James

up-down (red, Adventure Squad, original)

**James** is **Galaxy Rider 2** of Adventure Squad and a friend of Thomas's on Sodor.

## Biography

As a member of Adventure Squad, Thomas had recruited some Sodor engines as part of the machine division to keep the world safe from Demon X: a danger to all dimensions and galaxies formed by all the dark emotions from pretty much everywhere. Due to a clever attack strategy, Demon X wiped out more than HALF of the Leonold machine division, in cluding the parents of Thomas, Tim, and Danielle (the latter 2 being Thomas' siblings in the family's machine division). Because of his dead reletives realising the truth about Thomas, he was constantly told to make the guardion of nature mechs to match their desired specifications, the reason being that the previous users want their mechs to match their chosen successor (an example being when he was nagged by the previous user of galaxy rider 3 while preparing said mech for Emily). James was given Galaxy Rider 2.

## Personality

In the original series, James is very proud of his splendid red paintwork. He dislikes pulling trucks and believes that he should only pull coaches. He thinks himself superior to the others and can be shallow, boastful, overconfident, naughty and vain, particularly to those who appear old-fashioned, weak, slow or dirty. This has caused him to have somewhat of a rivalry with Edward, Percy, Toby and Duck. He has acted like this, even before he was repainted red. However, on a number of occasions, he has found himself in need of help from those whom he has insulted and is, in the end, apologetic.

James was the last of the steam engines to retain a prejudice against diesels. However, after stalling on a cold day, he was rescued by the Works Diesel and had to admit that nothing was wrong with diesels. This appears to be one of the few lessons that has stuck.

James has also been portrayed as a prankster, often tricking or scaring the other engines for fun or to get out of jobs he dislikes doing. However, following a particularly mean-spirited prank he played on Percy in Tale of the Brave, this gimmick seems to have died down.

Despite all of that, James has shown a caring side to him. He has a heart of gold, is normally hard-working and like everyone else, wants to be responsible, reliable and really useful on Sir Topham Hatt's railway.

In Adventure Squad, James is less arrogant and more hard working, and more willing to do jobs he doesn't like. He also gains a love of getting dirty after playing in the mud. This went to such an extent that he outright refused a washdown, a complete opposite to his original persona. Thomas also admitted that he'd never thought he'd see the day it happened, and after being convinced to get washed, James later gained a balance between dirty and clean.

## Appearance

### Engine

James is based on the L&YR Class 28, a class of 0-6-0 mixed-traffic tender locomotive designed by George Hughes for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and built by Horwich Works between 1909 and 1912. It was a rebuild of Aspinall's Class 27, with the addition of a Belpaire firebox, a Schmidt/"twin-plug" superheater and the extension of the footplate and front sandboxes.

According to The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, James is an experimental member of the Class 28s; he is fitted with a front pony truck (thus making him a 2-6-0 instead of an 0-6-0), 5'6" driving wheels instead of the class' original 5'1" ones and a Fowler tender. His front sandboxes also appear to be mounted underneath his footplate rather than joined to his leading splashers.

The Rev. W. Awdry's original model of James was modified from that of a G&SWR 403 Class 2-6-0, and materials related to Awdry's model layout indicates this was originally considered to be James' prototype.[12]

One of the red tender engines is also based on this design.

James is painted in NWR red with black lining and gold boiler bands. His dome is brass and his number is painted on the sides of his tender in yellow with black lining. In the Railway Series, James' black lining became blue after Main Line Engines. His roof colour was also inconsistently illustrated as either black or red; since Clive Spong became illustrator, James has been consistently illustrated with a red cab roof. Eventually after a tuneup session, he gains red wheels.

James has also been seen in several other liveries aside from his red one:

* In the Railway Series, James would have originally been painted in L&YR passenger black, but any white has never been depicted making his appearance akin to their goods livery instead. In the television series, James was originally depicted as having always been red, even when he was a new engine, (except for his appearance in his black livery in The Adventure Begins. He also had red lining on the back of his tender, which was removed after his repaint).
* In The Green Controller, James was mistakenly painted in yellow and black stripes on Percy's orders. He was quickly repainted back into his original livery when the problem was noticed.
* In Tickled Pink, James was painted in a pink undercoat before his standard red coat could be applied. Although he was said to be in an undercoat, James still retained his lining, number and black wheels and smokebox.
* In The Great Race, James was painted in golden floral patterns for the Great Railway Show. He was repainted back into his original livery when he returned to Sodor.
* In An Engine of Many Colours, after hearing Kevin mention the Steamworks did not have any red paint, James dreamed he was painted in many different colours including blue, green and silver. But by the end of the episode, he was repainted in his normal red livery.

James wears a communicator in Universal Rides. It has white rods and black speaker bits, and the base and the antennae tip is red.

Adventure Squad has James's safety valve, whistle and dome in white, while the rest of his lining is burgundy red. His wheels are now red, and his tender now bears the number 2.

### Mech

Galaxy Rider 2 is a red hovering material transport with a warrior mode bearing large discharge chutes instead of hands, gaining them by projecting water from the chutes, which can also work as vaccuums.

Galaxy Rider 2Galaxy Rider 2 (warrior mode)
## Behind the scenes

James was voiced by Keith Wickham in the UK, but Kerry Shale takes the role in the US, and eventually, in both dubs by Rob Rackstraw. Susan Roman handled his Magic Railroad voice.

His fan series voice was done by Alexander Polinsky.

## Notes

* James is one of the few characters to be complete different from the original in terms of behavior.