Background Information[]
Railway Series[]
Diesel is a fictional standard gauge diesel locomotive shunter created by the Rev. W. Awdry in 1958 for the book Duck and the Diesel Engine, after his editor, Eric Marriot, suggested a diesel engine be added to the series to keep it up to date. The only other two appearances he made in the Railway Series, excluding the annuals, was in a 1987 book entitled "Thomas and the Evil Diesel", and in the 35th volume of the series from 1991 entitled "Thomas and the Great Railway Show", in which he was only seen in an illustration, and not mentioned by name. Diesel first arrived on Sodor for a trial run in June of 1957, after arriving Duck was asked to show him around. Duck didn't like Diesel due to the engine's know it all attitude, and claims of being "revolutionary". Diesel was later laughed at by the trucks, after he failed to pull rusty old trucks, causing an accident, in which the trucks had to be removed. Diesel blamed Duck for not helping him, and for pay-back, spread rumors to the trucks that Duck had given the big engines rude nicknames, to which the trucks repeated to the big engines. Duck was temporarily sent to Wellsworth, as the Fat Controller looked into the situation. Diesel however, was soon found out, and sent away from Sodor.
Main Illustrations of Diesel (Front):[]
Main Illustrations of Diesel (Rear):[]
Television Series[]
In 1986, Diesel was introduced in Season 2 of Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends, he appeared in a total of four episodes of that season, and had a starring role in two episodes from that season. Throughout the show's history, he has often been depicted as a villain of sorts, being oily, devious, malicious, and scheming, being filled with ideas for revenge. Like many other diesels, he considers himself to be modern and revolutionary, and of far more used that any steam-engine could ever be. His behavior often gives Diesel engines a bad reputation, this can also cause other engines not to like him. His rough and tumble attitude, also affects the other diesels, who are sometimes victims of his devious tricks, Paxton being a good example of this. Despite this however, there is good in Diesel, he still wishes to prove that he's a really useful engine, and sometimes even learns a lesson after causing trouble on the railway. He also seems to regard highly the fact that he was the first diesel engine to be purchased on the North Western Railway. In recent seasons, Diesel's antics are portrayed in generally the same way, with Diesel being a typical bully bossing other engines around, often neglecting to think of what would happen if he was caught, meaning he usually gets in trouble in the end, and sometimes learns from his mistakes. Diesel is based on a British Rail Class 08 Diesel Shunter locomotive, of which Paxton, 'Arry, Bert, Splatter, Dodge, Fernando, Sidney, The Mainland Diesels, and Sidney, as-well as several other minor diesel locomotive characters are also members. When the show transitioned into CGI in 2009, Diesel continued to appear as usual, and has appeared in every season, nonstop, since the sixth season, making Seasons one and five, the only Seasons in which he hasn't appeared.
Gauge 1 Model[]
Diesels main model throughout the series,and his only physical model built, his Gauge 1 Model was constructed for second season production, and appeared often, until the show switched to CGI in the thirteenth season. The model was constructed by heavily modifying a Märklin company engine's model, in order to create Diesel and the other characters. Diesel's model was a custom built perspex model, painted through the use of glossy car body paint. Diesel's wheels were taken from a Gauge 1 Märklin BR 80 model, whilst his buffer-beam and stepladders originated from the DHG 500 model. His coupling chains were made by the Tenmile Company. Diesel had sixteen different facemasks constructed throughout the course of the classic and new series, although only about fourteen of them actually appeared on screen. The faces were sculpted in clay, and would subsequently be made into resin casts, which were made through use of a silicone mould. One of Diesel's facemasks is owned by ThomasTankMerch, whilst another is owned by TomsProps. Diesels eye mechanism had two servos, one that allowed for up and down eyeball movement, and another that allowed for left and right movement, so as diesel's eyes could be moved wherever one wished them to be placed. Diesel's model is currently displayed at the Explore the Rails Exhibition, preserved behind a glass case, previously it was temporarily on display at the British Museum during the 70th anniversary party in 2015, along with Henry's Gauge 1 Model, among other props. Diesel's model was operated on set through the use of a remote-control. During production of Season 6 and Season 12, Diesel's facemasks were cataloged for a face-sheet reference book on set.
Diesel's Animated Models[]
Diesel had several different animated models created for use in things such as video-games and other animated features. One of these was a model based off his Gauge 1 Model, which frequently appeared in Learning Segments throughout the New Series, and also appeared in Learning Segments that were a part of Calling All Engines! Other animated Models of Diesel appeared in several different video games, such as the PC Game Railway Adventures, Magical Adventure, Go Go Thomas!, The Hero of the Rails Nintendo DS and Wii game, as a non-playable character, the Calling All Engines! Leapster Game and the downloadable app entitled Race On!, among other animated Video Games in which he has appeared in.
CGI Model[]
Diesels full CGI model first appeared in the special Hero of the Rails, when the show transitioned to CGI. Like the other character's he had previously gained a CGI face in the twelfth season as the CGI transfer was underway. Diesel was created into a CGI Model by Nitrogen Studios, through use of Maya, a 3-D animation modelling software, in which he was sculpted by hand. A CGI Test Model of Diesel was also created as a prototype, and was featured in recreated video footage, based off of the eleventh season episode Thomas and the Stinky Cheese. One of the faces present on this model of Diesel was later reused on one of The Mainland Diesels.
Trivia[]
- Diesel was created in 1958, do to a suggestion by the editor and director of the Railway Series, Eric Marriot, who thought a diesel-locomotive should be added to the series. Additionally Diesel was originally intended to be a one time character, although this didn't stop him from making various other appearances in Railway Series material, as-well as a main antagonist in the television series.
- In the television series, Diesel has been sent away and has returned to Sodor around four different times. The first time being mentioned in "A Close Shave" he later returned in "Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree" and briefly several episodes afterwards, presumably also being sent away after this. He returned yet again in "Diesel Does it Again" only to be sent away again by the end of the episode. He later returned in "The World's Strongest Engine" and has remained on Sodor since, except for when he was accidentally sent away a further time, being shipped away from Sodor at the end of The Great Race
- In the Railway Series, the Fat Controller never owned Diesel, he only visited Sodor on trial, and was always owned by British Railways. The same can be said in the television series, he was originally sent to Sodor on a trial several different times, before finally being purchased by the Fat Controller. It was unknown as to whether or not Sir Topham Hatt actually owned Diesel, until it was confirmed by the production crew of the series, during the CGI Series.
- The Fat Controller later acknowledged that allowing Diesel to come to Sodor, wasn't one of his better ideas, as confirmed by Sodor: Reading Between the Lines.