James the Red Engine

James is a vain red mixed-traffic engine. He is the main deuteragonist

Behind the Scenes
James first appeared in the Railway Series in 1946, in the book Thomas the Tank Engine. He was painted black at this point. At the request of the publishers, Awdry dedicated the next book to the character. It was in this book that James received his red paint and his personality.

In the book The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, it is claimed that James is based on a rebuild of a Class 27 locomotive of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, designed by George Hughes. However, as with most of the early Railway Series characters, this is a case of retroactive continuity.

Martin Clutterbuck has pointed out that the character also strongly resembles an Austrian Goods engine of the Glasgow and South Western Railway, and Awdry himself used an engine of this class to represent James on his model railway. As with Edward, it is possible that he rejected this prototype for the character's official "biography" on the grounds that an English locomotive would be geographically more likely to end up on Sodor.

James As a model
According to the Rev W Awdry himself, James is a "Class 28" Hughes rebuild of the Lancashire and Yorkshire's Class 27 designed by Aspinall. Hughes added a Belpaire firebox and extended the footplate and sandbox. The engine below, the first of the series from the Horwich works (5th March, 1912), was fitted with a Schmidt superheater. The changes for James are quite obviously the new front pony truck added "experimentally", suggested by the real loco's large front overhang, and thus converting an 0-6-0 into a 2-6-0, besides the removal of the front sandboxes. James 2-6-0 Professionally made (a G&SWR Mixed traffic loco designed by Drummond.) It was painted red with yellow lining as in the books. a beautiful model, but there was one way the motor, though of a well-known and reputedly reliable make, was so unreliable, that the engine could never be put into regular service (Note W.A. 1989 Loco was sent 1983/84 to Stewart Reidpath for fresh chassis and Motor and returned completely transformed). James II, which the Reverend converted from the Triang 3F just as Hornby would do for its production James.

James in Thomas and the Magic Railroad
Susan Roman voiced James in the film, Thomas and the Magic Railroad. He was briefly threatened by the evil Diesel 10 before being teleported out by Mr Conductor Junior (Michael E. Rodgers). At the beginning the fly annoying him was a reference to Buzz, Buzz.

James in the Guinness Book of Records
A large scale working replica of James (along with Thomas, Percy, Harold and Jack) was created by BBC Visual Effects (UK) for a 2003 live stage show tour. This battery powered locomotive is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest model railway engine ever built, at 2.64 x 1.5 x 6.52 metres.

"Real Life" James
The Mid Hants Railway repainted one of its engines – a Southern Railway N class – into the livery of James. The engine retained this colour scheme for many years, and participated in the Railway Series golden jubilee celebrations at the National Railway Museum. This engine was the only replica Thomas character to be certified to run on the main line.

It created a certain amount of controversy among railway enthusiasts, who felt that it was inappropriate to paint a historic main line locomotive in such a garish livery. Nonetheless, the locomotive was popular with the railway's younger visitors.

Trivia

 * In the TV Series, James makes a large number of cameos before his actual debut story. This leads to a continuity error in James and the Coaches.
 * In the Railway Series, James was painted black before his accident and was given his red coat to cheer him up; he is red throughout the TV Series and he killed Ash Mongoose.

Theme

 * James' theme is his Season 1 theme.

Counterparts

 * Top Hat (TUGS/Salty's Lighthouse)
 * Schemer (Shining Time Station)
 * Larry the Cucumber/Larry-Boy or Bob the Tomato (VeggieTales)
 * Antoine D'Coolette, Knuckles the Echidna, Rotor the Walrus, or Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog)
 * The Musician (Rayman)
 * Oogtar, Wario, Luigi, or Mario (Super Mario Bros.)
 * Red Max (Wacky Races)
 * Roy (Garfield & Friends)
 * Plucky Duck (Tiny Toon Adventures)
 * Turtwig, Totodile, Meowth, or Piplup (Pokemon)
 * Tokkori, Knuckle Joe, or Meta Knight (Kirby)
 * Cosmo or AJ (The Fairly OddParents)
 * Falco Lombardi (Star Fox)
 * Nicky (Avenue Q)
 * Floyd Pepper (Muppets)
 * Zippy (Rainbow)
 * Scampi (The Sooty Show)
 * Mr. Potato Head (Toy Story, both are vain)
 * Francis (A Bug's Life)
 * Moe Syzlak or Bart Simpson (The Simpsons)
 * Glenn Quagmire (Family Guy)
 * Roger (American Dad)
 * Lester (The Cleveland Show)
 * Stuck-Up Steve (Horrid Henry)
 * Norval the Fish (Dr. Seuss/The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss)
 * Ed Crosswire or Binky Barnes (Arthur)
 * Squidward Tentacles or Mr. Krabs (SpongeBob SquarePants)
 * Donald Duck, Goofy, or Mickey Mouse (Mickey Mouse)
 * Drew Pickles (Rugrats)
 * Timon or Zazu (The Lion King)
 * Banana Joe (The Amazing World of Gumball)
 * BJ (from Barney and Friends)
 * Vince (Recess)
 * Clay Bailey (Xiaolin Showdown)
 * Sheen (Jimmy Neutron)
 * Hugo (The Hunchback Of Notre Dame)
 * Terk (Tarzan)
 * Butch (The Powerpuff Girls)
 * Mong (Cubix: Robots For Everyone)
 * Yao (Mulan)
 * Gurgle (Finding Nemo)
 * Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, or Kenny McCormick (South Park)
 * Puss in Boots (Shrek)
 * Melman the Giraffe (Madagascar)
 * Monkey (Kung Fu Panda)
 * Jeremy Johnson (Phineas and Ferb)
 * Emmett Heglin (Good Luck Charlie)
 * Blooregard "Bloo" Q. Kazoo (Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends)
 * Kyle Bloodworth-Thomason (Fanboy and Chum Chum)
 * The Kid (Codename: Kids Next Door)
 * Bert Monkey (Noddy's Toyland Adventures)
 * Pow (Canimals)
 * Nibblet (Little Charley Bear)
 * Beatrice (Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night)
 * Phoney Bone (Bone)
 * Rat (Pearls Before Swine)
 * Bucky Cat (Get Fuzzy)
 * George Banks (Mary Poppins)
 * Fork (The Legendary Starfy)
 * Link (Super Smash Bros.)
 * Tigger (Winnie the Pooh)
 * Claus (Earthbound/Mother)
 * Chef Cookie (Drawn to Life)
 * General Hologram or Sonic the Hedgehog (Wreck-It Ralph)
 * Proto Man (Mega Man)
 * Louie (Pikmin)
 * Bagheera (The Jungle Book)
 * Manny (Ice Age)
 * Bill (Sitting Ducks)

Parodies

 * James/Thomas
 * James/TUGS
 * James/Sonic
 * James/Arthur
 * James/Rio (2011)
 * James/The Simpsons
 * James/Shrek
 * James/Winnie The Pooh
 * James/Toy Story
 * James/The Lion King
 * James/Sesame Street
 * James/Sooty
 * James/Veggietales
 * James/Bob The Builder
 * James/Happy Feet