Class 40 (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Background Information
In 1995, Class 40 was introduced in the fourth series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. In The Railway Series, Class 40's face was yellow, but in the television series, he has a grey face to match the other vehicles. He first appeared in the episode, Rusty to the Rescue, among the diesels at Vicarstown Goods Depot. He later appeared in the episode, Bowled Out, reprising his role from The Railway Series.

Gauge 1 model
Class 40’s model was custom built to run on Gauge 1 track. The body was made out of plastic and vacuformed over a custom body shape pattern. Once the vacuformed pattern was formed the windows and external details were added and then painted using glossy car body paint.

The chassis was constructed from scratch (CNC). It had a motor powered by electricity from the track via the pickups on the metal wheels. The buffers, coupling hook and brake pipe were made by Tenmille.

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 eyeballs were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eyeballs would move however the crew member desired.

Despite his final appearance in the fourth series, the model was refurbished during the production of the eighth series. It was, however, never used in an episode again.

Faces
Six different facial expressions were sculpted for Class 40 with a few of them being based/inspired from the illustration in last book of Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine "Bowled Out", although only five were used on-screen and one of which a cross face was left unused. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. However, Class 40's happy face would later be lost somewhere during the production of Thomas and the Magic Railroad or the sixth series.

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, Class 40's model would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

In early 2020, Class 40's Gauge 1 model was put on display at Drayton Manor Theme Park with his speechless face on. During 2021, the face fell off, and was refitted to the model sometime later. After the exhibit closed and a new layout would be constructed elsewhere in the park, the model would be returned to storage.

Fonts
The following fonts were used on Class 40's Gauge 1 model:
 * URW Transport Medium

Close-up Model
A close-up model of Class 40 was required for the fourth series episode, Bowled Out, in the scene where the inspector sees his bowler hat jammed in Class 40's air intake. The model was not complete and only the air intake was built.

Voice Actors

 * Michio Nakao