The Pontypandy Flyer is a steam locomotive driven by Gareth Griffiths. It runs on a short, steep heritage railway line up to the base of Pontypandy Mountain. The engine first appeared in the eighth season episode, Runaway Train.
Basis[]
The engine does not seem to based on any real-life steam locomotive, but it is possibly a well-tank engine because there are no water tanks mounted on either side of the engine's boiler or above it.
This does make sense however for the Engine to be Freelance seeing as Gareth did claim to of built it himself and wanted it to be of a unique design.
Livery and Features[]
The engine's body work and wheels are painted in red with white stripes with a maroon smoke box and funnel. It has brass tubing, fittings, buffers and a coupling hook. There is also a bell at the back of the dome, which is rare for most locomotives in England. The engine has a large lamp mounted on top of its smoke box and sliding doors on each side of its driving cab. It's front bufferbeam is curved, which gives it a streamlined look.
The carriage is painted in a two-toned red and white, similar to the paint scheme used by the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways for their modern coaching stock.
Sound Effects[]
Whistle
Trivia[]
- There is also a wooden flatbed truck at the rear of the train which can come in handy for the firefighters, when they need to bring Mercury along for mountain rescues. Bessie also uses that flatbed truck if the Pontypandy Flyer is already up in the mountains or if Gareth is absent.
- The engine's whistle sound is exactly the same one used for Spencer in Thomas & Friends (another HiT Entertainment/Mattel Creations series that several of the Fireman Sam crew members work on). This is because the whistle is a stock GWR whistle sound effect.
- Oddly the engine's trailing wheels are bigger then the driving wheels which is unusual as the driving wheels are usually bigger than the pilot and trailing wheels.
- The coupler on the Engine and its coach appear to reuse the tow balls from some of the road vehicles.
Gallery[]
