This article is about the characters. You may be looking for the episode or the Story Library book.

Mighty and Mac, collectively known as Mighty Mac, are an indigo blue narrow gauge double-ended engine and conjoined twins who work on the Skarloey Railway.

Biography

Prior to their adoption into the Skarloey Railway family, Mighty Mac had only worked in the shunting yards. Their lack of knowledge beyond their boundaries created much conflict between the two halves (for example, which end is in charge of doing what) when they pulled their first train, which placed themselves and their passengers in great danger whilst running an important errand. But, with advice from Thomas in mind, they were able to complete their task and realise the value of working as one.^[4]

Personalities

Mighty Mac are two beings in one engine. He is Mighty on one end and Mac on the other - making them one of the most unusual engines working on the Skarloey Railway. When they work together, Mighty Mac is the strongest engine on the Railway. But when they do not, Mighty and Mac pull each other backwards and forwards, only to end up right where they began. Mighty is usually more talkative of the two, while Mac is usually not talking unless spoken to, and cheerfully peeping in. Mighty has a deeper voice and is more humble, but he also bares a more gentle giant side, and Mac has a higher voice and is more straightforward with what he is saying. Mighty also can be more informative and helpful as he helped Freddie with Mr. Percival's bike. The twins are still kind unless they feel threatened, and will not be afraid to speak up for themselves.

Technical Details

Basis

Mighty Mac is based on a Ffestiniog Railway Double Fairlie engine. It is currently unknown which Double Fairlie they are based on, but they gain a strong resemblance to David Lloyd George (which was built in 1992). Little Giant shares the same class.

Mighty Mac has been modified in order to work on the Skarloey Railway. Whereas their original basis was built to 1 ft 11 1⁄2 gauge, Mighty Mac was built to 2ft 3in gauge and they have been given bufferbeams, buffers and screw-link couplings in order to work with the other engines and rolling stock.

Livery

Mighty and Mac are painted indigo blue with yellow and red lining. On Mighty's side, his cab windows and tank caps are lined with yellow, while on Mac's side, they are lined with red.

Appearances

Official Description

Audio Files

Theme

Only used	Composer	Theme
Series 9	Robert Hartshorne

Whistles

Mighty

First used	Last used	Sound Effect
Series 9
Series 10	Mountain Marvel
Series 11	Read and Play!

In the mobile app Read and Play!, Mighty has two alternate versions of his regular whistle sound: one at one step lower in pitch, and another at three steps lower in pitch.

Only used	Sound Effect
Read and Play!

Mac

First used	Last used	Sound Effect
Series 9
Series 10	Mountain Marvel
Series 11	Thomas' Favourite Friends: The Narrow Gauge Engines

In the mobile app Read and Play!, Mac has his regular whistle sound at a step lower in pitch.

Only used	Sound Effect
Read and Play!

Trivia

• Mighty Mac are often referred to as one character being addressed as "he", despite the fact that their two halves are actually two separate characters. A notable exception to this is their titular debut episode where they are often referred as "they" throughout the episode.
• Mighty Mac's creation may have been influenced by Little Giant, a dropped character from the sixth series who shared the same basis and a similar traits.
• According to Paul Larson in the 80th Anniversary Podcast, Mighty Mac's original name was Ron Ron as a reference to The Two Ronnies. Dialogue in their debut episode was written around the joke of each end calling the other Ron repeatedly. Their name was changed after the script was submitted.
• Mighty Mac was head sculptor Sean Hedges-Quinn's favourite character to make the faces for.
• Mighty Mac was the first narrow gauge engine introduced to the television series to have neither a 0-4-0 or 0-4-2 wheel arrangement. They are also the first narrow gauge engine introduced to the TV series to be a side-tank.
• Mighty is the only engine to have hair on top of his face.
• Mighty Mac has never been seen with a crew.
• Mighty Mac has a whistle at both ends of their model, unlike most real Double Fairlies.
• Mighty Mac's whistle sounds have also been used elsewhere in the series:
  • Mighty's original whistle sound from the ninth series was later reused for Bert and Rebecca, albeit at a step higher in pitch.
  • Mac's original whistle sound from the ninth series was later reused for Rex.
  • Mighty Mac's original whistle sounds would later be reused for Sir Handel's current whistle sound, but five steps lower pitched (Mighty) and seven steps lower pitched (Mac) respectively.
    • Mighty Mac would later share and reuse Sir Handel's current whistle sound in the tenth series and some scenes in the twelfth series episode Mountain Marvel.
  • Mighty Mac's eleventh series whistle sounds is Harvey's current whistle sound from the twelfth series onwards, but at ten steps higher pitched (Mighty) and twelve steps higher pitched (Mac) respectively.
• Mighty Mac is the only new vehicle character introduced between the ninth and tenth series not to be mentioned in the song There's Always Something New.
• In the German dub since the tenth series, Mighty Mac has been called Big Mac, which is also the same name of a character from TUGS and a burger from McDonald's.
  • In the ninth series, they were called Mac Nic.
• In the French dub, Mighty Mac was known as Super Mac.
• Mighty Mac is the first narrow gauge character not to have a small-scale O gauge model.
• Mighty Mac's television series model used to be on display at Drayton Manor Theme Park.
• Mark Moraghan gave Mighty Mac Cockney accents in the mobile app Read and Play!
• Mighty Mac is the first character to appear in the HiT Entertainment model era that is a part of the Skarloey Railway.
• Although this is likely a coincidence, "Mighty Mac" is also the nickname of the Mackinac Bridge in the state of Michigan in the United States.
• Mighty Mac's model is now owned by Medical Art, Inc. (メディカル・アート), a Japanese Model Shop, selling for £22,680 as part of the Thomas & Friends Online Charity Auction.

Merchandise

• Wooden Railway (normal and cancelled Talking Railway Series version; discontinued)
• Take Along (discontinued)
• Take-n-Play (discontinued)
• Motor Road and Rail (discontinued)
• Plarail
• TrackMaster (discontinued)
• My Thomas Story Library (discontinued)
• Capsule Plarail (normal and metallic)

References