Skarloey (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Thomas & Friends
In 1994, Skarloey was introduced in the fourth series of Thomas the Tank Engine &amp; Friends. The series placed a great focus on him and the other narrow gauge characters, with a number of stories from the original books adapted for the television series. It should also be noted that Skarloey and Rheneas have never been referred to as brothers in the television series adaptation and have been called "friends" in most episodes. Out of all the narrow gauge engines of the Skarloey Railway, Skarloey is the only one to keep his original Railway Series red livery (albeit with different shades as the series progressed and different coloured lining).

In the classic era of Thomas and Friends, Skarloey is portrayed as an old and wise engine. However, as the series progressed, Skarloey's character gradually became altered to a more younger personality under the influence of HiT Entertainment. The narrow gauge engines took a full absence in 2004, but returned the following year.

When the series transitioned into full CGI in 2009, the narrow gauge engines were absent for three years. Skarloey later returned in the 2012 special, Blue Mountain Mystery, along with Rheneas, Sir Handel, Peter Sam and Rusty. In the CGI series, his classic personality returned and he is seen frequently working at the Blue Mountain Quarry, but still pulls passenger trains daily when he is not working at the Quarry. He is also one of the fewer narrow gauge engines to gain a speaking appearance in at least one episode per series probably due to the fact he's the leader of them.

Since his return in 2012, Skarloey has been voiced by Keith Wickham in both the British English and American English dubs of the series. Keith Wickham gives Skarloey a Welsh accent, reflecting his basis' origins.

O gauge model (Small scale)
Skarloey's small model was custom built from brass by model maker, Peter Eves to run on O gauge track to the Gauge 1 Scale Standard during production of the fourth series. It was painted using glossy car body paint and lined with white and gold Letraline pin-striping tape. The number and nameplates were custom printed foil stickers.

Skarloey's wheels were sourced from Slater's Plastikard with the drive wheels being 3'1" Manning Wardle wheels (7837MW) and the trailing wheel being an 8 spoke bogie wheel (7832HR). The secondary crank pin hole on the drive wheels was cut off to avoid collision with the rods during wheel rotation. This modification was done for all narrow gauge steam locomotives except for Sir Handel. These wheels were used on a custom O gauge locomotive chassis fabricated from 0.064in thick brass sheet metal. Most narrow gauge steam locomotive crossheads were sourced from old OO scale Triang models with custom nickel plated brass coupling rods. Skarloey's model had 2 different crosshead styles on the left vs the right side of the model. The rods did not fit well at all and the engines ran notoriously bad behind the scenes. The buffers were sourced from Slater's Plastikard as well, with Skarloey using the GWR Collett Parallel (7906) set. Couplers were the etched version of Slater's 3 link wagon couplers (7155). This coupling set has since changed to a more detailed cast hook, but the etched version can still be obtained with a note to Slaters when ordering.

Ten different facial expressions were sclupted for Skarloey's small scale model and used on-screen. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. Skarloey's laughing face is now owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch.

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 the larger models being more frequently used at the time, Skarloey's small scale model would be disposed off by the company in favor of the large scale model, which would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership alongside his clean and dented shells.

As of August 2020, Skarloey's small scale model, along with his nameboard (which was supplied by Twitter user TomsProps) is now owned and preserved by Twitter and Instagram user ThomasTankMerch. In late 2021, Skarloey's small scale model was put on display at the Edison train show alongside other props from ThomasTankMerch's collection. Some of Skarloey's small scale faces were also on display at the Awdry Extravaganza 2 in July of 2022. His prototype face would also be exhibited at both Awdry Extravaganza's and the History of Thomas Event. A spare unused Skarloey nameplate made for Series 10 is also owned by Twitter User Thomas Wooden Railway Models. Another prototype face for Skarloey was previously owned by Jonathan Saville.

O gauge model (Large scale)
For ease of filming and reliability, the fifth series introduced larger-scale versions of the narrow gauge engines and from the sixth-twelfth series, these larger models were used almost exclusively. They were built to a larger scale than the gauge 1 engines and ran on O gauge track. They were close to 16mm scale, but slightly larger.

Thirteen different facial expressions were made for Skarloey's large scale model, although only twelve were on-screen and one of which, an alternate wincing face was left unused. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould.

Present Day
In July of 2022, Skarloey's Large Scale Model along with some of his faces was put on display at the Awdry Extravaganza 2 in July of 2022 next to a 16mm live steam model of Talyllyn. The reason for him never being sent for Hara Model Railway Museum apparently was because the clean model from Wash Behind Your Buffers been sent there by mistake and since he lacked a chassis he couldn't be displayed, the model is likely still there to this day although undisplayed.

Close-up model
A larger scale model of Skarloey was built in the fourth series. It was required for scenes where he had to interact with the close-up scale figures. It was also used for close-up whistle, funnel and firebox shots and smoke would emit when required.

The cab was made in pieces so it was able to be dismantled and resembled for use of interior shots. Most of the close-up scale models did not have faces seeing as most of the time the models were not complete, on top of the fact the faces would often never need to be seen in this scale.

Unlike his O gauge models, Skarloey's front and back cutout windows had glass and brass gold porthole rings.

It appeared in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, tenth and twelfth series.

The close-up model underwent a few changes throughout Thomas & Friends. These include:
 * Series 5:
 * Part of Skarloey's cab roof became snapped.
 * Series 6:
 * His cab roof is now repaired.
 * The brass gold porthole rings inside the back of his cab have moved and now face around his front windows.
 * His model is significantly less weathered.
 * Series 9:
 * His livery became a dark crimson colour.
 * Series 12:
 * His cab interior changed from black to dark crimson.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Skarloey was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios in 2010 for production of the 2012 special Blue Mountain Mystery. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of Skarloey's large scale model 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.

In addition, Nitrogen Studios went to the Talyllyn Railway and took measurements of Skarloey's basis, Talyllyn, so that his CGI model would resemble Talyllyn as closely as possible.

Skarloey has had modifications throughout the CGI era. These include:
 * Blue Mountain Mystery:
 * His pupils became smaller.
 * He gained a new face.
 * Accurate bufferbeam to his basis.
 * His boiler is painted black instead of red.
 * Handrails across the top of his smokebox and saddle tank like his basis.
 * His cab handrails returned, but now gold instead of red.
 * His cutout windows gained brass frames and contained glass.
 * Sanding gear.
 * Black siderod guards.
 * Extra lining on his cab.
 * Differently designed front sandboxes.
 * Footsteps underneath his cab.
 * He gained a new whistle sound.
 * A number plate on the back of his cab, similar to Talyllyn.
 * Series 22:
 * He gained a headlamp in the same design as Timothy's above his face.
 * He regained the brass ring around his funnel.

The following pantone colours are used on Skarloey's CGI model:

Voice Actors

 * Keith Wickham
 * Tomohisa Asō
 * Hideyuki Umezu
 * Hiroaki Tajiri
 * Jens Wendland
 * Jacek Król
 * Gilan Shachaf
 * Simen Sand
 * Sigbjørn Solheim
 * Caco Penna
 * Marcos Patiño
 * Jorge Teixeira
 * Alexander Kotov
 * Denis Bespaliy
 * Jukka Voutilainen
 * Markus Niemi
 * Loukas Frangoulis