Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia
Register
Advertisement
This article is about the engine. You may be looking for the Story Library book.

Neville is a kind, ubiquitous square-shaped tender engine, who has a bridge named after his brutal accident.

Biography

Upon Neville's arrival to Sodor, Thomas saw him with 'Arry and Bert - who were actually teasing him - which caused a rumour regarding him being friends with the diesels and horrid to steam engines to spread. Percy and Emily thought that he was planning to bump the steam engines, despite his jolly greetings to the engines. Luckily, the rumour was rectified and Thomas befriended Neville after rescuing him from a broken bridge.[1]

Despite his gentleness, Neville has acted a bit cheeky, having once paid Emily back by laughing at her for working with Whiff, along with Molly and Murdoch.[4]

Sometime later, while working at the Sodor Slate Quarry, Neville told Thomas and Percy about the job of collecting the Sodor Brass Band.[5]

Personality

Neville is gentlemanly, highly enthusiastic and kind, if a little naive. Neville never holds a grudge, but can be easily hurt by unkind comments or not being accepted by others who judge him only by his appearance. Otherwise, he is bubbly, ready to pull together, and happy to make new friends.

In Behind the Scenes with Pierce Brosnan, voice director Jamie Thomason describes Neville as being similar to Thomas, in terms of being around "the same age, helpful, keen, eager and cheerful" and he also describes Neville as being more inexperienced due to being new to Sodor.

According to dialogue from his talking My First Thomas toy, Neville enjoys doing dirty and noisy work.

Technical Details

Basis

Neville is based on a Southern Railway (SR) Bulleid Q1 Class locomotive. This class of 40 locomotives was built in 1942, designed by Oliver Bulleid during World War II to help transport the large amounts of supplies needed during this period. Their incredibly powerful design represented the ultimate development of the British 0-6-0 freight engine. The Q1s lacked non-essential elements like a running board and splashers so as to save precious resources for the war effort. One reason for their unusual shape was so they could go through a carriage wash for cleaning during wartime, when manpower for this could not be spared. The first of the class, SR No. C1 (later BR No. 33001), is the only Q1 to be preserved, at the National Railway Museum. It was formerly based at the Bluebell Railway.

Neville in particular is based on BR No. 33010 (formerly SR No. C10), built at Brighton Works in September 1942 and scrapped at Birds Manoravon Scrapyard, Morriston, Swansea in 1964. Unlike his prototype, Neville is missing the lubricator and crankshaft that connects to the front of his side-rods on the left-hand side.

Livery

Neville is painted in BR unlined black without the BR crest. His number, 33010, is painted on the sides of his cab in white.

Appearances

Official Description

From Official Website:[1][2]

Neville: Neville is a steamie who looks like a diesel. He's enthusiastic, friendly and always ready to help out the team. Neville never holds a grudge and can always be found with a smile on his face.


Fun Fact: Neville is based on a Q1 Class 0-6-0 tender engine. Built by the Southern Railway in 1938-39 and designed by Oliver Bulleid.

Audio Files

Theme

Only used Composer Theme
Thomas and the New Engine Robert Hartshorne

Whistle

First used Last used Sound Effect
Series 9 Series 12

Trivia

  • In some descriptions of Thomas and the New Engine, Neville is mistakenly described as actually being a diesel, as opposed to just looking like one.
  • In his Story Library book, magazine story illustrations, and merchandise lines (excluding Motor Road and Rail and TrackMaster), Neville is incorrectly depicted with spoked driving wheels. His prototype, the Bullied Q1s, was built with "Bullied-Firth-Brown" driving wheels.
  • In the cover illustration of Neville's Story Library Book, he is incorrectly depicted with grey driving wheels as opposed to black ones.
  • Neville had a total of seven facial expressions, one of which a smirking face was never shown on-screen.
  • According to the talking My First Thomas toy of Neville, his favourite place to visit is the Ffarquhar Quarry.
  • Neville reuses Oliver's original whistle at a step higher in pitch, which is in turn Gordon's whistle at five steps higher-pitched. It was later reused for Flying Scotsman at a slightly lower pitch from The Great Race onwards.
  • In the Croatian dub, Neville's name is translated to Nenad.

Quotes

“He is, in many regards, similar to Thomas. He's new to Sodor, so he's more inexperienced. But like Thomas, he's, you know, he's the same age, helpful, keen, eager, cheerful...”
Jamie Thomason describing Neville's character to Pierce Brosnan, Behind the Scenes with Pierce Brosnan

Merchandise

References



--- Dropped | * 1991-1994 maps only | ** 2014 map only
Advertisement