Bert/Behind the Scenes

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This is a behind the scenes subpage for Bert. This subpage contains all behind the scenes material relating to said article.

Background Information

The Railway Series

Bert is a fictional miniature gauge tender locomotive created by the Rev. W. Awdry. He lives and works on the Arlesdale Railway.

He first appeared in The Railway Series book, Small Railway Engines, which was published in 1967. His last appearance was in Wilbert the Forest Engine, published in 1994.

Front of Bert:

1967 Bert as illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards (1967)

1980 Bert as illustrated by Edgar Hodges (1980)

1975 Bert as illustrated by Clive Spong (1990)

Rear of Bert:

1967 Bert as illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards (1967)

1975 Bert as illustrated by Clive Spong (1990)

Bert is based on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway's River Irt.

Television Series

In 2015, Bert was introduced in the special, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, along with Rex and Mike. Their appearances marked the first production since the fourth series to introduce engines from The Railway Series as new characters.

Bert is voiced by Keith Wickham in the CGI version of the series on both sides of the Atlantic, respectively.

Behind the Scenes

CGI model

In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. In 2015, Bert was modelled in full CGI by Arc Productions for the 2015 film, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure. The model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Bert's CGI model has a few changes from his original Railway Series design. These include:

• Blue wheels.
• A grey running plate.
• He now has a brakepipe and a lamp-iron.
• He gains two additional round windows on the front of his cab. The red lining that was originally present on his cab is also absent.
• He gained a headlamp above his smokebox.
• Akin to his appearance in Jock the New Engine, his wheels are outside his frames. His wheelbase is also much longer.

CGI Promo

Head on promo

A front orthographic of Bert

Voice Actors

• Keith Wickham (UK/US)
• Mitsuhiro Sakamaki (Japan; Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure onwards, excluding The Great Race)
• Kunihiro Kawamoto (Japan; The Great Race only)
• Michał Podsiadło (Poland)
• Stan Limburg (Netherlands)
• Armando Guerrero (Latin America)
• Yehonatan Magon (Israel; Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure only)
• Zvika Fohrman (Israel; twentieth series onwards)
• Christian Rudolf (Germany)
• Daniil Eldarov (Russia; Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure only)
• Anton Savenkov (Russia; twentieth series onwards)