A synopsis subpage for Devious Diesel.
Roles[]
He was introduced as the titular main antagonist of book 13, Duck and the Diesel Engine, and its standalone follow-up story, Thomas and the Evil Diesel.
In Thomas & Friends, he is introduced in Season 2 as the main antagonist of the three-part adaptation of Duck and the Diesel Engine. He is also the main antagonist of the episodes Diesel Does It Again (Season 3), The World’s Strongest Engine (Season 6), and Fergus Breaks the Rules (Season 7). By the time the series underwent a soft-reboot in Season 8, he became a series regular and the franchise’s main antagonist.
In the television specials, he is the main antagonist of Calling All Engines! and Blue Mountain Mystery, one of the two main antagonists (alongside Vinnie) of The Great Race, the secondary antagonist of Day of the Diesels, and a major antagonist in Misty Island Rescue. He is also a minor character in both King of the Railway and Big World! Big Adventures! and a cameo character in The Great Discovery, Hero of the Rails, The Adventure Begins, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, and Journey Beyond Sodor.
Past[]
It is uncertain how Diesel became who he is today prior to coming to Sodor.
Television series[]
Diesel in Season 2.
When Diesel first arrived in 1957, he was "on trial" and Duck had to show him around the island. Diesel boasted to Duck that diesels were revolutionary and did not need to learn, so Duck left him to it. This boasting led to his own undoing when later that day, Diesel pulled the wrong trucks out of a siding, causing a great mess and was soon made of a laughing stock by the other trucks. Furious with Duck, Diesel began telling mean-spirited lies in an effort to get rid of him. He initially succeeded but was soon found out and sent away in disgrace.
In the TV series episode "Diesel Does It Again", much to the shock and dismay of Duck and Percy, Diesel returned, having been given a second chance by Sir Topham Hatt, to help them at Brendam Harbour. But the two tank engines refused to work with Diesel, forcing him to do all the work on alone, and as a result, the work piled up as the cargo and passengers were delayed on the quay. People soon started complaining about the railway. When Sir Topham Hatt confronted Duck and Percy, they explained their actions. Sir Topham Hatt told the two that he has to give Diesel a second chance as he was the only engine available and is trying to help Percy and Duck out by bringing him to the harbour. The two engines went back to work. However, Diesel started to cause trouble for the railway. After pushing some china clay trucks through a pair of insecure buffers and into the sea, that was the last straw. A very displeased Sir Topham Hatt scolded Diesel severely for the incident and was sent away again, leaving a content Duck and Percy to carry on with their work without further mishap.
Diesel with the Troublesome Trucks.
Diesel returned as a last resort when Henry had an accident with some troublesome trucks. He tried to pull a long line of trucks from a siding only to snap the coupling and fly off into a barge. Sir Topham Hatt was furious and sent him away yet again.
Diesel returned to help Fergus at the cement works and told him that Sir Topham Hatt wanted him to work at the smelters yard. Diesel's plan did work, but wasn't sent back this time round. Since then, it has been presumed that Diesel has become a permanent resident of the Sodor railway. Diesel has also been given more duties at the quarry. Diesel pushed Thomas under a hopper, but broke down when he took on some bad fuel. And then, he surprisingly thanked Thomas for his good deed. He told Gordon that he would be scrapped when Gordon started to squeak and rattle. But then, Gordon was repaired soon after.
Calling All Engines![]
Diesel with 'Arry in Calling All Engines!
In "Calling All Engines", Diesel, 'Arry and Bert were assigned to rebuild Tidmouth Sheds. However, the three diesels were quite rude to Thomas and Percy, so Thomas (not knowing their important job) decided to play tricks on them, like giving Diesel bananas. As a result, the steam engines had to sleep across the island. This caused the steam engines and the diesel engines to give each other the silent treatment. It also made Thomas sad. When he was to shunt a bridge section into place, Diesel told Thomas that he was too weak, but a determined Thomas proved himself and got the job done. Diesel, now furious with Thomas, and jealous that he was getting all the good jobs, swore revenge on him. Thomas had to collect paint for the bridge, but Diesel purposely banged into Thomas' paint cars, which caused a big mess. This was the beginning of a huge fight out on the railway soon after, and Sir Topham Hatt was cross with everyone. Knowing that important jobs were to be done, Thomas convinced the steam engines and diesels, including Diesel, 'Arry and Bert, to work together. Diesel was very surprised when Thomas decided to work with Diesel 10. Once all of the jobs were finished, everyone made amends.
Despite the fact that the diesels had made up with the steam engines, Diesel reverted back to his old ways after the movie. Diesel told Thomas about the curse of the cliffs to scare him out of doing an important job. And when Diesel had to work with Thomas and take flour to the bakery on Halloween night, Diesel made spooky noises to scare Thomas, but was soon paid back when Thomas covered himself in flour and scared Diesel.
Once Gordon was given his very own special coaches, Diesel stole them out of revenge because no one knew about his record of shunting more trucks in one day than any other engine on Sodor. Emily eventually tracked him down, saw that his engine was breaking down, and gave him a new one. Diesel was surprised, and he apologized to Gordon and Emily for the trouble that he caused.
Thomas had to take some stinky cheese across Sodor. While he was delivering the cheese, he tried to avoid Diesel, 'Arry and Bert because he knew that they would tease him about it. After arriving at the docks, Diesel called Thomas a stinky steamie, but had to shunt the stinky cheese on the boat.
Diesel was taking part in being placed on a billboard. But when the photographer asked him to move forward, Diesel rolled in front of Thomas by accident. Once Thomas saw this, he thought Diesel that did it on purpose, and tried to get the photographer to take another picture without Diesel. But then, Diesel found out about this, and confessed that it wasn't his fault. Afterward, Thomas apologized to him. This is one of the very few times Diesel is accused of something that he didn't do. In a later episode of the same season, Diesel challenged Thomas to a race across the quarry going backwards, only to cause chaos and forget to finish his work.
In the CGI-animated series, Diesel laughed at James when he was painted pink. In the special, Misty Island Rescue, he stole special logs needed to build the Sodor Search and Rescue Center, which resulted in Thomas chasing him down. Diesel found himself going towards the edge of an unfinished bridge, and putting his life in danger. Thomas soon caught up and saved him. Despite losing the special logs, Diesel thanked Thomas for his heroic act.
One morning after a storm, Diesel became jealous of the other engines because they all had important jobs to do. Diesel offered to do their jobs to make himself look good but was only useful when he ended up doing his own job.
When a new fire engine named Belle arrived, Thomas took an interest in her, which caused Percy to get lonely. Diesel manipulated Percy to come to the Dieselworks and once there, Percy saw Diesel 10, who pretended to take Percy under his wing. Diesel was one of the many diesels who took over the Steamworks but once the Dieselworks was repaired, the diesels apologized for their wrong doings.
Diesel also teased Flynn for standing around doing nothing, told Percy a calliope would be sent for scrap and antagonized Gordon when he needed new buffers.
Blue Mountain Mystery[]
Diesel's evil grin in Blue Mountain Mystery as he tries to taunt Thomas, believing he can't help Luke.
In Blue Mountain Mystery, a young narrow gauge engine named Luke was hiding at the Blue Mountain Quarry after believing he had gotten an another engine scrapped (the engine was in fact very much alive and was actually Victor from the Steamworks), and Diesel found out about him after Paxton told him what he did years ago, and he manipulated the latter into believing that Luke was a danger to the rails and needs to be sent away. Despite knowing Luke was innocent, Diesel tried to have him sent away, but was reprimanded by Sir Topham Hatt for making false accusations.
In the special, Diesel reverted to his Season 2 portrayal instead of his Season 6 portrayal. This special shows that he proves himself be sadistic, toxic, stubborn and overly impulsive, but he still knows that he is in the wrong and he fully gave up when Sir Topham Hatt severely scolded him for the incident.
Seasons 17-19[]
Diesel teased Stephen for being old, biffed and bashed Hiro with some Troublesome Trucks, played a trick on Paxton, tried to frame Thomas and Mavis for an accident with some Troublesome Trucks, and teased Samson about how the tank engine got lost when he first came to Sodor.
Diesel tricked Percy into going to an old quarry, so that he could do Percy's job of picking up the mayor to take him to a ceremony, and get into the front picture of the newspaper. He also covered Paxton in a cloud of black smoke from his engine, leaving Paxton's face covered in black spots.
The Great Race[]
Diesel moments before he sings his villain song Full of Surprises
In The Great Race, Diesel wanted to go to The Great Railway Show, but the Fat Controller was extremely hesitant and skeptical. To prove himself, Diesel had crates put over Den, Dart and Paxton so that they would resemble trucks and put them in a long train. When the Fat Controller was in the final stages of choosing who would go to the show, Diesel would then demonstrate how strong he was by pulling the train, while in reality, Den, Dart and Paxton would be doing most of the work. However, his unusual train was blocking any way into Knapford Station Yard. Thomas was coupled to the train both so that he could get into the station and so that he could prove himself worthy to go to the show by shunting. The diesels hear Thomas's whistle, and thought that it was Diesel's horn. Because of this, they began pushing, much to Diesel's horror.
Later, Diesel confronted his lackeys about the incident and nearly forced Dart off the Dieselworks turntable, but instead made Dart bump into Happy Hook, sending a crate down on him. Diesel later escaped to Brendam Docks and Den, Dart and Paxton continued to hunt him down, only for Cranky to load him onto a ship bound for the mainland by accident. He somehow managed to return to Sodor eventually.
Seasons 20-24[]
Diesel's reconciliation with Daisy.
Later, Diesel bumps Daisy, resulting in her springs being sprung and she had to go to the Dieselworks for repairs and every time he heard the engines talking about Daisy, he thought they're blaming him and got cross though they didn't know it. He later spread rumors between Daisy and Harvey about being more useful than each other due to their differences as a diesel railcar and a crane engine, though it backfired when they become friends after helping each other out, much to his fury, though it also got him rolling down the ramp and into the sea to which Harvey rescues him, despite his bad treatment. During St Valentine's Day, Diesel then bumps Rosie at the docks and embarrasses her and Thomas by teasing them of being romantically involved with each other, along with Bill and Ben.
Diesel tricked Rebecca, the newest member of the Steam Team, into doing the other diesels' jobs badly to get them into trouble instead of him. She took Paxton's fruit and vegetables to The Blue Mountain Quarry instead of the market, took Sidney's steel to Ulfstead Castle, Philip's parts to Farmer McColl's farm and Norman's stone to Vicarstown. Despite that Diesel do his jobs without doing anything wrong all day, his trick is found out when Millie told Rebecca that the castle needs stone, not steel and Rebecca told The Fat Controller and the diesels about the mix ups which results The Fat Controller to get cross at Diesel for his trick. Foiled again, Diesel complains that he's in trouble again even when he hasn't done anything wrong today or so he thought. After hearing Nia and Paxton saying that he's not reliable, Diesel decided to pay them back by painting in green glow in the dark paint and get them to find him at the Blue Mountain Quarry, hiding in a tunnel, though Nia and Paxton soon find out his trick and use it against him by having the same glow paint on them and told him off for not doing his jobs for two whole days which makes Diesel fearfully agrees to do so, though when he finds out about their trick by overhearing Nia and Paxton doing spooky voices the next day, he was stunned and moans about being foiled again.
Diesel noticing Sonny.
When a well tank engine named Sonny is being distrustful by the other engines because of his past as a thief with Baz and Bernie, despite being given a second chance by Sir Topham Hatt to stay on Sodor, Diesel took advantage of this by pretending to be his friend and trick him into doing his jobs for him. Thomas tries to warn Sonny that Diesel can't be trusted but he didn't believe him. Later on, however when he pull fish trucks to Ffarquhar, he overheard Diesel talking to Percy about his trick, making him realize that Thomas was telling the truth. He confronted Diesel for his actions and puff off. Diesel tries to follow him but accidentally derailed himself off the tracks and hang over a pit. Despite his trickery, Sonny change his mind and save Diesel from falling in, though derailing his fish trucks in the progress. The Fat Controller arrived, and seeing the derailed trucks, plans to send Sonny back. But then, Diesel admitted that the accident was really his fault, and that Sonny saved him. Entreated by this, The Fat Controller told Sonny that looking after his fellow engines is more important than being Really Useful. He also told him that by rescuing Diesel, despite the trouble that he caused, he has proven himself to be reliable and trustworthy. Following his heroic actions, Sonny was officially accepted by the other engines.
When Thomas dressed up as a monkey, Diesel made fun of him, and found it very humorous, which made Thomas feel embarrassed.