Editing James the Red Engine (section)

==Prototype and background==
[[Image:Thornhill geograph-2804211-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg|thumb|left|150px|James' basis, an L&YR Class 28 in 1953]]
James first appeared in ''[[The Railway Series]]'' in the 1946 book ''Thomas the Tank Engine''. He was named after James Furze, a friend of the publisher's son. He was originally painted black. At the request of the publishers, Awdry dedicated ''[[List of Railway Series books#James the Red Engine|James the Red Engine]]'' to the character. James was painted red in this and subsequent books. 
<!--There's plenty more about James' own book in "The Thomas the Tank Engine Man"-->

James is based on the [[L&YR Class 28]], an {{whyte|0-6-0}} mixed-traffic tender engine designed by [[George Hughes (engineer)|George Hughes]] and based on the earlier [[L&YR Class 27]] designed by [[John Aspinall (engineer)|John Aspinall]]. According to Awdry, the Class 28s were powerful engines but had a tendency to be nose-heavy, especially when used as relief engines on excursion trains and driven at speed.<ref name=IoSPHR>{{cite book
 | last = The Rev. W. Awdry
 | author-link = Wilbert Awdry
 | author2 = G. Awdry
 | title = ''[[List of Railway Series Books#The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways|The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways]]''
 | publisher = Kaye & Ward
 | year = 1987
 | pages = 129–30
 | isbn = 0-434-92762-7
 }}</ref> In the book ''[[List of Railway Series Books#The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways|The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways]]'', Awdry gave a fictional history of the engine. James was built by Hughes as an experiment to see if the nose-heaviness could be counteracted. The locomotive was fitted with larger {{convert|5|ft|6|in}} driving wheels and a [[pony truck]], making it into a {{whyte|2-6-0}}.<ref name=IoSPHR /> (The real Class 28 has {{convert|5|ft|1|in}} wheels.<ref>[http://www.railuk.info/steam/getsteamclass.php?item=LYR28 "Steam Loco Class Information"] Rail UK.</ref>) James is also missing the prominent front sandboxes fitted to the Class 28s.<ref name=RLTtTE>{{cite web|title=James|url=http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/james.htm|publisher="The Real Lives of Thomas the Tank Engine" (The real prototype locomotives that inspired the Rev. W. Awdry)|access-date=27 January 2011|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121220020223/http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/james.htm|archive-date=20 December 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> The improvement was not as great as hoped for and after the grouping, the LMS sold James to the Fat Controller's [[Sodor (fictional island)#Railways|North Western Railway]].<ref name=IoSPHR />

===Models===
Awdry had two models of James on his [[OO gauge]] model railway. The first, from the 1950s, was based on a 2-6-0 [[Glasgow and South Western Railway]] locomotive, the [[Austrian Goods]], designed by [[Peter Drummond (engineer)|Peter Drummond]]; this is the design that Awdry had originally intended to use for James.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gratton |first1=James |title=Model Maker Magazine: March 1953}}</ref> The model was red with yellow lining. Despite being professionally made and "a beautiful model", the motor was unreliable, so it could not be used regularly. Awdry later noted that it was sent away in the 1980s for a new motor and chassis and came back "completely transformed".<ref name=RLTtTE/>

Awdry's second model of James was based on a 1960s [[Tri-ang Railways|Tri-ang]] [[Midland Railway Johnson 0-6-0|Johnson 3F]] 0-6-0; a conversion which [[Hornby Railways|Hornby]] used for the production version of their model of James several decades later.<ref name=RLTtTE/>