Diesel 40125

"I hope it's cold tonight and he can't start in the morning. At least someone might want to preserve us. Who'd need him? Old Stuck-Up!"

- James, James and the Diesel Engines

Diesel 40125, nicknamed "Old Stuck-Up" is a diesel engine who once visited the North Western Railway on loan from British Railways.

The Railway Series
BoCo was to show Old Stuck-Up around, but when he saw steam engines in the shed he refused to go further and insulted the railway for keeping them in service. An angry BoCo left him outside while he went inside the shed himself, and a furious James nicknamed him "Old Stuck-Up".

The next day, Old Stuck-Up was about to leave when he remembered that he needed refuelling. He attempted to use BoCo and Bear's part of the shed to be refuelled and cleaned, but slid on the oily tracks and crashed into the back of the shed. He was sent home in disgrace after being talked to severely by The Fat Controller; BoCo noted that while he could not hear everything, he did not think it sounded particularly polite.

Personality
Old Stuck-Up is pompous, rude and arrogant like a lot of unfriendly diesels, and believes that steam power is inferior to diesel power while also being highly stubborn as he refused to go further into the shed where the steam engines rest. He soon made himself an enemy of the steam engines, particularly James who christened the nickname "Old Stuck-Up". BoCo, who was showing the diesel round, lost patience with him. In addition, he is described as being "particularly haughty" by the author.

In Sodor: Reading Between the Lines the author suggests it's safe to say, that unlike other previous visiting engines, Old Stuck-Up made himself very unpleasant and did not enjoy his visit to the Island of Sodor. Although, he had no-one other than himself to blame.

Basis
Old Stuck-Up is based on a British Rail (BR) Class 40 1Co-Co1 diesel-electric engine. Two-hundred members of this class were built from 1958 to 1962, and the last is withdrawn in 1985. They were given the nickname "Whistlers" because of the strange whistling noise their engines would make. Seven Class 40s are preserved at the National Railway Museum including D200, the first Class 40 ever built.

D782 and Class 40 are also based on BR Class 40s, hence the latter's name.

Unlike most diesel engines in The Railway Series besides BoCo, Old Stuck-Up's number is not fictional. The real 40125 was built in December 1960 as D325 in BR Deep Bronze green and was the first member of the class built with "split" headcode boxes before later being repainted into BR Blue at some point. It was withdrawn from service in May 1981 and scrapped at Swindon Works in December 1983. So it's most likely that Old Stuck-Up was scrapped as well.

Livery
Old Stuck-Up is painted in the BR Rail Blue livery. He has yellow warning panels on his front and back end. His number (40125) is painted on the sides of his cabs in white. His rooftop is painted dark grey. His buffer beams are painted red with dark grey buffers.

Appearances
Railway Series=

The Railway Series

 * James and the Diesel Engines - Old Stuck-Up

Companion Volumes

 * 2005 - Sodor: Reading Between the Lines
 * 2007 - Thomas the Tank Engine: The New Collection

Trivia

 * The events of the story "Old Stuck-Up" from The Railway Series book, James and the Diesel Engines took place in the winter of 1983-84. The actual 40125 was withdrawn from service in May 1981 and scrapped in December 1983.
 * In the fourth illustration of "Old Stuck-Up", Old Stuck-Up is incorrectly seen in a lighter shade of blue.
 * Unlike most diesels from British Railways, Old Stuck-Up does not have a BR crest or logo on his sides.
 * Old Stuck-Up's accident was based on a real event that happened to an LNER A4 Pacific.