Yong Bao (T&F)

Yong Bao (Mandarin: 勇寶 or 勇宝) is a Chinese tender engine who took part in the Great Railway Show, competing in the Best Decorated Engine parade.

Biography
Long before Yong Bao went to the Great Railway Show, he worked in a station yard on his homeland railway, longing to pull passenger trains and was constantly belittled by the other engines. One day, Yong Bao saw a tiger sneak into the yard and searched for it for many days. During the winter, he found it again and followed it along the tracks; leading him to save one of his fellow engines from falling off a cliff with hundreds of passengers on board. With the recognition of his heroic action, Yong Bao was awarded a new coat of Chinese red paint with yellow lining and a tiger emblem on his tender.

Yong Bao was invited to take part in the Great Railway Show's Best Decorated Engine Parade. He and the other eleven contenders accidentally arrived on Sodor after the rail ferry they were on made a wrong stop at Brendam Docks instead of the Mainland. Yong Bao promptly returned to the ferry after realising this.

At the Great Railway Show, Yong Bao participated in the Best Decorated Engines Parade along with Rajiv, Carlos, Emily and James, but ended up losing the event to Rajiv. After the Great Railway show ended, Yong Bao left the Mainland and returned to China.

Later, he encountered Thomas again during his usual passenger runs. Recognising him from seeing him at the Great Railway Show, he asked Thomas why he was in China (and a long way from Sodor). When Thomas explained he was looking for a friend from Africa and was told to look for her in Zhangye Danxia by the Chinese Diesel, Yong Bao warned him to have a snowplough fitted as he left for the Rainbow Mountains to find Nia since the tracks led through the Rainbow Mountains and into the Himalayas. Yong Bao later caught up with him and helped rescue Nia before both plunged over the side of the mountain. Soon after, just before Thomas and Nia (now on the tracks again) left for home, he gave them directions on how to return to Sodor through the Asian and European continents and advised them to go safely, saying goodbye as they left.

When Thomas was working on the China Railway sometime later, Yong Bao was getting ready for one of his runs when Thomas rushed into the yard in a panic about being late. After Thomas bumped into him, Yong Bao told him to calm down from his panicked state (for which Thomas apologised) pointed out that Thomas was still in time to take An An and Yin-Long out on the main passenger line. He then watched as the coaches said hello to Thomas in Chinese and Thomas struggling a bit to repeat the greeting.

Later on, Thomas woke up one morning with Yong Bao and Hong-Mei to learn that he was going to pay a visit to the local nature reserve to take a film crew there to see the giant pandas that were being cared for in the reserve. As Thomas and Yong Bao made their way to the station where the film crew was waiting to be picked up, Yong Bao explained to Thomas about how the giant pandas were the national symbol of China (and how they were also a very rare species) so Thomas' chances of finding one in the wild were very slim. Once Thomas reached the station, Yong Bao continued on his way to deliver his trucks.

He ran into Thomas again during his passenger runs. But to his surprise, Thomas had claimed to be carrying a water wheel. After it rolled past them, the little blue tank engine then gave chase with Yong Bao wishing him luck.

Thomas later learned from Yong Bao the teachings of Tai chi when it came to trying to stop Lei from rolling down the line as a runaway truck after Thomas inadvertently crashed Lei when Yong Bao had a plan to stop him himself one time. Despite some initial trouble learning how to perform it, when Lei was accidentally re-routed onto another track and rolled away into the Himalayas, Thomas went after him and - remembering what Yong Bao said about Tai chi - was able to stop Lei safely around the same area where Yong Bao had tried to stop him previously. Yong Bao congratulated Thomas on mastering Tai chi, but Lei preferred they wait to work on it more until he was properly mended from their earlier training.

When Thomas was told that he would bring a dragon on Chinese New Year, Thomas thought he was taking a real dragon. He managed to scare him twice and the tank engine then refused, so Yong Bao took it and had Thomas take the lion. Thomas still thought he was taking a live animal, and it was not until the celebrations that he learned they were just costumed people.

After Thomas started to miss his friend Percy, he and Hong-Mei tried to cheer him up, but to no avail. Eventually, he took a load of dragon boats to the river for a race, but the special boat fell off mid-transit and was brought by Thomas, who soon sent a postcard to Percy. Thomas later asked him about his tiger emblem, prompting him to tell the story of his past heroics.

Personality
Yong Bao is a kind and faithful tender engine from China, who pulls passenger coaches. He may not be the biggest tender engine or the strongest, but he once cleverly diverted an accident saving hundreds of passengers. Yong Bao was decorated for his bravery and painted bright red, which is a colour that symbolises celebration and happiness. Painted on his tender is a tiger which incites a sense of awe and admiration. Like Yong Bao, the tiger is full of life and embodies the spirit of being driven to achieve and make progress. These qualities make Yong Bao a Really Useful Engine. Despite being brave and a good example for many Chinese engines, he isn't above having fun, as on Thomas' visit to China on Chinese New Year, he scared the little blue engine twice.

Basis
Yong Bao is based on a Chinese Railways RM class 4-6-2 Pacific, which were built by CSR Sifang Co Ltd between 1958 and 1966. Used in passenger service, these engines were eventually taken out of service by more powerful steam and diesel locomotives on the Chinese rail system by the early 1990s. Two members of this class have been preserved; RM-1001 is on display at the China Railway Museum in Beijing, and RM-1247 is on display at the Shenyang Railway Museum. Yong Bao's design sheet shows that he was molded after RM-1118 and RM-1247.

Livery
Yong Bao is painted Chinese red with yellow stripes on his boiler, cylinders and smoke deflectors and a green running board and buffer beam. His wheels are painted an identical red with white rims. His name is painted on the sides of his cab in Simplified Chinese and the design of a tiger is painted on his tender. He also has a dragon face on the front top of his funnel.

Before he was repainted to honor his bravery, Yong Bao was painted plain navy blue with a grey running board and grey lining. His smoke deflectors were also blank. His wheels were also painted red with white rims similar to his present day livery.

Appearances
Television Series= {{Scroll box|

Thomas & Friends

 * Series 22 - Number One Engine, Thomas in the Wild, The Water Wheel, Runaway Truck and Thomas and the Dragon
 * Series 23 - Grudge Match and Wish You Were Here
 * Series 24 - Yong Bao and the Tiger

Specials

 * 2016 - The Great Race
 * 2018 - Big World! Big Adventures!

Music Videos

 * Series 20 - James the Really Splendid Engine
 * Series 21 - Set Friendship in Motion
 * Series 22 - Big World! Big Adventures!, The Journey Never Ends and All the Girls Around the World
 * Series 24 - New Year's Day with Thomas

Learning Segments

 * Guess Who? Puzzles

Videos

 * 2016 - Yong Bao of China
 * 2017 - Shane Surfs in the Slippery Snow and Yong Bao and the Monster in the Tunnel
 * 2018 - Yong Bao and the Tiger, Meet Hong-Mei of China!, Meet Yong-Bao of China!, Animals Around the World , What Did Thomas Learn in China?

Storytime
}} Other Media= {{Scroll box|
 * Series 1 - Big World! Big Adventures!

Annual Stories

 * 2019 - Thomas and the Dragon
 * 2020 - Thomas in the Wild

Books

 * 2016 - 6-Movie Coloring Collection, Off to the Races! , The Great Railway Show , The Great Race , The Great Race: Sticker Activity Book, and The Great Race: The Movie Storybook
 * 2017 - Thomas and the Trains of the World
 * 2018 - Character Encyclopedia, and Big World! Big Adventures! Movie Storybook
 * 2019 - Engines Around the World and Ten Little Engines
 * 2020 - The Big Book of Engines

Video Games
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 * 2018 - Go Go Thomas and Thomas & Friends: Adventures!

Audio Files
Whistles

In the mobile game Race On!, Yong Bao is incorrectly portrayed with a lower-pitched version of Luke and Axel's whistle.

Trivia

 * Yong Bao's name means 'brave treasure' in Mandarin.
 * Yong Bao's red livery symbolises celebration and happiness, while the tiger painted on his tender stands for awe and strength.
 * Yong Bao's eccentric rods are shared with Connor's, and as such are temperamental, as they rotate faster in one half rotation than the other half rotation.
 * Yong Bao has been partially modified to work on British railways; he has been given buffers and a rear screw coupler.
 * Yong Bao is one of the only six international characters to be the main character of an episode, the other five being Rajiv, Raul, Shane, Lorenzo and Shankar. He is also the last one to do so.
 * Yong Bao was one of the last new characters produced in Take-n-Play before the Adventures redesign.
 * Yong Bao was the only international character to appear in all of the episodes taking place in China.
 * Yong Bao was originally going to have a number but instead he asked The Chinese Railway Inspector that he wanted to have an emblem on his tender.
 * Yong Bao's whistle is a Star Brass 5 chime recorded off of Southern Pacific 745.

Quotes
"To stop a moving truck/car, don't just block it. Move together! Move with the truck/car!"

- Yong Bao teaching Thomas how to stop a runaway truck/car, Runaway Truck/Car

"We all grow from something smaller into what we are today."

- Yong Bao telling Thomas about the story of how he got his tiger emblem, Yong Bao and the Tiger

Merchandise

 * Wood
 * Take-n-Play
 * Collectible Railway
 * Adventures
 * TrackMaster
 * Push Along
 * Motor Road and Rail
 * Motorized Railway
 * Minis
 * Capsule Plarail
 * Railway Pals
 * Motorized