Bear/Behind the Scenes

The Railway Series
Bear is a fictional standard gauge diesel created by the Rev. W. Awdry. Before joining the North Western Railway, he was originally known as D7101 and worked for British Railways.

He first appeared in The Railway Series book, Enterprising Engines, which was published in 1968. His last illustrated appearance was in James and the Diesel Engines, published in 1984. However, he was last mentioned in Sodor: Reading Between the Lines, published in 2005.

Front of Bear:

Television Series
In 1992, three stories from Enterprising Engines were adapted into two episodes for the third series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. However, due to budgetary constraints, Bear's introductory story, Super Rescue, was not adapted for television.

Bear was created for the Thomas & Friends merchandise ranges, ERTL and Hornby. He was depicted in his BR blue livery and marketed as "Diesel D7101". In addition, he had one face and a headcode reading "AC 47" on his rear cab.

In a 2015 interview with Sodor Island Fansite (SiF), railway consultant Sam Wilkinson expressed his interest to introduce Bear into the CGI Series, however this never came to fruition.

Awdry's Model
Awdry had a Hornby Railways Class 35 model that was used as illustrators' reference. The model was unmodified, painted in BR Blue, and had the number D7063 as purchased. Unlike the BoCo model, which was also unmodified, this was not specifically identified by Awdry as Bear with writing on the box. The model is currently in the Awdry Study at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Tywyn, Wales.