Games - Toby the Tram Engine

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	Games - Toby the Tram Engine

Toby is a tram engine who works on the same branch line as Thomas the Tank Engine. He is a funny-shaped engine with cowcatchers and sideplates covering his wheels. Some say that he doesn't look like a steam engine at all. He doesn't mind this, just so long as nobody asks him if he's electric! His main job is taking stone to and from the quarry with his coach Henrietta, but he also helps with other jobs on the line (from collecting hay to shooing bulls off the line). He is old and wise, and is always willing to help other engines with the benefit of his experience. He is often the one responsible for resolving arguments between Thomas and Percy.

He is equipped with a loud bell, but only has small tanks. For this reason, he is unable to make long journeys on his own, and needs help to do so.

Toby and Henrietta used to work on a branch line in East Anglia. Unfortunately, buses and lorries arrived and took all their work, and so the branch line was doomed to close. But luckily a stout gentleman arrived on a holiday with his family. Toby thought the gentleman was very nice, but little did he know that it was none other than Sir Topham Hatt, the Fat Controller. When Sir Topham needed an engine with cowcatchers and sideplates, he immediately arranged for Toby and Henrietta to come to Sodor. Toby was very grateful, and since then has more than proved his worth with his expertise in all branch line matters.

He first appeared in the Railway Series in 'Toby the Tram Engine' (1952), and appeared in several subsequent books. In 1988 he appeared in the second book devoted to him, 'Toby, Trucks and Trouble' by Christopher Awdry. He appeared in the first season of the television series and is considered to be one of the central characters.

Colm Feore provided the voice of Toby in the film Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

Toby is one of the few characters to have his own song ('Toby'), based upon his theme by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell.

Behind the Scenes

Toby is a J70 class tram engine from the Great Eastern Railway. His cowcatchers and sideplates allow him to run on roadside tramways, which other engines are not allowed to do for safety reasons. J70s were used for light duties, such as branch line work and dock shunting.

They were most famously used on the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway, which local residents have erroneously claimed was the inspiration for Toby. In actual fact, inspiration for the character came from the Rev. W. and Christopher Awdry watching a J70 at work at Great Yarmouth, but all official biographies of the character state that he did come from that line.

In the Railway Series, Toby received a new livery of chocolate brown and blue. This livery was designed to mimic that which he would have worn on the Great Eastern Railway.

Unfortunately, no J70s survive in preservation, but the Battlefield Line has constructed a diesel powered replica of Toby.

On the Rev. W. Awdry's model railway, Toby was represented by a Y6, a locomotive similar to but smaller than the J70. Awdry wrote an article for Railway Modeller magazine on the construction of this locomotive.

Christopher Awdry has said that Toby is his favourite character, partly because he was there when his father received the inspiration to create him, but also because as a child he had travelled in the cab of two J70s.

Henrietta

Henrietta is Toby's faithful coach. She worked with Toby on their old railway, and when that line closed Toby could not bear to leave her behind. The stationmaster had wanted to turn her into a henhouse, but the Fat Controller agreed that "that would never do." The two are absolutely inseparable, and whenever they are apart they worry about each other.

She carries passengers and is used to bring quarrymen to and from work. She has even been used as the Fat Controller's private coach.

Henrietta is the only named character not to have a face. She is based on a Wisbech and Upwell Tramway four-wheeled coach.

Elsie

Toby also has a brake van named Elsie, mentioned in 'The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways' and the 1979 Thomas the Tank Engine Annual. However, she has not yet appeared in any stories. According to Rev. W. Awdry, she is based upon a Wisbech and Upwell Tramway luggage van and shares a shed with Henrietta.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Toby the Tram Engine ]

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