Troublesome Trucks (T&F)

"On, on, on!"

- Troublesome Trucks' catchphrase

The Troublesome Trucks (also called Freight Cars, originally Foolish Freight Cars, in the US dub) are pieces of rolling stock that are nicknamed so because they can be very troublesome, and love to play tricks on the engines.

Open Wagons
Open Wagons are the most common Troublesome Trucks. They can be seen working in most places on the North Western Railway. They carry a variety of loads, including crates, stone, slate and coal. Plank trucks are the most common type of open wagon trucks.

There are also narrow gauge open wagon counterparts on the Skarloey Railway and Mid Sodor Railway.

Basis
Plank trucks are based on 5 and 7-plank open wagons. The smaller trucks are based on the narrow gauge Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway open wagon, scaled up accordingly. The slate trucks are based on the 2-bar wooden slate wagons of the Talyllyn Railway, scaled up accordingly.

Livery
In the early television series, the plank trucks were painted in a number of different liveries. Typically, Private Owner plank wagons had their own liveries in great multitude. Currently, in the television series, they are predominantly painted grey. In Big World! Big Adventures!, some of the plank trucks in Brazil were painted purple-red. In the twenty-second series, some plank trucks in China are painted black with red buffer beams. In the twenty-third series, the trucks in India are painted either orange or white. Green and dark blue ones were introduced in the twenty-fourth series.

Vans
The Vans carry goods and freight on the North Western Railway. There are several types of anthropomorphic vans featured throughout the television series.

Livery
In the early television series, the vans were painted primarily in grey or brown. Currently, they are predominantly painted cream. In Big World! Big Adventures!, some of the vans in Africa were painted green and light grey. Lei, a van in China, is painted pink with red buffer beams.

Tankers
The Tankers are used to carry a variety of liquids. Most of the tankers in the television series do not have faces. The only types to be seen with faces are the standard tankers, tar tankers, milk tankers, a fuel tanker and oil tankers.

Livery
The Oil Tankers and Tar Tankers are painted black, with their respective symbols on their sides. The Milk Tankers are painted white with "TIDMOUTH MILK" in blue lettering, from Misty Island Rescue onwards, the logo was replaced with a a circle with a picture of a cow in it colored in blue lining. In Big World! Big Adventures!, some tankers in Africa were painted dark purple.

Brake Vans
Brake Vans are railway carriages from which the train's brakes can be controlled by the guards.

In the television series, only two troublesome brake vans have being seen with one briefly appearing in the second series episode, A Close Shave and the other being the Spiteful Brake Van.

Basis
The brake van that appeared in the television series is based on a BR Standard 20 Ton Brake Van. The other brake van is an NER 20 Ton Brake Van.

Livery
Brake vans are commonly painted grey. Some are painted brown.

Personalities
Every wise engine knows trucks cannot be trusted. On railway networks in Great Britain and Sodor, trucks could be considered the rebels and the troublemakers of all rolling stock on the railway, as most of them love to cause trouble and show no remorse for whatever damage they do unless they are told off by their engine or controller that knows how to handle them. If an engine is having a bad day, makes a mistake, or is naive and easily played upon, the trucks begin their wild antics of singing, name-calling, holding back, shoving, bumping, giggling, teasing and so on. They will play tricks on an engine based on how they treat them. They are known to be the cause of many accidents and some of them are a form of revenge due to mistreatment. They are not known for their common sense; they will carry out their plans to pay back an engine or cause trouble out of boredom even if they result in derailing, damaging or in some instances, destroying themselves. Very rarely do they behave, if they ever do. They have also sometimes caused accidents without meaning too as shown in Haunted Henry where they unwittingly cause an accident after getting spooked by what they thought was a ghost.

Trucks can also be described as territorial; when they get used to certain engines pulling them, another engine in the yard to take them may cause confusion or anger for the trucks. For example, there was an occasion when Toby and Percy switched jobs, making Toby's trucks furious and causing Percy to crash. In another instance, when Oliver was to work with certain trucks, they refused for him to take them and demanded Duck or Donald or Douglas instead.

To the trucks, one engine is as good as another, as on one occasion they took their anger out on Thomas when they could not get back at James for bumping them. Another occasion was when Toby was pushed by the trucks when he took them instead of Mavis, the latter of whom had asked them to push her at the level crossing, but the trucks decided to bump him anyway.

Trucks are also shown to be somewhat manipulative and can take advantage of other engines that do not know much about them. This was shown when they tricked Bill and Ben by telling them where to put them when they said they wanted to help, only to end up causing delays when the trucks ended up all over the sidings in messy situations, making the twins late to fetch Gordon's coaches.

The only engines the trucks are known not to play tricks on are Edward, Stepney, Hiro, Rebecca and Salty as well as Toby and Mavis from the fifth series onwards. These engines have their ways of necessary sternness and knowledge of how to properly discipline them when they misbehave and only bump them when they deserve it. Conversely, Diesel believed that the only way to get the trucks to behave was by using violence, but this only made them behave worse, leading him to have to be taught by Hiro how to deal with the trucks' antics. Salty's way of handling trucks is singing musical tunes for them to sing along to, so as to keep their minds off of misbehaving. With Rebecca, when they tried to play tricks on her, they were instead befuddled by the end of their journey with her as she went along with their antics instead of letting them get to her. In fact, she even looked forward to taking them again. Additionally, the trucks are hesitant to play tricks on Peter Sam due to his friendly nature, though some once crashed into him on the Incline when they mistook him for Sir Handel, who often bumps them regardless whether or not they behave.

They are also afraid of Donald and Douglas after the latter crushed the Spiteful Brake Van to pieces and Oliver since he pulled a privately owned truck called S.C. Ruffey - who was also their leader - apart. Although they were all accidents, the trucks were never told that and since these incidents, they always keep in mind never to play tricks on those engines out of fear of being pulled or pushed to pieces.

There have, however, been some cases where the trucks and engines are on the same side, such as when Diesel was given a third chance on Sodor, but the trucks tricked him into misbehaving and getting sent away again. They also asked Percy to help move them away from Bulstrode, only to end up in his hull and damage him, resulting in him being sent to a beach. The trucks are also capable of realizing when they have gone too far, as they never seem to want to harm any passengers.

However, in other countries around the world, there are trucks that are shown to act very differently than the ones on Sodor, being very polite and even helpful to the engines instead of causing trouble. Like their Sodor counterparts, these trucks sing songs for their enjoyment but do so for the engines that pull them to enjoy rather than to tease them.

Appearances
Television Series= {{Scroll box|

Thomas & Friends

 * Series 1 - Thomas and Gordon, Edward and Gordon, Edward, Gordon and Henry , Thomas and the Trucks, Thomas and the Breakdown Train, James and the Coaches , Troublesome Trucks, James and the Express , Thomas, Terence and the Snow , Percy Runs Away, The Flying Kipper, Thomas in Trouble , Dirty Objects and Down the Mine
 * Series 2 - Thomas, Percy and the Coal, Cows, Old Iron, Saved from Scrap , Duck Takes Charge , Percy and Harold, Percy Takes the Plunge, Pop Goes the Diesel, Dirty Work, A Close Shave, Break Van, Percy's Predicament, Woolly Bear and Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree
 * Series 3 - A Scarf for Percy, Percy's Promise , Gordon and the Famous Visitor, Thomas Gets Bumped , Diesel Does it Again, The Trouble with Mud , No Joke for James , Trust Thomas, Mavis, Toby's Tightrope, One Good Turn , Oliver Owns Up, Heroes and Percy, James and the Fruitful Day
 * Series 4 - Trucks, Home at Last, Special Funnel , Train Stops Play , Toad Stands By, Special Attraction and Mind that Bike
 * Series 5 - Horrid Lorry, James and the Trouble with Trees, Bye George! , Put Upon Percy, Haunted Henry, Double Teething Troubles , Stepney Gets Lost , Oliver's Find, A Surprise for Percy, Busy Going Backwards, Duncan Gets Spooked and Snow
 * Series 6 - Salty's Secret, Harvey to the Rescue, The World's Strongest Engine, Percy's Chocolate Crunch, Buffer Bother, Edward the Very Useful Engine and Dunkin Duncan
 * Series 7 - What's the Matter with Henry?, The Spotless Record and Something Fishy
 * Series 8 - Percy's New Whistle, James Gets a New Coat, Thomas Saves the Day , Thomas, Emily and the Snowplough , Emily's New Route, Thomas and the Firework Display , and Fish
 * Series 9 - Emily Knows Best, Thomas' Day Off, Thomas' New Trucks, and Saving Edward
 * Series 10 - Follow that Flour, The Green Controller, Wharf and Peace and Missing Trucks
 * Series 11 - Dirty Work and Hector the Horrid!
 * Series 12 - James Works it Out, Percy and the Bandstand and Don't Go Back
 * Series 13 - Splish Splash Splosh
 * Series 16 - Ho Ho Snowman, Thomas Toots the Crows, Percy and the Calliope, Thomas and the Sounds of Sodor and Sodor Surprise Day
 * Series 17 - Not Now, Charlie!, Bill or Ben? , The Smelly Kipper and No More Mr. Nice Engine
 * Series 18 - Thomas the Quarry Engine and Missing Gator
 * Series 19 - Who's Geoffrey?, The Truth About Toby, Salty All At Sea, Den and Dart, The Other Side of the Mountain and Diesel's Ghostly Christmas
 * Series 20 - Henry Gets the Express, Diesel and the Ducklings, Bradford the Brake Van and Henry in the Dark
 * Series 21 - Philip's Number, The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor and Daisy's Perfect Christmas
 * Series 22 - What Rebecca Does, An Engine of Many Colours , Apology Impossible and Runaway Truck
 * Series 23 - Crowning Around, Chucklesome Trucks, Steam Team to the Rescue and Rangers of the Rails
 * Series 24 - World of Tomorrow, Shankar's Makeover and Gordon and Rebecca, Coming Through!

Specials

 * 1992 - Thomas and the U.K. Trip
 * 2000 - Thomas and the Magic Railroad
 * 2008 - The Great Discovery
 * 2013 - King of the Railway
 * 2014 - Tale of the Brave
 * 2015 - The Adventure Begins
 * 2017 - Journey Beyond Sodor
 * 2018 - Big World! Big Adventures!

Music Videos

 * Series 3 - Thomas' Anthem and I'm Thomas the Tank Engine
 * Series 4 - Thomas' Anthem Grand Finale, Gone Fishing, Toby, Don't Judge a Book by its Cover, Really Useful Engine and Thomas' Christmas Song
 * Series 5 - Accidents Will Happen, Every Cloud has a Silver Lining, It's Great to be an Engine, Sir Topham Hatt and Come for the Ride
 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad - Really Useful Engine
 * Series 6 - Little Engines, Down by the Docks, Boo! Boo! Choo-Choo and Never, Never, Never Give Up
 * Series 7 - Troublesome Trucks and Salty
 * Jack and the Sodor Construction Company - The Work Song
 * Series 8 - Emily and Determination
 * Calling All Engines - Trying and Together
 * Series 9 - Buffer Up and Share
 * Series 10 - There's Always Something New and Jingle Bells
 * The Great Discovery - Thomas, You're the Leader
 * King of the Railway - Working Together
 * Series 17 - On a Journey Today
 * Tale of the Brave - Let's Be Brave
 * Thomas' YouTube World Tour - Never, Never, Never Give Up, Thomas' Anthem, The Whistle Song and Rules and Regulations
 * The Adventure Begins - Troublesome Trucks
 * Series 19 - Let's Go!
 * Series 20 - James the Really Splendid Engine and Accidents Will Happen
 * Journey Beyond Sodor - Somebody Has to be the Favourite and Who's Thomas?
 * Series 21 - Doing it Right, Trying and Little Engines
 * Big World! Big Adventures! - Wake Up, Enda Ulale and Free and Easy
 * Series 22 - All the Girls Around the World
 * Series 24 - How Does it Work?
 * Nursery Rhymes - The Wheels on the Train

Learning Segments

 * Series 8 - Truck Trouble
 * Series 10 - Help From Your Friends

DVD Games

 * Series 9 - Sir Topham Hatt's Helping Hand and Percy's Favorite Things

Videos

 * 2018 - Meet the New Steam Team and Why is Africa Important to Nia?
 * 2019 - Meet Rebecca and Meet Nia

Storytime
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 * Series 1 - Big World! Big Adventures!, The Story of Diesel the Diesel Engine and Who's Geoffrey?

Trivia

 * The Troublesome Trucks are the first official antagonists to be introduced in the entire franchise.
 * Trucks are usually unnamed; however, those that are privately owned tend to take on the name of their owner, like S.C. Ruffey, Fred Pelhay, Old Bennett and Old-King Coal. Hector and Lei are exceptions to this, being the only trucks with their own names. The ERTL character cards named two trucks, Naughty and Troublesome. The Wooden Railway range introduced a teal truck called Rickety.
 * From the sixth series onwards in the US, the term "truck" is used more often. In more recent series, however, the US has been more consistent in using the term "car", unless referring to the Troublesome Trucks.
 * The audio clip of the trucks laughing heard from the second through seventh series is actually Junior Campbell and Mike O'Donnell's laughing sound in a higher-pitch, as is the clip of the trucks singing their songs, "Pop Goes the Diesel" and "Pop Goes Old Ollie". However, Junior did both their laughing and singing voices while Mike only did their laughing voices.
 * In the first series, the Troublesome Trucks had paper eyes and a paper mouth similar to how Annie and Clarabel's were made. No other emotions besides an angry expression were able to be used until the following series when they were given face masks to present a greater variety of facial expressions.
 * Some face masks of S.C. Ruffey, Toad, Bulstrode and The Spiteful Brake Van have been seen on the trucks.
 * In the second series episode, A Close Shave, a brake van is seen with a troublesome truck's face.
 * Eight original Troublesome Truck face masks along with several truck models that were used on-screen are now owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. Another Troublesome Truck face mask is owned by Twitter user IsaacM6991, as well as Twitter user TomProps.
 * From the first to the fifth series, the wagons and Troublesome Trucks used in the television series were made out of vaccuformed plastic Tenmille gauge 1 kits.
 * The Capsule Plarail toys are repainted from JNR Tora55000-type's toys.