Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal #15 is an American tank engine that was converted into a replica of Thomas for Day Out with Thomas events.
History
B.E.D.T. #15 was built to run on the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal, a rail-marine terminal in Brooklyn, New York. After the railway was modernized with diesel locomotives, it was moved to the Southern Appalachian Railway in 1965. The Southern Appalachian Railway ran from Burnsville, North Carolina to Erwin, Tennessee. It worked there until 1975, when it was moved to the Toledo, Lake Erie and Western Railway in Grand Rapids, Ohio, were it was placed on static display for the next twenty-three years.
It was later purchased by the Strasburg Rail Road and arrived there on 9th May 1998. It underwent a full conversion into a steam-powered replica of Thomas and ran for the first time on 29th April 1999. The engine is still currently in service, but only runs at Day Out with Thomas events.
In the initial conversion, only Thomas' eyes were capable of moving. In 2014, he was modified to include a CGI-style animatronic face and sound system, with a mouth synchronised with pre-recorded lines provided by Thomas' former American voice actor Martin Sherman. In 2022, Thomas' voice was changed to Meesha Contreras' Thomas voice from Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go voice actor to suit the rebranding of the Day out with Thomas event.
Technical Details
Basis
B.E.D.T. #15 is a H. K. Porter, Inc 0-6-0ST. Porter and the Dockyard Engines are also members of this class.
Livery
B.E.D.T. #15 is painted in the North Western Railway's standard blue livery with red and yellow lining and the number 1 painted on its side tanks in yellow with a red border. Prior to the modifications, it was painted black with gold lining and with red window frames.
Appearances
Trivia
- This engine is the only surviving Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal tank engine still in steam.
- Unlike the original Thomas, B.E.D.T. #15 has visible cylinders and a cowcatcher. It has a dummy coupling hook in the front, which can be replaced with a knuckle coupling when nessecary.
- This locomotive is the only steam replica of Thomas in the United States; all other replicas are "dummies" and require a real locomotive at the other end for power. The dummies are equipped with working air brakes, a smoke generator, an air whistle, and the animatronic voice and sound system.
- Only one whistle on this engine actually operates, while the other is decorative.
- The one operating whistle sounds similar to Henry's whistle sound effect.
- When this engine was first being overhauled to look like Thomas, the full restoration had not been completed. As such, when "Thomas" first ran in 1998, he did not run under his own power, had no coupling rods going into the cylinders and had a much thicker face. Thomas was pushed and pulled by Strasburg's GE 44-ton diesel switcher locomotive that year. By 1999, Thomas became fully functional.
- Besides operating for Day Out with Thomas events, it can also be found doing test runs or switching (shunting) when performing them.
Video
