Vinnie

Vinnie is a streamlined North American tender engine who competed in the Great Railway Show for the Strongest Engine competition.

Thomas & Friends
Vinnie, along with the other international engines, accidentally came to Sodor when the ferry they were on stopped at Brendam Docks. He and the other engines, except Ashima, promptly got back on the ferry, but not before he had the chance to bump Thomas out of his way.

At the Great Railway Show, Vinnie participated in the Strongest Engine competition. On his way to the track where his competition was to take place, Philip blocked his way. Vinnie threatened to recycle Philip if the latter did not watch where he was going. Later, Philip got in Vinnie's way again and the latter chased the former briefly before being covered in coal from a hopper that Carlos was using. Infuriated, Vinnie chased Philip through the yard, eventually ending up in the middle of the Shunting Challenge. Vinnie derailed two of Gina's flatbeds, which were blocking his way, before cornering Philip near a turntable and trying to force the little shunter into the turntable well. Thomas and Ashima then managed to couple up to the big tender engine and pull him away, allowing Philip to escape. Vinnie resisted, which caused Thomas' coupling to snap. This launched Vinnie into a set of points that were set against him, derailing him and sending him crashing into an electricity pylon, which then fell on top of him. Vinnie was left trapped under the pylon, screaming for help. He remained there for the rest of the day and was rescued that evening, after which he returned home to America.

Sometime later, he was seen working at San Francisco Docks.

Personality
Vinnie is very rude and competitive, with a reputation for being a bully, and will do anything to win a competition, including cheating. He views smaller engines such as Thomas and Philip as inferior to him, often calling them derogatory names such as "Shrimp" (Thomas) and "Shortie" (Philip), and often takes pleasure in bumping them around. Because of his vile behaviour, hardly any of the engines get along with him.

He is also shown to be reckless, as seen by bashing through a pile of rocks, and Gina's flatbeds.

Despite his intimidating size and demeanour, Vinnie has proven himself to be a coward in the face of greater adversity, as shown when he was panicking after his accident at the Great Railway Show.

Basis
Vinnie is based on the Canadian National Railway's U-4-a 6400 class. The U-4-a's were primarily used on passenger services in southern Ontario and Quebec due to a lack of coal reserves on the railway. One member of the class, No. 6400, is preserved at the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, Ontario.

Vinnie's number is taken from the Grand Trunk Western #6407 of the U-4-b class, which was scrapped in April 1960.

Livery
Vinnie is painted navy blue with a grey boiler with yellow lining along with red trimming around his cab windows. He carries his number and name on plates on his smokebox and the sides of his footplate.

Appearances
Television Series=

Specials

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

Learning Segments

 * Guess Who? Puzzles

Videos

 * 2016 - Meet the Contenders: Vinnie of North America
 * 2017 - Great Race Friends Near and Far: Gina the Smart Steam Engine and Vinnie is Back in America
 * -|Other Media=

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
 * 2019 - Engines Around the World

Video Games

 * 2018 - Thomas & Friends: Adventures!

Audio Files
Whistle

Vinnie's whistle is a Star Brass 5 chime taken from a recording of Union Pacific 4466.

Trivia

 * Vinnie is the first and only engine to have a Vanderbilt tender in the television series.
 * Vinnie is only partially modified to work on British railways; his tender is given buffers, yet he still retains his buckeye coupler, which has a small pin for Vinnie to couple up to British rolling stocks.
 * In Vinnie's promotional video for the Great Railway Show, the announcer states he is from North America. This is quite vague as North America is actually a continent that represents three countries, which include the United States, Canada and Mexico, although the United States' flag is the one shown. Vinnie's real-life basis is actually from Canada.
 * Vinnie speaks with a New Jersey accent in both dubs.
 * According to Engines Around the World, Vinnie is from New York City.
 * In the Golden Book adaption of the special, Vinnie participated in the Great Race event, rather than the strongest engine competition.
 * Even though Vinnie has guard rails over his face, his merchandising toys (except his Capsule Plarail toy) do not have them.
 * Vinnie's Take-n-Play toy has a few errors:
 * His nameplate and number are missing.
 * His wheels are black instead of blue.
 * His smokebox is black instead of dark blue; this error is present on his Wooden Railway toy too.
 * Vinnie's whistle was later reused for Trevor in the twenty-second series episode, Seeing is Believing.
 * In Thomas & Friends: Adventures! he is an 0-8-0 rather than a 4-8-4 due to the game's stylised graphics, many of the larger engines have different wheel arrangements than those used in the show.
 * Vinnie's nameplate is in the font Rockwell Condensed Bold, the same font used for episode title cards from the third to seventh series.
 * Vinnie’s connecting rods and part of his valve gear are reused from Connor.
 * Just like Connor, Vinnie’s eccentric rods are not animated properly, as they move faster on one half rotation than on the other half rotation; this problem is more accentuated with Vinnie as his eccentric rods move up and down more than they should.

Quotes
"Get outta the way! Why don't ya look where you're goin', Shrimp?!"

- Vinnie bumping into Thomas and insults him

"I'm not the one going backwards..."

- Thomas, after Vinnie insults him

"Yeah?! Well, ya better watch where you're goin', Shortie, or you might end up being recycled!"

- Vinnie threatening Philip after nearly colliding into him

"Oh dear, Shortie! Looks like the race is over for you! Ha, ha, ha!"

- Vinnie to Philip when he has him cornered "Are you gonna get me outta here or what?"

- Vinnie to Thomas and Ashima

Merchandise

 * Wooden Railway
 * Take-n-Play
 * Capsule Plarail