Anime & Cartoons
Thomas and Friends Tier List Maker
Rank the engines of Thomas & Friends, from Thomas, Edward and Percy to Gordon, James and Diesel.
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Meet every engine (35)
These 35 engines load into the maker above. Each write-up covers what the engine is and what to weigh when you rank it. Facts were last checked on .
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Thomas
A blue tank engine who lives and works on the Island of Sodor and is the North Western Railway's number 1 engine. He is based on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Class E2.
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Edward
A blue tender engine, the North Western Railway's number 2 engine. He was the first character created by the Reverend W. Awdry, the author of The Railway Series.
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Henry
A green tender engine and the North Western Railway's number 3 engine. In The Railway Series and in Thomas & Friends, he was rebuilt into a new shape, which changed his look.
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Gordon
A blue tender engine and the number 4 engine, who likes to pull passenger trains. The Rev. W. Awdry named him after a boy called Gordon Chapman.
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James
A red tender engine and the North Western Railway's number 5 engine. He was painted black when he first appeared in The Railway Series and in the 2015 Thomas & Friends special.
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Percy
A green saddle tank engine and the number 6 engine. He is an 0-4-0 saddle tank based on engines from the Avonside Engine Company, and is one of Thomas's closest friends.
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Toby
A square brown tram engine and the number 7 engine. Toby was the first engine in the series to be a real engine, specifically LNER No. 7127.
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Duck
A green Great Western pannier tank engine and the number 8 engine. His real name is Montague, and the nickname "Duck" comes from the supposed "waddle" the other engines noticed.
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Donald
One of a pair of tender engines from Scotland, the North Western Railway's number 9. He and his twin Douglas are both based on Caledonian Railway locomotives.
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Douglas
The number 10 engine, a tender engine from Scotland and Donald's twin. The two arrived together and are both based on Caledonian Railway locomotives.
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Oliver
A green Great Western tank engine and the number 11 engine. The Reverend W. Awdry named him after his next-door neighbor Oliver Wicks.
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Emily
An emerald green tender engine and the number 12 engine. Before the twenty-fourth series episode Emily to the Rescue, she had no number at all.
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Diesel
As his name implies, a black diesel engine. Diesel was the first diesel engine created by the Reverend W. Awdry, which made him an important new type of rival on Sodor.
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Daisy
A green diesel railcar who works on the North Western Railway, and the first diesel engine officially owned by the railway, unlike the troublemaking diesels who arrive later.
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Mavis
A black diesel engine who works at Ffarquhar Quarry. Mavis was the final character created by the Reverend W. Awdry before he retired from writing The Railway Series.
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Bill
One of the yellow saddle tank engine twins belonging to the Sodor China Clay Company. Their names are likely a reference to the 1952 British children's show Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men.
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Ben
The other yellow saddle tank twin of the Sodor China Clay Company. He and Bill are mischievous twins, and the names nod to Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men from 1952.
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Salty
A red diesel engine who works at Brendam Docks. His number comes from a real member of his class, which is currently preserved at Eastleigh Works.
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Harold
A helicopter who patrols the skies of the Island of Sodor looking for emergencies. He is based on the Westland Whirlwind helicopter with added pontoons.
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Bertie
A red single-decker bus who works alongside Thomas's Branch Line. His registration number CRD 54 references C. Reginald Dalby's name and the 1954 book Edward the Blue Engine.
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Terence
An orange caterpillar tractor who works on a farm on the Island of Sodor. Terence is the first non-rail character to be introduced in the franchise.
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Trevor
A green traction engine who lives at the Wellsworth Vicarage Orchard. In the book Edward the Blue Engine, he was painted black all over, with gold boiler bands and a gold chimney cap.
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Cranky
A green tower crane who works at Brendam Docks. He has been known to befriend seagulls at the docks, such as "Seagull" and "Stuart."
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Annie and Clarabel
A pair of orange-brown coaches who live on the North Western Railway. They were the first female characters introduced in The Railway Series and Thomas & Friends.
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Henrietta
A faithful tram coach who travels with Toby. She is one of three characters given a face after debuting without one in the television series, with Big Mickey and Butch.
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Spencer
A silver streamlined tender engine from the Mainland, privately owned by the Duke and Duchess of Boxford. He often visits Sodor with his owners, and on his first visit he ignored warnings from Gordon.
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Rosie
A lively tank engine and the number 37 engine. Her original lavender livery was repainted cherry red in the 2017 Thomas & Friends special.
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Hiro
A black tender engine from Japan who is famously known as the "Master of the Railway." He is based on a Japanese National Railways Class D51 built by Kawasaki.
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Victor
A red narrow gauge saddle tank engine from Cuba who works at the Sodor Steamworks with his assistant, Kevin. He used to work at the Manuel de Céspedes Sugar Mill before being shipped to Sodor.
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Kevin
A yellow mobile crane who works at the Sodor Steamworks with Victor, offering help whenever possible. He once distracted Spencer by dropping parts around while Thomas took engine parts to Hiro.
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Stanley
A silver saddle tank engine who works as both a shunting and mixed-traffic engine. He was brought to Sodor to take care of Thomas's workload during the restoration of Great Waterton for Sodor Day.
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Charlie
A purple saddle tank engine and the North Western Railway's number 14 engine, said to be the favorite engine of the Mainland engines and his former controller.
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Nia
An orange tank engine from Kenya who once befriended Thomas and is now a permanent resident at Tidmouth Sheds. Her favorite color is stated to be purple in the All Engines Go episode "Nia's Surprising Surprise."
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Rebecca
A yellow tender engine and the number 22 engine, the railway's second primary express engine alongside Gordon. She also works as a heavy goods engine.
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Fat Controller
Also known as Sir Topham Hatt, the controller of the North Western Railway on the Island of Sodor. In the first two Railway Series books he is called the Fat Director, and from the third, the Fat Controller.
Thomas and Friends tier list questions
Where are Thomas & Friends set?
The stories take place on the fictional Island of Sodor, where the North Western Railway runs the engines. Thomas is the number 1 engine, and Edward, Henry, Gordon, James and Percy follow as numbers 2 through 6.
Who created the original engines?
The Reverend W. Awdry created the original characters in The Railway Series books. Edward was the first character he created, and Mavis was the last before he retired from writing.
How should I rank Thomas & Friends characters?
Common criteria include personality, design, favorite episodes and nostalgia. Many fans rank the original steam engines separately from the diesels, vehicles and the newer international engines.
Sources
Facts on this page were checked against these references on .