Connor (Thomas and Friends)

Connor is a fast streamlined engine from the Other Railway, who is designed for speed. He also has his own rake of coaches painted in a similar colour scheme to his own.

Bio
Connor is excitable and energetic and, like Caitlin, loves to race the other engines. Connor, however; is better at being patient, unlike Caitlin. Although it's probably unintentional, he can come across as being somewhat smug. Both Caitlin and Connor run regularly between the Mainland and Ulfstead Castle via the Vicarstown Bridge.

Connor helped with the search of Stephen, when the old engine went missing.

Connor was tricked by Bill and Ben when they challenged him to a race and he almost collided with Henry's goods train after he was trying to beat them.

Connor later had the challenge of bringing his last passengers from Sodor home in time for Christmas. With the help of Hiro, Thomas, Edward, Henry, James, Percy and Emily, he succeeded at getting everyone home for Christmas.

In the nineteenth season, Connor was one of the engines told about the rumour of Toby being scrapped, and later raced through Kellsthorpe Road Station, but didn't see the red paint spilled onto the rails, and ended up covering Gordon's face with red spots. Connor has also been seen racing with Caitlin when the latter was taking Emily to the Steamworks for repairs.

Persona
Connor is a streamlined engine, designed for speed. Along with his friend Caitlin, Connor is an excitable and energetic character, who likes to be busy and loves to race. Both Connor and Caitlin are friendly and eager to get other engines to join in the fun with them.

Basis
Connor is based on a New York Central Railroad streamlined J3a Hudson built by Alco of Schenectady, New York in 1937. Ten J3a Hudsons were fitted with streamlined shrouds by Henry Dreyfuss in 1938 in order to do heavy hauling at a greater speed, most famously hauling the Twentieth Century Limited between New York City and Chicago. All of the Hudson locomotives were scrapped.

Livery
Connor is painted teal blue with aquamarine and yellow lining.

Appearances
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Television series

 * Season 17 - Calm Down Caitlin, Bill or Ben? and No More Mr. Nice Engine (cameo)
 * Season 18 - Not So Slow Coaches and Last Train for Christmas
 * Season 19 - The Truth About Toby (speaks only in Japanese dub; cameo in English dubs), Henry Spots Trouble (cameo) and Best Engine Ever

Specials:
 * King of the Railway
 * The Great Race

Magazine stories
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 * 2014 - Bill or Ben and Not So Slow Coaches

Voice Actors

 * Jonathan Forbes (UK/US; King of the Railway onwards)
 * Jan-David Rönfeldt (Germany)
 * Dariusz Błażejewski (Poland)
 * Scott Maurstad (Norway; King of the Railway only)
 * Sigbjørn Solheim (Norway; seventeenth season only)
 * Kunihiro Kawamoto (Japan)
 * José Arenas (Latin America)
 * Paul Disbergen (The Netherlands)
 * Bruno Marçal (Brazil; King of the Railway onwards)
 * Jordi Estupiña (Spain)
 * Denis Bespalyy (Russia; King of the Railway onwards)

Trivia

 * In real life, Connor would be too large for the British loading gauge. However, it seems that he has been re-scaled to avoid animation issues.
 * Connor and Caitlin's Irish-American accents may be references to how the New York Central and Baltimore & Ohio employed Irish immigrants in their early years.
 * Connor's Wooden Railway prototype is Spencer's model repainted to Connor's paint scheme with the tender coupled backwards.
 * Connor does not appear to have a visible whistle, so when he does whistle, steam emits out of nothing on his boiler.
 * Connor has been modified to work on British rail lines: he has a screwlink coupling and buffers on the back of his tender. He retains a streamlined cowcatcher on the front, so he is unable to shunt. His headlamp has also been moved to accommodate his face.
 * Unlike his basis, Connor has four axles on his tender instead of six.
 * Connor's steam pipes (on top of his cylinders) appear disconnected from his boiler.

Merchandise

 * Wooden Railway
 * Motor Road and Rail (Japan only)
 * TrackMaster
 * Take-n-Play
 * Wind-up Trains (Japan only)
 * Collectible Railway
 * Thomas and Friends Adventures (coming soon)