James (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Background Information
James is a fictional standard gauge tender locomotive created by the Rev. W. Awdry. He is the No. 5 engine on the North Western Railway.

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

Unlike The Railway Series, James made many background cameos, always with red livery, before his introduction in Thomas and the Breakdown Train. However, in the special The Adventure Begins, which re-tells the events of the book Thomas the Tank Engine, James was painted black as he was in the book.

Voice
Originally to be voiced by Michael Angelis in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, American test audiences claimed that he made James sound 'too old'. Susan Roman voiced him in the final cut, giving James a faint British accent. Keith Wickham would later take over as James in the UK and Kerry Shale in the US, the former giving James a British accent and the latter American. Rob Rackstraw would later take over from Shale in 2015, before taking the role from Wickham in 2017. Uniquely, Rackstraw maintains both British and American accents in the show's respective English dubs.

Gauge 1 models
James' original model was custom built with a plastic body shell. It was coloured with automotive paint and lined with black and gold automotive pinstripe tape, while the numbers were custom cut vinyl stickers. James' main chassis and tender wheels were taken from a gauge 1 locomotive made by Märklin, the BR 55 and the front pony truck from a bogie of the BR 78. The front buffer beam came from the BR 78 and the rear buffer beam came from the BR 55. The handrail stanchions were also sourced from Märklin locomotives.

Like its Märklin predecessor, James' plastic model was originally AC powered. During a refurbishment, his AC motor was replaced by a DC motor to allow for easier running and maintenance.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eyeballs were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the faceplate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eyeballs would move however the crew member desired. In the tenth series episode, Percy and the Funfair, it showed that James' tender no longer carried the wires that help connect them to the body shell.

Model Changes
James' gauge 1 models underwent several aesthetic changes throughout the series:
 * Series 3:
 * His front and rear brake pipes both faced downwards.
 * His pupils became smaller.
 * Halfway through the series in certain scenes, black tack was used to piece the broken funnel back together.
 * His lining pinstripe on the mid-top of his cab is out of sync.
 * Series 4:
 * His funnel was properly fixed and is slightly wider (brass replacement funnel).
 * His window frame lining became thinner.
 * His whistle sound changed to Duck's at seven steps higher pitched.
 * His lining pinstripe on the mid-top of his cab is redone to be in sync with rest of the lining.
 * Series 5:
 * He regained his original whistle sound excluding 'Horrid Lorry', 'James and the Trouble with Trees', 'Baa!' and 'Make Someone Happy'.
 * Both his front and rear brake pipe face back upwards.
 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad:
 * His paint was given a matte finish.
 * His front and rear brake pipes both face downwards again.
 * The curve on James' cab lining underneath his window became shallower.
 * His pupils returned to their original size.
 * Series 6:
 * His safety valve disappeared.
 * His coupling rod bolts became black.
 * Series 7:
 * His rear brake pipe faces upwards again.
 * Series 8:
 * His eyebrows became longer.
 * Calling All Engines!:
 * His eyebrows became thicker.
 * Series 10:
 * His boiler sits slightly lower. (brass model)
 * His buffers were moved down slightly. (brass model)
 * His front cab windows became smaller. (brass model)
 * His funnel became slightly shorter in height. (brass model)
 * The rivet detail and brake pipe extrusion on his front buffer beam disappeared. (brass model)
 * His whistle became lower to the cab. (brass model)

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, James' plastic model would be disposed off, as it was no longer needed by the company since they had the brass models, additionally, one of the brass models would be given away by the company, with a custom built display track to mount it on. The other brass model however would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

One of James' brass models is currently on display in Japan at the Hara Model Railway Museum. It had previously been on display at Nitrogen Studios.

Faces
Nineteen different facial expressions were sculpted for James and used on-screen. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould. Some of James' faces were duplicated in case the crew needed a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting. Three of James' faces are owned by Twitter and Instagram user ThomasTankMerch.

G scale model
The Britt Allcroft Company commissioned puppet-maker Paul Jomain to create a G scale models of James and Trevor. James' model was custom built from a G scale LGB mogul locomotive and based on the specifications of the Gauge 1 prop. These were used for a Christmas display in a shop window some time in the late 90s. According to Jomain, the display was so popular though that it lasted well after Christmas.

Gauge 3 model
A gauge 3 model of James was built in the tenth series to be used alongside the large-scale models of Skarloey Railway engines, which had been used since the fifth series for ease of filming and reliability.

The model was made from brass. The wheels and chassis were custom machined (CNC). The model was track powered, so pickup contacts were attached to the metal wheels, which ran into the motor to power it. The electricity ran from the track to the wheels/pickup contacts and went into the motor to power him. The model was also fitted with a smoke unit.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eyeballs 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.

Six different facial expressions were created for the model, and all of them were used on-screen. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould.

The gauge 3 model was used in the tenth and eleventh series, as well as The Great Discovery.

Present Day
In 2015, James' gauge 3 model was put on display at the British Museum during the 70th anniversary of The Railway Series. Following that, the model returned to Mattel's storage unit in Southampton, England.

Close-up model
A close-up model of James was built to be used for scenes where he had to interact with the close-up scale figures. It was also used for close-up whistle shots; smoke would emit from the whistle when required.

Many close-up models were not complete models, and James was not a particularly complete model until around the tenth series, where he received a front buffer beam, boiler, funnel, and smokebox, making James a practically complete model, minus the wheels, and a visible face.

Present Day
James' close-up model, alongside various other props, is currently stored in Mattel's storage facility in Southampton, England.

Life-size model
During pre-production of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, a large facsimile of James' cab and boiler were built for scenes where Junior rides them. The scenes were shot with chroma key, so the background for filming were green, along with an additional model constructed out of foam for certain wide shots. Because Junior's landing was right on top of his roof, James' whistle was absent to avoid damage to it and Michael E. Rodgers' back.

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

According to 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.

Fonts
• Fox Pro Sans Bold (number)

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

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

Voice Actors

 * Michael Angelis
 * Susan Roman
 * Keith Wickham
 * Stephen Donald
 * Kerry Shale
 * Rob Rackstraw
 * Uranus Huerta
 * Eduardo Garza
 * Mario Castañeda
 * Arturo Mercado Jr.
 * Beto Castillo
 * Gustavo Carrillo
 * Christian Strempler
 * Harold Salazar
 * Jorge Teixeira
 * Fabio de Castro
 * Lucas Gama
 * Ulisses Bezerra
 * Simone Crisari
 * Gianluca Crisafi
 * Sébastien Reding
 * Fabrice Trojani
 * Jeremy Luton
 * Wanja Gerick
 * Christian Stark
 * Tobias Schmidt
 * Helge Winther Larsen
 * Paul Ottar Haga
 * Roger Storm
 * Troells Toya
 * Petri Hanttu
 * Gyurik Istvan
 * Bohuslav Kalva
 * Waldemar Barwiński
 * Krzysztof Korzeniowski
 * Olga Kuznetsova
 * Anton Savenkov
 * Haris Grigoropoulos
 * Loukas Frangoulis
 * Asaf Corman
 * Yehonatan Magon
 * Gadi Levy
 * Gilan Shachaf
 * Katsuji Mori
 * Masashi Ebara
 * Um Sang-hyun
 * Baek Kyung-hoon
 * Park Sang-u