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Merrick is a sleepy, snoring gantry crane, who is stationed at the Blue Mountain Quarry.

Biography

Merrick works at the Blue Mountain Quarry with Paxton, Owen and the narrow gauge engines. In his debut, when Blondin Bridge was unsafe, Merrick warned the engines that Rheneas was coming down from the upper terrace and would have to cross the bridge with loaded trucks, an incident that resulted in the bridge collapsing onto Paxton. When Thomas arrived to fill in for Paxton, he spotted the unfamiliar Luke darting about and decided to ask about him to Merrick. Thomas cheekily whistled at the "Sleepy Crane", who was startled awake and asked if he was missing something. In response to Thomas asking if he knows a little green engine, Merrick said no and promptly went back to sleep as per usual, much to Owen's amusement. Later, after Luke rescued Thomas from danger, the narrow gauge engines' cheers suddenly woke up Merrick, who managed to give out a "Very well done to... all of you!"

When Luke befriended a young deer astray in the Blue Mountain Quarry, it became clear that the deer was frightened by the loud quarry noises, so Luke tried to get Merrick and all the others to do their jobs quietly. However, this was easier said than done and was not doable for long. Merrick was quietly trying to do his job of loading Rusty's trucks with stone when Peter Sam, too focused on being quiet to look where he was going, backed right into the trucks, causing Merrick to loudly drop his stone and frighten the deer once more. Merrick told Luke that there was no way they could properly do their jobs whilst trying to be quiet, so Luke took his deer friend along on his delivery of gravel to the much more quiet and serene Ulfstead Castle. When Luke returned alone, Merrick welcomed him back and asked where his friend was, to which Luke happily said he was where he really belonged - in the Deer Park at Ulfstead Castle.

In Merrick's final appearance in the series, Percy spread word of a railway show for little engines at Ulfstead Castle, causing the Blue Mountain Quarry to empty out rather quickly. Merrick and Owen belatedly realised that there were no engines remaining in the quarry after Owen asked Merrick if he had seen Rusty.

Personality

Merrick is a sleepy gantry crane who works at the Blue Mountain Quarry. When there is no work to do, he is usually found snoring away, which can sometimes be heard loudly around the quarry, often to the amusement of the engines and workmen. But as soon as there is work to be done, Merrick is cheerily bustling about, wide awake once again and working hard, ready to swing his hook into action to load an engine's trucks with blocks of slate so that they can head over the Blondin Bridge to the cutting sheds. When he is awake, he is attentive, merry and will often wish the engines a good morning... Regardless of how they feel in the morning.

Technical Details

Basis

Merrick is based on a Traveling Gantry Crane. Although his specific basis is currently unknown.

The 2013 Writer's Bible features an image of a 1941-1947 Meccano Travelling Gantry Crane as Merrick's basis.[1]

Livery

Merrick is painted vermilion with yellow and gold accents. He has gold nameplates on both sides of his cab.

Appearances

Trivia

  • Merrick's face was later reused and modified for Carter in Big World! Big Adventures!
  • Early concept art of the Blue Mountain Quarry reveals that Merrick was originally named Bradley and was positioned spanning Owen's incline.
  • Merrick was to be included in graphic form in the Take-n-Play set Spiral Tower Tracks with Diesel but he was removed for unknown reasons.

Merchandise

References


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