Stafford/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
Stafford is a fictional battery-electric shunting locomotive created by Sharon Miller.

In 2012, Stafford made his debut in the sixteenth series of Thomas & Friends in the episode, Welcome Stafford!.

Since his introduction, Stafford was voiced by Keith Wickham (UK/US) in the CGI version of the series on both sides of the Atlantic, respectively.

Stafford was based on the North Staffordshire Railway's battery-electric engine shunter No. 1.

CGI Model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. In 2012, Stafford was modelled in full CGI by Nitrogen Studios for the sixteenth series. The model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

According to Greg Tiernan, the CGI models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.

Fonts
The following fonts are used on Stafford's CGI model:
 * Arial Bold
 * Brothers Bold

Voice Actors

 * Keith Wickham
 * Marios Gavrilis
 * Tokuyoshi Kawashima
 * Kunihiro Kawamoto
 * Nozomu Sasaki
 * Waldemar Barwiński
 * Christian Greger Strøm
 * Alan Prieto
 * Miguel Ángel Poison
 * Nir Ron
 * Alexander Kotov
 * Denis Bespaliy
 * Anton Savenkov