snowplough, often claiming his to be heavy and uncomfortable. On numerous occasions, he has shown he has no problems with doing anything to avoid wearing one, from banging it around to leaving it in disrepair and leaving it on a siding by claiming it didn't fit properly. He does always get his comeuppance for these deeds, however, and knows that having a snowplough is important in bad snowy weather. He tolerates wearing a plough much better in the present day, but Thomas will still groan about it if given the chance, particularly when other engines make fun of him for this.

While most of the other engines and especially Annie and Clarabel tolerate his slight ego to a bare minimum, Thomas has often found himself going too far, driving away even close friends such as Percy, Toby, and even Edward. When these occasions happen, Thomas is very good at luring back friends when motivated, often pulling through his personal distastes to help others out and rekindle friendships.

Despite all this, he does have his pride and will sometimes take wrong advice at the wrong time - such as from Sailor John or Ace, as well as refusing help even when he needs it. Thomas also highly despises the smell of fish, and as such, when he once had the job of delivering fish, he wanted to finish quickly to avoid the smell, and ignored instructions, causing confusion and delay doing so. His dislike of fish is most prominent in the model series made by HiT Entertainment, and less prominent in the model series made by Gullane Entertainment and the CGI Series.

In other cases, Thomas can be highly curious and positive, with slight hints of scepticism, stubbornness, and forgetfulness, including tendencies to daydream. He is also however depicted with a subtle tone of wisdom, helping engines like Alfred, Splatter, Dodge, Sonny, Rajiv be really useful, despite their difficulties or insecurities in the past. Thomas also has a high perspective on odd objects or people, quickly growing suspicious upon seeing the tiger hunters' hidden cage, Diesel 10's plans to take over the railway of steam engines with his fellow diesels and Baz and Bernie's whispering. Backing up his perception is a very high sense of creativity, allowing him to quickly adapt to a tricky situation.

## Technical Details

### Basis

Thomas is based on the LB&SCR Class E2 0-6-0T, particularly the second batch of locomotives built with extended side-tanks. These engines were built by Brighton Works between 1913-1916 to replace the ageing Stroudley E1 class and were primarily used for heavy shunting and short-distance goods trains in the London area and on the south coast. During their final working years, the E2 class worked as shunting engines at Southampton Docks alongside the USATC S100 Tank Engines (Rosie's basis), until they were replaced by the BR Class 07 diesel shunters (Salty's basis). All of the E2s were scrapped, with none surviving into preservation.

### Livery

Thomas is painted in NWR sky blue with red lining. His number is painted on the sides of his tanks in yellow with red lining and the lining around his cab windows is yellow. He was originally painted teal-green with white lining. He had the initials "LBSC" and the number 70 painted on the sides of his tanks and cab respectively in yellow with red lining and his wheel rims were painted white.

## Appearances

**Alsop Productions**

Season 1:Thomas and the Sodor Race, Toby's Mega Day, Edward and the Harvest, Percy and the Colourful Cave, 3 new jobs for Tom the New Engine, Lightning in the Sky, Gordon Knows Best, Henry The Star, Sumzy, Boats, Sheds and Trees (cameo), Slow Down James, Toby And The Stinky Load, Thomas' Percy And The Flour, Percy And The Brake Van, Gordon's Cork Tree, Thomas' Top Team & Emily And The Beast.

Season 2:

**TV Series**

* Thomas and Gordon

**Railway Series**

* Thomas the Tank Engine

## Trivia

* In The Great Wedding Caper with flashbacks of Thomas in his old green livery model, the trackmaster version of his old livery is used.

* Thomas is one out of two characters to have always be voiced by Daniel Alsop since Season 1 with the other being James.
* Thomas has currently had 58 episodes in the series which makes him the only character to have the most episodes in the series.
* He is also the main protagoinst in the most specials being Sodor's National Championship, Sodor's Finest Engines and one of the main protagonists in The Case of the Missing Engines with the other being Percy.
* This makes him one of the only standard gauge engines to be the main protagonist in a special. The others being Percy and James. The former had The Case of the Missing Engines and the latter had The Narrow Gauge Mission.
* As the titled protagonist, Thomas has had the most appearances in the series.

## Quotes

*Cinders and ashes!”*
―Thomas' catchphrase
*“Hello! I'm Thomas and I'm the number one blue engine! I work on Sir Topham Hatt's/The Fat Controller's railway and everyday I make sure I'm a really useful engine!”*
―Thomas' website audio
*“Hello, everyone! Today, I learned a very important lesson about...”*
―Thomas' intro for *Learn with Thomas*
*“All aboard for a big adventure!”*
―Thomas' intro for the Series 22 episodes
*“Well, who else were you expecting?”*
―Thomas and the Magic Railroad trailers

Whistles
 S4
 TATMR