The Mail Train (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

The Railway Series
The Mail Train is a fictional goods train created by Christopher Awdry.

It only appeared in The Railway Series book, Really Useful Engines, which was published in 1983.

Illustrations of The Mail Train:

Television Series
The Mail Train first appeared in the third series episode Thomas, Percy and the Post Train and has made regular appearances.

Gauge 1 models
The Mail Train were made from Tenmille's gauge 1 SE&CR Diagram 960 PMV and 7-Plank Trucks with vacuum formed ends. From Thomas and the Magic Railroad to the twelfth series, they were scratch built.

The mail vans have gone through a couple of modifications over the years in the model era:
 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad:
 * Their roofs became slightly larger.
 * Their roofs are smoothened out and they lose the arched lines.
 * Their bufferbeams are lowered.
 * They became slightly taller.
 * Their liveries became slightly darker.
 * The words "Sodor" and "Mail" was shifted slightly towards the centre, so the words fit completely on the doors.

Close-up model
In the third series, a close-up interior model of the mail vans was built to be used for scenes where they had to interact with the close-up scale figures but it went unused.

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

Photographs of The Mail Train's Gauge 1 models were used for referencing. 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.

Their CGI models have gone through some slight changes.
 * Hero of the Rails:
 * Their "Sodor Mail" logos were replaced with envelopes with wings.
 * Series 22:
 * The black metal borders at either end of the vans are painted red and gain a wooden texture to match the main bodywork.

The following pantone colours are used on The Mail Train's CGI models: