The Horrid Lorries/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
The Horrid Lorries are fictional small lorries created by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton.

In 1998, The Horrid Lorries made their debut in the fifth series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends in the episode, Horrid Lorry. However, they has not appeared since, making them three of the few characters introduced in the fifth series to not appear afterwards.

The Horrid Lorries are based on Foden OG range lorries, which were once a common sight around railway yards.

Around 2001-2005, the Engine Depot on the Official Website, Trading Cards and various magazine articles, stated that the Lorries were "especially built to work at Sodor Construction Company". It is therefore possible that they may have been originally intended to be members of the Pack. If they had appeared in a mini-series, large scale models of them would've had to be built.

Gauge 1 Models
The Horrid Lorries' models were vacuum-formed from styrene and built by model-maker, Chris Lloyd. They had a remote-controlled powered-motor mounted inside the chassis as well as an eye mechanism. They were front-wheel drive (FWD). According to an SIF interview with Chris Lloyd, a single set was made, originally used to be for the crash scenes and later refurbished as their "clean" versions. The lorries would be burnt to give them damage and then, when the clean versions were needed, new bodies would be vacuum-formed from the original props for the cabs. The new bodies would be detailed and weathered, replacing the damaged bodies.

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.

The lorries each had grey tarpaulins over their flatbeds which were removable. The flatbeds were also used to carry various types of cargo. In addition, the lorries could often be seen with miniature scaled figures inside their cabs and these figures represented drivers. The lorries each had individual registration plates to make them distinguishable from one another.

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 only having one set of models made in gauge 1 scale, the Lorries' models, alongside Lorry 2's smashed model, would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.

Lorries 1 and 3's models were on display at Drayton Manor Theme Park, with Lorry 2's main model being in storage alongside his smashed model. Lorries 1 and 3's models were removed and returned to storage after the exhibit closed and a new layout was constructed elsewhere in the park.

Voice Actors

 * Lorry 1 - Tetsu Inada
 * Lorry 2 - Moriya Endo
 * Lorry 3 - Kōzō Shioya