Percy (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Thomas & Friends
Percy is a fictional standard gauge saddle tank locomotive created by the Rev. W. Awdry. He is the No. 6 engine on the North Western Railway.

Percy first appeared in the first series episode Trouble in the Shed, which first aired in 1984. His last appearance was in the twenty-fourth series episode Thomas' Animal Friends, which was released in 2021.

In the Thomas & Friends, Percy is described as Thomas' best friend and is also one of the deuteragonists of the series, along with James.

Voice
Originally to be voiced by Michael Angelis in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, American test audiences claimed that he made Percy sound "too old". Linda Ballantyne voiced him in the final cut, giving Percy a faint British accent. Keith Wickham would later take over as Percy in the UK and Martin Sherman in the US, the former giving Percy a British accent and the latter American. Nigel Pilkington and Christopher Ragland would later take over their roles in 2015, giving Percy a British and American accent in their respective English dubs. As another note, Ragland and Pilkington's performances gave Percy a higher and softer voice, most likely to further distinguish him from Thomas, whose voice became bolder in pitch.

"Youngest" Engine?
Percy is the smallest member of the main group of engines, and is often described as the youngest or a junior member of the railway. Despite all this, in the original Railway Series, his exact build date is unknown.

Gauge 1 models
Percy's original model was custom built with a plastic body shell and used a Märklin locomotive as a donor for the chassis and various parts. It was painted using automotive paint and lined with red automotive pinstripe tape with the numbers being custom cut vinyl stickers. The model's boiler retained the "caterpillar" shape from C. Reginald Dalby's illustrations.

Percy's chassis was sourced from a gauge 1 locomotive made by Märklin, the BR 80. When he was first built, his front buffer beam was sourced from the tender of the BR 38, which was also the source of his toolboxes, but during the filming of series 1 this was changed to a BR 55 tender beam. This may have been due to an accident on set while filming but it is difficult to tell exactly when it was replaced due to the out-of-sequence method the series was shot in. His rear buffer beam was the rear beam from the BR 78 and was not replaced at the same time as his front beam.

Percy shared his spring design with Edward and James but only used the very top of the box and the whole spring with end attachments that were removed for Edward and James. The source of these parts has not yet been matched with any pre-made model or kit, they may have been scratch built.

Percy's plastic model was originally AC powered as this is how the Märklin locomotives were powered. During a refurbishment his AC motor was replaced by a DC motor to allow for easier running and maintenance.

During the production of the second series episode, Percy and the Signal, Percy's model fell off the filming set, resulting in damage to both his left cylinder and centre lamp iron. While his centre lamp iron was quickly repaired with glue, his left cylinder kept wobbling up and down in various episodes, until both were properly fixed in the third series. However, the cylinder's repair became undone in the fifth series and can be visible in some episodes, specifically Toby and the Flood and A Surprise for Percy. Eventually, during the production of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, the model's cylinder was fully repaired.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up and 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 eyeballs would move however the crew member desired.

Model Changes
Percy's gauge 1 models have gone through several aesthetic changes in the television series:
 * Series 1 (only):
 * The left side of his chassis had parts that hid the gears.
 * Halfway through the series, his front buffer beam was replaced with a BR 55 tender beam.
 * Series 2 (only):
 * His left cylinder was loose and would shake violently when moving.
 * His centre lamp iron was heavily glued on.
 * His sidesteps became shorter.
 * Series 3:
 * His two front sandboxes were flipped around.
 * His whistle sound changed pitch halfway through the series.
 * He is painted in a slightly duller and darker shade of green.
 * Series 4:
 * His whistle sound changed back to its original pitch.
 * His smokebox was raised up.
 * One of the two black sections extending from under his smokebox to the end of the footplate is missing.
 * He is painted in a slightly lighter shade of green.
 * The ends of his crank pins were painted green.
 * Series 5:
 * He is painted in a slightly brighter shade of green.
 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad:
 * He gained a permanent lamp.
 * His paint was given a matte finish.
 * His whistle sound changed and shared it with Henry.
 * He gained a smokebox saddle underneath his smokebox (both plastic and brass models).
 * His smokebox saddle is painted green (plastic model)
 * The lining on his pistons was moved slightly inwards.
 * His eyebrows changed shape.
 * His cab doors are open.
 * His cab doors became wider (both plastic and brass models).
 * His coupling rod bolts became silver again.
 * The rivet detail on his front buffer beam disappeared (brass model).
 * Series 6:
 * His cab was blacked out (except for cab shots filmed on a close-up model).
 * He regained his original whistle sound.
 * The ends of his crank pins were painted green again.
 * His smokebox saddle color changed from green to black (plastic model)
 * His counterweights disappeared (plastic model)
 * Series 10:
 * His buffer housings became rounder (S10 brass models)
 * He gained brake pipe outlets (S10 brass models)
 * His saddle tank was lowered (S10 brass models)
 * His lamp became smaller (S10 brass models)
 * Chassis with counterweights and without were swapped around (TATMR and S10 brass models)
 * His front sandboxes became level too his rear sandboxes (S10 brass models)
 * His cab porthole windows became closer to the boiler (S10 brass models)

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 it's old age, Percy's plastic model would be disposed off, as it was no longer needed by the company since they had the brass models, which would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

Percy's Magic Railroad brass model is currently on display at the Hara Model Railway Museum in Japan. It had previously been on display at Nitrogen Studios. The model has the CNC chassis the plastic model used from the sixth series onwards. One of his tenth series brass models is currently in Mattel's storage unit in Southampton, England. The other brass model is likely in storage as well although this is unconfirmed. A spare unused number decal for Percy is currently owned by Twitter user Skarloey Railway Adventure. The brass model in storage has been discussed as a possible candidate to be put on display Drayton Manor Theme Park in 2023 by employees. Although it will not be running.

Another spare unused number decal would be listed for sale by The Prop Gallery in 2023.

Faces
Eighteen different facial expressions were sculpted for Percy, although only seventeen were used on-screen and one of which, an alternative astonished face was left unused. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. Some of Percy's faces were duplicated in case the crew needed a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting. Three of Percy's faces are now owned by Twitter and Instagram user ThomasTankMerch.

Gauge 3.5 model
During the fifth series the production team were having discussions about scaling up the models to gauge 3.5. Models of Thomas and Percy were built to this scale for testing, but the production team ended up deciding to stick with the gauge 1 models. Percy's model was used for test footage, but the footage was never used in the end.

The model was used in the twelfth series, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company and The Great Discovery.

The gauge 3.5 model has had many modifications from its gauge 1 counterpart. These include:


 * Jack and the Sodor Construction Company:
 * The footsteps on his running board are painted red.
 * His whistle is taller than his cab.
 * His dome is painted green.
 * The Great Discovery:
 * The dome was repainted gold.
 * Series 12:
 * The footsteps are repainted green.

Present Day
The model is currently on display in Japan at the Uesugi Museum with his unused happy face. It had previously been on display at Thomas Town and the Hara Model Railway Museum.

Close-up models
A close-up model of Percy was built to be used for scenes where he had to interact with the close-up scale figures. In the first series, due to budget constraints, a close-up model of Percy was not built, so Percy's whistle used the whistle from Edward's close up model placed against green vinyl, and the cab controls were reused from Thomas' close-up model.

A close-up model of Percy was eventually built in the third series. The model was made in pieces so it was able to be dismantled and reassembled when needed. Like most close-up models, Percy's model was not complete, only having a cab, coal bunker, whistle and parts of his boiler.

In the fifth series, Percy's close-up model received an overhaul, complete with a new cab exterior shell, custom cab controls and a new whistle. Sometime before or during filming of the sixth series, the sides of Percy's cab were damaged and repaired with rivets.

The close up model later appeared in the seventh, eighth, ninth and twelfth series. The prop is now currently owned by Twitter user TomsProps. Albeit in storage awaiting to be restored.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Percy was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of Percy's Thomas And The Magic Railroad brass gauge 1 model were used for referencing. According Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.

Percy has had modifications throughout the CGI era. These include:
 * Hero of the Rails:
 * His cab became open again.
 * He increased in size.
 * The counterweights on his wheels vanished as his render was based on his tenth series brass model.
 * Percy's whistle sound gained a secondary track for a harmonic echo effect.
 * Series 19:
 * His side rods became silver.
 * Series 23:
 * He gained handrails on either side of his cab entrances and across his saddle tank like in The Railway Series.
 * He gained holes on the fronts of his cylinders.
 * He gained rivets across his saddle tank, the boxes on his sides, the sides of his roof, buffer beam front and sides and around his cab entrances, smokebox, his cylinder fronts and sides.

Texture variants
In addition to his standard livery, several other texture variants exist of Percy's main CGI model. Many only appear once, however a few are reused multiple times. These texture variants include:

Pantone colours
The following pantone colours are used on Percy's CGI model:

Voice Actors

 * Michael Angelis
 * Linda Ballantyne
 * Keith Wickham
 * Nigel Pilkington
 * Martin Sherman
 * Christopher Ragland
 * Rob Rackstraw
 * Diana Santos
 * Gabriel Gama
 * Javier Olguín
 * Héctor Cuevas
 * Armando Guerrero
 * Harold Salazar
 * María Rubio
 * Carmen Gambín
 * Bruno Marçal
 * Reinder van der Naalt
 * Frank Schröder
 * Christian Stark
 * Robin Brosch
 * Achim Schülke
 * Anders Sundstedt
 * Erik Skjøld
 * Adam Fietz
 * Troells Toya
 * Taisto Oksanen
 * Szokol Peter
 * Bohuslav Kalva
 * Radovan Vaculík
 * Grzegorz Drojewski
 * Jarosław Domin
 * Olga Kuznetsova
 * Haris Grigoropoulos
 * Yehonatan Magon
 * Chisato Nakajima
 * Chie Kōjiro
 * Um Sang-hyun
 * Bang Ji-won