James the Red Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic tender locomotive from The Railway
Series children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry, and the
spin-off TV series Thomas and Friends. James is a mixed-traffic
engine, which means he is just as capable of pulling coaches as trucks. He has a
2-6-0 ("Mogul") wheel
arrangement and is engine number 5 on the North Western
Railway, the Fat Controller's
railway on the Island of
Sodor.
James first appeared in the Railway Series in 1946, in the book Thomas the Tank Engine. Two books in the series,
no. 3 James the Red Engine and no. 28 James and the Diesel Engines are dedicated to
James.
In the stories, James crashed into a field on his first day. The accident was
blamed on his wooden brake blocks, which were thereafter replaced with metal
ones. James has a reputation for being naughty. Some of his incidents include
breaking a coach brake pipe and needing a passenger's bootlace to
fix it, crashing into tar wagons, and spinning on the turntable. Despite his
behaviour, James is an engine proud of his red paint and is generally considered
to be a really useful engine.
He is very proud of his red paint and shining brass dome, and so likes to stay clean. He hates
pulling trucks, and believes that he should only be used to pull coaches. He
thinks himself superior to the other engines, and can be shallow, boastful and
arrogant – particularly to Edward, and those engines who appear old-fashioned,
weak, slow or dirty. However, on a number of occasions he has found himself
forced to accept help from those he has insulted, and is ultimately
apologetic.
James is one of the few characters to have their own song (James The
Really Splendid Engine) in the TV series, the chorus of which is based on
his theme music used in the early seasons.
In the Railway Series books, James was for a long time one of the last
engines to retain a prejudice against diesels. However,
he was forced to admit in the book James and the Diesel Engines that there was nothing
wrong with diesels as a whole, and this appears to be one of the few lessons
that has stuck.
