Hong-Mei

Hong-Mei (Mandarin: 红梅) is a Chinese tank engine Thomas met during his stay in China. She has her own pair of coaches named An An and Yin-Long, whom are occasionally used by Thomas. One of her main jobs is to pull the Mail Train.

Biography
Thomas first met Hong-Mei during his passenger run after saying he was the number 1 engine. However, Hong-Mei pointed out she was China's number 1 engine and the two had a race to see who was the better number 1.

Unbeknownst to either engine, Hong-Mei spilled some of her delivery of rocks as she raced. This caused Thomas to derail on a shortcut line through the mountains. Hong-Mei came to Thomas’ rescue, revealing she took the shortcut line as well and made Thomas come off the rails with her carelessness. She pulled Thomas back onto the tracks and the two engines decided that two number 1 engines are just as good as one number 1 engine.

Later on, when she revealed to Thomas and Yong Bao that she takes the mail train in China, it made Thomas miss his best friend Percy so much due to the fact he also pulls the mail train back on Sodor.

Personality
Hong-Mei is a good-natured but cheeky tank engine from China who loves to race. She is also blue like Thomas and out to prove she's the No. 1 blue engine. Like Thomas, she can be careless and hasty at times, but always tries to make up for it. Hong-Mei is also a good sport and knows when to put competition aside for the sake of helping a friend.

Basis
Hong-Mei is based on a China Railways GJ 0-6-0T class. 122 members of this class were built and primarily saw industrial use in places such as steelworks, with some remaining into service well into the 2000s. In addition to service in China, some members of the class worked in North Korea and Vietnam. Five members of this class are preserved.

Livery
Hong-Mei is painted royal blue with yellow lining and a red stripe along each of her side tanks. Her handrails, boiler bands and cylinder lining are brass, her wheels are red with light grey rims and her number 1 is painted on the sides of her tanks in yellow.

Appearances
Thomas & Friends= {{Scroll box|

Thomas & Friends

 * Series 22 - Number One Engine, Thomas in the Wild, The Water Wheel, Runaway Truck and Thomas and the Dragon
 * Series 23 - Wish You Were Here

Music Videos

 * Series 22 - Big World! Big Adventures!, The Journey Never Ends and All the Girls Around the World
 * Series 24 - New Year's Day with Thomas

Videos
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 * 2018 - Meet Hong-Mei of China!
 * -|Other Media=

Annual Stories

 * 2019 - Thomas and the Dragon

Books

 * 2021 - Friends Around the World

Video Games

 * 2018 - Thomas & Friends: Adventures!

Official Description
2020-2021= From Official Media:

Trivia

 * Hong-Mei's name means "red plum/beauty" in Mandarin.
 * Hong-Mei is painted with 一号 (Yī hào), which means "number 1" in Mandarin, on both of her water tanks.
 * She was the last new character produced for the Adventures line before the TrackMaster Push Along redesign.
 * Hong-Mei's front end, smoke box and cylinders are modified from Rosie's with a new lamp and additional coupling rods.
 * Despite working on the Chinese Railway, Hong-Mei has been modified from her basis for use on British Railways. She has added buffers, screwlink couplings and a brake pipe on both ends. This is so that Thomas could interact with Chinese rolling stock, as the Island of Sodor has British-based railways, including the North Western Railway.
 * Hong-Mei's whistle is Stephen's, but eight steps higher-pitched. It is also Donald's current whistle, but a full octave (twelve steps) higher in pitch, and has a similar, yet faster, sound.

Videos
Hong-Mei Hong-Mei Hong-Mei הונג-מיי Hong-Mei ホンメイ Hong-Mei pt-br:Hong-Mei Хонг-Мей 红梅