It wouldn't be an Unlucky Tug video if I didn't forget something! 🤦‍♂ One North Western character I did miss was Sonny. Sonny was introduced in Season 24, and is based on the real life Haydock Foundry well-tank locomotives. One survives named "Bellerophon", and can be found on the Foxfield Railway in the UK. Sonny is numbered 1842, and I'm not completely sure what it's in reference to. The well-tanks were all built between 1868 and 1887. It may be a nod to the year his type of valve gear was first implemented on locomotives, but I'm probably wrong about that. If you know the reason, comment below!

The fact that these engines have real life numbers just shows how dedicated Awdry and the crew making the show were

...i MIGHT have underestimated Thomas' lore

I do appreciate how apparently Sir Topham Hatt actively buys locomotives that nobody else wants, so many were either experimental designs, modified versions of existing locomotives, or were slated to be scrapped.

24:41 Rebecca is definitely the most complex member of the Steam Team when it comes to numbers, which is ironic considering that as a character she isn’t all that complex

Donald and Douglas’s Caledonia numbers could be 662 and 663 since the 652 class went up to 661

Diesel 10 wasn't actually named Diesel 10 because he was the 10th Diesel introduced, that was merely fan speculation. Britt Allcroft said that the name just popped into her head

I don't believe in labels, but that Coffee Pot deserved to keep the number one

After all these years, I'm still surprised that Sir Topham Hatt had originally bought Gordon to replace Henry, who refused to leave the tunnel. This must have affected the dynamic and relationship between Henry and Gordon in the early years.

I literally haven't touched this series in almost thirty years, and I did not realize how much lore there actually was surrounding the engines. This is amazing.

The reason Boco is D5702 in the first place is also interesting. The number of the two-rail version of the Co-Bo produced by Hornby-Dublo was D5702. Awdry had this model and it would have been the reference model for the illustrations, hence the number being used.

the fact that an engine doesent have the number 13 in the series and 13 famously being the unlucky number is such a great detail

Ok so technically Thomas was “Killed in Action” if you think about his origin

Little obscure things like the engines numbers having meaning is one the things I love about Thomas and Friends. It shows that it was made with a lot of thought, and that this franchise is more important than people realize.

I protest the idea that _every_ real engine has a number - the Great Western broad-gauge engines had only names!

Considering how little the team cared about Thomas around DOTD, I would not be suprised at all if they just thought ''ah a lot of real engines have number 6120 let's throw that number onto Belle too''

On one hand, I really wish we got to learn why Philip was numbered 68, I think it is kind of sweet that Philip learned that it doesn’t really matter, and instead just found his own meaning in the number. Plus, leaving it vague means that you can come up with your own interpretation. (Then again, judging but effect, Philip didn’t know why that was his number, it was probably saying mundane like just being the 68th engine built by his workshop in America.)

Bro, this was such a nostalgia trip. I grew up on Thomas, so it was neat being reminded of characters like "oh, it's that guy!" or "oh, it's him." I'm glad Adventure Begins was covered, as I find that an amazing retelling of the first few stories and I wish there was more. I like the origins background and speculation as well. I'll have to check out your other stuff, too!

It's so refreshing these days to just see new uploads without a scheduled future premiere-date. I know that we've sometimes seen these on your channel, but there's a much more enjoyable feeling that comes with simply seeing a new video appear that I can immediately click on and watch. Teasing what the video could be through community posts serving as a preview also adds to the fun

its funny how the nwr’s beginnings change depending on what version your looking at.

Fun Fact: There is a preserved Class 101 DMU that was named after Daisy; D101685. Apparently, she is on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Edit: Also, you may have missed Lexi, who wears 21 on her cab.

i used to think all of the ttte engines numbers were random or ones from real life besides the main 11, but it's interesting to learn them all and their meanings

5:11 I know Tug usually takes issues with the engines of Sodor being experimental or prototype engines, though my personal headcannon for Thomas was that he was a slightly smaller E2 prototype (which I call the E2.2) with a shortened wheelbase and boiler that was supposed to fix the flaws the larger ones had. (Explaining both his smaller look in the later books and his smaller size to Gordon unlike the real E2, which is huge as Tug pointed out in his Thomas model video) However despite this experimental E2's success, it was deemed uneconomical to convert or build more of these engines, thus Thomas was kept a secret from the public eye and sent to Sodor where the LB&SCR promptly and quietly covered up his entire existence as a wartime casualty before his purchase by The Fat Director.

it's interesting to see how the numbers correlate to real life, and most of the engine numbers have real meaning.

Rebecca's number could also be a possible reference to the placement of her original debut episode for Series 21

32:27 Ryan could've been the engine in the middle, #1614, renumbered when the GNR was grouped into the LNER.

“So there are three certainty in life, Death, Taxes and, Engine Numbers” What a Way to Kick off the first Big Video this year on The Unlucky Tug Channel

By technicality, could Thomas have illegally smuggled Nia into Sodor

Something interesting about Donald and Douglas is that, their numbers did Technically belong to actual engines 17646 and 17647 were the first of the Caledonian Railway class 30 built, which was just a superheated version of the 812s/625s

I'd also like to see a Sodors Finest on Oliver, Mavis, Bill & Ben, Emily, and maybe even Spencer!

5:50 headcanon: thomas somehow killed poplar off to gain a lower number.

I’ve already said it, but this is basically the wild world of Engine Numbers

I just realized bear , boco and daisy have numbers similarly to Thomas , Edward and Henry who are in fact close with them as well since daisy works on Thomas’s branchline , boco on edwards and bear first befriended Henry when he arrived on the NWR

You don’t even have a number ! (vine boom)

Not associated with numbers and anything, but I'd like to think that Henry was something like The Great Bear in comparison. A failed Pacific turned into a functional 4-6-0.

I'd like to think that Hiro's original designation was "D51-16" and his name is a play on that number. (Hi=1 Ro=6)

That Spencer edit at the beginning of the video made me laugh a little Great video as always!

I have a funny image in my head that the reason Dennis got sold off to Sodor is because he was too lazy to do what his prototype model was designed for, and that'a why they made Norman later, because they wanted to try again and have an engine tat ran Speaking of I just love how many characters work with their basises, Rosie for example is based on an engine that worked with the e2 engines, so her being a thomas fan makes sense, though in cases like Dennis and Whiff it seems like pure irony. Whiff being a pristene private engine working in a waste dump, and Dennis supposedly being a fast and effecient diesel being lazy.

Me personally I like the idea that Ryan's 10/14 was based on the date he was thought of making it October 14th 2014. Also it would be cool if Charlie was actually based off that first engine considering the fact it was from the nitrogen era.

I’m surprised that Lady’s number isn’t infinity considering she’s the god of all trains

This show taught me how to count, I'm being serious It also taught me my colors, I grew up when Murdoch, Molly, and Lady were brand new and were shown off a lot, which filled in orange, yellow, and purple

"I know a lot of you watching this already know the stories behind the numbers," Man, I still can't tell apart half the blue engines.

35:57 XD that closeup shot of Gordon looking at the left side of view annoyed and jealous with his brother's fame killed me. Great video Tug as always!

Sometimes a number is just a number but not in Thomas.

In November, DragonWolf284 and I talked about Duck's number and they found Duck's possible real Number! He's actually not 5741, but 5766! He was allocated to the London Reading shed as a London Paddington station pilot. When at Swindon Works with the real 5741, their number plates got switched.

"I WANTED AN ATLANTIC! BUT THAT ************** SENT ME THAT!!!!" if only George Carlin said that when he narrated the show, and we saw that as an outtake. (also, you kinda forgot Lexi)

Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa. I recognise the whistle from engine number 18 in this video as most of our steam locos back in steam days had one that sounds like this. I also love Stepney's whistle in this video.

29:55 “In season 14, it was revealed that Whiff was based” a truer statement was never spoken

Vaguely related. While I can’t gush about the history of an engine’s number like Tug can, I would like to analyze how Lost Treasure provides an answer for what it truly means to be the “Number 1 engine.” Throughout the movie, Thomas takes Glynn’s advice to “wear that number with pride” a bit too close to heart. All three of Thomas’ mistakes are a result of him refusing to take responsibility for his ego trip, because he HAS to be Topham’s best engine. After all, he’s THE number one. - His self-pride causes him to block Knapford junction and deflect responsibility to his friends in front of Topham. How scummy. - “Never Overlook a Little Engine,” which seems like an empowering song, only enables both Thomas’ ego and desire for redemption to inflate bigger than ever before. As a result, it clouds his mind, blocking the workmen’s warnings to not embark towards the unstable ground. - His jealousy towards Ryan causes him to trick Ryan into taking the bad coal, which sets a fuse on the dynamite trucks, endangering himself, Ryan, Marion, the workmen, and the Pack. All of this is enforced by the visual symbolism of Thomas’ #1 fading from his side as he continues to fall lower w/Topham. But that’s been pointed out millions of time. But it’s only when Thomas accepts that he’s not number one when things finally start looking up for him. First off, he accepts Ryan as his friend. More importantly, though, notice how Thomas actually contributes very little to the climax. Yeah, he warned the smallies and helped motivate Skiff to turn good, but it was the smallies, Ryan, and Skiff who do the most to stop John. Thomas’ greatest contribution was failing to knock Skiff off the rails and plummeting into the sea. It’s only when Thomas verbally accepts that he *didn’t* save the day when Topham dubs him as his number one engine. This series is called “Thomas and Friends,” so it only makes sense that this film emphasizes this premise of togetherness. Being number one means exhibiting humility and accepting that everyone is equally special and important. Even if it means putting yourself aside for a greater cause.

Wait a minute... Luke and Rebecca are both #22. Rebecca is yellow. Rebecca confirmed to be Victor.

When I tell you I punched air when I heard Neville and Arthur, I PUNCHED AIR. I'm so glad the two of them were featured, I immediatly recognised Neville's number too! And hearing about Bear and Boco was a pleasant surprise. This video was so well done and, again, I learnt a lot more than I thought I would! Keep up the amazing work :)

It’s been 100 years since JAMES went to the island of Sodor.

I think you skipped over a diesel engine’s number who is also a Class 40. His number is 40125 which is “Old Stuck Up” who appears in the first story of the RWS 28th book which is frankly called “Old Stuck Up” He was first built in December 1960 with 1955 BR Number D325, before getting renumbered in TOPS in 1974 to 40125. 7 years later he was withdrawn in 31st Máy 1981 before getting scrapped for spares in Swindon in December 1983.

bro said "no narrow gauge engines'' and then proceed to explain victor (he is narrow gauge)

My thought with both Ryan and Belle is their numbers reflected an unused basis

56:30 Speaking of Bill & Ben. They might have not had numbers in the TV series but through seasons 2 and 3 they had builder's plates. At least Bill did. Ben for some odd reason wasn't filmed in a way to show them, if he had any at all. And I have evidence that Bill did have them.

I just learned a new years that 1020 is a railway series character and I did not know that until I watch a video about background characters

I always find it really fascinating what the numbers of each engine mean

The names and numbers of the Steam and Diesel engines. I included the years for some of the Steam and Diesel engines that arrived on Sodor or when they first appeared in the TV series. The Steam engines: 1) Thomas - 1915 (Arrived) 2) Edward - 1916 (Arrived) 3) Henry - 1922 (Arrived) 4) Gordon - 1923 (Arrived) 5) James - 1926 (Arrived) 6) Percy - 1930 (Arrived) 7) Toby - 1951 (Arrived) 8) Duck - 1955 (Arrived) 9) Donald - 1959 (Arrived) 10) Douglas - 1959 (Arrived) 11) Oliver - 1961 (Arrived) 12) Emily - 2003 (Appeared) 13) The Unlucky Engine 14) Charlie - 2005 (Appeared) 15) Samson - 2015 (Appeared) 16) Unknown 18) Nia - 2018 (Appeared) 20) Hurricane - 2017 (Appeared) 22) Rebecca - 2022 (Appeared) 27) Harvey - 2002 (Appeared) 37) Rosie - 2005 (Appeared) 51) Hiro - 2009 (Appeared) 55) Stepney - 1962 (Arrived) 66) Whiff - 2007 (Appeared) 783) Merlin - 2017 (Appeared) 1014) Ryan - 2015 (Appeared) 1173) Victor - 2009 (Appeared) 2020) Duchess - 2020 (Appeared) 4472) The Flying Scotsman - 2016 (Appeared) 6120) Belle - 2011 (Appeared) 33010) Neville - 2005 (Appeared) 41241) Arthur - 2003 (Appeared) The Diesel engines: 1) Daisy - 1960 (Arrived) 2) Boco - 1965 (Arrived) 3) Bear - 1967 (Arrived) 10) Diesel 10 - 2000 (Appeared) 68) Philip - 2015 (Appeared) 199) Spamcam - 1967 (Arrived) 261) Class 40 - 1994 (Arrived) 1917) Stafford - 2012 (Appeared) 2991) Salty - 2002 (Appeared) 4002) Frankie - 2017 (Appeared) 11001) Dennis - 2005 (Appeared)

2024 has officially started for the unlucky tug!

I believe that Thomas was an experimental built between #s 104 & 105. He was tested by the LB&SCR and then sent north to help build the North Western.

I always wanted Weird Al to play Harvey because 27 is a number Al often references and Harvey is the name of a hamster in various projects by Al, in addition to the name of the uncle of Al’s character in UHF.

At 43:25, that's Terence Cuneo making sketches for his "Night Freight" oil painting, made popular as the cover of the 1972 Triang-Hornby catalogue. What a lovely piece of railway art history.

Yay, 2024 has now started, Tug's back!

There are lots of numbers out there Tug, my man, but you will always be number one ❤

BoCo is actually the 3rd member of his class. The BR Class 28s started with number D5700 and stopped at D5719.

I do like that you have the engine whistles with each entry. It reminds me of a TtTE version of the pokedex.

We know it's a nice day when The Unlucky Tug postes.

13:22 After looking through the BR database, the only 57xx I could find that worked in London was 5764, built the same year as 5741. I don’t know if I'm the first to come up with this theory, but in my head-cannon these two were overhauled around the same time as each other and their numbers were carelessly switched.

I WAS WAITING FOR THIS TOPIC TO COME AROUND

Gotta love the random topics Unlucky Tug will find to cover. Though I will make a prediction for Sodor's Finest: CGI did Daisy best.

I always figured that since the Terriers were duplicate listed and given the prefix "6" before their original numbers, to make room for newer locomotives. The number 70 for Thomas was plausible. Also by the time Thomas was built, Poplar had already been sold to the Rother Valley Railyway/KESR as their #5 Bodiam.

It's good to see a new Unlucky Tug video after coming from the church. More casual videos like this one are quite neat. They're like a gasptake before more bigger video (Sodor's Finest, or The Thomas Retrospective).

What a way to start the new year, and I’m all for it. I gotta say, Bruce Alexander is a pretty stellar narrator for the RWS. It’s also crazy he’s the first to narrate *all* of Wilbert’s 26 books! Will there be a RWS / T&F Narrator Ranking in the future?

When Tug does a Sodor's Finest on Sir Topham Hatt, I bet that it can be the RWS.

now i know that the engines numbers has meanings Thankyou for making this video

You forgot Mallard he did technically appear in the railway series

Did some quick research on Ryan, turns out his basis was spefically on GNR N2/1 number 1744. I'm guessing the production team just took the number 1744 and swapped it around with 1014? I could be wrong on that.

This video was AWESOME! I enjoyed it so much. Love the added detail of having every single engine’s whistle or horn when they are introduced.

I love how you can see people smoking in a kid’s book😂😂 15:05

10:59 *"Thomas & Friends: The Island Of Misfit Engines."* That actually sounds like a really good idea for a movie!. Just my opinion... but the writers giving Emily an official number; at what was the tail end of the whole show was completely pointless. By doing so they think they established her as one of the big main characters, but that doesn't make any sense when she's been one since Season 8, so what was the point other then so Mattel could just market cheap toy variants. I'm sorry, but i'm sure most of us would agree she just looks off with a number, and to be totally honest she doesn't need one, not every character does to be a cemented member of the TTTE family, and for us to love them. But even so; and this is just me being nit-picky... if Emily is to have a number, could it not be in a more elegant font that's more suited to an engine like her, *Ananda Black* in my opinion would be perfect instead of using the same default *Beton* one.

WE HAVE TOO MANY EXPERIMENTAL ENGINES SEND THAT SHIT TO THE ISLAND OF SODOR!!!! - The big 4 for some reason

This was such an interesting one to watch! I like how almost all of these characters had a number that was a reference to something or well given for an actual reason. I think the most surprising thing I learned from this was that Ryan and Belle stumped you! I liked learning about the histories of some of these characters and learning some things about the real-life counterparts. Nice job, Tug! Can't wait to see what's next!

The fact that this video exist is just... *The definition of outstanding!!!*

8:43 Okay it’s killing me to know; what are the censored words?

With a video like this, all those parents that apparently can't count when it comes to Thomas characters (saying Edward is Gordon and Henry is Emily and who the flip is Oliver that's Percy!) now have a decent guide on a good portion of the engines. I sure enjoyed this video and I sometimes think the reason why the engines got progressively bigger with wider and wider gaps inbetween is to subtly indicate that Sodor has dozens and dozens of engines many of whom we never met. Awdry himself did say the NWR has over 80 different engines in total, steam, diesel and electric. Overall, I think engine numbers are just fun. Some numbers are even shared by multiple different engines and others can have a hidden meaning. I know there are many GWR engines out there have the same numbers as many of the houses in my neighborhood. Plenty of other engines have years for numbers.

He arrived on the 4th of April 1923

23:33 bro just rammed that boiling hot steel 💀

Great vid dude i like how you explaind tomases number

the unlucky tug, i have a bit of a theory for what ryan's number means: so, when the class N2's were being scrapped, the first engine to be scrapped in the 50s was numbered 69510. and the last one to be scrapped in the 50s was numbered 69514. both of the last 2 digits makes ryan's number, 1014. sorry if it's a big assumption, but it's probably as big as the rebecca one

Im very happy that the engines have Real life numbers

Never expected a video about talking locomotive numbers to be almost an hour long but I'm here for it

Hey Tug, I was wondering if you've heard of something that KZfaqr Dark DJ Productions is doing. He's making his own series which is his version of the Island of Sodor, as part of his '77C Universe' that he set up with his earlier series aptly named 'That Dark Railway Series'. And as part of it, Sodor got a lot of help from not only the Furness, but the LNWR too. Everyone is now a different engine basis (Thomas is an LBSCR E4, Edward is an LSWR T3, Gordon is a Raven A2, and more to come). Plus a bonus independent railway going from Vickerstown, to Ballahoo, and finally to Norramby. I was wondering if you could make a series talking about the creations of other railway enthusiast KZfaqrs & the series and things that they do?

I love a Friday after School

Very happy that we've already gotten multiple mentions of Stepney within the first few minutes. You love to see it.

So spectacular! You know, I've always been fascinated with engine numbers, at least for the first twelve owned by the North Western Railway. But to hear every single one of those numbers for the engines living on Sodor and visiting it regularly, that's rather incredible, and I didn't know so much about the basises! I did hear also the Q1 (Nerville's basis) was underrated because of its unique design. And I'm surprised you counted Victor, because he's technically narrow-gauge, yet you decided not to count the narrow-gauge engines, though I guess you're referring to the Skarloey Railway, which Victor doesn't really work on. I also remember you pointed out a potential number for Diesel himself in a previous video, but I can't quite remember. I understand you didn't wanna cover what was unofficial. But boy, does it delight me to hear you talk about the Flying Scotsman, my favourite engine of all time! Brilliant work as always, Unlucky Tug! 😃👍

You should rank every thomas and friends song

32:27 I noticed that one of the N2s in this photo wears the number 1614, so my (probably flimsy) theory is that the designer misinterpreted it as 1014 and put that number on Ryan instead.

Have Wonderful day 💀 its 2am

Amazing video as always, always learning something new