- "This article is for the character. For the show, see here."
Thomas is a blue tank engine who works on the North Western Railway. He worked as the station pilot at the big station, while having greater ambitions. After helping to rescue James from a nasty accident, Thomas was rewarded with two new coaches, Annie and Clarabel, and was tasked with running the Ffarquhar Branch Line, where he works to this day. Aside from branch line work, Thomas performs several jobs on the railway not restricted to Ffarquhar, namely pulling passenger and goods trains and the occasional shunting and odd jobs around Sodor, including small errands. Thomas also pulls the post train alongside Percy when multiple engines are required, and he sometimes travels to railways in foreign countries.
Biography
Before coming to Sodor, Thomas lived at Brighton, where he worked alongside several other engines. He was brought to the North Western Railway when Sir Topham Hatt was in need of a new tank engine to shunt trains at Knapford and was formerly painted teal-green before receiving his blue livery.
Thomas was cheeky at first and enjoyed teasing Gordon by waking him up while he was resting at Knapford. Gordon managed to get back at Thomas by leaving the station too quickly before he could be uncoupled and though Thomas learned his lesson about teasing Gordon, he wanted to see more of the world and go beyond the yard at Knapford station. He was given the chance to pull his first passenger train when Henry became ill but left the station too early when he mistook the guard's whistle for Edward's train for his own, leaving behind his coaches and passengers. Thomas was stopped by a signalman and he went back to the station to fetch his train.
Thomas was teased relentlessly about this mistake by Gordon and James, though Edward felt sorry for him and offered to let Thomas take his goods train while he took care of his shunting duties in the yard. Thomas could hardly contain his excitement and was too excited to listen to Edward's warning about the trucks, believing that he could handle them easily. However, as he reached the top of Gordon's Hill, the trucks began pushing Thomas down the line, causing him to run out of control and nearly crashed until he stopped in a siding.
Upon noticing that Henry had not come out of the sheds to pull his train during a rainy day, Thomas raced back to Tidmouth Sheds and managed to convince a paranoid Henry that the rain would not hurt him, finally helping him get over his fear of the rain. Thomas continued to work in the yard and over time, he became more skilled at shunting. While taking a break in the yard one day, Thomas saw James being pushed by his trucks unable to stop due to his burning brake blocks. Thomas bravely chased after James abandoning his punishment and tried to stop him, but unfortunately, James derailed and landed in a field. Thomas rushed back to Knapford and retrieved Judy and Jerome, who helped him, re-rail James. As a reward for his heroic actions, Thomas was rewarded with his own branch line and two coaches of his own, Annie and Clarabel. From that point on, Thomas began proudly and happily working on his very own branch line.
Thomas and the Magic Railroad
Thomas was pulling his coaches to Killaban, but he was late due to repairs on the Main Line Loop. When he arrived to connect his passengers with Gordon's train, the latter scolded him for being late and tells him that engines are really reliable and right on time. After talking about Mr. Conductor coming to be in charge of Sodor while Sir Topham Hatt is on a holiday, Diesel 10 rushed by, spreading dust all over the two engines. Thomas reminds Gordon about Diesel 10, who has used to be on Sodor.
Later at Tidmouth Sheds, Thomas accidentally bumps into some buffers; James warns him about it and Thomas reminds him that buffers are for stopping engines from crashing and getting into accidents. After Diesel 10 arrives and announces his plan to destroy a lost engine and replace Sodor's steam engines with new diesels taking over, Thomas is confident that diesel engines will not take over as long as Mr. Conductor is around and heads off to find him, leaving James confused.
On his branch line, Thomas met Mr. Conductor, who is concerned about his journey from Shining Time keeps getting bumpy. Thomas comforts him and tells him all about Diesel 10's arrival. After arriving at Knapford, Thomas shunted some Troublesome Trucks at Tidmouth Sheds, talking to James and Gordon, who boast that Thomas is too small to collect Mr. Conductor. After hearing the other engines conversation about Lady, Thomas is confident that little engines like him, can find her. Harold accidentally spreads Sneezing Powder all over Thomas, Splatter and Dodge, dumped by Diesel 10. Thomas is sure that Diesel 10 is still causing trouble.
At the sheds, Thomas and the other engines are soon asleep with Mr. Conductor, until Diesel 10 attacks the sheds and demands the lost engine's whereabouts. Mr. Conductor threatens Diesel 10 with a bag of sugar, seizing him up if pouring it in his fuel tanks.
Meanwhile, after Thomas was with the other engines gather for the meeting about their individual concerns about Diesel 10 destroying Lady and he set off to find Mr. Conductor, then Bertie offers a race with him, but Thomas apologises to him when he is unable to accept Bertie's offer for a race and decides to help Mr. Conductor solve some mysteries.
That night as Percy arrived at Knapford with the Mail Train, Thomas and Percy talk about how Mr. Conductor travels to Sodor on a magic railroad by a set of magic buffers as Diesel 10 overhears them. Then, Toby told them to carry on taking the Mail Train while Toby followed him to the Smelter's Yard and distracted Diesel 10, Splatter and Dodge.
Throughout the film, Thomas spends all his time, making sure he is really useful. Thomas works very hard, taking passengers on his branch line and the Main Line Loop, as well as trying to find and help Mr. Conductor find the source of his gold dust, in order to keep the two worlds together.
After a coal truck for Henry disappears through The Magic Buffers, Bertie calls out to Thomas about his missing coal truck, leading Thomas and Percy to realize that the buffers lead to the Magic Railroad and the lost engine. Thomas suggests they should protect the buffers from Diesel 10. Later, Thomas meets Lily and Junior and Thomas told Annie and Clarabel that Percy will pick them up, leaving Annie and Clarabel behind and takes them to the windmill, where Mr. Conductor is looking for the clue. After Junior is flung away with Diesel 10, Mr. Conductor, Lily and Thomas discuss the Lady and Burnett Stone and wonder if he could help them too. After Percy alerts Thomas about Splatter and Dodge finding the magic buffers before Diesel 10 destroys the Magic Railroad, Mr. Conductor advises Thomas to take Lily to her grandfather, through the buffers, because he is really useful and will find a way.
Thomas was reluctant but bravely agrees. The two guided by The Tumbleweed, go through the magic buffers and explore the Magic Railroad. Thomas finds the coal truck and couples up to it as a clue. When the two arrive at Muffle Mountain, Lily runs off to find her grandfather. However, a wind blew very high, knocking Thomas loose, into another portal of The Magic Railroad.
When Lady and the Magic Railroad were restored, Thomas met up with Lady and steamed through the Magic Buffers, meeting Mr. Conductor and Junior at the Sodor Wishing Well, until the two engines are found by Diesel 10, Splatter and Dodge. Thomas and Burnett bravely decide to help Lady. Thomas, Burnett and Lady are chased by Diesel 10, throughout the Kirk Ronan line. Thomas reminds Lady that little engines can do big things before they reach the viaduct. Lady and Thomas bravely make it across, whistling cheerfully as Diesel 10 falls off the viaduct and lands into a barge full of sludge. Thomas and Lady arrive back safely and help out with more of the clues. After the gold dust is restored, Thomas and Lady thank each other and learn the valuable lesson of magic. Thomas happily puffs back home to Tidmouth Sheds to tell Sir Topham Hatt and the other engines all about his magical adventure.
Personality
Thomas is described as being a cheeky engine. He often gets into scrapes, usually by being over-eager to do things best left to bigger and more sensible engines. But clouds never last long in Thomas' life and he is soon bustling about again, playing his part in the yard and on his very own branch line, of which he is extremely proud.
He loves teasing the others, especially the bigger engines, such as Gordon and on occasion brags about his superiority, but is always brought down to earth in due course by anyone willing to correct him, especially the Fat Controller and his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel. If Thomas has one major character flaw, it is that he is forgetful and rather impatient. However, he is also cheerful, optimistic, idealistic, altruistic, kind hearted, supportive and helpful.
A friend to all engines and a popular member of the Fat Controller’s railway, Thomas is No.1 and does his best every day to live up to that through helping his friends and those that he cares about. He lives to be a Really Useful Engine and encourages everyone else to do the same. He likes to be better than James and Bertie in races. He can, however, also get annoyed about being useful such as the time when Rosie followed him around because she idolized and loved him so much.
Because of his popularity among his fellow engines and the people of the railway, Thomas often likes to view himself as a leader to the other engines. He is quick to take action when necessary and, despite the dangers or fears he might experience, has a strong sense of bravery and will never leave any of his friends behind, even despite any previous conflicts. Because of this, the other engines often follow in his tracks. However, he can feel jealous or threatened if he feels a newer tank engine is trying to replace him, as shown with Stanley and Ryan. But in the end, Thomas is always willing to make amends with those whom he previously distrusted, proving his leadership.
Thomas is infamous to the other engines for his dislike of wearing a snowplough, often claiming his to be heavy and uncomfortable. On numerous occasions, he has shown he has no problems with doing anything to avoid wearing one, from banging it around to leaving it in disrepair and leaving it to be buried by snow. He does always get his comeuppance for these deeds, however, and knows that having a snowplough is important in bad snowy weather. He tolerates wearing a plough much better in the present day, but Thomas will still groan about it if given the chance, particularly when other engines make fun of him for this.
While most of the other engines and especially Annie and Clarabel tolerate his slight ego to a bare minimum, Thomas has often found himself going too far, driving away even close friends such as Percy, Toby, and even Edward. When these occasions happen, Thomas is very good at luring back friends when motivated, often pulling through his personal distastes to help others out and rekindle friendships.
Despite all this, he does have his pride and will sometimes take wrong advice at the wrong time - such as from Sailor John or Ace, as well as refusing help even when he needs it. Thomas also highly despises the smell of fish, and as such, when he once had the job of delivering fish, he wanted to finish quickly to avoid the smell, and ignored instructions, causing confusion and delay doing so. His dislike of fish is most prominent in the eighth series to the twelfth series, and less prominent in the first series to the seventh series and thirteenth series to the twenty-fourth series.
In other cases, Thomas can be highly curious and positive, with slight hints of skepticism, stubbornness, and forgetfulness, including tendencies to daydream. He is also however depicted with a subtle tone of wisdom, helping engines like Sonny and Rajiv be really useful, despite their difficulties or insecurities in the past. Thomas also has a high perspective on odd objects or people, quickly growing suspicious upon seeing the tiger hunters' hidden cage, Diesel 10's plans to take over the railway of steam engines with his fellow diesels and Baz and Bernie's whispering. Backing up his perception is a very high sense of creativity, allowing him to quickly adapt to a tricky situation.
Technical Details
Basis
Thomas is based on a London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) Class E2 0-6-0T, particularly the second batch of locomotives built with extended side-tanks. These engines were built by Brighton Works between 1913-1916 to replace the ageing Stroudley LB&SCR E1 class and were primarily used for heavy shunting and short-distance goods trains in the London area and on the south coast. During their final working years, the E2 class worked as shunting engines at Southampton Docks alongside the USATC S100 Tank Engines (Rosie's basis), until they were replaced by the BR Class 07 diesel shunters (Salty's basis). All of the E2s were scrapped, with none surviving into preservation (except for Thomas).
Thomas has several major differences from the original E2 class. He is much shorter in length than his original basis (making his water tanks shorter as well), he has two extra windows on the sides of his cab, he does not have the ladders near his front buffer beam, his bunker is notably longer and he has wheel splashers, something the original E2 class lacked. In the early volumes of the Railway Series and the television series, Thomas' footplate is dipped at the front, but oddly enough is not dipped at the back. In Branch Line Engines, his footplate was levelled out from smokebox to bunker. Reginald Payne also illustrated Thomas without the additional cab side window and also gave him a southern railway-style smokebox saddle and lowered his front bufferbeam. These features were removed when C. Reginald Dalby re-illustrated the book.
The grey tank engine is also based on an LB&SCR Class E2 and has the same modifications as Thomas.
Livery
In The Railway Series, Thomas is shown to be a dark blue color with a number 1 in damp yellow on his side tanks. He has red lining along his tanks and wheel covers. In the earlier stories, he is illustrated to be a bright blue, reminiscent of the TV show.
In the television series, Thomas is painted in NWR bright blue with red and yellow lining. His number 1 is painted on the sides of his tanks in yellow with red lining and the lining around his cab windows is yellow.
In The Adventure Begins, Thomas was formerly painted teal green with white lining. His company's initials, LBSC were painted on the sides of his tank and his number 70 was painted on the sides of his cab, both in yellow with red lining. His wheel rims were painted white. In real life, the E2s were painted in either LB&SCR Goods Black, with at least 3 members of the class confirmed to have been painted in the LB&SCR Umber Livery at some point in their career, Southern Railway Maunsell Green, Southern Railway Black, or BR Goods Black with its British Railways number painted on either the coal bunker or the side tanks.
In the first three series of the television series, Thomas had red lining on the back of his coal bunker, but during the production of the third series episode, All at Sea, the lining was removed. This also happened in The Railway Series once Clive Spong took over as illustrator. The lining was reapplied in The Adventure Begins.
Notes
- While Thomas' full name is "Thomas the Tank Engine," he is called "Thomas the Train" by people unfamiliar with the series, as well as in the title for this SproutOnline.com craft and in several Good Egg Award and birthday segments on The Sunny Side Up Show.