Carlos is a black Mexican tender engine.

Biography

Carlos first participated in the very first Great Railway Show, competing in the strength competition. He ended up winning this event.

Carlos continued to compete in the Great Railway Show every year. When the show was being held in England, he competed in the best-decorated parade. He competed against Yong Bao, Rajiv, James and Emily, but ended up losing the event to Rajiv. Later, as he was refilling his tender with coal, Carlos was forced to reverse when Philip was trying to escape from Vinnie, causing the latter to be covered in coal dust when the hopper was still pouring coal out.

After the Great Railway Show ended, Carlos left the Mainland and returned to Mexico.

Carlos later met Ace in Mexico. He greeted Ace and asked him where he was going, as Ace was being transported on a flatbed by Thomas and Nia.

Personality

Carlos is a proud and happy steam engine from the heart of Mexico. Always wearing a smile, this engine is the life and soul of the Great Railway Show. Originally competing and winning the strongest engine race at the very first Great Railway Show, this engine continues to please the crowds and is now taking part in the Best Decorated Engine Parade.

Technical Details

Basis

Carlos is based on a Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (National Railways of Mexico) GR-3 class 2-8-0, built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Eddystone, Pennsylvania. The engine carrying his number, 903, was built in 1910 and was originally built for narrow gauge tracks and was used by the Veracruz Terminal Company and the Teziutlan Copper Company before being bought by NdeM in 1945. Re-gauged to standard gauge in 1950 and taken out of service in 1963, the engine is currently on display outside the José Cardoso Tellez Railway Museum in Acámbaro in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. One of the mean engine's shares the same basis, but is slightly modified.

Livery

Carlos is painted black with a silver smokebox, cowcatcher and bell. His cab doors, windows, handrails and other details are painted red, while his sandboxes and dome are painted with green lining around them. His number 903 is painted on both his headlamp and cab and his company's initials, "N. DE M." are painted on the sides of his tender.

Appearances

Official Description

Audio Files

Whistles

Only used	Sound Effect
The Great Race
Big World! Big Adventures!

Trivia

• Carlos has been partially modified to work on British railways; he has added buffers and his lamp has also been moved to accommodate his face. As such, his bell has been moved to accommodate his lamp.
• Carlos has been significantly scaled down from his basis, as he is roughly as tall as the lowest part of Yong Bao's tender. This would make his buffers lower than those on conventional British rolling stock. However, as he only took part in the Best Decorated Engine competition, his buffers would not be necessary.
• When Carlos backs away from the coal hopper, he says the phrase "Fizzling fuegos!", where in Spanish, "fuegos" means fires.
• Like Hiro and Yong Bao, Carlos has a buckeye coupler on his front and a chain and hook coupler on the back of his tender.
• Despite Carlos using coal, his basis is an oil burner.
• In a deleted scene from Big World! Big Adventures!, Carlos is briefly depicted with the Aztec Calendar around his face.
• Carlos is the second engine who speaks Spanish, with the first being Victor.
• In Big World! Big Adventures!, Carlos' whistle is Luke's and Axel's whistle at one lower-pitched. His first whistle, which was only heard in The Great Race, is the same sound as the Rainbow Sun's, which came from CN 3254's whistle from the 1980s. This whistle would later be used for Lexi.
• Carlos' livery contains all three colours of the Mexican flag.
• Carlos is the only character introduced in The Great Race that does not have any merchandise based on him, and he is also the first locomotive in the TV series to not have any merchandise based on him as of 2026.
• Carlos' eccentric rods are not animated properly as they do not complete a full rotation around his larger connecting rods.

Quotes

Videos