Terence (T&F)

"What ugly wheels you've got." "They're not ugly, they're caterpillars. I can go anywhere; I don't need rails."

- Thomas and Terence meet for the first time Terence is an orange caterpillar tractor who usually works near Thomas' Branch Line. He is owned and driven by Farmer Finney.

Biography
As in the Railway Series, Terence rescued Thomas when he got stuck in the snow. He later helped Mrs. Kyndley when her house was snowed up and looked after it when she went with the engines to a Christmas Party. In the second series, Terence befriended Duck while Thomas was at the works and attended the Christmas Party at Tidmouth.

When a storm destroyed much of the forest, Terence helped with the planting of new trees and assured Henry that the forest would look better than ever before. Later, when Bertie got stuck in the mud at the Vicar of Wellsworth's party, Terence used strong ropes to pull him out. During the winter, when villagers were stranded by snow, Terence helped them by ploughing the snow away.

In the fifth series, he warned James about the damage that trees can do and reminded Percy that Mrs. Kyndley's daughter was to get married. He was also seen working at Boulder Quarry.

In the sixth series, he helped clear away fallen rock on the line which had derailed Thomas and almost Toby. He was later seen ploughing in a field when Duncan lost his whistle trying to surprise him.

In the seventh series, he helped clear away a tree that had fallen on the line and pulled Elizabeth out of the snow.

In The Great Discovery, when Thomas went missing, Terence helped with the search for him and once Thomas was found, Terence along with Trevor informed Harvey of the news.

Once, when Terence was collecting Christmas trees for the holiday market, Thomas had requested a large tree for the party at Ulfstead Castle. Terence took a shortcut across a frozen lake to get to the tree, but on the way back, the ice began to break. Thomas managed to pull Terence free from the water, but the tree was lost.

Sometime later at McColl Farm, he stared confused at some diesel parts that Rebecca had dropped off there and took the produce train that Paxton was supposed to collect, unaware that this was part of Diesel's trick until Rebecca told Sir Topham Hatt about what Diesel did.

Personality
Terence is an assertive, orange tractor with caterpillar tracks. The engines find these very unusual, but Terence is very capable of proving that he does not need rails and that his tracks allow him to go practically anywhere. He takes any teasing in the name of fun and is happy to get on with his job, usually partaking in agricultural work. Terence never hesitates to assist in emergencies or sticky situations, road or rail, due to his helpful, forgiving nature. His tracks are particularly invaluable in harsh winter conditions when snow can affect transport across the Island. He may be slow, but he is versatile, adaptable and helpful. He can usually be found transporting agricultural produce or cheerily ploughing fields beside Thomas' branch line. Sometimes, though, he can get a little overconfident and forget to listen to his own advice: "You have to be sensible if you want to stay safe!"

Basis
Terence is based on a Caterpillar Model 70, the largest and last design of petrol-powered tractors in the Caterpillar Tractor Company's range. Compared to the real vehicle, Terence's design was given notable modifications; he is longer in length, his mudguards go all the way across the top of his tracks, and his engine is concealed to a greater extent. The construction tractors are also based on this tractor.

Livery
Terence is painted orange with a black engine and exhaust pipe. He also has two black bands near the front and back of his bonnet; between the second series and The Great Discovery, he had an additional stripe along the top of each side, which was removed when he returned in CGI.

Appearances
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 * -|Television Series=

Thomas & Friends

 * Series 1 - Thomas, Terence and the Snow, Thomas and Bertie and Thomas' Christmas Party
 * Series 2 - Thomas and Trevor, The Runaway, Ghost Train and Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree
 * Series 3 - Henry's Forest, Mavis, Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party and Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure
 * Series 4 - Four Little Engines
 * Series 5 - James and the Trouble with Trees, Happy Ever After and Rusty and the Boulder
 * Series 6 - The Fogman and Faulty Whistles
 * Series 7 - Toby's Windmill and Not So Hasty Puddings
 * Series 21 - Terence Breaks the Ice
 * Series 22 - School of Duck
 * Series 23 - Diesel Do Right

Specials

 * 2008 - The Great Discovery

Music Videos
}} {{Scroll box|
 * Series 3 - Thomas' Anthem
 * Series 4 - Thomas' Anthem Grand Finale, Don't Judge a Book By its Cover and Thomas' Christmas Song
 * Series 5 - The Snow Song and Harold the Helicopter
 * Series 6 - Winter Wonderland
 * Series 7 - The Whistle Song
 * Series 10 - H is for Harold, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells
 * The Great Discovery - Where, oh Where is Thomas? and Thomas, You're the Leader
 * Thomas' YouTube World Tour - Thomas' Anthem
 * -|Other Media=

Magazine Stories
Terence also appeared in the magazine stories, Christmas Puddings, Diesel Display, Good Games, Bad Sport!, Holiday Havoc!, Rude James and Take Off with Terence.
 * 1987 - Thomas' Christmas Party and Thomas, Terence and the Snow
 * 1988 - Thomas and Bertie and The Runaway
 * 1989 - Clearing Up
 * 1990 - Trouble in the Tunnel and Henry's Forest
 * 1991 - Percy and Terence
 * 1992 - Going Slowly!
 * 1993 - Trevor to the Rescue!
 * 1994 - The Hot Soup Special!, The Nature Bus!, Thomas Keeps a Secret! and Treasure Hunting Tractor!
 * 1995 - The Huge Horses! and Night Lights
 * 1996 - The Hay Engine! and Pulling and Ploughing!
 * 1997 - Size Wise
 * 2000 - Terence and Trevor!, A Special Story About Terence and Painting the Shed
 * 2001 - Mister Mighty!, Midnight Mavis, A Special Story About Stepney and Pulling the Post
 * 2002 - The Winning Shot
 * 2003 - Slip and Grip!, A Foggy Friend and Really Fast Food!
 * 2004 - Terence's Little Lamb, Henry's Forest, Proud and Loud and Frying Tonight
 * 2005 - Sweet Scent, Tunnel Trouble , Tractor Engine and Naughty or Nice?
 * 2007 - Blown About!, The Lost Spring, Wheely Useful and Wet Wait
 * 2008 - Funny Faces!
 * 2010 - Farm Fun! and Pulling the Post
 * 2011 - Terence and Trevor!, Wet Wait, Market Day, Really Red , Snow Play, Party Time and Perfect Plough
 * 2012 - Sand Express and Messy Monster!
 * 2013 - A Friend in Need, Bulgy's Back, Seeing Red! and The Seaside Special
 * 2014 - Prickly Pig! and Fever!

Annual Stories

 * 1985 - Thomas and the Important Visitor and Unhappy Landing
 * 1986 - Terence Takes a Bath
 * 1987 - Lost in the Snow
 * 1988 - Thomas and Trevor and Terence Turns Pot Hunter
 * 1990 - Hosepipes and Shunters
 * 1993 - Thomas and the Snow Block
 * 1994 - Bertie the Snow Bus
 * 1996 - James Gets Cracking
 * 1999 - Leaves on the Line
 * 2001 - Donald and Douglas

Books

 * 1993 - Learn with Thomas
 * 2003 - Terence
 * 2010 - Easter in Harwick, The Big Fix-It Day and The Snowy Surprise
 * 2012 - Sound Storybook Treasury
 * 2017 - The Snowy Surprise
 * 2021 - Thomas Saves Christmas
 * 2022 - Where's Thomas?

Audio Stories
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 * 2021 - Terence Breaks the Ice

Trivia

 * In some international dubs, Terence's name was changed:
 * In early Spanish translations of the Random House books, Terence was known as Terencio.
 * In the French dub of the first seven series, Terence's name is Thierry.
 * The Polish Story Library book Terence is named Teodor, though his name in the Polish dub is Tymcio (except for episode Thomas, Terence and the Snow, where Terence's name was Tobiasz)
 * In some merchandising and books, Terence's name is sometimes misspelt as "Terrence". Other people misspell Terence as Terance or Terrance making the orange tractor one of the most misspelled characters in the franchise.
 * During the production of the first series, Terence was nicknamed "Drac the Trac" by the production crew, presumably due to the similarity between his widow's peak and that of a stereotypical vampire.
 * Up until the twenty-second series, in which Bertie was absent, Terence was the only character introduced in the first series to be absent from any series afterwards.
 * Up until the twenty-first series, Terence never had any eyebrows in the television series, although he has eyebrows in some illustrations and merchandise. Only a black widows peak was present above his eyes in the franchise and in some of his merchandise.
 * In the 1995 annual story, James Gets Cracking, Terence's driver was revealed to be named Farmer Finney. However, he has been driven by Jem Cole, Farmer McColl and Farmer Collett once before. In a deleted scene of Ghost Train, Terence was driven by Sam. Farmers on the Skarloey Railway have also been seen using Terence for plowing fields.
 * According to a magazine article, Terence sometimes works on Farmer Trotter's Pig Farm.
 * Terence, along with Bertie, were the only vehicle characters in Thomas & Friends to have pupils. They had them in Season 1 and 2, but they disappeared after that.
 * Terence’s model was on display at Drayton Manor, but it was removed in July 2022.
 * Even though Terence is an American built tractor, he never spoke with an American accent in any English dub of the CGI series and instead gained a Western Country accent like Duck, Oliver and Rusty when they were reintroduced in the CGI Series.