Rusty the Diesel
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Rusty the Diesel is a fictional Ruston & Hornsby diesel engine on the Skarloey Railway in The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry, and the spin-off TV series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. He is responsible for hauling maintenance trains for gangers to repair the track. He also occasionally pulls trucks and, when the railway is very busy, passenger trains. He is one of the kinder diesels on the Island, and he is always trying to make his friends happier.
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[edit] Railway Series history
In The Railway Series, Rusty is painted black. He is No. 5 on the Skarloey Railway, and often has arguments with another engine called Duncan.
[edit] Rusty in the TV Series
Rusty was introduced in the 4th season of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, and ran with an orange coat, rather than his black one in the books.
Like all of the engines, he received a larger-scaled model in Season 5 for easier filming. This new model (pictured) has a much larger face than the original. As the series progressed, Rusty isn't as responsible as he was in his earlier episodes. In recent seasons, he has rushed through work, and he even strayed from it until he ran out of diesel oil in Tuneful Toots. To date, Rusty is the only diesel engine that rescues a steam engine (Stepney) in the episode "Rusty to the Rescue" rather than scrap it, a major contrast to 'Arry and Bert, who constantly seek the chance to scrap a steamie.
A major continuity error occurred in the original American broadcasts of the 2005 season, where Rusty was referred to as a female in the narrations. While Rusty was clearly stated as being male in the original books, not once in the TV series had he been referred to in gender-specific terms up until then. Nonetheless, the two episodes that contained this error (Tuneful Toots and Duncan and the Old Mine) were edited for their DVD releases, now identifying Rusty as a male character.
In the Japanese version, he is voiced by Hideo Ishikawa.
[edit] Merchandise
Rusty has been released in a number of the model ranges for the series, including:
- Ertl Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends
- Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway (available with construction cars)
- Take-Along Thomas & Friends (available with rescue cars)
- Tomica/Track Master Motorised and a Wind-up model (released in 2006)
- My First Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends
[edit] Prototype
Rusty is based on the 0-4-0 "Midlander", a diesel engine built in 1954 that works on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales.
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