The Mail Train (T&F)

The Mail Train (also occasionally known as the Post Train in the UK dub) is a train which transports letters and parcels throughout the Island of Sodor and the Mainland. Pulling the Mail Train is noted as being one of Percy's favourite jobs. Hong-Mei pulls the mail train in China, while Thomas pulls the Sodor Mail Train when Percy is either unavailable or overworked with his deliveries.

The train commonly consists of special utility vans and a standard brake van. However, they are occasionally accompanied by open wagons and/or conflats.

Mail Vans
"I pull the mail trucks. They're red and they're wooden, and they're full of very exciting parcels!"

The Mail Vans (also known as the Sodor Mail Coaches) are rolling stock used for transporting letters and parcels throughout the railway.

These vans are utility vans that form the Mail Train, which is usually pulled by either Thomas or Percy. Oliver was once briefly transferred to the service and at times when the train is unable to run, Harold usually deputizes for it. Ryan takes a mail van from Arlesburgh West up to Harwick every morning. Percy is almost always in charge, although other engines pull them occasionally. He is also almost always seen pulling two vans, though occasionally he has pulled more (often in rakes of three when these situations occur).

Basis
The mail vans are based on the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Diagram 960 Parcels and Miscellaneous Vans (PMV), introduced in 1919. This van was designated the standard for the Southern Railway, and remained in production, updated as the Diagram 3103, until 1951, remaining in regular service until 1986, with a few surviving on departmental duties into the 1990s. These vans were used primarily for the transportation of letters and parcels. The utility vans share the same basis.

Livery
In the third series, they were reddish-orange with grey roofs. Starting in the fourth series, the mail vans were painted crimson. Beginning with the CGI Series, they gained black roofs. In the Model Series, they had "SODOR MAIL" on both sides, but was changed to an envelope with wings in the CGI Series.

Appearances
Television Series= {{Scroll box|

Thomas & Friends

 * Series 3 - Thomas, Percy and the Post Train, One Good Turn, Tender Engines, Escape and Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure
 * Series 4 - Granpuff, Sleeping Beauty, Bulldog, Rusty to the Rescue, Train Stops Play, Henry and the Elephant, Toad Stands By, Fish and Mind that Bike
 * Series 5 - Baa!, Something in the Air and Oliver's Find
 * Series 6 - A Bad Day for Harold the Helicopter, It's Only Snow, Middle Engine, Gordon Takes a Tumble and Edward the Very Useful Engine
 * Series 8 - Percy's New Whistle, Henry and the Wishing Tree, Percy's Big Mistake, Thomas and the Circus, Halloween , James Goes Too Far and Chickens to School
 * Series 9 - Percy and the Oil Painting, Respect for Gordon, Thomas and the Birthday Picnic, Emily Knows Best and Thomas' Day Off
 * Series 10 - Toby's New Shed, Thomas' Frosty Friend and Thomas and the Birthday Mail
 * Series 11 - Thomas and the Spaceship, Thomas Sets Sail, Don't be Silly, Billy, Edward and the Mail and Thomas in Trouble
 * Series 12 - Thomas and the Billboard, Henry Gets it Wrong, Toby's Special Surprise and Best Friends
 * Series 13 - Creaky Cranky, The Early Bird, Play Time, Thomas and the Runaway Kite, The Biggest Present of All, Buzzy Bees and Hiro Helps Out
 * Series 14 - Pingy Pongy Pick Up, Toby and the Whistling Woods, Diesel's Special Delivery, Thomas in Charge, Being Percy, Merry Winter Wish and Thomas and Scruff
 * Series 15 - Edward the Hero, Happy Hiro, Stop That Bus! and Big Belle
 * Series 16 - Ol' Wheezy Wobbles, Express Coming Through, Flash Bang Wallop!, Bust My Buffers!, Thomas and the Sounds of Sodor, Sodor Surprise Day, Emily's Winter Party Special, Whiff's Wish and Welcome Stafford
 * Series 17 - Scruff's Makeover, Wayward Winston, Calm Down Caitlin, Not Now, Charlie!, The Phantom Express, Percy's Lucky Day and The Smelly Kipper
 * Series 18 - Signals Crossed, Missing Gator, Toad's Bright Idea and The Perfect Gift
 * Series 19 - Snow Place Like Home, Toad and the Whale, Very Important Sheep, Salty All at Sea, Helping Hiro and Goodbye Fat Controller
 * Series 20 - Bradford the Brake Van, Ryan and Daisy, Pouty James, Letters to Santa, All in Vain, Henry in the Dark and Three Steam Engines Gruff
 * Series 21 - The Big Freeze
 * Series 22 - Rosie is Red
 * Series 23 - Wish You Were Here
 * Series 24 - Thomas and the Royal Engine, The Great Little Railway Show, A New Arrival, Sonny's Second Chance, Thomas and the Inventor's Workshop, Kenji on the Rails Again and Thomas' Animal Friends
 * Other - Thomas & Friends in 4-D: Bubbling Boilers

Specials

 * 2000 - Thomas and the Magic Railroad
 * 2009 - Hero of the Rails
 * 2011 - Day of the Diesels
 * 2014 - Tale of the Brave
 * 2017 - Journey Beyond Sodor

Music Videos

 * Series 3 - Thomas' Anthem
 * Series 4 - The Island Song
 * Series 5 - Night Train, Every Cloud has a Silver Lining, The Snow Song, Donald's Duck and Come for the Ride
 * Series 6 - Little Engines, Down by the Docks and Winter Wonderland
 * Series 7 - The Whistle Song
 * Series 8 - A World Around You and Engine Roll Call
 * Calling All Engines! - Busy and The Dream Song
 * Series 9 - Day and Night, Party Time, Pride and Buffer Up and Share
 * Jack and the Sodor Construction Company - The Work Song and One Friendly Family
 * Series 10 - H is for Harold, There's Always Something New, Strength and Engine Roll Call
 * Series 11 - Engine Roll Call
 * Series 12 - Engine Roll Call
 * Hero of the Rails - Go, Go Thomas
 * Series 13 - Roll Along, Thomas, You're the Leader, Sounds, Determination and Engine Roll Call
 * Series 15 - Hear the Engines Coming
 * Series 16 - Thomas and Percy and Go, Go Thomas
 * Series 17 - Hey, Hey Thomas!
 * Tale of the Brave - Monsters Everywhere, Tale of the Brave and Let's Be Brave
 * Series 18 - It's Christmas Time and The Best Friends Express
 * Thomas' YouTube World Tour - A World Around You, Navigation, Never, Never, Never Give Up, The Whistle Song, Night Train, Rules and Regulations and That's What Friends are For
 * Series 19 - Engine Roll Call
 * Series 20 - It's Halloween
 * Series 21 - Doing it Right and Little Engines
 * Series 22 - Engine Roll Call and The Steam Team
 * Series 24 - Fall is So Much Fun
 * Nursery Rhymes- Percy!, Chuff, Chuff, Chuff Along and Another Day on Sodor

Learning Segments

 * Series 9 - Which Engine with Which Job? and Knowing What to do?
 * Series 10 - Who Will Percy See?, Toby's Favourite Place and Happy or Sad?

Videos
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 * 2019 - Meet Percy
 * -|Other Media=

Magazine Stories

 * 2000 - Lucky to be Lost!
 * 2003 - Where's Wag?
 * 2005 - Where's Wag?

Trivia

 * All the mail van models used to be on display at Drayton Manor. One used to be on display in Canada at Nitrogen Studios and two were removed in 2020 and displayed at the second Clearwater Event in 2022.
 * From the third to fifth series, the mail vans were made out of Tenmille Gauge 1 Utility van kits. From Thomas and the Magic Railroad to the twelfth series, they were scratch built.
 * In the third and fourth series, two separate trains were pulled by Thomas and Percy as the load was too heavy for one engine to do the work alone. However, following the fifth series, it seems that the workload has gotten lighter over time as Percy has been seen carrying the mail all by himself with Thomas substituting for him whenever he is not available.
 * The mail vans have gone through a couple of modifications over the years:
 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad:
 * Their roofs became slightly larger.
 * Their bufferbeams are lowered.
 * They became slightly taller.
 * Their liveries became slightly darker.
 * The words "Sodor" and "Mail" was shifted slightly towards the centre, so the words fit completely on the doors.
 * Hero of the Rails:
 * Their "Sodor Mail" logos were replaced with envelopes with wings.
 * Series 22:
 * The black metal borders at either end of the vans are painted red and gain a wooden texture to match the main bodywork.
 * The Capsule Plarail toys are repainted from JNR Coach's toys.
 * An unused Mail Van Interior was made during production of Series 3.
 * The Wooden Railway toys of the mail vans were among the toys that were part of the lead paint crisis in 2005.

Merchandise

 * ERTL
 * Wooden Railway
 * Take-n-Play
 * Bachmann
 * Motor Road and Rail
 * TrackMaster
 * Motorized
 * Motorized Railway
 * Take Along
 * Collectible Railway
 * Adventures
 * Hornby
 * Tomix
 * Capsule Plarail
 * Thomas Engine Collection Series
 * Pocket Fantasy
 * Nakayoshi
 * Choro-Q
 * Mega Bloks

Plank Trucks
These trucks are special 7-Plank Trucks that are occasionally used as part of the Mail Train. These trucks have been pulled by Edward and Percy. James once helped Edward deliver these trucks containing presents from Brendam Docks to Knapford.

Basis
These trucks are based on 7-plank trucks.

Livery
These trucks are painted crimson with black frames. Their Take Along toys, depict them with "SODOR MAIL" on both sides.

Appearances
Television Series=

Thomas & Friends

 * Series 3 - Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure
 * Series 9 - Keeping Up with James
 * Series 10 - Thomas and the Birthday Mail
 * Series 11 - Edward and the Mail
 * Series 12 - Percy and the Bandstand

Merchandise

 * Take Along
 * TrackMaster

Travelling Post Office Vans
The Travelling Post Office Vans are specialised vans with nets to catch mail bags from lineside posts.

Basis
The vans are based on London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Royal Mail Travelling Post Office Vans.

Livery
The TPO vans are red with two yellow stripes along the sides. They have black ends and light grey roofs.

Appearances
Other Media=

Magazine stories

 * 1993 - Standing Still!
 * 1994 - The Strange Sighting! and Rolling Along!

Merchandise

 * Hornby