If you’re the kind of person who pays close attention, you may have noticed a mysterious black tank engine lurking in the background of various behind-the-scenes images from the first season of Thomas. Many have already spoken about this strange anomaly of an engine, but surely it wouldn’t hurt to talk about him again. Let’s take a closer look at Thomas’ most mysterious character – if you can even call him a character at all…
This is a DRG Class 80 tank engine, built for use with Deutsche Reichsbahn, otherwise known as the German National Railway. A total of 39 were built between 1927 and 1928 with the intention of being used for shunting duties at large stations. While most of these locos were withdrawn and scrapped, 7 survive in preservation today – some even still operating on heritage lines today.
A model of the DRG 80 was produced in Gauge 1 scale by German model railway company, Marklin – this engine was among many that were cannibalised for parts to build the models used in the television series.
Even more interestingly, one of these models even made its way onto the set completely unmodified…
The DRG Class 80, nicknamed the ‘Marklin Engine’ after its manufacturer, was first officially acknowledged in a crew member interview with Sodor Island Fansite in the late 2000’s when a photograph of the elusive engine was brought to their attention. This behind-the-scenes image was featured in an article in a model railway magazine that was published around the same time the TV series premiered. Thomas, James and Gordon can be seen idling around Tidmouth Sheds in this grainy black-and-white photo, but you may also be able to spot the shape of a black tank engine just in front of the coal pile near the camera – and it certainly doesn’t look like any of Thomas’ friends…
This behind-the-scenes image shows Thomas and Gordon on the Knapford Station set, presumably a scene from the very first episode of the series. The Knapford signal box stands just out of view of the camera – and who else should be hiding behind it but the mysterious Marklin engine…
The Marklin Engine was used to pull trains in the background to create a feeling of ongoing business on the railway. Before the production crew had a wide range of characters to feature in the background of shots, they were limited to engines 1-7, so this off-the-shelf model train essentially became a background extra. The model appears virtually identical to how it came out of the box and is cleverly hidden so it never appears in full view – not even a face was added to the smokebox to make it fit in with the rest of Thomas’ world.
The elusive Marklin engine is said to be pulling the trucks behind Edward and James in this shot – it would have felt rather awkward seeing this train being pulled by Percy before he was properly introduced later in the season.
And speaking of Percy’s debut, here are all the “cleverly-disguised” engines in the workshop. The Marklin Engine is hiding under one of these tarps.
With the second and third series came a slew of new characters to add to the cast, and the Marklin engine was made redundant. Its chassis would allegedly go on to be used for Mavis and can briefly be seen pushing the runaway trucks in Busy Going Backwards from Season 5 – the engine itself would be cut up and repurposed as scrap set dressing.
The Marklin engine’s remains can be seen in the scrap yard in Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party.
A scrap DRG 80 locomotive can even be seen as Thomas arrives at the Dieselworks in the 2012 special, Blue Mountain Mystery as a subtle nod to the elusive Marklin Engine for older fans of the series.
Two other models of the DRG 80 were also modified into the two steam engines that chug around Bigg City Harbour in Thomas’ sister series, TUGS – fitted with American-style smokestacks, cowcatchers and headlamps.
Images courtesy of TTTE Wikia.
