Hiro

**Hiro** is an old and wise Japanese tender engine, who is famously known as the "**Master of the Railway**".

## Biography

Hiro once lived on an unnamed railway in Japan. He was the strongest engine on his railway and was famously known as the "Master of the Railway". He was eventually brought to Sodor as the island's first and oldest engine, where he worked for many years. However, he began to show his age and break down and the workmen did not have the necessary parts to repair him. To escape being scrapped, he was put on a siding, where he had to wait for the parts to come from his homeland. However, the parts never came and Hiro was all but forgotten.

Thomas eventually found him and fearing Hiro would be scrapped if he was not Really Useful, promised to bring him back to his former glory while keeping him a secret from Sir Charles Topham Hatt. Thomas also had the rest of the Steam Team help in the restoration and Hiro quickly gained their friendship. After breaking down again while trying to avoid Spencer, Hiro was hidden away in another siding, where the engines visited him and kept him company.

When Sir Charles Topham Hatt found out about the situation, Hiro was brought to the Sodor Steamworks, where Victor oversaw his restoration. Once Hiro was restored, he helped Spencer after his accident and worked with him and Thomas to finish The Duke and Duchess of Boxford's summer house. Despite everything, Hiro had grown homesick, so the Fat Controller arranged for him to be sent back to his homeland.

## Personality

Hiro is an old steam engine who has been on Sodor for a very long time and was originally known as the "Master of the Railway". He is grand, masterful, mature, wise, very dignified, enormously kind and is able to find good in any engine he meets. He has an appreciation for serenity and order and often thinks fondly of his homeland, far away, where he was once one of the strongest engines. Hiro fell victim to neglect when waiting upon parts to arrive for him from his home country, when he began to break down and became lost. He was eventually rediscovered by Thomas, who, despite some problems in worrying about sharing the discovery of Hiro with the Fat Controller, helped Hiro to be fully restored to his former glory. Hiro continues to be gentle, wise and graceful, as well as a useful engine on the railway and a good friend to the other engines, especially Thomas. He does not appear to hold a grudge; in his first appearance, he helped Spencer after an accident, despite Spencer previously trying to send Hiro to the smelter's yard.

## Technical Details

### Basis

Hiro is based on a Japanese National Railways (JNR) Class D51 2-8-2 "Mikado" built by Kawasaki and popularly known as the "Degoich" in Japan. Mikado means the emperor of Japan. These were primarily used as goods locomotives and were an adaptation of the earlier Class D50. 1,115 class D51 locomotives were built between 1936-1951, becoming Japan's most mass-produced steam locomotive. During World War II, they were used to supply weapons and vehicles for the Japanese Imperial Army. In addition to Japan, members of this class have been built for export to South Korea, Taiwan and the USSR, totalling 1,184 locomotives. Hiro is standard gauge, while most D51s were built for 3'6" gauge 1,435mm (cape gauge 1,067mm), though the two examples of his class exported to South Korea (KNR Class Mika7) were built to standard gauge. Over 170 of these engines are preserved throughout Japan, two of which are in working order, while four are preserved in Taiwan (Taiwan Railways DT650) and eleven in Russia (Soviet Railways D51). Unlike the D51s in Japan, Taiwan and Russia, the D51s in South Korea have no smoke deflectors.

Though Hiro's number is a reference to his basis' name, there was a D51 with the number 51. However, unlike Hiro, the real engine was an earlier build of the D51 class, with its dome flush with its funnel. It was preserved at Torokko Saga Station in Kyoto, Japan until February 2020, when it was scrapped due to issues that arose from it being stored outside. Hiro also has a buffer-beam fitted on his front and on the back of his tender. His livery is based on the Soviet Railways D51.

### Livery

Hiro is painted black with gold lining, boiler bands and fittings and red wheels. The number "51" is painted on the sides of his tender in white and he has gold nameplates, with his name in black on the sides of his smoke deflectors.

His "patchwork" colour scheme consists of a blue boiler with gold lining, a green feed-water heater, a green left smoke deflector, a purple right smoke deflector, a brown dome, green pistons and rusty-red coloured wheels except for the right rear driving wheel which was blue. Two more parts, the part between his lamp and funnel and the part under his face, were also green.

## Appearances

### Season 5

* Stationmaster Cat (*cameo*)
* Daisy and the Sick Passenger (*cameo*)
* Goodbye Percy (*cameo*)
* Who's The Favourite? (*cameo*)
* The Legacy Of Glynn The Coffee Pot Engine (*cameo*)

### Season 6

* The Last Mail Run (*cameo*)
* Whistle Trouble (5th Anniversary Episode) (*cameo*)
* Pip and the Trucks (*cameo*)
* The Box-cab and the Pacific (*cameo*)
* A Christmas Gift for Percy (*cameo*)

### Season 7

* Inadequate Replica (*cameo*)
* Troublesome Tourists (*cameo*)
* Thomas and Percy's Field Trip (*cameo*)
* Bill and Ben's Christmas Rescue (*cameo*)

### Season 8

* Triple Banker (*does not speak*)
* Revenge Isn't Sweet (*cameo*)
* Typical Engines (*cameo*)

### Season 10

* Geoffrey the Temperamental Engine (*does not speak*)
* Really Useless Coach (*cameo*)
* No Rails for Winston (*cameo*)
* Pardon My French (*cameo*)
* Seasons E-Greetings? (*cameo*)