List of people and animals from Thomas & Friends

The series features many fictional people and animals, including train drivers, footplate crews, workers and signalmen, who interact with the railway engine and vehicle characters and form the basis for many of the varying storylines.

Mr. Arkwright (played by Robert Slade) is one of the drivers on Sodor who assists Sir Topham Hatt.

Arkwright presents live-action segments between the stories in which he instructs viewers to help him in a project, such as creating an engine out of cardboard boxes for Sir Topham Hatt's grandchildren.

[35] Mr. Gilbert Perkins (played by Ben Foster) is a driver who works on Sodor and is a good friend of Sir Topham Hatt.

In further appearances, he was shown reading The Railway Series stories to the viewers and writing postcards in Mr. Edwards' signal box.