Learn More About Arthur From Thomas and Friends

In Thomas and Friends, Arthur is from the LMS railway, he is large and maroon with yellow lining. He loves working at the fishing village and took pride in a spotless record.

Personality

In Thomas and Friends, Arthur is "spotless" if you will. He strives to never cause issues or get into accidents, he is however a little bit naive. This would lead to Thomas taking advantage of this and playing a large role in Arthur's first accident.

Biography

In Thomas and Friends season 7 episode "The Spotless Record" Arthur came to Sodor presumably to help with goods & shunting. He came right on time and Thomas & Percy were impressed by him, while sitting on a siding waiting for his fruit train to be shunted Arthur was asked by Thomas if he'd like to bump trucks around for fun, Arthur refused his offer and waited patiently. Once his train was ready the trucks sang at him rudely and Thomas told him to bump them if they sang per Sir Topham Hatts orders, this was a lie and Arthur didn't know that yet. Arthur would later get into his first accident running his long line of fruit vans into Duck who was waiting at the level crossing. Arthur was disappointed about his spotless record being ruined but he did makeup with Thomas at the end of the story.

In season 7 episode "Something Fishy" Arthur would help Thomas after getting into an accident involving a fish train that Thomas despised. Arthur asked Sir Topham Hatt if he could run the coastline branch with all the fish you could think of. Topham agreed and that's where Arthur presumably works now.

Basis

In Thomas and Friends Arthur is based on the LMS (London, Midland, and Scottish railway) Ivatt Class 2MT tank engine. This tank engine is large and is effective and shunting and pulling goods trains.

Ivatt Class 2MT tank engine, Arthurs basis in service.

Livery

In Thomas and Friends, Arthur is maroon with a yellow lining. He has accents of black & white around his body and smokebox.

Maroon
Hex Color: #76232f
RGB: (118,35,47)

Yellow
Hex Color: #f2a900
RGB: (242,169,0)

Arthurs concept art (Robert Gauld-Galliers)

Voice & Whistles/Horns

Arthur's UK Voice

Arthur's US Voice

Arthur's Whistle

Model & TVS Background

In Thomas and Friends, Arthur's main model was used for gauge 1 track, built from scratch, and had 2 servos for up and down eye movement. A close-up model was created for Arthur when large-scale human figures needed to be used. Paul Larson and Robert Gauld-Galliers are responsible for the creation of Arthur, he went through some changes during his design. One of his most notable changes was his name, he was originally planned to be named Clarence, but after Luke Sharp won a contest that won him the chance to rename Clarence he chose Arthur to honor his late grandfather.

Arthur didn't have a long run in the Television Series, he appeared from seasons 7 to 12. with only having a speaking role in seasons 7, 8, and 11.

Toys & Merchandise

Thomas Wooden Railway Arthur: This version of Arthur came out in 2005 and was discontinued in 2008. He has 6 back wheels and 2 front bogie wheels.
TOMY Plarail Arthur: This version of Arthur was released in 2005 and discontinued in 2012. This is a very detailed toy with black stickers for windows and came with a fish troublesome truck and a troublesome van.
HiT Toy Trackmaster Arthur: came out in 2007 and discontinued in 2009 when Mattel took over, he is nearly identical to the TOMY version.
Mattel Trackmaster Arthur: came out in 2009 and discontinued in 2013. Noticeably this version lacks the sticker windows that previous versions had.
Take Along Arthur: came out in 2004 and discontinued in 2009. This version is on the heavier side with it being made mostly with die-cast metal.
Take N Play Arthur: A first release came out in 2010 and is nearly identical to the Take-Along version with a few differences such as more plastic being used and having a thicker yellow lining. This version was discontinued in 2011 in favor of another release that ran from 2014-2014 that had even more plastic, uncolored buffers, new wheels with holes in the center, a different face, and a stumpier body.
ERTL Arthur: was released from 2004-2004 and was a UK exclusive. He has a back U coupling that was used during the end of ERTLs Thomas & Friends line.
Tomica Arthur: was released in 2006.
Plarail Capsule Arthur: was released in 2005 and discontinued in 2008.