Jack/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
Jack is a fictional front loader created by Phil Fehrle. He was created to be the lead character in the spin-off series, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company.

In 2002, Jack made his debut in the sixth series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends in the episode, Jack Jumps In, before appearing in Jack and the Sodor Construction Company in 2006. He got absent for 3 years and got absent again in 2007. He later appeared in the twelfth series and the special, The Great Discovery.

When the show transitioned into full CGI in 2009, Jack was absent for four years and he was absent in 2014, 2018 and 2020. He later returned in the 2013 special, King of the Railway.

Since his return in 2013, Jack has been voiced by Steven Kynman in the British English dub and David Menkin in the American English dub. Kynman portrays Jack with a high-pitched British accent, while Menkin gives him a deeper American accent. The latter is reminiscent of Scoop from Bob the Builder, who is also a backhoe loader and voiced by Menkin (unlike Jack, however, Scoop retains his rear backhoe arm throughout all of his appearances in fiction).

Live-action model
Jack's model was custom built by the model maker, Dave Poole. The model's chassis was built out of brass and the top was built out of plastic to keep the weight down. A small flat fan was built underneath the chassis to cause the dirt to be kicked up. The model was painted in a matte finish and the numbers were custom stickers.

There were three remotes built to control Jack, one was used to control his movement, one was used to operate his bucket, and one was used to move his eyes.

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

Jack's model is currently in Mattel's storage unit in Southampton England.

CGI Model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Jack was recreated from scratch in CGI by Arc Productions in 2012 for production of the 2013 special, King of the Railway. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

When Jack was recreated in CGI, his face changed shape. According to railway consultant Sam Wilkinson, this was actually an error by Nitrogen Studios (contrary to a statement from SiF) that no one had noticed until he joined the production team and pointed it out, but it was too late for a correction to be made by then.

Jack has had a few modifications throughout the CGI era. These include:
 * King of the Railway:
 * He gained hydraulics.
 * His exhaust pipe became taller and gained holes on the sides, as well as a handle.
 * He decreased in size.
 * His face changed from round to square.
 * His rear wheel wells were moved back.
 * The tread patterns on his tyres changed slightly.
 * The colour of his alloys also changed from cream to grey.
 * His roof became completely orange.
 * His number increased in size.
 * His bucket increased in size.
 * The colour of his cab changed from cream to white.

Voice Actors

 * Steven Kynman
 * David Menkin
 * Tim Kreuer
 * Daniel Schütter
 * Joachim Kretzer
 * Naomi Shindō
 * Hideki Nakanishi
 * Keiko Nemoto
 * Artur Pontek
 * Yannick Blivet
 * Gilan Shachaf
 * Paul Disbergen
 * Scott Maurstad
 * Nacho Rodríguez
 * Óscar Rangel
 * Mariano García
 * Miguel Ángel Poison
 * Jos Gómez
 * Joonathan Kettunen
 * Vitor Mello
 * Alexander Kotov
 * Daniil Eldarov
 * Prokhor Chekhovskoy