Top Hat (TUGS)

Top Hat is a fictional character who appeared in the 1988 television series TUGS, created by the producers of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.

Description

Top Hat is Captain Star's fourth tug, a 'railway tug', an uppity and snobbish character with a monocle and an Upper Class (Posh English) accent who looks down on everyone, both his friends and his foes, believing that he is the best tug in the Star Fleet!

Although he tries to avoid any job that will make his paint dirty, he is used for a wide variety of tasks around Bigg City Port, mainly distributing railway rolling stock with his barges Frank and Eddie. Like the rest of the Star Fleet, Top Hat is based on the tugs of San Francisco waters from the 1920's, although he also resembles John-A.-Dialogue-&-Sons-built New York Central No. 13, which is also a railway tug. His name derives from his trademark hat. Despite his problem with dirty jobs he is often used to tow Lord Stinker the garbage barge in episodes such as High Tide or Warrior. In High Tide he gained a great respect for the barge. Yet in other episodes he complains about the garbage itself, and often teases Warrior for his garbage smell.

Like OJ, Top Hat's whistle is very deeply pitched, but softened somewhat in comparison with OJ's - he is also fitted with a fog-horn as shown in the episode 'Ghosts'.

Aside from his snobbish personality, Top Hat's most distinguishing feature is his elevated wheelhouse - it's this feature that distinguishes him as a railway-tug, as real tugs built to haul railroad rolling stock on barges had equally high wheelhouses to allow their pilots and crews to see over the top of their high loads. Unlike his real-world counterparts however, Top Hat can bob his wheelhouse up and down, giving his model an extra element of movement which was often used for dramatic or comedic purposes.

Top Hat cares mainly about himself and saving his own neck. He is often ridiculed by his companions, particularly Ten Cents and the villainous Z stacks.

According to educated guesswork, Top Hat is voiced by British actor John Baddely. In Salty's Lighthouse, He and Hercules are Voiced by Long John Baldry.

Also in the Japanese version he was played by Masashi Ebara.