Diesel (AEG)

"Sparkin!"

— Diesel's catchphrase

Diesel, as his name implies, is a black diesel engine who works on the North Western Railway on Sodor.

Biography

Diesel is a diesel engine who lives on Sodor with Thomas and his friends. His best friends are Thomas, Percy, Nia, Kana, Carly, Sandy, and Bruno.

Personality

Unlike the original series, where he was oily, malicious, devious and scheming, Diesel is portrayed as one of Thomas' best friends. He is Thomas' competitive friend, always trying to one-up Thomas, and inadvertently causes trouble for everyone in his quest to be "the real Number One Engine." However, he does still retain some of his original personality, like teasing others, and trying to sabotage others in order to win a race. But despite this, he still has his limits when it comes to sportsmanship, especially after he witnessed his favorite racers, Farona and Frederico try and sabotage Thomas and Kana's chance at winning the Sodor Cup.

Diesel's favourite object is an old, rusted oil can he named Rusty. Despite it being dirty and noisy, he keeps it around for sentimental value.

Technical Details

Basis

Diesel is based on a British Rail (BR) Class 08 diesel-electric shunter. In the real world, BR Class 08s were in fact the most successful shunting engines in the world with 996 of them built. Over seventy of them are preserved by heritage railways, such as the Dean Forest Railway and museums, such as the National Railway Museum. Around one-hundred BR Class 08s also remain in service on the national rail network.

Livery

Diesel is painted black with a dark purple stripe along each side and dark purple toolboxes and wheels. His valences and running board are also dark purple, while his buffer beams are red.

During Race for the Sodor Cup, Diesel briefly wears a special livery in support of Farona and Frederico which is similar to his normal livery, however with a few notable differences. Namely, his running board and the stripe along his side are yellow, with an additional orange stripe in the middle and a yellow box under his face. After witnessing them cheat in an attempt to preserve their chances at winning, Diesel reverted back to his normal livery after Kana and Thomas crossed the gap.

Trivia

• Since his last appearance in Thomas & Friends, Diesel has had notable changes:
  • His forehead is now much larger.
  • His cab doors have been re-designed.
  • He now has purple irises.
  • He lacks his outside frames.
  • His nose is more rounded off.
  • His brake pipe has been removed.
  • He is diminutively smaller.
  • His back stepladder have been removed, while his front stepladders retain a different design.
  • He has gained a running board.
  • The handrails on his cab have been removed.
  • He now has grilles on the rear of his cab where his front windows used to be.
  • He has a new horn which is a stock sound effect.
  • He no longer speaks with a British accent in the US dub.
• Unlike the original series, Diesel is a part of the main cast of engines, and instead of being an antagonist, he is portrayed as one of Thomas' best friends and now lives at Tidmouth Sheds with the other engines, meaning Diesel redeemed himself.
• Due to All Engines Go straying away from railway realism, Diesel is now incorrectly referred to as a "tank engine". This may be justified if it refers to his internal diesel tanks.
• In an early version of the script for A Thomas Promise used for auditions in January 2020, Diesel is renamed Joey, in order to keep the series a secret.
• Diesel is one of only three engines from the original series to still have cab doors, the other being Whiff and Kenji.
• In some series like Ryan's Adventures Series, he is a separate being from his bad counterpart.
• The All Engines Go counterparts are EVIL in Yoshi's Universe and are part of The 5 D.D.D.D.D's Army.