I woke up this morning and an interesting thought crossed my mind. ‘If Thomas was American, what engine would he be?’ I took to the internet but to my dismay no one besides an old Reddit thread has put any thought into it. That’s where the Trains.com community comes in. What engine do you think Thomas would be?
Here are the facts:
- Thomas is presented as an LBSCR E2 0-6-0t. (There is debates on this, but for our purposes he is an E2)
- Tank engines aren’t as common in the US.
- Percy was a 0-4-0t industrial switcher so that rules that type of engine out.
I look forward to reading the responses and seeing what you all have in mind.
Thomas, being American, would not be the smallest engine in the house, he would be the largest.
Of course an American Thomas would have to resonate in the American consciousness… not the English consciousness. So he wouldn’t be on a branch-line passenger service with a couple of dedicated coaches, and his friends would similarly be related to other services.
Of course there is an earlier precedent than Thomas for an iconic literary train – that Little Engine That Could. (Which has been intriguingly represented in illustrations over the years, some of which show a decidedly careful reading of the message in Watty Piper’s story…)
The Percy engine is relatively easy to find a precedent for: either a PRR A5 sort of engine or a “Docksider”. In diesels, it would be hard to find something better than a 44/45-tonner or Whitcomb.
We certainly had our fill of “passenger tank engines” – but they were commuter engines. The most ‘iconic’ of these (4-6-6) is too large and grand to represent a character like Thomas (unless you substitute appropriate American ‘virtues’ for his plucky and sometimes mischievous charm…)
The problem with a 2-6-2 is that none of that class were famous enough, even if ATSF had a great many of them. That leaves either a 4-6-2 or 2-8-0/2-8-2 as the “American likely equivalent” that gives you a lovable, easily-identified-with, quickly-recognizable engine…
OR you go with the stereotypical style from the ‘colorful’ age of American railroading: a 4-4-0 with balloon stack and 19th-Century detailing. But that was obsolescent even when I was little – heaven only knows how you’d have to spin it to be relevant to modern kids, or even their parents.
Now, if you wanted some arch fun between Brits and Seppos – have Thomas be a 5AT new build for American service, dealing with all the locomotives ‘over here’ while encountering the vicissitudes of British manufacturing quality and the like. All sorts of humor, all sorts of character-bui
An American “Thomas?”
How about “Rocco, the Jersey Central tank engine?”
https://www.lionel.com/products/new-jersey-central-legacy-4-6-6t-231-2031040/
One devious deed from “Diesel” and “Diesel” would find himself disppearing in the Pine Barrens! [;)]
Yo! Wayne! That’s Rocco from Bahstan, pretending to be down the shore. None of us, and none of our children, are likely to be fooled for long!
If you want an American Thomas from the CNJ, use 774: it has the ‘history’. CNJ certainly had some adorable 4-6-4T tank engines… just not that hulking but handsome bruiser.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1675599
If you want tank engines from the land of the cheese steak instead of the bean and the cod, consider the P&R.
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/pr381sa.jpg
You could have devious Diesel and Boris Badenov together in the form of a Faur ‘Quarter Horse’ (named, we thought, for its sustained horsepower output in service)… although I would cast my vote for an oily operational disaster with one of the NYC Gerties. But they would not stay ‘disappeared’ in the Pine Barrens (or, far more likely, the ‘Meadowlands’) for very long – the evidence would be floating to the surface in predictably-large amounts…
I don’t recognize Diesel 10 as a legitimate Thomas character, and there isn’t really a ‘hated diseasel’ that would legitimately fit. Perhaps you could haff vun auf die Krauss-Maffei Amerika-Loken as the contemporary German equivalent of that barracuda in Diver Dan…
Amtrak F40 is pretty famous (or is that infamous? heh) in meme circles.
Personally, I think the GP38 is a better fit.
In meme circles, it’s the full F40PH or nothing! (I don’t want to post any of the obvious furry-vs-F40PH memes on this innocent forum!)
But that’s not a “Thomas-sized” locomotive; it’s a full-on high-speed passenger engine.
GP38 would work, but I’d argue that Thomas would be more a GP7 (or GP10/11) sort of fellow. Would he be a GP38-2, though?
The venn diagram would be a circle.
I think a GP7 is too old. The 38-2s are still on the class 1s, so would have broader appeal.
Thomas would be a 600hp SW-1.
An original ‘I think I can, I think I can’ type engine. Saw one drag 8700 tons of cement up and over the switching hump at Clark Ave. Yard in Cleveland. It wasn’t fast but it was moving.
Thomas would be either the 2-6-0 if steam you know a nice little mogul that did it all and if a diesel the GP7 I get it done.
… although I would cast my vote for an oily operational disaster with one of the NYC Gerties.
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By “gerties” are you referring to the Baldwin diesels?
Thomas would be a 600hp SW-1.
An original ‘I think I can, I think I can’ type engine. Saw one drag 8700 tons of cement up and over the switching hump at Clark Ave. Yard in Cleveland. It wasn’t fast but it was moving.
I like this one, especially if we were willing to change the type of engine Thomas is presented as.
What other Gravel Gerties could there be?
None other! I’d just never heard of that term until now. Weird considering my town used to be served by NYC/PC/CR before being sold to NS and trackage closed about 6 years later. The ROW is now the “Tunnel Hill State Trail”
Well, it does have to be said that it would fit right in with our contemporary social rewriting of historical characters:
Male to female.
Major disabilities.
Judged by everyone to be a pariah based on perceived major disabilities, to be overcome with pluck.
Minority origins
[;)]
If you want tank engines from the land of the cheese steak instead of the bean and the cod, consider the P&R.
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/pr381sa.jpg
Love those P&R Tank engines. Looks like it should work, not oversized and humongous like the B&M 4-6-4s
And almost immediately we get the episode where the (also female) equivalent of Spencer – the PRR T1, of course – approaches poor Gertie, tells her that she also had a long history of undeserved prejudice and discrimination (and comes from the same minority builder) and should hold herself up no matter what.
I’m already thinking who the voice talent should be…
The fans’ headcannons are going to rewrite the characters no matter what you do.
For me an episode would look something like
this: Thomas (600hp SW-1) is usually working in the yard. On this particular day, the cranky diesel “gertie” broke down, so Thomas has take gertie’s heavy train over a grade…
Excellent replies everyone.