Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia
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Barry, named after Barry Island, the home of the scrapyard in South Wales where he was rescued, was a potential character for The Railway Series. He was to first appear in the book Barry the Rescue Engine, which was initially thought to be the thirtieth or thirty-third volume of the series. Ultimately, the book ended up being cancelled. It has since been revealed by Christopher Awdry that the book had been created in the 1980s, and the engine similar to Wilbert was a completely different engine altogether.

Technical Details

Basis

According to Richard Awdry, Barry would have been based on an LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T.[1] Nicknamed 'Mickey Mouse Tanks', a total of 130 of these engines were built; ten under the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the rest under British Railways (BR). Four engines of this class survive, two of which - numbers 41312 and 41313 - were sent to Barry Scrapyard upon withdrawal. Arthur from Thomas & Friends shares the same basis.

Livery

While little is currently known about Barry's appearance, he would have originally been painted British Railways black with red and white lining.

Appearances

Trivia

  • According to Chapter 15 of The Thomas the Tank Engine Man entitled "Really Useful Engines", Christopher Awdry explains that he submitted the outline for Barry, but the response from the young fans was that they wanted Thomas and his friends, not any more new engines. So he quoted: "But, I haven't altogether given up; you could say Barry is dead but not yet buried!"
    • Additionally, it has also been suggested that the publishers demanded to have more Thomas centric books. This was likely compounded by the fact that, at the time, Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends based on the books was running strong and had catapulted Thomas into the spotlight.

References


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