Minor International Characters

There have been several International Characters that have appeared in episodes and specials taking place away from Sodor. Many of these were recoloured variants of existing characters; most never spoke.

Tank Engines

The Dark Red Tank Engine(s)

The Dark Red Tank Engine(s) are engines that have appeared in multiple locations. They have appeared in the background when Thomas and Nia arrive in Rio de Janeiro and when the Fat Controller is looking for Thomas at Dar es Salaam Docks.

Basis

The dark red tank engine is based on a Great Western Railway's 14XX Locomotive due to being a reskin of Oliver.

Livery

These engines are painted dark red with yellow lining.

The Purple Tank Engine

The Purple Tank Engine is an engine who appears pulling a passenger train to Varkala Station when Thomas was visiting India.

Basis

This engine is a reskin of Oliver and is therefore a GWR Class 14xx locomotive.

Livery

This engine is painted purple with yellow lining.

The Brown Tank Engine

The Brown Red Tank Engine is an engine that appears in the background in India shunting coaches passing by into Varkala Station when Thomas was visiting Ashima. It was a reskin of Oliver.

Basis

The brown tank engines is based on a Great Western Railway 14XX Locomotive due to being a reskin of Oliver.

Livery

This engine is painted brown.

The Other Purple Tank Engine

The Other Purple Tank Engine is a tank engine from The Mainland.

Basis

The other purple tank engine is based on an LMS Ivatt Class 2MT tank engine developed for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Unlike its basis, the tank engine lacks a sand dome. Arthur is also a member of this class.

Livery

The other purple tank engine is painted purple with aqua lining. It also has aqua bufferbeams and piston rods.

The Green Tank Engine

The Green Tank Engine is a tank engine from The Mainland.

Basis

The Green Tank Engine is based on the GER Class A55 "Decapod", an experimental tank engine named so for its ten driving wheels. It was designed to prove that steam locomotives could compete with emerging electric locomotives. It achieved its goal on 26th April 1903, during stormy weather. It never entered regular service and was rebuilt to an 0-8-0 tender engine in 1906, being assigned to haul coal trains for GER's March district, remaining the only eight-coupled steam locomotive to work on GER. It was later scrapped in 1913 due to being non-standard.

Livery

The green tank engine is painted bright green with pink lining and wheels.

The Brazilian Tank Engine

The Brazilian Tank Engine was an engine that Thomas and Nia passed in Brazil. This engine is a reskin of Raul, with an added moustache.

Basis

The Brazilian tank engine is based on a series of three vertical-boiler steam locomotives built by Sentinel in 1931 for the São Paulo Railway. Raul is also based on one of these engines.

His basis is built to run on broad gauge rails, whereas the Brazilian tank engine is standard gauge and has added buffers, unlike his real-life counterpart.

Livery

The Brazilian tank engine is painted grey with green lining. His front is blue and he has yellow and green stripes on his cab. He also has a yellow diamond in a green box on the sides of his cab.

Tender Engines

The Brown Tender Engine(s)

The Brown Tender Engines are engines seen in the background of various International locations. One was first seen in Mauritania when it shunted some trucks behind Thomas for him to take to Dar Es Salaam. One was seen in India, pulling trucks through Varkala Railway Station. Another was seen pulling trucks in Brazil when Thomas met Gustavo. The engines are recolours of Edward.

Basis

The tan tender engine is based on a heavily modified Sharp, Stewart and Co. "Larger Seagull" K2 class due to being a reskin of Edward.

Livery

The engines are painted light brown.

The Blue Tender Engine

The Blue Tender Engine is a tender engine from The Mainland.

Basis

The Blue Tender Engine is based on the Southern Railway "West Country" class, a class of 4-6-2 tender locomotive designed by Oliver Bulleid and built between 1945 to 1951. These engines were used as mixed-traffic locomotives, and were used for a wide variety of jobs. They were smaller versions of the earlier Merchant Navy class. Ten unrebuilt members of the class have been preserved, one of them, Blackmoor Vale on the Bluebell Railway, and another, Winston Churchill at the National Railway Museum. One preserved member of the class, Swanage, appeared in Thomas and the U.K. Trip when Gacaphin and Mukku were visiting several heritage railways. Alongside their regular duties, the class was also known for pulling several famous express trains, such as the Golden Arrow and the Atlantic Coast Express.

While The Blue Tender Engine is modelled off the unrebuilt version of the locomotive, her tender design is based on the one used for the rebuilt version. Her wheels are also different, with her driving wheels being the same design as Hiro’s, and her smaller wheels are filled with no spokes.

Livery

This engine is painted

The American Tender Engine

The American Tender Engine is a tender engine from the United States.

Basis

The American Tender Engine is based on the Central Pacific Railroad's 4-4-0 locomotive No. 60; the 'Jupiter' which made history as one of the two locomotives (the other being the Union Pacific No. 119) to meet at Promontory Summit during the Golden Spike ceremony commemorating the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad.

The Jupiter was built in September 1868 by the Schenectady Locomotive Works of New York, along with three other engines, numbered 61, 62, and 63, named the Storm, Whirlwind, and Leviathan, respectively. These four engines were then dismantled and sailed to San Francisco, California, where they were loaded onto a river barge and sent to the Central Pacific headquarters in Sacramento, then reassembled and commissioned into service on March 20, 1869.

The Jupiter was not the engine originally intended to take the special train carrying railway officials to the ceremony, the railway initially selected its 'Antelope' locomotive to perform this duty.  However, that engine was struck by a runaway log while enroute to the ceremony and was damaged such that the Jupiter had to continue the journey with the specials' coaches coupled behind its regular train (which the special had been following closely behind prior to the accident), proceeding to Promontory with only the special train upon reaching the end of its regular route.

In the 1870's, the engines' name was dropped, and it received a new boiler, funnel, and other upgrades, drastically altering its appearance.  In 1885, the Southern Pacific Railway had acquired the Central Pacific, including the former Jupiter, and in 1891, the engine was renumbered as Southern Pacific no. 1195.

In 1893, the engine was converted to burn coal, and later that year was sold to the Gila Valley, Globe and Northern Railway, becoming that railway's number 1, operating as such until scrapped in 1909.

Full-size, operating replicas of the Jupiter and Union Pacific No. 119 were built in 1979 by O'Connor Engineering Laboratories for the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory Summit, Utah.

A replica of sister engine, No. 63, the 'Leviathan', was built in 2009 by David H. Kloke's firm, Kloke Locomotive Works of Elgin, Illinois.

The American Tender Engine has been slightly modified from his basis with buffers above his cowcatcher (which is flatter and shorter to accommodate them) and behind his tender, which also has a screw-link coupling.

Livery

The American tender engine is painted blue, orange, and green with red and aqua lining.

The Orange Tender Engine

The Orange Tender Engine was an engine Thomas passed while searching for Nia in China. She is a reskin of Edward, with added feminine features to her face.

Basis

The orange tender engine is based on a heavily modified Sharp, Stewart and Co. "Larger Seagull" K2 class due to being a reskin of Edward.

Livery

She is painted bright orange with maroon lining. She also appears to have a maroon running board and wheels with gold handrails.

The Grey Tender Engine(s)

The Grey Tender Engines are engines that appear in the background when at Dar es Salaam Docks as well as when Thomas meets Nia. Another is also seen when Thomas and Nia arrived in Rio de Janeiro and another one was briefly seen in India pulling a passenger train that later gave trouble for Thomas when it ran over a delivery of coconuts for the main station. One of the engines were also seen in China shunting in the sheds' shunting yard and later helping rerail a flatbed. These engines are reskins of Henry, the one in India shares the same whistle with Ferdinand.

Basis

Due to being reskins of Henry, the grey tender engines are based on a London, Midland & Scottish Railway's "Black Five".

Livery

The grey tender engines are painted blue-grey with yellow and black lining, dark grey boiler bands, dark grey footplates, and yellow wheels.

The Purple Tender Engine

The Purple Tender Engine was an engine who appeared pulling a goods train when Shankar was bringing Thomas trucks during his visit to India. This engine is also a reskin of Henry.

Basis

Due to being a reskin of Henry, the purple tender engine is based on a London, Midland & Scottish Railway's "Black Five".

Livery

The purple tender engine is painted purple with tan lining. It has a brown top feed, a grey running board and steam pipes, and two separate tan rectangles on its tender.

Diesel Engines

The Blue and Orange Diesel Shunter(s)

The Blue and Orange Diesel Shunters are engines that work in Rio de Janeiro and India. One of them appears in the background shunting trucks when Thomas and Nia arrive at the docks, and another was later seen in the shunting yards in India. They were a reskin of one of the Mainland Diesels.

Basis

Due to being a reskin of one of the Mainland Diesels, they are based on the BR Class 08. Diesel, 'Arry and Bert, Splatter and Dodge, Paxton, Sidney, and Rose are also based off of this engine.

Livery

The Shunters are painted blue and orange with yellow lining and silver bars and steps. Their front also has black and yellow hazard stripes, with a red headlamp and wheels.

Trivia

• The diesel's livery is based upon the livery the WDM-3A diesels based at Gooty depot in India wore.

The Chinese Diesel Shunter

The Chinese Diesel Shunter was an engine that appears in the foreground when Thomas and Yong Bao are talking about the Chinese New Year. It interrupts Yong Bao with its horn and engine, making it difficult for Thomas to understand what Yong Bao is saying. This engine was a reskin of one of the Mainland Diesels.

Basis

Due to being a reskin of a Mainland Diesel, it is based on the BR Class 08. Diesel, 'Arry and Bert, Splatter and Dodge, Paxton, Sidney, and Rose are also based off of this engine.

Livery

The Chinese Diesel Shunter is painted lime with dark green lining and hazard stripes.

Others

The Chinese Breakdown Cranes

The Chinese Breakdown Cranes are a pair of cranes that help put Nia back on the rails after she had derailed when she was in China. During Thomas' later visit to China, the male crane had a close encounter with a runaway waterwheel built from bamboo; he inadvertently caught the wheel and threw it across the countryside. They were modifications of Jerome and Judy , with newly modelled faces, different liveries, and their nameplates removed.

Basis

The Chinese Breakdown Cranes are based on a Cowans Sheldon 30 ton breakdown crane. Jerome and Judy are also based off of this crane, which are the cranes on the Breakdown Train.

Livery

The cranes are painted green with yellow hazard stripes.

Trivia

• The male crane's face is modified from the Troublesome Trucks.

The Indian Breakdown Cranes

The Indian Breakdown Cranes are a pair of cranes that Rajiv collected to rescue Thomas.

Basis

The Indian Breakdown Cranes are based on a Cowans Sheldon 30 ton breakdown crane. Judy and Jerome are also based off of this crane, which are the cranes on the Breakdown Train.

Livery

The cranes are painted bright yellow, with red and white hazard stripes pained on the bottoms of their cabin frames. Their chassis and flatbed trucks are painted dark green-grey.

Trivia

• Though their faces were unseen in the episode, a promotional picture shows one of the cranes appears to have a smaller version of Merrick's face.