James is a character from Thomas & Friends. He is a mixed-traffic tender engine who works on the North Western Railway, usually working along the Main Line. He can be vain, boastful, and overconfident but means well and is a hard worker.
Biography
James' ego sometimes gets him in trouble. When he tried to switch his job of pulling trucks with Gordon's express train, he tricked Thomas to give him the express coaches by telling his that Sir Topham Hatt ordered him to take the coaches. However, Sir Topham Hatt heard about James' tricks from Gordon and his driver, and punished him by leaving him in the shed until he learned his lesson. The following day, he was allowed out to shunt trucks, but also got the chance to redeem himself when an inspector requested to ride with James to Hatt. They arrived on time and Hatt considered James a really useful engine.
James' ego has sometimes stopped him from following advice from others. When Percy and Terence tried to warn him about the dangers of trees getting too close to the line, he did not take any notice until a tree literally too close to the line slid on James' tracks. Luckily, Thomas came to his rescue and pulled James away just before the tree fell on him.
James' teasing has also backfired; after he saw Percy being a "middle engine" and made fun of him because of it, James later ended up being made a middle engine himself for which he was teased by Percy. He's also shown to care a lot about his paintwork, having refused to help Percy at the coaling plant because of his admiration of it, wanting to stay nice and clean to be the star of the show and refused to travel across muddy tracks to not get it dirty.
Thomas and the Magic Railroad
In the film, Thomas met James at Tidmouth Sheds until Diesel 10 first arrived and told them his plans to destroy the lost engine named Lady. James and Thomas rebelled against Diesel 10. Later on, Thomas, James and Gordon argued about who should have collected Mr. Conductor. After Mr. Conductor helped to make James' itch go away, James was sad because Diesel 10 said that red is a tiring colour, so Mr. Conductor happily said his red paint is bright and cheerful just like the gold dust and sent him off to work. Later, he and the other engines gathered for the meeting about their individual concerns about Diesel 10 destroying Lady. Some time afterwards, James appeared at the Smelter's Yard when Diesel 10 arrived with Junior. Junior landed onto James' cab and the two almost got thrown into the smelting pit by Diesel 10. Luckily, Junior used his gold dust to teleport them to a spot near the magic buffers, where Mr. Conductor was waiting. James departed and thanked Junior for his help. In the original, he would have helped Junior and George defeat Splatter and Dodge by pushing a boulder in the diesels path, trapping them in a siding. He would have also been present at the well, along with Percy.
Personality
James is very proud of his splendid red paintwork. He dislikes pulling trucks (though not to the extent that Gordon does) and is so self-centred that he thinks himself superior to the others and can be shallow, boastful, overconfident, arrogant, prideful, naughty and vain, particularly to those who appear old-fashioned, weak, slow or dirty. This has caused him to have somewhat of a rivalry with Edward, Percy, Toby and Duck, as well as Thomas, Gordon, Henry and even Philip lately on occasion. His vanity reached the point that he tried to block Edward from a photographer's view when Edward was having his picture taken and when he tried to get his job done quick so he can take the present train. In most cases, it takes scolding from others to make his penny drop, and even then it is too late to prevent trouble. He has acted like this even before he was repainted red. However, on a number of occasions, he has found himself in need of help from those whom he has insulted and is, in the end, apologetic.
James was the last of the steam engines to retain a prejudice against diesels, insulting them the same way other visiting diesels would insult the steam engines on Sodor, with BoCo barely being spared from his opinionated view. In similar situations, James often feels remorse and guilt for his actions, often leading to his apologies coming out meekly.
Despite all of that, James has shown a caring side to him. He has a heart of gold and wants to help anyone in a time of need. He is normally hard-working and, like everyone else, wants to be responsible, reliable and really useful on the Fat Controller's railway. Although his vanity usually hides it, James actually is capable of realizing when he crosses the line, and quietly mourns for himself and others once it occurs after an accident of his causing.
Technical Details
Basis
James is based on a Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) Class 28, a class of 0-6-0 mixed-traffic tender locomotive designed by George Hughes for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and built by Horwich Works between 1909 and 1912. It was a rebuild of Aspinall's Class 27, with the addition of a Belpaire firebox, a Schmidt/"twin-plug" superheater and the extension of the footplate and front sandboxes. One Class 27, 52322, survives and is operational at the Ribble Steam Railway.
According to The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, James is an experimental member of the Class 28s; he is fitted with a front pony truck (thus making him a 2-6-0 instead of an 0-6-0), 5'6" driving wheels instead of the class' original 5'1" ones and a Fowler tender. His front sandboxes also appear to be mounted underneath his footplate rather than joined to his leading splashers.
The Rev. W. Awdry's original model of James was modified from that of a G&SWR 403 Class 2-6-0 and materials related to Awdry's model layout indicate this was originally considered to be James' prototype.
One of the unnamed red tender engines are also based on an L&YR Class 28 and has the same modifications as James.
Livery
James is painted in NWR scarlet red with black lining and gold boiler bands. His dome is brass and his number 5 is painted on the sides of his tender in yellow with black lining. In the Railway Series, James had blue lining instead of black lining after Main Line Engines. Between James the Red Engine and Oliver the Western Engine his cab rooftop colour was inconsistently illustrated as either black or red; however, since Clive Spong became illustrator, James has been consistently illustrated with a red cab rooftop. In some illustrations of the Railway Series, James has a golden builder's plate on the side of his cab.
James has also been seen in several other liveries aside from his red one:
- In Thomas the Tank Engine, the second book of The Railway Series, James was painted black in "Thomas And The Breakdown Train". When he was reintroduced in the third Railway Series book James The Red Engine, he then received his red livery. In the TV series, he was originally depicted as having always been red, even when he was a new engine, most likely to save production costs; however, he appears in his black livery inThe Adventure Begins. He also had a red lining on the back of his tender, which was removed after his repaint. This livery also appears in Meet James as part of a reference to the special. Unlike the television series, James has an L&YR tender in the Railway Series when he carried this livery, whereas in the television series, he had a Fowler tender throughout his appearances.
- In The Green Controller, James was mistakenly painted in yellow and black stripes on Percy's orders. He was quickly repainted back into his original livery when the problem was noticed.
- In Tickled Pink, James was painted in a pink undercoat before his standard red coat could be applied. Although he was said to be in an undercoat, James still retained his lining, number and black wheels and smokebox. This livery also appears in Meet James as part of a reference to the episode.