Thomas

Thomas is a cheeky blue engine that works on the North Western Railway

Biography
Thomas originally worked on the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway with two of his brothers and his friend Whiff. Unlike his brothers who both chose to be painted blue, Thomas remained in the LBSC dark green livery. Before he could prove himself, Thomas was sold off to the Island of Sodor to construct a railway. There, he worked with Edward for the first few weeks before getting into an accident with some trucks. After a slight number mix up, he was given the number 1 and Edward was given the number 2. Soon after, Thomas and Edward ran the very first trains of the railway's grand opening. For the next few years, Thomas and Edward ran the mainlines of Sodor while the other engines ran the branchlines.

In 1920, they finally received some help on the mainline when Henry arrived on Sodor. Thomas was apprehensive at first, but welcomed the help. He and Edward helped Henry through his health issues, but Thomas soon found he was being given less and less work.

In 1924, another engine named Gordon arrived, and Thomas immediately formed a dislike for him. A feud between them quickly grew as Thomas once again found himself cast aside while all the heavy work was given to the big engines.

The last straw was reached in 1925 when James arrived. Thomas, fed up with being confined to the yard, confided in Edward and voiced his complaints. He stated how tired of the yard he was and how he missed seeing the sites of the mainline. Thomas would get his chance to "see the world" when he rescued James after a nasty accident. Thomas was given the Ffarquhar Branchline after the coffee pot engines were retired and withdrawn from service. He was also able to settle his feud with Gordon thanks to the help of James.

Thomas worked on his branchline for the next four years, but quickly became lonely without his other friends on the mainline. He also claimed he was growing tired of being the only tank engine on the railway. He vented his frustrations out to Annie and Clarabel, who comforted him by saying that he works hard and Sir Topham Hatt will see that he may need help. Sure enough, Percy and Toby arrived on the railway within a few weeks of one another and Thomas befriended both of them. Thomas ended up taking Percy under his wing as he saw a lot of himself in Percy.

In 1957, Thomas assisted the others in confronting Diesel and oversaw Sir Topham Hatt send him away.

In 1959, Thomas agreed to the plan Henry created to keep both Donald and Douglas on the railway. The plan went horribly wrong and Thomas watched as Henry, James, and Douglas were taken to the Barrow-In-Furness Impound.

Personality
Thomas is a very blunt, stubborn engine and can often be seen as pessimistic and grumpy. He gained this attitude due to his constant mistreatment by his brothers on his old railway and the bigger engines on Sodor.

That being said, he knows when to put others over himself and has managed to take what Edward taught him and apply it by taking Percy under his wing. Thomas sees a lot of himself in Percy and wants to make sure Percy becomes a very reliable shunter and goods engine.

His bravery is not to be overlooked either, as his quick thinking earned him a branchline, and his ability to solve problems relatively quickly no doubt come from Edward's teachings and intuition.

Basis
Thomas is based on the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) E2 of 0-6-0 Tank Engines. They were the first locomotives designed by Lawson B. Billington, originally intended to replace the elderly E1 Class Tank Engines (Who were designed by his predecessor, William Stroudley) on light goods/freight work. 10 locomotives were built between 1913-1916 at the LBSCR's Brighton Works, Numbered 100-109. The E2's were built in 2 batches. The first batch, consisting of locomotives 100-104, had an inadequate water supply, so the second batch of E2's, consisting of locomotives 105-109, were built with extended side tanks to compensate. Unfortunately, the E2's suffered from several problems, which included (but not limited to), mediocre brakes, and offset counterbalancing, and a few other issues. One of the most notable issues was the small size of the coal bunker, which meant that the locomotive couldn't pull trains at anything faster than walking pace. Most of them were used for heavier shunting and light goods work.

When the LBSCR became part of the Southern Railway (UK), following the Big Four Grouping of 1923, the E2's numbers were increased by 2000, with the locomotives now bearing the numbers 2100-2109. This numbering scheme would remain until the the creation of British Railways in 1948, when the numbers of all former Southern Machines were increased by 30,000, with the final numbering for the E2's being 32100-32109, remaining that way until Withdrawal by BR. In the Mid-1950's, the class was used at Southampton Docks, alongside the USATC S-100 Class Tank Engines (Rosie's Basis), but the E2's longer, 16 foot wheelbase restricted them from making some of the tighter curves in the docks. The Class was withdrawn between 1961-1963, and sadly, none survived into preservation.

The specific E2 Thomas is based on, LB&SCR No. 108, was built in July of 1916. It was renumbered to 2108 following the Big Four Grouping of 1923, in which, the LB&SCR became part of the Southern Railway (UK), and later 32108 after the creation of British Railways in 1948. It was withdrawn and scrapped in June of 1962

Livery
Thomas is painted in NWR bright blue with red lining. His number is painted on the sides of his tanks in yellow with red lining and the lining around his cab windows is yellow.

Season 1

 * Sodor Then and Now 2: He's Number One (S1, E2)
 * Sodor Then and Now 3: Prototype Failure (S1, E3)
 * Sodor Then and Now 4: Gresley's Greatest (S1, E4)
 * Sodor Then and Now 5: Proving Worthy (S1, E5)
 * Sodor Then and Now 6: Little Engines (S1, E6)
 * Sodor Then and Now 7: Old Faithful (S1, E7)
 * Sodor Then and Now 8: The Work Begins (S1, E8)
 * Sodor Then and Now 9: The Caledonian Engines (S1, E9)
 * Sodor Then & Now 10: Boomer's Reign (S1, E10)

Trivia

 * Thomas does not speak in Sodor Then and Now 8: The Work Begins
 * The Thomas model used is the oldest model in GTSH's collection, with the top part being from 1992