Rusty (T&F)

Rusty is a little narrow gauge diesel engine who carries out maintenance work and odd jobs around the Skarloey Railway.

Biography
Rusty's initial depiction in the TV series was with a much more determined and very brave personality. In the fourth series, Rusty helped save Stepney, who was stranded on a siding in a scrapyard on the Other Railway, from scrap, and brought him to his branch line. When a Boulder went loose at the Quarry, Rusty narrowly escaped after being chased by the giant stone. Skarloey, Rheneas and Percy also escaped the chaos of Boulder. Along with Skarloey, Rheneas, and Elizabeth, Rusty saved the Skarloey Railway from abandonment. Rusty once saved Duncan from falling into a river from an old bridge after he refused to listen.

In a dream, Thomas saw Rusty working with Lady.

One Christmas, when Duncan began complaining more than ever, Rusty had the idea of telling the Thin Controller, who devised a plan. Rusty later saw Duncan lose his temper with Luke, who was blocking the track in front of him. But when Duncan felt sorry and helped Luke carry on his way, Rusty saw this too and told the Thin Controller.

He was later seen in a queue of engines at Ulfstead Castle after Percy told the latter there was to be a railway show there.

He is currently working at the Skarloey Railway, along with the other narrow gauge engines.

Personality
Rusty is a trusty, tame, friendly little diesel. He is a dedicated worker, often maintaining the line, while understanding and respecting the importance of his duties. He also has a rather distinctive two-tone horn. Rusty is quick to remind others with regards to proper conduct, particularly Duncan, who was initially very suspicious of the little diesel. But despite their arguments they both seem to make amends in the end, because of how kind and tolerant Rusty is. He has a good working relationship with both Skarloey and Peter Sam in particular. Caring, calm, and quick-thinking, Rusty is modestly a credit to the Skarloey Railway.

Sometimes, Rusty had an occasional habit of being prone to procrastination, impatient and careless but he has managed to contain his good work ethic, especially while working at the Blue Mountain Quarry and the railway.

Basis
Rusty is based on the Talyllyn Railway's Midlander, a Ruston 44/48HP diesel. Unlike his counterpart Rusty was never rebuilt with a different shaped radiator.

Midlander also has a whistle instead of a horn.

Livery
Rusty is painted orange with yellow lining around his windows and white lettering. His radiator is black with a brass cap.

Appearances
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 * -|Television Series=

Thomas & Friends

 * Series 4 - Trucks, Home at Last, Rock 'n' Roll, Special Funnel, Steam Roller, Rusty to the Rescue, Thomas and Stepney and Bowled Out
 * Series 5 - Stepney Gets Lost, Duncan Gets Spooked, Rusty and the Boulder and Snow
 * Series 6 - Dunkin Duncan, Rusty Saves the Day and Faulty Whistles
 * Series 7 - The Refreshment Lady's Tea Shop, Rheneas and the Roller Coaster, The Runaway Elephant, Harold and the Flying Horse, The Grand Opening and Trusty Rusty
 * Series 9 - Mighty Mac, Tuneful Toots, Rheneas and the Dinosaur , The Magic Lamp, Duncan and the Old Mine and Skarloey the Brave
 * Series 10 - Follow that Flour, Duncan Drops a Clanger, Thomas' Tricky Tree, Which Way Now?, Wharf and Peace and Missing Trucks
 * Series 11 - Thomas and the Big Bang, Cool Truckings, Wash Behind Your Buffers , Duncan Does it All and Sir Handel in Charge
 * Series 12 - Mountain Marvel, The Party Surprise, The Man in the Hills and Push Me, Pull You
 * Series 13 - Steamy Sodor
 * Series 16 - Don't Bother Victor! and The Christmas Tree Express
 * Series 17 - Luke's New Friend and The Switch
 * Series 18 - Disappearing Diesels, Duncan and the Grumpy Passenger and Duncan the Humbug
 * Series 24 - The Great Little Railway Show

Specials

 * 2005 - Calling All Engines!
 * 2008 - The Great Discovery
 * 2009 - Hero of the Rails
 * 2012 - Blue Mountain Mystery
 * 2013 - King of the Railway
 * 2017 - Journey Beyond Sodor

Music Videos
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 * Series 4 - Thomas' Anthem Grand Finale and The Island Song
 * Series 5 - Night Train, Come for the Ride and Harold the Helicopter
 * Series 6 - James the Really Splendid Engine and Little Engines
 * Series 7 - There Once Was an Engine Who Ran Away and The Whistle Song
 * Series 8 - Determination
 * Series 9 - Buffer Up and Share
 * Jack and the Sodor Construction Company - The Work Song
 * Series 10 - Navigation and Responsibility
 * Series 11 - The Narrow Gauge Engines
 * The Great Discovery - Thomas, You're the Leader
 * Blue Mountain Mystery - Working Together and Blue Mountain Mystery
 * King of the Railway - It's Gonna be a Great Day
 * Thomas' YouTube World Tour - A World Around You
 * Journey Beyond Sodor - I Want to Go Home
 * Series 21 - Set Friendship in Motion
 * -|Other Media=

Magazine Stories
Rusty also appeared in the magazine stories, Boat Bother, Hello, Skarloey!, Musical Duncan, Rocking About, Roll and Rock, Smoke Signals, and The Cliff Railway.
 * 1997 - Rock & Roll Rescue
 * 1998 - Rusty and the Cheeky Boys and Really Useful Rusty!
 * 2000 - Harold's Race!, Creepy Cutting! and Wet Wheels
 * 2001 - Too Much Rock, Duncan Gets Upset and Airborne Engine
 * 2002 - Big Ideas! and The Fat Controller's Diesels!
 * 2003 - Air Share!, Fast Food! and Rusty's Plan
 * 2004 - Windsurfing, Elephants and Engines and A Lot to Spot!
 * 2005 - Duncan's Rock and Roll
 * 2007 - Rusty's Rescue! and Cliff Ride
 * 2009 - Thomas and the Big Bang
 * 2010 - Big Ideas
 * 2011 - Flight Sight
 * 2012 - Blue Mountain Mystery and Going Rusty
 * 2013 - Christmas Tree Express
 * 2014 - Edward the Helpful Engine and Flight Sight
 * 2015 - Dusty Rusty

Annual Stories
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 * 1997 - Rusty's Revenge

Horns
Between the ninth and twelfth series, Rusty has a horn from a Morris Minor 1000 van.

Trivia

 * Rusty's name is a portmanteau of his builder Ruston and Hornsby.
 * While Rusty was originally portrayed as male in The Railway Series, according to a New York Times article from 1995, Britt Allcroft intended to make Rusty gender-neutral in Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends due to the lack of female characters:
 * Because of this, the episodes Trucks, Home at Last and Rock 'n' Roll removed or changed any instance of Rusty being referred to in gender-specific pronouns, as the original stories refer to him as male. For example, Duncan's line "Send him packing! Send him packing!" is changed to him saying "Send Rusty packing! Send Rusty packing!"
 * In the Thomas and Friends Writers' Bible from March 2003, Rusty was referred to as female.
 * When the narrow gauge engines were reintroduced in the ninth series, Rusty was depicted as male, like how he was in The Railway Series, and Rusty remained as male for the rest of series. While this was the case in the UK narrations, in the original US narrations of Tuneful Toots and Duncan and the Old Mine, Rusty was incorrectly referred as female. This problem most likely came from the Writers' Bible, and the lines were renarrated for US DVD releases, now identifying Rusty as male.
 * Rusty is also depicted as female in the German dub of Duncan Gets Spooked, the first Polish dub, and the Korean dub of the sixteenth series.
 * Rusty's large scale model is currently on display in Japan at the Hara Model Railway Museum with his alternative happy face (previously on display at Nitrogen Studios).
 * In the television series, Rusty is near twice the size of his basis. This was so his eye mechanism and the motor could be accommodated. When he received a large scale model and later returned in CGI, he was the same larger size for continuity reasons.
 * Nitrogen Studios went to the Talyllyn Railway and took measurements of Rusty's basis in order to accurately render him in CGI. This was also the case with Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel and Peter Sam.
 * Matt Wilkinson gave Rusty a West Country accent.
 * Rusty is the only narrow gauge diesel to ever be seen in the entire television series.
 * Rusty was called Rooky in the French dub.
 * Rusty was called Zlatko in the Slovenian dub.
 * The Strasburg Rail Road's No. 2 diesel shunter is painted to resemble Rusty, and beginning in 2020, it has been dressed up as him during Day Out With Thomas events.
 * Rusty's small scale model is currently owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch, along with those of Duke, Skarloey and Sir Handel.
 * Rusty is one of three engines who were able to save an engine from scrap. The others include Douglas and Thomas.