Percy is a little green saddle tank engine who works on the North Western Railway and is the railway's number 6 engine.
Percy was first brought to Sodor to help run the railway during Gordon, Henry and James' strike and later became station pilot at Knapford. Following the renovation of Knapford Harbour, Percy was moved permanently to Thomas' Branch Line, where he now works as a goods engine. His favourite job is pulling the Mail Train and he is Thomas' best friend.
Biography[]
During Henry, Gordon and James' strike after Thomas left the yard, the Fat Controller went to an engine workshop to purchase an engine to take over shunting duties at Knapford. He chose Percy and the little engine was shown what to do by Edward. While the three big engines were shut up in the sheds, he ran Thomas' branch line with Annie and Clarabel while Thomas helped Edward on the Main Line.
Shortly after the big engines were let out of the sheds again, Percy was at Wellsworth and forgot to whistle to remind the signalman that he was there, resulting in Gordon nearly hitting him with the Express. Fortunately, Percy was able to start just in time to avoid a collision, however ended up running all the way to Lower Suddery without a driver or fireman, where he crashed into a bank of earth. Percy was then pulled out from the bank by Gordon and vowed to be more careful while on the Main Line.
Percy was still a cheeky engine and often liked to play jokes on Gordon and James, only for the two engines to have their revenge when Percy failed to recognize a "backing signal". After this, Percy was subject to bullying from the big engines until Duck arrived and helped Percy to put the big engines in their place, although Percy still received a reprimand from the Fat Controller for it.
With Duck's arrival, Percy was sent to Thomas' Branch Line to help build Knapford Harbour and has stayed there ever since as a goods engine. He met a self-centered helicopter named Harold who said that railways were "slow and out-of-date", so Percy decided to race him and won.
Due to his lack of experience, Percy has been involved in a number of accidents, especially during his early days on the railway. Some of these have included being pushed into the sea by troublesome trucks, crashing into a brake van after becoming a runaway and being covered with jam after running over a porter's trolley.
For a time, Percy worked the branch line to the coal mines and became rather ill-tempered as a result of feeling overworked. While on the branch line, Percy had an incident with some runaway trucks and was nearly crushed by a landslide when the mines collapsed. Fortunately, Percy's quick thinking to get under the canvas barrier saved him and his crew. The Fat Controller rewarded his bravery and intuition with a fresh coat of paint.
Once - after a series of late deliveries - Percy overheard the Fat Controller talking outside the sheds and thought that he was going to scrap him after hearing him tell his driver that he had to go to the scrap yards. After causing a series of incidents in an attempt to get his jobs done on time the next day, Percy hid in the shed. With Thomas' help, the Fat Controller eventually found Percy and was able to explain what he had actually said: he had told Percy's Driver that he was late because he was working too hard and that, after taking a train of scrap to the scrap yard, he could be reallocated to the mail train for the week, which made him much happier.
During Gator's visit to Sodor, Percy formed a deep connection with him, despite having initially mistaken him for a monster. When Gator went to leave Sodor, Percy nearly went with him, until being convinced not to by Gator. Later on that night, he saved James from a landslide at the China Clay pits, earning his respect.
When Gator eventually did leave Sodor, Percy missed him and tried to cope by working hard so as not to think about him. When he had to deliver trucks full of precious sculptures and paintings for a special exhibition, he did not stop to be coupled and the Troublesome Trucks went rolling into the old mine. After remembering Gator's advice on how to be brave, Percy rescued the trucks from the mine. The pair later reunited - after a series of near misses - when Gator returned to Sodor for Christmas.
In the nineteenth series, Percy was given the job of taking Farmer McColl's ewes to Maithwaite for the Spring Fair. The next morning - while rushing - he accidentally bumped the livestock van too hard, creating a hole in the back of the wagon. After he had picked up the sheep, they would hop out whenever he stopped. Fortunately, Thomas, Annie and Clarabel were able to pick up the lost sheep as they were travelling not too far behind.
Percy was also given the job of taking the Fat Controller and the Mayor of Sodor to present a special bell for the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre's one hundredth rescue, and hoped he would have his picture taken for the newspaper. After overhearing him, a jealous Diesel tricked him into going to an old quarry instead, where he ran into a flooded section of track and became stranded. Diesel later came back for Percy after being confronted by Thomas, however his generator was damaged after he rolled into the water to get Percy out. Fortunately, the pair were shortly rescued by Rocky and the Search and Rescue team.
In the twentieth series, Percy had the job of taking the Christmas Mail to Vicarstown for Hiro to take to the Mainland and onwards to the North Pole, however was prevented from doing so by a snowdrift at a tunnel. Harold took the mail on for him, however later had to perform an emergency landing when he ran out of fuel. The next morning, Percy found Harold stuck in a field and out of fuel. Not wanting Harold to spend Christmas stranded and alone, he fetched his fuel and the two returned to Sodor.
Later, while Percy was taking the Mail Train at night, he heard a moaning sound from underneath the Watermill bridge, which gave him a fright. Percy later told Thomas and Toby about it and, remembering the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, he thought it was a troll that was living under the bridge. The three engines reluctantly crossed the bridge and discovered it was only a lost cow.
After Thomas was involved in a collision with Norman, Percy was initially intended to take his place in the shunting competition of the Great Railway Show. Later, however, Thomas managed to make it to the show and Percy opted to drop out of the competition, being too nervous to compete in it.
In the twenty-first series, Percy became confused because of the new P.A. system which was not working properly. Because of this, he ended up taking a delivery of pigs to Lord Callan at Callan Castle. He was also told by Dowager Hatt to pull Gordon's Express instead of Gordon doing so, but because he was not strong enough to pull it, he got stuck on Gordon's Hill and ended up severely delayed.
In the twenty-second series, when Merlin first came to Sodor, Percy thought everyone was talking about how Merlin is an invisible engine, so that was why Percy had not seen him. He looked everywhere for the invisible engine until he met up with Merlin (who did not get a chance to introduce himself) and heard what he believed was the invisible engine's whistle (which was actually Trevor's whistle) and rushed off to tell Thomas about hearing what he thought was Merlin's whistle.
In the twenty-third series, Thomas began to miss Percy while in China, though with prompting, he decided to send a postcard. Percy later began worrying about Thomas when snow came, and he got himself into an accident looking for Thomas when he became late. His friends soon found him in his current predicament, and Percy felt foolish when he learned that Thomas was only late due to a salt delivery.
In the twenty-fourth series, Percy overheard some talk about a railway show at Ulfstead Castle for little engines, though when the Thin Clergyman found out, he clarified it was a model engine show. Percy felt foolish for the misunderstanding, having wanted a moment for himself to shine, but he felt proud that after the confusion was cleared up, the winning model was one of himself.
Thomas and the Magic Railroad[]
When Diesel 10 was attempting to find and destroy Lady, Percy helped Thomas in solving the clues which would lead them to the Magic Buffers first, to stop him. After overhearing Mr. Conductor talking in his sleep, he concluded that he travels to Sodor via the Magic Railroad and discussed it with Thomas at Knapford. Thomas told Percy about the missing truck and realised about how the buffers led to the magic railroad.
Later, Thomas told Percy to guard the buffers to ensure that Diesel 10 did not find them, only for him to find Splatter and Dodge there already. After witnessing this, he raced to warn Thomas and Lily to get to Muffle Mountain before Diesel 10 could destroy the railroad.
Personality[]
Percy is a rather cheeky, but kind engine. He normally behaves well, yet he also gets himself in trouble by jumping into situations without adequately thinking them through first. He loves teasing other engines, especially bigger ones such as Gordon and James, but is always brought down to earth in due course by anyone who gives him the moral to learn, especially the Fat Controller. He can also be somewhat timid.
Percy can also be questionable and naive to certain difficult words: he would say "depotstation" whereas anyone else would say "deputation", "dingy-fried" instead of "dignified", "dimmer-station" instead of "demonstration", "inspectacles" instead of "inspector", "tenkiakihos" instead of "technology" etc.
Percy is incredibly accident-prone and has many accidents, sometimes due to his own silliness or his tricks backfiring. He holds the dubious record of the most accidents in one series - five, all of which happened in the second series; crashing through some buffers, falling into the sea, being pushed onto a brake van, colliding with a cart of lime and being hit by a falling crate of treacle. His silliest accident to date, however, was in the sixth series, when he slipped on oily rails, crashed through the chocolate factory and emerged covered in chocolate. Despite this, he always tries to do his best, learns from his mistakes and get his jobs done, a loyalty which the Fat Controller has praised him for on many occasions.
Although their friendship has been turbulent at times, Thomas is Percy's best friend. He is also good friends with Toby. While he has a small rivalry with Harold stemming from their race, they are always willing to help each other when in trouble.
Percy can also be seen as an easy target for teasing by the big engines, more particularly Gordon and James, especially whenever he has an accident or when he is afraid of something. He also has held a grudge against Gordon and James about their fooling him into misinterpreting a signal but silenced this with some help from Duck. This shows that, when nonsense goes too far, Percy will not stand for it and seek help to settle the matter for good, even if he faces a reprimanding from the Fat Controller for it.
During the CGI series, Percy became slightly wiser and a little less cheeky. This could be because he learnt his lesson for being cheeky or because he did not want to get in trouble again. Also, Percy and Thomas' friendship has expanded and they hardly ever argued. Despite his increased maturity, Percy still falls victim to occasional bouts of naivety and misunderstandings.
Technical Details[]
Basis[]
Percy is an 0-4-0 saddle tank engine, said to be of Avonside origin.
Percy's 2015 trading card states that Percy is based on the Avonside SS Class Trojan 0-4-0ST saddle tank engine of the Great Western Railway. Additionally, the Meet the Contenders segment, also states that Percy's basis origin is GWR. It is likely that this is simply a case of misidentification, as this was for a long time believed to have been Percy's "true basis" by many sources.
Another tank engine resembling Percy's shape is seen in the My Thomas Story Library book, The Fat Controller.
Livery[]
Percy is painted in NWR green with red lining around saddle tank and yellow lining around his windows. His number (6) is painted on his bunker in yellow with a red outline. He has a white running board with red bufferbeams and valences. His coal rails are painted black and he has a gold dome.