GWR 16 Ton Brake Vans

The GWR 16 Ton Brake Vans are a type of goods brake van. The North Western Railway owns a limited supply of these vans.

These are added to the back of a goods train and a guard rides in it. Each brake van is equipped with a strong brake to assist with slowing and stopping the train. From here, the guard can keep an eye on the train in case of problems, such as hot axle boxes or trucks becoming uncoupled while running.

Thomas & Friends
One of these brake vans was used as part of The Circus Train. The brake van carried the circus performers and brass band members. Thomas was given the task of pulling the train and was told to share the load due to its weight. However, as he wanted all the glory, he tried to pull the train all by himself. When his side-rods broke from the strain of pulling the heavy train, James and Percy came to the rescue. James took the brake van of performers for Thomas.

Several scrapped brake vans have been seen at the Scrapyards, the Sodor Ironworks, Bertram's Old Mine, Jem Cole's Yard and the Vicarstown Goods Depot.

Personality
Toad is the only known sentient brake van of this design in the television series.

GWR brake vans at Days Out with Thomas events have occasionally been depicted as Troublesome Trucks, making these individuals cheeky and troublesome.

Toad the Brake Van:

Basis
These brake vans are based on the real GWR 16 ton brake vans nicknamed "Toad". Early vans were just 10 or 16 tons in weight, but this gradually increased to 20 and 25 tons. A number of these brake vans survive in preservation.

The character Toad's name originates from the nickname ("toad") given to these brake vans on the Great Western Railway. It can also be considered a subtle pun: a brake van is 'towed' everywhere it goes.

Livery
These brake vans are painted grey. Toad and the Circus brake van both have "GW 56831" written on their side in white.

There are also scrap variants of these brake vans seen in a rusty and deteriorated brown colour with "SCRAP" written on the sides in white.

Appearances
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Thomas & Friends

 * Series 6 - James and the Red Balloon
 * Series 7 - Emily's New Coaches and James and the Queen of Sodor
 * Series 8 - Thomas and the Circus
 * Series 9 - Emily Knows Best

Specials

 * 2005 - Calling All Engines!

A scrap model appeared throughout the fifth to ninth series. It also appeared in the 2000 film, Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

Music Videos
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 * Series 8 - A World Around You
 * Calling All Engines! - Busy
 * Series 9 - Party Time
 * -|Other Media=

Books
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 * 2005 - Sodor: Reading Between the Lines
 * 2006 - Thomas, James and the Red Balloon
 * 2009 - Thomas and the Circus
 * 2018 - Character Encyclopedia

Trivia

 * To date, Toad is the only known brake van of this design to have a face.
 * One of the GWR brake van models that appears in the television series is actually Toad's model but faceless. The scrap variant is also a faceless model of Toad; this first appeared as the character in the third series episode, Escape.
 * Another model of a grey GWR brake van without any white lettering is currently on display at Drayton Manor. This brake van very rarely appeared on-screen and was hidden alongside an assortment of other rolling stock in the television series.
 * Several of these brake vans have been featured at Day Out with Thomas events, usually representing Toad but they have occasionally carried Troublesome truck faces.

Merchandise

 * Pocket Fantasy
 * Tomica
 * Bachmann