Nia

Nia of Kenya
Background information
Voiced by	Yvonne Grundy (speaking voice; 2018-2021) Patricia Kihoro (singing voice; 2018-2021) Sade Smith (UK; All Engines Go) Talia Evans (US; All Engines Go)
Character information
Gender	Female
Species	Steam Locomotive
Home	Kenya, Africa (formerly) Island of Sodor (currently)
Likes	Travelling the world, making new friends
Dislikes	Being homeless, being tricked,
Quote	"Two engines are better than one!"

"Two engines are much better than one, you know!"
-Nia talking to Thomas, Big World, Big Adventures!.

Nia is the deuteragonist of Big World Adventures!. She is an orange tank engine from Kenya, who Thomas befriended and accompanied on his big world adventure. She is now a permanent resident of the North Western Railway on the Island of Sodor.

Appearance

Nia is a tank engine from Kenya, Africa. She has a tall funnel and steam dome, and is painted orange with yellow lining. She has stripes with an African pattern consisting of red, yellow, green, black and purple painted along with her tanks and dome, as well as green and yellow lining on her cylinders. Nia has the number eighteen on her cab, and she has six driving wheels, and two small wheels at the front and at the back.

Personality

Nia is an adventurous and fun engine who teaches Thomas, and even Gordon, about friendship and new things. Whether she is in her homeland of Africa or travelling around the world, Nia is positive, kind-hearted and thoughtful. Her eagerness to help can sometimes irritate her friends, but her truthfulness and kind heart always win them over. She is a good problem solver, although she once had trouble reading numbers until Annie and Clarabel helped her.

Technical Details

Nia is based on the KUR ED1 class, a class of 2-6-2 tank locomotive built by Vulcan Foundry for the Kenya-Uganda Railway between 1926 and 1930. Primarily used for shunting duties, they were also used to haul branch line trains. They were later operated by the East African Railways and were reclassified as part of the EAR 11 class. One member of this class, No. 327, has been preserved at the Nairobi Railway Museum in Nairobi, Kenya.

Nia has been modified in order to work on British railways. Whereas her original basis was metre gauge, Nia is standard gauge and she has been given buffers and screwlink couplings in order to work with the other engines.

Trivia

• Nia's name means "purpose" in Swahili.
• Experts at the United Nations and The Royal African Society assisted the production team with creating Nia.
• At one point during her creation, Nia was originally going to be called Kessie. She was also going to be given a Norwegian coupling, but it was quickly changed to buffers and screwlink couplings.
• An early test trailer (with footage from it later reused for The Journey Never Ends) and certain merchandise lines depict her with red wheels, due to the fact that one piece of Nia's concept art shows her with red wheels.
• Nia's number, 18 originates from the year her first appearance in Big World! Big Adventures! was released; 2018.
• She is the only member of the Steam Team to arrive on Sodor from a country outside the UK.
• Nia is the first engine to have a female crew member, as well as being the first Steam Team member to have her name painted on her side.
• Currently Nia is the only member of the Steam Team to have a snowplough that is not the same colour as her.
• She is the second character to get a regular singing double, with Marion being the first.
• Nia will meet Winnie the Pooh, Ash Ketchum, Littlefoot, Simba, Sora, Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob, Tai, Lincoln, Twilight Sparkle, their friends, Lightning McQueen and Mater in Pooh's Adventures of Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!.
• Nia will make her first debut in Thomas' Adventures of Fantasia.
• Tigger refers to her as "Nia-Girl".
• Nia will meet will meet Ryan, Meg Griffin and their friends in Ryan's Adventures of Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!.
• Despite being painted orange, Nia's favourite colour is purple.

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