Richard

Richard the New Engine is an original character created by Carson. He is a dark green tender engine with the number "778" on his tender.

Biography
Richard was built by the North British Locomotive Company of Glasgow, Scotland in June 1925 for the Southern Railway. When he was withdrawn from service in 1959, he was sold to a scrapyard where he languished for years. Years later, he was being sent to the Steelworks on Class 40's train when Henry traded Richard for his bridge section. Richard was brought to Sodor and repaired, but Gordon was jealous, and caused a fire. Thankfully, Richard arrived with the firefighters to save the day. After, Richard was given the express, but felt very tired after pulling it, so he and James switched jobs. However, James lied about breaking the crane arm, and it swung into the brand new Express Coaches James was pulling. Richard got into trouble, and was put on maintenance work until he stopped a runaway, and was allowed to pull passengers again.

Later, he met Thomas, but Thomas didn't like him. Then, Richard saved Thomas from a crash, and the two of them became great friends. After wards Richard and Thomas wanted to play a trick on Gordon and James by pretending to be ghosts, but they never got the chance as James did it instead, albeit by accident.

Personality
Richard is happy and clutzy and sometimes has accidents. He is Henry's best friend.

Basis
Richard is based on the LSWR N15 class.

Livery
Richard is painted dark green with white stripes and the number "778" on his tender.

Appearances

 * Henry's Bargain
 * Stress of the Express
 * Troubled Maintenance
 * Reckless Redemption
 * Imposter!
 * Richard's Midnight Runners
 * Any Coal Will Do
 * Express Permission (cameo)

Trivia

 * Richard was planned to be a RWS-ish character.

Gallery
Thomas and Friends Fanfic Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Richard.