Why Troublesome Trucks are So Troublesome | Thomas & Friends Analysis 

I’ve watched Thomas for years. I’ve seen every incarnation of Troublesome Trucks, from them pushing James off the rails(twice), to Scruffy getting ripped to shreds by Oliver, to them finessing Diesel, to Hector, to them actually behaving when Thomas first met Nia in Big World Big Adventures. And I’ve come to the forgone conclusion that the only reason they act bad, is because they’re just bored as hell. Besides hauling things around, they really have no purpose. So they feel like to the best way to change that is to mess with every engine around them. Steamie or Diesel.

A natural tank engine in its natural habitat

2:13 “In Thomas, there are no villains” Diesel: *”Am I a joke to you, mate?”*

Expertly done. I never knew the context of why Awdry initially depicted trucks as troublesome, so this was very helpful. I think for an in-universe reason behind it, the "Character Gallery" episode on Hector had a pretty solid explanation that relates to the point you mentioned about the dirty, grungy look of the trucks, tying it into their poor maintenance. I really loved that point about the personification of engines, rolling stock, and other vehicles as well. It reminds me of an interesting approach that's been done a handful of times in certain fan work, where not everyone in the world sees the engines, especially the Sodor ones, with faces because they don't see them as individuals. They only see them as normal, run of the mill vehicles without any sense of distinction or personality.

The first season used just eyes and a mouth on the trucks. In season 2 they started using full faces. The reason you don't see faces in many shots is for artistic reasons. Faces draw attention and when they want to put emphasis on other aspects of the scene, they turn the faces away (or leave them off the trucks). They do something similar with engines where they deliberately turn faces away for certain shots.

My stance on the characters has for a long time been: Awdry was just the translator. Everything in our world has a story. Everything in our world has a personality. This entire wonderful world we are on TALKS everyday… we only need to pay enough attention to understand it. Awdry understood that steam engines talked from a young age. You could say he was “a sort of man who knows how to speak to an engine”. Awdry’s books attempted to encapsulate that idea and pass it on the generations to come.

Troublesome Trucks are like internet trolls before internet trolls.

A wonderful analysis, Caleb. The trucks have always baffled me -- the fact they're so eager to cause trouble at whatever cost... I really enjoyed this look into the trucks. Can't wait for the next video! :)

I love when Henry said despicable and he has minion eyes on

I’d say you hit the nail right on the head! I’ve had a theory for a while about the engines’ (and rolling stock in general) sentience that’s basically the same as yours. It’s their identity. If your able to identify an engine, car, truck, coach, etc. (like by a number, name, behavior, etc.) then they have a personality

The fact that the trucks don’t want to hurt or play tricks on Peter Sam because he’s so nice

This was really informative really appreciated the information why wagons/trucks cause accident in the railway.

That was really good! I like the explanation of what actually made them a terror from time to time, and how their real world issues became an allegory for their tricks and hi-jinks. As a kid you don't really think about it, but that's why classic Thomas is still fun as an adult. All this stuff came from real world events, and trucks did really push and pull engines to an extent, causing trouble.

Everything needs to have a story especially Trains.

Whenever anyone in the show would say “Be more careful with trucks” I’ve always wanted to add this kind of joke afterwards. “Seriously, I’ve been on this god forsaken island for many years, and every time an accident happens, trucks ALWAYS seem to be at the center of almost every single one. It’s like they’re the railway’s own publicly known terrorist organization or something………..why do we keep them alive again?!”

I swear, you're like an extension of Unlucky Tug's quality content.

Speaking of kindness that’s probably why Salty can handle even the most vile trucks. He’s kind and patient with them and knows how to motivate them. He could probably even get Scruffy to behave.

Nobody: The truck at the beginning: it's Ą̷̴͓̜̹͓̖͔͕͎̭̭̞̇̓͌̌̿̉͑͗ͩ̅̆͐̔̏͐̕ M̪̤̪̫͉̼͈̳̲̳̞̻̣͋̐̀̋͗̽́̃̏ͤͫ̾̈́ͮ͆ͧ̊ͧ̚̕͟͝͠͝_̙̖͇̫̉̎E̵̡͕͍͎͂̓́ͫ

Cool little video here. Not something I have ever thought about trucks behaving well. Even though they do. Nice to see!

Imagine if being a complete menace was both your job and entire personality

I've been through your channel every now and then. I saw "Passage" a while ago and I LOVE it. The model work and cinematography is fantastic accompanied by a soothing narration and energetic voice actors. I've also recently come across these analysis videos of yours which I'm really finding interesting. The memes and pop culture references are some nice touches as well that keep the viewer entertained. On the subject of this video, I find this topic very fascinating. "Races, Rescues, and Runaways" was one of the first Thomas the Tank Engine DVD's I got, and even as a little kid I would sometimes wonder what the troublesome truck's motives behind all their catastrophes were. This also reminded me of an audio story I saw a while ago that's mainly based around Rheneas in the early days of the Skarloey Railway. But the slate trucks play a huge part in the events of the story and could provide an explanation why the trucks are troublesome. I look forward to the next one!

In my opinion.... the reason as to why Troublesome Trucks are.. well.. troublesome is because deep down all they want is recognition for they're contributions to the railway, without them how could goods be transported anywhere and benefit the island?. You almost have to feel sympathy for them. All they're lives they've been bumped & bashed around ( even when they're not being been naughty ) simply because that's just the way things are etc... never getting so much a friendly hello. The engines are all so use to doing this as due to letting instinct teach that they should assume trucks are 'always' going to be naughty that they never stopped to think about how it affects them. On the other side of the same coin.... the truth is that trucks act up so often is because they never get to know and befriend anyone that they feel they must be rude & misbehave for us to notice them. All trucks deep down simply wished to be really useful, treated & respected equally like everyone else, even just stopping and having a friendly talk to them would be enough to make them feel very much included as apart of the railway family. Troublesome Trucks are not just some cog in the system... but a true member of the team.

I swear every truck on this island must be suicidal - t1e2h3 worker

I say we need to bring back the "disgusting disgraceful despicable" meme. For old times sake... Man i miss when that meme was popular

u blew my mind with the faceless and non faceless debate. imagine every vehicle has face its jus their personalities that make them fade into the background. bro tht was deep.

It was always weird to me when trucks would groan despite not having faces especially in Crossed Lines since the groans are coming from flatbeds which have no place for a face to be...

I’m glad u pointed out Peter Sam and his relationship with the trucks it true he never bumped them unless they were misbehaving so I can assume Peter Sam let them sing make jokes and just be kind too them too the point where they even tried too save him.

Absolutely fantastic work Caleb :D and really fleshed out from that initial simple idea ^^ really looking forward to the next one!

The fact is that the trucks betrayed Peter Sam, and they destroyed his long pipe thingy and he gave the new one

Technically speaking, non fitted wagons do have brakes, they just have to be engaged and released manually by the levers on the side. It was usually the case that unfitted freights would stop at the top of a grade and the guard would go along the train to engage the brakes on the wagons and pin them down using slots that were in the frames to hold the levers in place at varying levels. The lower the slot you pinned, the harder the brakes would be engaged. It was usually up to the driver to determine how many wagons would get pinned so the train could be pulled down the grade safely but not grind to a halt with too many applied, usually would blow the whistle when he thought there was enough. This is actually referenced in a Thomas episode where there's a sign beside the line which reads "ALL TRAINS STOP TO PIN DOWN BRAKES".

Antagonists can count as close to villains if you will like D261, Diesel, 'Arry and Bert due to them cause trouble and antagonising the steam engines about being better and replacing. Then in Magic Railroad, real villains are born like Diesel 10.

My left ear really enjoyed this video.

"Even if it means [the trucks' death], I guess." Considering there are perhaps dozens of trucks per engine they may see their deaths as a win for truck kind if they take one engine out. It is a battle of attrition, and they have the numbers.

This was such a wonderful vid! Would love to see more!

I'd say the faces aren't necessarily just imagination, but to put a face on a personified character that otherwise would be just another faceless machine or piece of rolling stock to those who don't work with them. It makes these characterful machines into characters that anyone can relate to. Separate note and a bit of a fun thing about that, even small scale models can have character. I've got a plucky little N-scale 4-4-0 that punches above its weight class, a lazy N-scale 4-8-2 that calls it quits the moment it encounters a grade, a G-scale 0-6-6-0 that can be best described as a badass, and an old G-scale 0-6-0 live steamer that started off as a poor runner but is just now getting back in its stride.

For me, problem wagons are highly undervalued characters because, well, engines treat passenger wagons better, and I don't see them, it's because they want to be treated as

3:05 I don't remember so many of the trucks dying.

So it’s like a school. Your parents take you to school or work, you act up you get sent away, that is basically school.

This analysis gives me a new prespective on the trucks and I love it

Love all this new content! Great work :)

I can't believe I never thought about about. Thanks.

To quote starscrem "IM eeeVil Megatron tHats WhaT I Do"

4:06 Oh hey, it's JobbyTheHong's smooth jazz!

man, i sure do love only being able to hear the voice over in my left ear!

My left ear enjoyed this.

Well put and well said!

I think the trucks are secret psychologists who like to play god because they’re bored. They act as a source of karma against engines with negative emotions

my left ear loves you caleb

Here a interesting question Why be some coach (All the coach beside Annie and Clarabel and the narrow gauge coaches) don’t have face from the gauge1 model But the zoom in model do have face (As I remember it was the orange branch line coaches, I believe it just Annie/Clarabel zoom in model) And the Express coaches do talk (in the first season) Also in the RWS the flatbed also talk

The thumbnail is a reference to one of the tomy thomas starter sets (thats at least what I think)

I'm reminded of the time Gordon said, and I quote, "Trucks are no one's friends." I personally believe he was wrong in that aspect. It just depends on the engine handling the trucks.

The trucks still played tricks on Edward and Toby in Cows and Toby's Tightrope respectively. I don't know if they've ever pranked Daisy

The fact that they can’t move on their own is also probably why they’re cool with dying

It is time for the working class to rise against their steam oppressors

The personification angle does explain why those with faces are the troublesome ones, doesn't it. Also, loved the real life history section, I figured how the trucks acted was true to real life, but I never knew enough to confirm it.

The true personification of Wilbert Awdry

1:00 I love this footage of Jinty shunting in the railyard. Does anyone know the source?

i kinda zoned out when all of a sudden i heard fucken "take me out to the ballgame"

this guy sounds like he'd be a season 4 - 8 narrator

3:46 Booooo you suck! got me laughing

0:34 isn’t that one of the troublesome trucks faces in Emily’s new route?

6:51 Where’s that scene from? Is it a deleted scene?

Salt Van: hey look at that big black weasel u should have a top like me and be a salt van. Ner Van: no u like a house with that top. The Trucks Ohhhh Roasted.

6:50 -- where exactly did this scene come from? I don't remember ever seeing it

Simple: IT IS FUN!

So Percy, Edward, Mavis, Arthur, Salty, Den, Hiro, Henry and Thomas (to an extent) have a special way of how to handle those michevious brainless trucks.

I made a couple of these in lego... though they really couldvuse the faces... I made them *more* troublesome! Not only fo they not have brakes, but I gave them rollerbearings 😂👍

So, it all boils down to quillity control

Pure Evil Trucks Are: I'm wrong or right

What episode is the shot of Oliver on a flatbed from??

You might wanna fix this. The audio is mostly on the left stereo channel.

That was brilliant Caleb, if a little queer... Y'know, if there was ever a set of trucks I'd personalize, it'd have to be Milk Tankers, for two reasons: 1st is how they were most commonly used back on the Great Western Railway as Duck would recall, and 2nd I'd imagine they being above the harsh treatment of being bumped and banged about by engines like James, purely due to they seeing Milk as precious goods that cannot be delayed. I'm sure you wouldn't mind that a good Personality aye?😉

Is that the episode when gordon had enough

What about the Troublesome Trucks in the CGI Series?

'In Thomas, there are no villains.' LIES. Diesel was a piece of work, and so were the trucks!

Well Done My Friend

0:22 Did the trucks cause this? Or did Henry cause it?

This is the first of these essay videos of yours that I've watched, and I really like the angle that you took here with the trucks. I wasn't expecting you to bring up how they bring out the best (or worst!) of the engines, and that's really clever of you to notice that. I can't believe I never made that connection before, and I JUST did a review on Trucks. The only other thing I have to say about this video is to watch your audio levels. There were a couple times where your voice was a bit louder than the clip, or the music made things a bit hard to hear a clip. Other than that, everything checks out!

Norow gauge trucks different from the standard gauge standard gauge troublesome trucks the narrow-gauge wanted revenge on saw handle for being rude

*Troublesome Trucks (Foolish Freight Cars)*

Really well done video but I'm unsure if this is on your end or youtube's end. But your voice audio balancing is wonky, only playing out of the left speaker. While sound effects are balanced and play out of both.

Funny 😁

My right ear is very lonely, aka just make sure both channels get equal level of narration, probably duplicate your left audio track to the right channel when it comes to your VO track

2:13 no villains he says Diesel Arry Bert Class 40? Horrid lorry George? Spiteful break van

I thought it’s because it’s in the name

Is island of sodor real?

I'd love to own a troublesome truck I'd give it a name and a purpose And what's that purpose? Holding my DS and 3DS game cards And the name? That's up for you to decide

I'm a little surprised you didn't continue with this into the CGI era where the vast majority of trucks lost their faces and weren't often referred to as troublesome anymore. Why? Because they're all red now, British Railways painted trucks with continuous brakes bauxite instead of grey.

Dont bump coaches 5:55

Didn't you make a video about this theory 9 years ago?

1204th

mfw you don't have to be a productive compartment of transport and can be a nuisance and menace to the company that owns you

Its simple they are pure evil

Skill Issue😄😄😄😄

Duck made diesel strugle with some china clay trucks so the trucks sing pop goes the diesel now diesel was hate tward the engines and wants them scraped its really ducks fault so one day edward takes a woods train away the van in front called the lynton van breaks away with the cars and makes duck crash in to a barber shop thats how diesel got back not untill season 6 the world's strongest engine the trucks bet diesel to push em back so diesel gets 20 of em the cars slip the breaks on and diesel broke away and laned in a boat