James

James is a red mixed-traffic L&YR Class 28 engine who can sometimes be vain and boastful. All the same, he means well and is a hard worker. He regularly works on the Main Line.

Trivia

 * James is named after James Furze, a friend of the son of the man who published the second book in the Railway Series.
 * James was illustrated into The Three Railway Engines as the red engine who tried to push Henry out of the tunnel. However, children began sending letters to Awdry asking why James was painted red prior to the events of Thomas the Tank Engine. Awdry then decided to make the Red Engine a new character altogether.
 * In Sodor: Reading Between the Lines James is said to have been sold to the NWR in 1923, however this creates anachronisms with events laid out in The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways.
 * In the first season, James was formally introduced in Thomas and the Breakdown Train, which was said to have been his first day on the railway. However, he had appeared in every prior episode as a background character. This may have been done to populate the sets, similar to how the Märklin Engine was used in later episodes.
 * James has been painted in more liveries than any other engine in the television series, with a total of four.
 * A large scale working replica of James was built by BBC Visual Effects for a tour in 2003, along with Thomas, Percy, Harold and Jack. The battery powered locomotive is listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of Records as the largest model railway engine ever built, at 2.64 x 1.5 x 6.52 metres.
 * Andrew Brenner has said in an interview that James is one of his favourite characters, along with Toby, Bill and Ben.
 * In Toby's New Whistle, James revealed that he once had a three-chime steam whistle.
 * Although he now has the same voice actor in both dubs, James speaks with a different accent in each; he speaks with an American accent in the US dub, but speaks with an British accent in the UK dub. He is the second character in the show to be in this situation, the first being Belle.
 * He is the only member of the Steam Team to be a main antagonist.
 * In the French dub of the Classic Series, James was known as Jacques.
 * James, Thomas and Henry are the only engines to speak in every special. They, along with Gordon, are the only engines to appear in every special.
 * Despite being a 2-6-0, some of his merchandise has him without his pilot wheels, making him a 0-6-0 instead.