Daisy (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Background Information
Daisy is a fictional diesel railcar created by the Rev. W. Awdry. Daisy lives and works on the North Western Railway.

Daisy first appeared in the second series episode Daisy, which first aired in 1986. Her last appearance was in the twenty-fourth series episode Thomas and the Inventor's Workshop, which was released in 2021. In The Railway Series, Daisy's face was green to match her livery, but in the television series, she has a grey face to match the other vehicles.

Early on in the series, Daisy was considered a female stereotype by the United States because of her fluttering eyelids and long eyelashes, and they wanted her written off, according to a Series 3 behind the scenes video. Rick Siggelkow, co-creator for Shining Time Station, was hesitant to add her introduction episode and Percy's Predicament into an episode for the series as he also considered her facial design sexist. As a result, Daisy was left absent for the third series and her screen-time in the series was very seldom until she returned in CGI.

Daisy would make an appearance in the fourth series but became absent for ten years until she returned in the 2005 special Calling All Engines!, becoming absent again for ten years. It would not be until she returned in full CGI in the 2015 special, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure and has made frequent appearances until the series ended with the twenty-fourth series.

Voice
When Daisy returned in 2015, she was voiced by Teresa Gallagher in both the British English and American English dubs. The following year, Tracy-Ann Oberman took over voicing Daisy in the twentieth series, also in both English dubs. Oberman's portrayal gives Daisy a more exaggerated tone at a higher pitch, though both she and Gallagher portray her with a British accent.

Gauge 1 model
Daisy's model was custom built with a plastic body shell. It was painted using glossy car body paint and lined with yellow automotive pinstripe tape. Daisy's bufferbeam was sourced from a gauge 1 locomotive made by Märklin, the BR 80. The lamps were also sourced from Märklin. According to a concept art by David Mitton, Daisy was originally going to have pink buffers but they were changed to white to reflect her basis more.

Daisy had a custom built chassis that was shared with BoCo. The back axle carried the motor while the front was unpowered so that it could be changed between a four-wheeled bogie and a six-wheeled bogie depending on which diesel was wearing the chassis.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired.

Daisy has had modifications throughout the model era. These include:
 * Series 3:
 * She incorrectly wore BoCo's front bogie, designating the wheel arrangement as a Co-Bo instead of a Bo-Bo.
 * Series 4:
 * Her front bogie was recorrected with the Bo-Bo wheel arrangement.
 * Her horn sound changed, shared and reused BoCo's original one in Series 2.
 * Calling All Engines!:
 * She gained eyebrows.
 * Her pupils became smaller.
 * Her eyelashes were replaced with painted ones.

Present Day
After production of the model series wrapped in 2008, most of the models and sets would be put into storage, with some being put on display at Drayton Manor Theme Park. All other models would be logged and referenced in 2009 by HiT Entertainment, from this HiT would decide on which models were to enter storage once again, which would be given to crew members and which to be disposed off. Due to only having one model made in gauge 1 scale, Daisy's model would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

In early 2020, Daisy's model was on display at Drayton Manor Theme Park with her smiling face on.

Faces
Four different facial expressions were sculpted for Daisy and used on-screen. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. Additionally, three of her faces were BoCo's, only with added make-up.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Daisy was recreated from scratch in CGI by Arc Productions in 2014 for production of the 2015 special, Sodor´s Legend of the Lost Treasure. Her model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Daisy has had modifications throughout the CGI era. These include:
 * In Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure:
 * She increased slightly in height so her crew and passengers now fit through the doors.
 * She sits higher on her chassis.
 * A brake pipe at her front and back were removed and the others now face upwards.
 * Raised front bufferbeam.
 * A smaller face with make-up toned down.
 * Her body is now curved outwards on the sides.
 * Her windows gained frames.
 * She lost the small windows in front of her third pair of doors.
 * Her front and rear windows became larger.
 * Smaller headlamp.
 * Handrails have changed from gold to grey.
 * Her screw-coupling changed to a three-link coupling.
 * A gutter above the yellow lining above her windows.
 * Her bogies look more accurate to those of her basis.
 * In the twentieth series, her horn sound changed again.
 * In the twenty-first series, she received cab-interior detail and door handles.
 * However, her door handles are not always animated properly and often clip through her doors when they are opened.

Texture variants
In addition to her standard livery, a few other texture variants exist of Daisy's CGI model. These texture variants include:

Voice Actresses

 * Teresa Gallagher
 * Tracy-Ann Oberman
 * Yumi Nakatani
 * Keiko Nemoto
 * Talya Barkay
 * Agnieszka Kunikowska
 * Katarzyna Tatarak
 * Mariangela D'Amora
 * Karen Fonseca
 * Alma Naranjo
 * Nadine Schreier
 * Jenni Sivonen
 * Yu Yeong