The COMPLETE History of Toby the Tram Engine - Sodor's Finest 

Thumbs up if Unlucky Tug made you appreciate Thomas the Tank Engine even more.

I remember someone saying “Toby didn’t start the fire, but he’s gonna watch it burn” in the old comments.

Heheh that analogy between Toby and Edward is SO perfectly said.

Toby’s voice in Magic Railroad suits him perfectly.

There's another moment in the CGI series that you forgot to mention where Toby isn't a coward: In Love Me Tender, he is in front of Donald and Douglas earlier in the episode and is absolutely pissed about their arguing, and even makes an annoyed grunt when he goes onto another track. Then, later on, when he finds Douglas stuck in the snow, he asks if he wants help, but Douglas refuses and rather than trying to help him regardless, Toby just smugly grins at him and rolls away.

RWS Toby with CGI Henrietta would be such a mood in the show. Like if Splatter and Dodge were under his teachings but they ignore him so he sits back and watches them wreck the yard. 😅

Man... that ending showing Toby's full journey to Sodor just hits different :')

We can all agree that Toby's theme is one of the best in the show. Every time i hear it I break into dance.

Always loved that ending showing the map when Toby is travelling to Sodor.

Railway Series Toby and CGI Henrietta would be the absolute best. Absolute perfection that would be.

Toby is a much more interesting character in the entire series and The Railway Series did Toby so perfectly for this

Toby has always been one of my favorites. He's definitely one of the most unique engines on Sodor, and I love how humble, hilarious, and brave he is. (At least in the early model seasons.) One of Sodor's finest, indeed. Also, that ending bit is amazing. Well, done.

I still don't understand why people hate "Hasty Hannah". Toby is someone who likes it quiet and slow and Hannah likes it fast and loud. It's understandable for Toby.

I’m surprised Toby doesn’t have more of a dynamic with Edward in any of these series, the fact they’re both old engines with differing perspectives on life would’ve been interesting.

I never noticed the illustration of Toby refusing to help Mavis. It's so petty, but then again, i like to think that Toby is the Railway Series' "chaotic neutral" character

Toby is the kind of guy that teaches kids how to get free candy from the vending machine by hitting it a certain way.

Toby and Henrietta are the closest thing Thomas has to an old married couple.

I always loved Toby, but this video made me appreciate him even more. If he'd remained consistent, he probably would've been my favourite character

Toby is the wisest old grandpa

Such a cool history summary over my favorite character. As a child I got angry when Thomas&friends were on tv. I couldn't relate to it. Now as a Dad of a two year old I got into it. Its so cool to see a series lasting this long and making generations over generations happy. My son collects the wooden versions of his favorite pals. I am watching so much behind the scenes information and read them too. Thank you.

He’s kinda like a jolly old grandpa who will always laugh with you while telling how he messed around in his youth. I really like he had been included in the series. I never knew that steam tram existed until I saw him in model series (and later in the books). BTW I’m kinda interested in his class though. I mean, how would the arrangement be inside of him? The driver is in the front but what about the firebox, smoke box, coal bunker arrangement could be? I have been trying to look for the blueprint or interior photos but couldn’t find any.

I spent the entire model season part bopping out to "hip to be square"

Always found it interesting that Toby almost always pulled Henrietta directly behind him even when pulling a train.... he never wanted anything to happen to her by being at the rear.... always felt that showed his deep care for her...

23:05 I don't really blame Brenner on that front. Maybe he got screwed over by Mattel who saw his timidness as a marketable character trait, and maybe Brenner defaulted to that to appease the company. I don't know, but its at least an explanation. My headcanon is that Toby and Henrietta ARE married, it's just that they haven't gotten it official because of this or that unfortunate circumstance.

Toby is the best grandpa ever along with Iroh

Toby is definitely the most underrated character in Thomas and I wished they used him more in the CGI seasons

Fun fact: Toby was built in Ireland.

Toby is my spirit engine! 😎 A laid-back, humble, comical yet wise old sage, who looks out for the wellbeing of others (unless they are ignorantly full of themselves, in which he delights in their humiliation). 😉

I just LOVE Toby 7:50 7:11 10:42 13:06 11:32 13:12

A lot of people don't know this, but the song hip to be square by Huey Lewis and the News is actually a song about Toby. So it's fitting tug used it

I love that he brought both Henrietta and the off-screen Elsie with him on that long journey, even though he didn't have to. I love the thought of Toby making his way across England with only his faithful coach Henrietta and luggage van Elsie behind him. And the Fat Controller gets free rolling stock! The same also applies to Oliver, Isabel, and Toad much later

Never really thought how many crazy things have happened to Toby, examples: Toby’s tightrope, Toby and the flood, etc.

Both Toby and Gordon's episodes are tied as being my favorite episodes of Sodor's Finest. The amount of lore and characterization in what makes them special characters and a deep depth into them is amazing! This episode makes me appreciate Toby more as a character and the J70 tram engines are really unique looking engines. Personality-wise, I prefer him also in the RWS and the first 5 seasons. For one person who worked on Thomas who's favorite character is Toby, Christopher Awdry really nailed him in his books. Also, the ending with Toby's journey to Sodor is astounding if there's ever a movie about him based on his self-titled book (no Half-Pariah does not count since it takes place in an alternate universe).

Sodor's Finest back at it again! This time with the old garden shed, Toby.

Toby has always been one of my favourite characters. No wonder he is Chris Awdry’s favourite.

Aside from Thomas, Toby was always my favorite character in the franchise. This video gave me a whole new appreciation for Toby, and a pleasant reminder to always be humble, no matter what.

The thing that always pleasured me about Toby growing up was that he would not hesitate to go out of his way when someone or a situation that appreciated his efforts was in trouble or in distress. He objected to helping Mavis in her crossing predicament when she got under his boiler, but gave in when he realised that the people affected by her incident wouldn't be taking the matter lightly, showcasing his experience in the subject as a tram engine. That exactly aligns with 'Social Moral'. Another thing I'd like to mention is that I reside in East Anglia, where Toby worked before coming to Sodor. I have an appreciation for things Great Eastern, although the significance of this in relation to Toby's characterisation was never acutely mentioned in the books and inevitably played down in the TV series. However, in my proposal outline for a revamped Thomas & Friends series, the roots of Toby's character are very much a figure in the plot arc surrounding the introduction of one of the new characters I have drawn up for it. Regards, Samuel Farris.

Ah, yes. Toby. Always had a soft spot for Toby in the early model seasons. I genuinely wish they didn't mess with his character in the show, as his character just died off once they started doing completely original stories.. Would've LOVED to see the later Toby stories in CGI. I miss the old, not-giving-a-shit Toby. Tug's right, they just could never get his character completely right in CGI

A fun fact to those who don’t know, in Toby’s new whistle, Toby whistle which basis resembles a buckeye type and is also a real 3-chimed whistle is a sound taken from the real southern 4501 wheel arrangement 2-8-2 steam locomotive, which is now preserved in the Tennessee Valley railroad Museum in Chattanooga Tennessee

Annie, Clarabel, and Henrietta got it pretty good in the Cgi series

I remember as a kid, I always had to hide the fact that Toby was my favorite character because of how underused he was compared to Thomas & Percy. Now I don’t have to.

Ever since I heard the line, "Oldies but Goldies," there has been a part of my mind permanently occupied with Toby and Henrietta, Truly my favourite character and the J70 served as the 1st ever model engine I bought,

I think Toby has such a connection to the humans exactly because he is a tram, unlike let's say a express train, who takes people on long trips on more special occasions, or a cargo train he took people from place to place every day, for something like work or a simple trip around town, he probably listened to everyone's stories, theirs struggles and everything, which made humans more relatable to him. But IDK.

Toby is a such an amazing character in the railway series and the tv series, he’s my favorite Thomas character of all time and I like the ending where Toby makes a journey to many places to Sodor

29:57 wow… this is so amazing.

I'm so glad you reuploaded this. Toby's my favorite.

ALWAYS.ALWAYS the end of this makes me CRY both in sadness and in Joy.

Yeah, the idea of Toby getting self conscious about someone saying he’s old fashioned and doesn’t look like an engine is horse 💩, just look at his reaction when Stephen Hatt says that he can’t be a tram because he wasn’t electric…Toby was piiiiiiissed…he he could gesture and jump off the rails like in AEG he’d have head butted the poor kid

The music montages is always the best part of these Sodors’s Finest, this is the best one

Toby doesn’t just have the type of knowledge to where he can get free candy from the machine he can get free candy from anyone and anything plus Edward gives 2 fucks Toby however doesn’t give a fuck however he is still our favourite agent of chaos

Toby’s theme goes hard bro ngl. It is just one of the great creations of Mike O’Donnel and Jr Campbell. Sorry if I misspelled names.

Toby and Edward are favorites engines, awesome characters and fillies with advice and are sensible

Toby fans are rare to come across because they’re totally chill about it

This video definitely reminded me why Toby is my favourite. Definitely also reminded me a bit more of who I am, wise, old-fashioned and doesn't give a fuck. If only I was old. Oh, and had a Henrietta. But I'm fine the way I am.

I wish that they'd given Toby an episode with Hiro. They would have gotten in like a house on fire

Fun Fact: Toby's old home, Ipswich, is only 12 miles from Suffolk, AKA: where Hell Hall, the place where Cruella De Vil kept the 99 Dalmatian puppies at, also the fact that both stories take place during the 1950s. Interesting to think about what if Toby helped save the famous 101 & Sodor was his eventual reward for it.

Love how you used the National Park Theme during the CGi segment 😌 It just fits perfectly there.

Even in all engines go Toby is depicted better than the cgi and later model era

Edward and Toby were my favorites from the beginning. They are in many ways alike, wise, a little old, kindly, and of course, hard working. I took the story of Toby's line closing to heart, with people showing up for a last ride. It made me try harder to appreciate things in the world around me which I took for granted. My favorite Edward story is Old Iron. It too was quite formative for me. I have kids now, and I miss old Thomas the Tank Engine stories. They were so - moral.

Toby is just such a fun guy in the early years of the show... espesially season 3 and 5

Imagine if the Writer’s Bible for Thomas didn’t ruin the characters when HiT took over, we could’ve had that funny old grandpa version of Toby throughout the series

Seems like Davey Moore is the only writer to get Toby's character right in CGI Brenner era. Thomas, Percy and Toby's dynamic crept up again in CGI like Three Steam Engines Gruff, The Christmas Coffeepot and P.A. Problems. I suppose the writers should have tried harder to have Toby be in his true character of being wise, chaotic neutral, no care of what others think of him and about appearances with contentment, brave side which seeks adventure and witty sense of humour in the CGI series of the Brenner era and erase the self conscious worrisome trait once and for all, even Andrew Brenner despite doing well with Toby's New Friend in Season 20 as well as showing his friendship with Percy and be a mentor to him again. They should have gotten Christopher Awdry to be consultant so that he can watch over the Toby episodes to ensure he's written properly on account of being his favourite character.

My headcanon on why toby became a worrier in the hit era and the cgi era:Toby had a accident with a train of stone trucks that almost left him damaged beyond repair and when he was repaired he was petrified after the accident and became worried about himself but with help from his friends his worries start to disapper and he starts revert back to his old wise self.

Wow, that ending part is amazing😮

I don’t know how many times I live watched the ending montage, but I love it every time.

I said it before on the previopus upload of this video and it still rings true. That ending piece still gives me chills when I watch it!

It's back! This is one of my absolute favorites in the Sodor's Finest series. Thanks Tug!

Toby was a total G! One of my favourite characters, as a child. The ending was so wonderful. Total inspiration on how to live your best life ❤

I really want to thank for making this amazing video about Toby

Toby is a brown tram engine who works on Thomas' branch line, along with Thomas, Percy, Mavis, Rosie, Lady and Bertram.

The ending is just so beautiful

22:28-22:40 In my defense to the tram engine, Knapford Junction wasn't a thing in the model or nitrogen era. It was only added in season 18, so it kinda makes sense for Toby to be worried about it because it's something he is not used to. For Hasty Hannah, Toby wasn't really scared or worried to use her, just skeptical. It was after he started using her that got to the point where Toby was like "alright this coach is dangerous and insecure about her life, I should be scared for myself and ditch her the first chance I get." And for the rickety bridge, Toby had every right to be worried about it, because if he had stayed on it any longer after he crossed it, that would've been it for him and his coach. And anybody would be worried about the bridge right?

Edward and Toby are the purest engines on Sodor: they’re sweet, wise, smart, sensitive and positive. They also seldom get involved with accident and hardly ever get in trouble for any wrongdoings.

I never noticed how close Toby was to Mavis when she stalled at the crossing. That’s awesome. 😂

I will admit Toby is a unique engine. Toby is another character I like as a kid, and I thought he looked cool. I will say I would love to see a story with Edward and Toby together and see how different they are. What you said like Edward would be the engine who would mentor a young engine before they make their mistake and Toby is the engine who does not give a care, he would be the engine to have young engine make their mistake and laugh about it. I would love to see Edward and Toby going at each other about it.

Was waiting for this one to come back, glad it's here!

I only just noticed that you avoided showing Henrietta's face until you mentioned her by name.

Toby deserves larger roles

I’ve been waiting for this re-upload 😤

I absolutely love the "Hip to Be Square" instrumental midway through the video 😂 Such a clever little joke!

30:01 the epic grand journey begins!!!! 30:47 Toby’s story on sodor begins!!

Still one of my favorite of your videos. I'm glad to be able to watch it again.

This is one of my favourte videos you have ever made! When this video came out it made me relize how much I adore Toby and he slowly became my favourte charictor. Your friend's dicripshun of Toby's chrarictor is hillareus and very true! I liked the ending sean the voice over and music are amazing. I hope the people who make AEG saw this video and have Toby be in chrarictor in the reboot. Amazing video! Hope you have a great day!

Toby really said f**k the police!😂😊

I've been waiting for this one!

Just noticed that hip to be square needle drop.😂 tug, you genius.

What's so funny is while I grew up with Shining Time, as I was growing out of that I actually FORGOT Toby (someHOW!) and can't believe it now given that he has SUCH a unique shape to him that he's UNFORGETTABLE! And I do appriciate that both he and Edward were the original 'old guy' characters of the series but it's just sort of.....telling what they did to both during both HiT and Mattel eras and it's something that has always bugged me even as a kid concerning characters who are the designated adults of the group; they confuse being old with being useless. With Edward it was especially sad given it felt like HiT and Mattel treated him like crap once the BWBA shift happened but with Toby it was weird because they made him such a WORRY WART when he never came off like that, especially when you have HENRY filling in that roll with all his anxieties but Toby was sort of like the 'old man who is worried to try something new' so if I can answer your question as to WHY Toby was changed to this, it all boils down to the tone that HiT was doing with these characters; they were making them for preschoolers which meant they had to fill those really easy to assign roles regardless if the characters already had their personalities that were wide enough they didn't fit just one 'role' but in most kids' shows, especially for REAAAAALLY young kids, that's how they often write characters. Toby being self-conscious may have been placed on him because out of all the engines in the show, he really is the odd one out. Sure you have the diesels and other trains with more streamlined designs but Toby *IS* an oddity of them all. He's square, he has wooden sidings, he has a bell; he's DIFFERENT but rather than giving him a CONFIDENT, self-aware personality that actually isn't phased by being different, they gave him a scared personality to bounce off lessons to kids on how not to worry about being different but you can do ALL OF THAT and NOT have the character be 'scared' but like I said, this is what a lot of kids' shows do and I get it. They do it to make the character 'relatable' for a child who may feel nervous about 'being different' so they can rise from it but having a character who knows they're different but doesn't let that get them from that start is ALSO something that helps because it shows a kid someone who is already comfortable with themselves but HiT wanted to keep things 'simple'. It's why I oddly enjoyed one of the Timothy episodes where Bill and Ben bother him about being a hybrid of sorts surprisingly enough. Timothy doesn't LET them bother him as they bring up how he can take oil and steam and THEY'RE the ones who learn that nagging on him wasn't right because Timothy was comfortable with who is because he knows what he's capable of. Ontop of that, Harvey's issues were also a better example of what HiT got wrong with Toby considering Harvey was an original character they could build off from there rather than sacking Toby the way they did. All in all, this video really made me appreciate Toby. He reminds me of my grandfather on my dad's side with the whole trolling the younger kids to teach them a lesson.

Unlucky Tug: he's a steam engine Me: no.... Really?!? I thought he was an electric engine!

toby is back

Still my favorite video on RU-vid

Are we not going to talk about how CGI Tobies nostrils stop immediately after his nose

I do like toby and think he's a pretty good character but i did not like him in cgi and the hit era The classic era and the RWS are better version of toby's character Tho if there's one think i do like about toby in cgi it's Henrietta and how they made her a actual character

7:12 i like this train already!

❤ toby the tram engine is best character in my opinion

Sodors finest needs the history of Thomas himself

Toby is the definition of Chaotic Neutral.

I honestly would've loved an Edward and Toby story. Considering the two have similar roles, yet different ways of dealing with problems that occur with other engines, it would've been interesting to see those ideologies clash. But considering that the two would probably get along instantly, it probably is good it didn't happen.

My favs are Toby Percy and James

20:43: Hey, Unlucky Tug, it just reminded me of Skarloey. He pretty much seems to ALMOST age backwards. Not by being childish, but in his bravery.

The thing he did to the constable was hilarious. He made the constable think it was gonna be Thomas, but the constable got the shock of his life when he first saw Toby.