Mike

Mike the Miniature Engine

First Appearence

Toby and the New Engine

Creator(s)

Rev. W. Awdry

Character Overview

Name(s)

Michael

Nicknames

Mike

Country

Island of Sodor
The Mainland (formerly)

Current Status

Operational

Friends

Enemies

Jock (formerly)

Technical Details

Basis

Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway's River Mite

Gauge

Miniature Gauge
Standard Gauge (formerly)

Power type

Steam

Vehicle

Locomotive

Type

Tender engine

Fuel type

Coal

Configuration

2-8-2

Wheels

20

Top Speed

Unknown

Designer(s)

Unknown

Builder(s)

Clarksons of York

Year built/Age

1966 (age 52)

Arrived on Sodor

1967

Railway

Arlesdale Railway
Unnamed line on the Mainland (formerly)

Owner(s)

Mr. Fergus Duncan (formerly)
Sir Topham Hatt (currently)

Michael, nicknamed Mike is a strong red tender engine from the Arlesdale Railway. He is the youngest out of the three Arlesdale engines: him, Rex, and Bert.

This is Number 3

Bio

Mike was built by built by Clarkson of York in 1966 from a design which aimed to incorporate improvements on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway's River Esk, and like their River Mite, has succeeded. Mike is tough, robust and powerful. He is more sure-footed than Rex, but his performance is sometimes erratic

Mike worked on an unnamed line in England until 1967, at which time their line closed down and he, Rex and Bert, were sent to Sodor to work the Arlesdale Railway. Not long after arrival, Mike mocked Duck when the latter had trouble with his whistle making unusual noises, which lead to Rex telling Mike to lose his whistle. While pulling a passenger train, a stray cow had wandered onto the line and Mike whistled so loudly to make her move that his whistle flew off. This meant that his crew and passengers had to whistle for him. To make matters worse, there were no spare whistles for Mike so he was sent to the quarries for the rest of the day. Mike would soon come across some sheep on the line and complained about how silly they were, with Rex pointing out how useful they were with their wool.

Mike, along with the other small engines, were offered to be in a book about Duke if they behaved. When the rescue team found him, Mike brought tools to help him out of the shed.

In 1976, a few months after Jock came into service, Mike decided to pay the new engine back for all his cockiness. So, whilst double-heading a passenger train, Mike reduced steam after the Green, causing Jock to pull him and the passenger train alone. However, Mike's plan backfired when his injector failed on the return journey and Jock had to take him home. After being mended, Mike apologised to Jock.

Things were going wrong in 2009, Mike was to pretend to fight the other engines, but it could not now, Mike was to collect ballast from the mine but he messed up the Arlesburgh West, and then, he was sent to the steamworks for a rebuild, Rex, Bert, Frank, Jock, Sigrid of Arlesdale and the The Two Blisters were going to miss Mike.

One day on the Island of Sodor, Sir Topham Hatt decided to bring another new engine from the Steamworks to his railway and brought him to Tidmouth Sheds. The engine came straight towards the turntable and the engines were fascinated with how he looked and were amazed with him, too.

His real name is Michael, but he preferred to be called Mike instead because of it being a nickname from Rex and Bert on the Arlesdale Railway. The engines were amazed and liked Mike, but one especially and that was Toby.

When Toby was to show Mike around the railway, he was pleased and the two became friends as time past on.

When Marion meets the small railway engines for the first time, Mike took her belief that they were magical much less kindly than the other two. The following day when Thomas came up to Arlesburgh West, depressed about being sent to work on the new branch line as punishment for derailing the Express Coaches. Mike, along with the others, sang "Never Overlook A Little Engine" to cheer him up. However, this lead to Thomas becoming overly eager to be useful, which lead to him falling into Calles Cavern. At dusk that day, Mike was shunting ballast wagons onto the chute when Marion reappeared at their junction to make a wish; while Rex and Bert managed to escape unnoticed, Marion trapped Mike on the chute with her shovel and held on until she made her wish. Mike escaped at full speed when Marion let go, but this only strengthened Marion's belief. When Sailor John went through with The Pirate Ship two nights later, the three small engines shunted a train of ballast wagons off the chute in front of the ship to decrease its speed after hearing Thomas approaching the junction. The ship ran over most of the hoppers, but one got caught under the flatbed the ship was on, lifting its front bogey off the track and slowing it down as a result. A loose rope from the ship then got caught on Ryan's buffer and he was able to derail the slowing ship.

Persona

Mike can sometimes appear a little arrogant. He thinks he should be in charge of the other two engines, though neither of them really let him boss them around. Bert simply humors him, but Rex goes out of his way to tease Mike and wind him up, which is not very difficult. Mike much prefers pulling goods trains to passengers, unlike Gordon, as he considers goods much more straightforward and less likely to complain. He is proud of his strength and appears rather confident, but he would not be so easy to tease if he was not hiding at least a little insecurity. He can sometimes be a little irritable.

Basis

Mike is based on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway's River Mite.

Livery

Mike is painted red with blue-and-yellow lining. He has a brass dome, red nameplates with yellow writing mounted each side of his smokebox and "Arlesdale" written on his tender in yellow.