Toad (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Background Information
Toad is a fictional standard gauge brake van created by the Rev. W. Awdry.

Toad first appeared in the third series episode Escape, which first aired in 1992. His last appearance was in the special Journey Beyond Sodor, which was released in 2017.

He first appeared in The Railway Series book, Enterprising Engines, which was published in 1968. His last appearance was in Oliver the Western Engine, published in 1969.

Unlike in The Railway Series, where Toad's face was the same shade of grey as his bodywork, his face is a lighter shade of grey to match the other vehicles. Additionally, while in The Railway Series he became Douglas' brake van, he remained with Oliver throughout the television series.

Since his introduction, Toad appeared as a supporting character up until the seventh series. As a result of the stories from the eighth to sixteenth series focusing primarily on the Steam Team, Toad was neglected and left absent along with many other characters from the eighth to the eleventh series. He reappeared in the twelfth series but was left absent again when the series moved from live-action model animation to Computer-Generated Imagery. Toad eventually returned in the eighteenth series and made regular appearances until Journey Beyond Sodor.

Voice
Michael Angelis portrayed Toad with a simple British accent, while George Carlin based his Toad voice on Peter Lorre's vocals. Alec Baldwin portrayed Toad using a stereotypical butler's speech patterns, while Michael Brandon gave him the same accent as Oliver. Since his return in 2014, Toad has been voiced by Joe Mills in both the British English and American English dubs of the series. Mills portrays Toad with a hoarse nasal effect.

Gauge 1 models
Toad was custom built from a Tenmille Gauge 1 G130 GWR 16 ton brake van kit, with the roof trim removed and the side footsteps removed. In the third series two models of Toad were built; the second model was used for Toad's scrap livery appearance in the episode, Escape.

Faces
Eight different facial expressions were sculpted for Toad, although only seven were used on-screen and one of which an angry face was left unused. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. One of Toad's faces is now owned by Twitter user TomsProps.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. In 2014, Toad was created in CGI by Arc Productions. The model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Toad has had modifications throughout the CGI series. These include:


 * Series 18
 * Grey buffers.
 * Grey handrails as opposed to his original white handrails.
 * His glass windows were removed and replaced with open windows.
 * Only one side has the Great Western insignia, number and tonnage.
 * He is slightly longer and taller than his model form.
 * His design also more closely resembles a 20-ton van than a 16-ton van.
 * He is a lighter shade of grey.

Voice Actors

 * Joe Mills
 * Yūsuke Numata
 * Kunihiro Kawamoto
 * Paweł Ciołkosz
 * Achim Schülke
 * Nir Ron
 * Fabrice Trojani
 * Bardo Miranda
 * Daniel Abundis
 * Rafael de la Rica
 * Reinder van der Naalt
 * Armando Bungău
 * Denis Bespaliy
 * Forgács Gábor
 * Jeon Tae-yeol