Mike

* CGI
* RWS

**Mike** is a red miniature tender engine who works on the Arlesdale Railway. He is known for his fiery temper and for preferring goods trains over passenger trains.

## Biography

### *The Railway Series*

Before coming to Sodor, Mike used to work on an unnamed miniature gauge railway in England with Rex and Bert, until their line closed down. The Fat Controller brought the three to Sodor, where they began working on the Arlesdale Railway.

Not long after his arrival, Mike began mocking Duck when his whistle was making unusual noises, until Rex told him to lose his own whistle. On his way back to the terminus, Mike had to stop when a stray cow strayed onto the line, and whistled so loudly that his whistle cap shot off and landed in a field. As they did not have the time to go and find his whistle, Mike's driver and passengers whistled for him. As there were no more spare whistles, Mike was ordered to work in the quarries for the rest of the day. (*RWS; Small Railway Engines*)

Not too long after Jock had been built, Mike became tired of his cockiness and decided to pay him out. While they were double-heading a passenger train, Mike reduced steam at the Green, forcing Jock to pull him and the train by himself. Unfortunately for him, Mike's plan failed when his injector failed, and Jock had to pull him and the train back to the terminus. After he was mended, Mike apologized to Jock, and the two made up. (*RWS; Jock the New Engine*)

### *Television Series*

During the construction of the Harwick Branch Line, Mike, along with Rex and Bert, were put in charge of bringing ballast trains down to Arlesburgh Junction for the standard gauge engines to take to the construction site. When Marion met the small engines for the first time, Mike was much less kind to her than the other two when she believed that the small engines were magical. When Thomas was feeling depressed, Mike and the other two engines sang "Never Overlook a Little Engine" to cheer him up, but this only re-aroused his overconfidence.

Later that evening, Mike was shunting a train of ballast trucks onto the chute, when he noticed that Marion was returning to the junction. Bert and Rex both managed to escape, but Mike was trapped on the chute when Marion stopped him with her shovel. Believing that he was a magic, wish-giving engine, Marion held Mike in place and made her wish, until he managed to break free and escaped. However, this only fueled her belief that the small engines were magical.

Two nights later, as Sailor John was passing through the junction with the pirate ship, Mike and the other two small engines shoved a train of ballast hoppers onto the line, slowing down the ship. As Thomas raced through the junction, the three engines encouraged him to keep chasing Sailor John. (*TVS; Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure*)

## Technical Details

### Basis

Mike is based on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway's "River Mite", a 2-8-2 tender engine built in 1967 that was built for the railway. River Mite is still in service on the railway to this day.

### Livery

Mike is painted in the North Western Railway's red livery with blue lining. His dome and builder plates are both gold, and he carries two red nameplates with gold lettering on each side of his boiler. The outlining of his cab windows is yellow, and he has "Arlesdale" written on the sides of his tender in yellow lettering with blue outlining. Both his footplate and wheels were originally painted black in the Railway Series, but when he was introduced to the television series, his footplate became light grey and his wheels were painted red. He also received a permanent headlamp mounted on top of his smokebox.