British Railways Steam Engines

In the Railway Series, many foreign engines from British Railways have made appearances.

Percy's Friends
These four tank engines are friends with Percy. He once met them at Barrow-in-Furness and told them of the time he braved a flood to help Thomas. However, Henry came along and ordered them to go away, saying they didn't belong in a shed for The Fat Controller's engines.

Personality
These engines were fond of Percy and idolized him. They were entertained by his adventures on the North Western Railway. Whereas, Henry found them to be a nuisance and referred to them as "silly things".

Following the decline of steam on the Mainland, Percy expressed such sorrow and sympathy for these engines to Douglas.

Basis
It is currently unknown what classes Percy's friends are, however it is likely they are all based on ex-LMS tank engines allocated to Barrow-in-Furness. At the time there were only four 0-6-0T's allocated to Barrow-in-Furness, these were all Fowler 3F's; 47287, 47322, 47323 & 47605.

Livery
Percy's friends are painted in the British Railways' unlined black livery.

Appearance
Railway Series=

The Railway Series

 * The Eight Famous Engines - Percy Takes the Plunge

Companion Volumes

 * 1987 - The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways
 * 1996 - Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection

Trivia

 * Their roles in the Thomas & Friends adaption of Percy Takes the Plunge were replaced with Bill and Ben. However, in production notes for said episode, Donald and Douglas were also noted for possible use for Percy's friends.
 * Jinty and Pug are the few named examples of Percy's friends, although they weren't illustrated in the particular story.

The Derailed Engine
In the 1950s, Gordon would stop at Barrow-in-Furness with the Express and an engine from the Other Railway would take the train on to London. One day in 1956, the engine pulling the express that day rolled over while coming out of the yard, blocking the line and with permission from the Fat Controller, Gordon took the train on to London.

Basis
The engine's basis is currently unknown.

Livery
The engine is painted in British Railways' Deep Bronze green livery with orange and black lining and has white buffers.

Appearances
Railway Series=

The Railway Series

 * The Eight Famous Engines - Gordon Goes Foreign

Companion Volumes

 * 1996 - Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection
 * -|Television Series=

Videos

 * Mr. Perkins Storytime - Gordon Goes Foreign

Trivia

 * This engine was given a face when they were illustrated by Loraine Marshall.

Jinty and Pug's Companions
These engines came to Sodor with Jinty and Pug to run the line while Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby and Duck were on display in England.

Personalities
These engines kindly came from the Other Railway to volunteer for the Sodor engines while they were away. When the Sodor engines returned, the passengers were quoted saying "those others did their best, but they don't know our ways. Nothing anywhere can compare to our Fat Controller's Engines".

Basis
It is unknown what classes these engines are based off of. However, the three engines seen in a revised illustration by Loraine Marshall made for Mr. Perkins' Storytime and Postcards seem to resemble (from left to right), a BR Standard Class 2MT 2-6-0, LMS Stanier Black 5 4-6-0, and a LMS Stanier Jubilee 4-6-0.

Concerning that engines of these types in real life were allocated to Barrow-in-Furness, nearby Carlisle, specifically Carlisle Kingmoor and Carlisle Upperby, and Carnforth  around 1956, when the events of The Eight Famous Engines is supposed to take place, it would make sense if some of these engines would've been among those that came with Jinty and Pug to Sodor during that time.

Livery
These engines appear to be painted in British Railways' Deep Bronze green livery with orange and black lining and British Railways' black liveries.

Appearances
Railway Series=

The Railway Series

 * The Eight Famous Engines - The Fat Controller's Engines

Companion Volumes

 * 1996 - Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection
 * -|Television Series=

Videos

 * Mr. Perkins Storytime - Sir Topham Hatt's Engines

Trivia

 * Their roles in the fourth series of Thomas & Friends episode, Thomas and the Special Letter were replaced with Bill, Ben, BoCo, Mavis, Oliver, Donald and Douglas.
 * Although only two engines are visible in the original illustration, the text indicates that five engines visited, alongside Jinty and Pug.

Other Foreign Engines
While Henry was pulling the Flying Kipper, a goods train had pulled into a siding to let the Flying Kipper pass and the engine's crew were enjoying cocoa in the brake van. However, when the crew noticed that it was nearly time for Henry to pass by, they left to return to their engine. Their escape happened just in time, as Henry came flying down the siding at full speed and unable to stop, collided straight into the train, and caused a massive wreck which derailed the brakevan and launched the guard out and into the snow. The crash also caused Henry to derail, and he was damaged so badly that he had to be completely rebuilt.

Engines from the Other Railway would sometimes visit Sodor and pulled their trains to Tidmouth. They would spend the night at Tidmouth Sheds and return home the following day. Gordon and Duck once had an argument with one of these engines.

When Duck was sent to work at Wellsworth, he often worked as a banker, by helping foreign engines with their trains up Gordon's Hill. One day, he bravely stopped one of these engines' runaway goods train. In addition, Duck almost collided with another foreign engine pulling a passenger train at Crosby.

Basis
The basis for these engines are unknown, as two of these engines were unseen and the third was only shown from a distance.

Appearances
Railway Series=

The Railway Series

 * Henry the Green Engine - The Flying Kipper
 * The Eight Famous Engines - Gordon Goes Foreign
 * Duck and the Diesel Engine - A Close Shave

Companion Volumes

 * 1996 - Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection
 * -|Television Series=

Thomas & Friends

 * Series 4 - Rusty to the Rescue

Videos

 * Mr. Perkins Storytime - Gordon Goes Foreign and The Flying Kipper

Trivia

 * The engines featured in A Close Shave were replaced with Edward and James respectively in the Thomas & Friends adaptation of the episode. The latter also replaced the engine in The Flying Kipper for the TV series adaption.