Proteus/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
Proteus is a fictional narrow gauge saddletank locomotive created by Sharon Miller.

In 2005, Proteus was introduced in the ninth series of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. He had a minor role and no dialogue in the episode, The Magic Lamp.

In 2008, Proteus was later mentioned in the twelfth series episode, Mountain Marvel. A bronze statue of the character appears.

In 2021, Proteus was voiced by Keith Wickham in the podcast series, Thomas & Friends Storytime. Keith Wickham gives Proteus a Welsh accent, similar to Skarloey and Glynn, reflecting his basis' origins.

The name Proteus occurs in Greek Mythology: Proteus was a water-god known as the "Old Man of the Sea". It is likely the character was named after Proteus, the legendary sea-god.

Like Sir Handel, Proteus is based on the Talyllyn Railway No.3 locomotive, Sir Haydn. The locomotive was briefly seen sporting a mustard yellow livery similar to Proteus' own in 1958.

O gauge model (Large scale)
For ease of filming and reliability, the fifth series introduced larger scale versions of the narrow gauge engines and rolling stock. From the sixth to twelfth series, these larger models were used almost exclusively. Proteus's model was recycled from Sir Handel and Peter Sam's large scale models. This model was built to a larger scale than the gauge 1 engines and ran on O gauge track. It was close to 16mm scale, but slightly larger.

Despite the fact that Sir Handel returned in the tenth series, the large scale model first appeared in the ninth series as Proteus. Sir Handel's chassis was not built at the time, so Proteus reused Peter Sam's chassis, as green edges can be seen underneath Proteus' bufferbeam and cylinder and the cylinders are significantly larger than Sir Handel's.

Proteus was only ever depicted with one happy face-mask. The face was first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould. A cast of this face later was used for Proteus' Statue.

Proteus' signature lamp was placed above his smokebox and face. It is powered by a hidden battery pack, and wires can be seen alongside his body facing away from the camera.

The model was made from brass. The wheels and chassis were custom machined (CNC). The model was track powered, so pickup contacts were attached to the metal wheels, which ran into the motor to power it. The electricity ran from the track to the wheels/pickup contacts and went into the motor to power him. The model was also fitted with a smoke unit.

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.

After Proteus' scenes were filmed, the chassis was refitted back onto Peter Sam. After the events of the ninth series, the model was repainted into Sir Handel. These models are now currently on display in the Hara Model Railway Museum in Japan.

Proteus' statue
A bronze statue of Proteus was made for production of the twelfth series. The statue appears to be a resin cast of Sir Handel's model and Proteus' facemask.

It is placed on a bronze cast of track and a rectangular box to resemble concrete with a bronze plaque of the character's name.

As the statue is a resin cast of Sir Handel, it is missing his signature lamp and the cylinders and wheels are smaller compared to Proteus' original model. It is also missing additional siderod pieces.

Voice Actors

 * Keith Wickham