The National Engines are the featured racers in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express They are the champions of their respective countries, come together to compete for the title of the Fastest Engine in the World.
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The Starlight Express characters are the creations of a child's dream about his toy train set. The National Engines are ensemble roles, each with a caricature personality mostly portrayed through body language. The roles are physically very demanding of the cast, as the performers race at high speed while wearing bulky, heavy costumes and race helmets that give limited visibility, as well as performing rollerskating stunts to amaze the audience.
The names, roles, and number of National Engines has varied widely from one production to the next. Which engine gets to race in the final is a matter of the host country's politics, characters are replaced to relate to the audience, or cut altogether to save money.
The original London production had a distinct and different design from the Broadway and later productions. The National engines are prime examples of this divide. The London costumes suggest a set of six toy trains, identical apart from having been painted in different colours and quite arbitrarily assigned national identities. That Bobo is blue is logical, but Hashamoto being in yellow has no immediate logic. This emphasises that the characters are toys, and a set, that they are not representing literal railway engines. However the Broadway production (which was the template for all following productions) was redesigned, with a bigger budget and larger ideas. Now the National Engines are as close as possible to the genuine article. They now represent a replica train set, far more costly than a child's toys.
Bobo, from France, is a TGV (train à grand vitesse"- "high speed train", though in the London production he was identified as "the 120 mile-per-hour Sudest") He is comically French in his character and over-the-top mannerisms. In the original London production, Bobo raced with Ashley in heat 3 and was narrowly beaten by Poppa with Dustin. He is heard clearly in The Rap arguing that rather than Rusty taking Poppa's place, Bobo should as he came a close second. In the later version of the London show, when two racers from each heat make the final, Bobo and Ashley take the fourth place but are knocked out during the final race. In the Broadway and subsequent productions, Bobo races with Buffy not Ashley, and does not make the final.
In the Japan/Australia tours, Bobo had an identical "brother" by the name of Coco. The ensemble roles were doubled to fill the enormous arena-sized stage. Bobo was replaced in the Mexican production, and cut from the 2003 US and 2004 UK tours.
Costume In the original London production, Bobo wore blue and white stripes. His Broadway design is a close copy of the actual TGV design and original orange livery (since replaced on the actual trains by a blue and silver colour scheme.)
Trenitalia Flamboyantly Italian, Espresso is often very similar to Bobo in style. He races with Buffy and loses, and that's pretty much it for him. In all non-London productions, he races with Ashley. He is cut from the 2003 US and 2004 UK tours. In then Japan/Australia tour he was known as Esspresso, with his twin named "Pendelino".
Costume In the original London Espresso was the die-cast toy train painted in red and white stripes. After Broadway, he turned bright yellow. Interestingly he seems to have stolen the logo for Via Rail Canada.
Originally named Weltschaft, but re-branded Ruhrgold in the 1990s, the German contestant is the InterCityExpress (or Inter-Continental Express as he was called in the 1992 London revamp.) In the original London production, Weltschaft wore grey and green stripes. He raced with Joule in Heat two, but lost to Electra and Pearl. However in Germany he swapped roles with Bobo the French train, so that he wins the 2nd Heat and takes Joule to the final. In the US/UK tours, Ruhrgold appears in the filmed race footage racing with Caboose. His character is the German stereotype, he is work-focussed, efficient, single-minded in accomplishing his mission. In the Japan tour productions he was named Weltschaft, while his twin was named "Flying Hamburger".
Costume Weltschaft's grey/green costume was emblazoned with the double headed eagle insignia. Ruhrgold wears a costume instantly recognisable as the InterCity Express. However this later costume design, while more accurate to the real ICE, is less detailed than the older National costume designs, making Ruhrgold noticeably plainer, with white and purple. Within the world of the story, Ruhrgold is an accurate miniature model whereas many of the other characters are generic model engines Control has designated a nationality to.
Trans-Siberian Railway From Russia. Turnov is a hard-working, hard-drinking, hard-fighting mean machine. His hard, uncompromising attitude echoes Wrench's character, making them a well-matched team. When Starlight Express opened on Broadway in 1987, Political subtext was incorporated into the show. The Cold War was still in the air, with the Russians as the Enemy. The RED Caboose is the antagonist of the show, the untrustworthy villain, who races with the Russian. In the UK tour, he races with Ashley. His twin in the Japan/Australia tour was initially simply "Turnov 2", but later was named "Vladimir".
Costume Turnov's costume is one of the more constant throughout the productions. He is a grey striped engine with red highlights, and the Soviet hammer and sickle on his chest.
Hashamoto is the Shinkansen Bullet train From Japan. His character is that of a ninja, martial arts warrior. He is polite, focussed, and usually portrayed by one of the best skaters in the cast, allowing the character to perform impressive stunts. He races well, and is winning when he loses control and crashes in a spectacular fashion. In the original London production his crash was caused by CB, later it was caused by Krupp. In the German production, although he starts racing with Volta, Caboose's interference causes her to drop out, Hashamoto continuing with Caboose. However Caboose then causes him to crash just before the final bend of the race course. On the US and UK tours, he raced with Buffy.
Hashamoto was renamed in the London revamp to Nintendo. In the Japan/Australia tour, his twin was named Nakamura, and in the later Japan tour he was renamed Hashimoto with his twin being Yamamoto.
Costume Hashamoto was originally golden yellow, with the Japanese rising sun on his chest. He remained yellow for Broadway, US tour and Las Vegas, however he became blue with white accents for the Japan/Australia tours and German production. The US costume finally became blue for the second US tour.
Nintendo was notably played by Tim Driesen (of Never Forget fame) in the UK tour.
Prince of Wales is a genial, avuncular character, bumbling through the show. He arrives late, and skates in backwards, laughing at his own mistake. He partners with Rocky 1 for the race, however he is scrapped just before heat two, (three in the Original production), allowing Poppa to take his place. He is usually seen again for the finale.
Originally the British Train was the "City of Milton Keynes", an Advanced Passenger Train. His costume was based on this train. he became the "Prince of Wales", the Royal Train when the Broadway production opened, providing a source of jokes at the expense of the British Royal family. As a non-racing character he was not included in the Japan/Australia tours or the German production.
Costume The London design was green and white stripes with yellow accents, with details of the union flag on his chest and the British Rail symbol incorporated into the costumes. The rarely-seen Broadway design painted him silver with the same details.
Starlight Express On Ice included Cesar from Mexico, and Canuck from Canada, along with Bobo, Espresso, Nintendo and Prince of Wales.
Expreso Astral included Ruhrgold, Turnov (named Boris), Nintendo, Prince of Wales, and introduced Carioca from Argentina and Pibe from Brazil.