Rosie

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* II
* I

> *“Rosie is a lively little tank engine. She's very quick. She also likes to be very busy. Any job is a good job for Rosie.”* ―The Narrator describing Rosie
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**Rosie** is a lively little tank engine who idolises Thomas, which sometimes bothers him. She works as both a shunting engine and a mixed-traffic engine. She used to work mainly at the Knapford Shunting Yards, but is now based at Vicarstown.

## History

### Thomas & Friends

Rosie began idolising Thomas to the point of hero-worship and imitation. Though this is said to be the most sincere form of flattery, it only served to irritate Thomas whilst he was trying to deliver a special birthday post train to Alice at High Farm. He even started to try and avoid her, but after Thomas had an accident in the course of delivering this train, Rosie helped him they became best friends.

Rosie was later called to help Thomas shunt trucks until Hector frightened her away.

Rosie was charged with acting as a back-engine to Emily with the funfair special. Wanting to take the train herself and thinking she was doing Emily a favour, Rosie succeeded only in creating confusion and delay on a grand scale, but eventually set things right.

Rosie rescued Thomas when his fire went out after playing a game of "Splish, Splash, Splosh".  She later let Diesel take her train of flowers which was headed for market.

One day Rosie had a cracked wheel, so Thomas and Butch brought her a new one.

On Sodor Surprise Day, Thomas bumped some coal trucks to surprise Gordon, but ended up surprising her instead. She was later cleaned up with Whiff at the washdown and joined Gordon and Thomas at Callan Castle to see Harold decked out in bright lights to make Gordon laugh.

Sometime after she was repainted into her red livery, James challenged her to a race. When Rosie realised that there was something wrong with James' brakes, she warned him to go to the Steamworks to have them checked before they got worse. James did not follow her advice and as a result, when he sped down Gordon's Hill, his brakes would not work and he went on a runaway until he crashed into the wall at the end of Tidmouth Sheds.

Soon after, James went to Vicarstown Goods Yard, looking for Henry's train to take to the Mainland. Rosie told him that she knew they were important and that was why Thomas came to take them earlier.

During Valentine's Day, Diesel bumped her just as Cranky was loading her flatbed with a crate of roses, which ended up crashing on the tracks. Bill and Ben later saw Thomas telling off Diesel, causing the twins to think they were attracted to each other, much to their embarrassment. A bit of teasing and a meet-up with Thomas at the washdown caused her to avoid him for fear of humiliation and she was not exactly pleased to know that she was heading to the same place he was. After a brief conversation with Edward, she rushed off so fast that she took the shunter's pole with her before it was moved out of the way. Thomas and Rosie ended up front to front at Vicarstown, where they made up for recent events and found that their specials were for Lady Hatt's Valentine's Day surprise.

Rosie later heard from Paxton that there was due to be a railway show for little engines at Ulfstead Castle and passed on the news to Thomas to attend. Though she was not physically seen at the show, she did abandon her duties at Vicarstown to attend, leaving Henry to shunt his own train and causing him to be late.

Rosie warmly greeted Sonny when he first arrived on the Island of Sodor, however his cold demeanour left her feeling upset.

### Lukeillie's Series

Rosie became painted red after she was losing her pink paint and there wasn't any pink paint at the Steamworks. Not only that, but she had her makeup removed and "grew up".

## Personality

Rosie is a friendly, respectful, clever and helpful tank engine with a good sense of humour. She idolizes Thomas very much. She and Thomas like to have fun and also like to help each other when they are working. She also enjoys racing just as much as she loves to be really useful, and is very eager to prove her worth, as evidenced by her wanting to help Thomas deliver Alice's birthday presents, or even attempting to pull a special train on her own. Rosie can be described as a feisty, energetic and free-spirited tomboy who is not afraid to do hard work.

With the passage of time, Rosie became more focused and mature, serving as a voice of reason to James' arrogance. She also stands no nonsense for teasing or rudeness, and although she still has her tomboyish personality, she still does have a good sense of humour, and she still likes a friendly joke.

Rosie still manages a healthy relationship with Thomas, despite some incidents that unintentionally go wrong. In *Thomas Sets Sail*, when the sail of the boat can’t go under the bridge, Rosie gets worried. In *Thomas and the Runaway Car*, when Thomas unintentionally pushed Sir Topham Hatt's Car down Gordon's Hill, Rosie just left the washdown when the car passed by and covered her with mud which made her annoyed. In *Rosie is Red*, Thomas pretends not to remember sticking up for Rosie because he does not want to be teased. This ends up embarrassing Rosie and is one of the only times where she is embarrassed.

## Livery

From her debut up until *The Great Race*, Rosie was painted lavender with light grey tank panels, red lining and gold boiler bands. Her wheels were red with light grey rims.

Starting from the twenty-first series onwards, Rosie is painted in the North Western Railway's livery of cherry red with dark raspberry tank panels, gold boiler bands and light grey lining. The area above her wheels and around her ladder are painted gold. Rosie has her company's initials (NWR) painted on her tank panels in light grey with a gold shadow, along with her number 37 also in light grey with gold shadow under her side cab windows. She still retains her original red buffer beams and wheels with light grey rims, however.

The font style of Rosie's NWR initials and number 37 is the same font that is used on fellow SR USA Class, Vulcan 4446, now No. 30072 of Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

## Appearances

* Season 1 - Gordon the Tanker (*cameo*), Ask Cranky Day (*cameo*), Hector Takes Charge (*cameo*), and Diesel and the Duck Engine (*cameo*)
* Season 2 - Double Crane Trouble (*cameo*), Red for Rosie, and New Glasses for Whiff
* Specials - Attack of the Philips

## Trivia

* Rosie is the first engine of several things:
	+ The first engine of an American class introduced in the television series and the second such engine (after Stanley) introduced in the franchise overall.
	+ The first engine in the television series to have their debut livery changed permanently and the second character in the television series overall, the first being S.C. Ruffey.
	+ The first engine in the television series to receive a number who did not already have one, the second being Emily.
	+ The first engine in the television series to be lettered for the North Western Railway. She is the second in the franchise overall after Emma.
* Rosie is the fourth female steam engine introduced in the television series and the sixth female engine in the television series overall.
* A magazine fact file states that she works on Thomas' Branch Line, although she has never been seen doing so in the television series.
* Rosie, along with Rocky, are the only characters introduced in the tenth series to be in CGI.
* Most merchandise lines depicted Rosie without the lip gloss and blush that she had worn prior to the twenty-first series.
* Since her debut, Rosie has appeared in every series and special except *The Adventure Begins*, which was set before she arrived on the railway and the twentieth series, possibly due to her model being reworked for the twenty-first series and *Journey Beyond Sodor*.
* In the twenty-first series, Rosie was given the number **37**, this is a reference to her being the **thirty-seventh** standard gauge engine to be introduced in the television series.
* Due to loads of fan mail asking for more Rosie, she was overhauled taking four months. The production team decided to completely rebuild her from scratch.
* According to Sodor Island Fansite (SiF), Rosie was intended to have at least one other episode in the twenty-first series. This episode, along with seven others, were cancelled to make way for production of the twenty-second series.
* According to another tweet from SiF, other liveries considered for Rosie when she was updated for the twenty-first series, including blue and green. However, these were eventually rejected in favour of the red livery.
* The My First Thomas & Friends' Railway Pals variant of Rosie was the first piece of merchandise to introduce her in her new red livery.
* Since her recolour, most merchandise ranges depict Rosie's wheels and buffer beams as being cherry red, although in the show, they still retain their original light red colour.
* Rosie is one of the three engines in the franchise to have the initials NWR painted on her. The others are Emma and Rebecca.
* In real life, Rosie and Thomas' basis worked at dockyards on the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway until they were replaced by Salty's class.
* Unlike many other characters, Rosie was not outright stated as being a new engine.