Derek

**Derek** (formerly known as Paxman) is a diesel who is known for his initial "teething" troubles.

## Appearance

Derek is painted in the BR Brunswick green livery. He has yellow warning panels on his front and back end. He has oval buffers, white lining on his window frames and and he has the BR Ferret and Dartboard crest on his sides.

## Personality

Derek is a jolly, enthusiastic diesel engine, who was brought in to assist Bill, Ben, and BoCo at the China Clay quarry. Unfortunately, due to his engine, he is highly prone to teething troubles, namely overheating and suffering frequent breakdowns, for which he is apologetic for the inconvenience.

As a result, he spends many a day having his engine tended to. Which is unfortunate since he really wants to work hard. But Derek is a likeable chap and even Bill and Ben decided that they liked him due to his friendly nature. Derek has an infectious charisma, is keen to help anyone around him, and has a passion for sorting things out in a jiffy - if his cooling system lets him.

## Trivia

* According to Sharon Miller, she wrote Derek into a Series 16 episode with a non-speaking role. Bust My Buffers! was the episode in which this was to happen, but it never materialised due to "Paxman" in the script being mistaken for "Paxton" when it came time for the episode to be animated.
* Starting from *Day of the Diesels*, Derek's horn sound was reused for Salty. Before this, Derek's horn sound was also reused for the foghorn in the sixth series episode, The Fogman and Mavis in the same series' episode, Buffer Bother. It was mistakenly used for Diesel 10 in some merchandise and some games. It was also mistakenly used for Diesel in Fun Cubes.
* Due to Derek's horn being a stock truck horn sound effect, it has been used in many other forms of media.
* Derek was the first non-Awdry standard gauge engine to be introduced into the television series.
* Derek was not named in any of his appearances as in his debut episode, Double Teething Troubles: he was only referred to as **the new Diesel**, or simply **Diesel** and in the music video Trying, the lyrics say "Who's that straining up the hill?" rather than Derek's usual name. This makes him the first character to only be named in merchandise ranges.
* Derek's engine sound is shared with Rusty, Mavis, BoCo (but one scene in Double Teething Troubles) and 'Arry and Bert from the fourth and fifth series. Diesel would later reuse it in one scene in Calling All Engines! (maybe).
* Originally, Derek was going to be named **Paxman**, but it was changed for fear it would offend the Paxman brand of diesels, or refer to celebrity Jeremy Paxman.
* The BR crest on Derek's Ertl toy reads "Thomas Tank" instead of "British Railways".
* In his Wooden Railway prototype, Derek is seen with a greyish engine, unlike the black one presented in his final toy. His 2007 reissue sports the correct yellow engine.
* Derek's Ertl prototype shows him with a darker and different face and a darker colour scheme. His second Ertl promotional artwork incorrectly depicts him with steam engine type wheels, a darker colour scheme, a grey undercarriage, square buffers and with no red buffer beam.
* According to his 2001 Wooden Railway Character Card, Derek was formerly known as Paxman.

## Quotes

* **Oh, my grease and oil. I wasn't expecting this hill.**
* **Sorry, I'm all hot and bothered. Got teething troubles, you know?**
* **Hello. I'll soon sort this train out. You take the front, and I'll push from behind. What fun.**