THOMAS the Tank Engine is getting his first Aussie mate - a green and gold engine named Shane, who could help rescue the last working South Australian steam locomotive on which the character is based.
Fun-loving, carefree Shane, modelled on the 520 class - designed and first built at South Australian Railways' Islington workshops in 1943 - is one of 13 new engines from around the world joining Thomas in his next animated movie, Thomas & Friends: The Great Race.
Only two of the 520s survive, both in South Australia. 
SteamRanger Heritage Railway is raising funds to restore the only operating 520, named the Sir Malcolm Barclay Harvey, at its Mt Barker workshop. A non-functioning engine is on display at the National Railway Museum in Port Adelaide.
In the musical film, out internationally from next month and in Australia from   July--  August, Thomas wants to represent his island of Sodor at the Great Railway Show, racing against the world's biggest, strongest and fastest engines.
The film's UK producer, Ian McCue, said the Shane character takes part in a strength competition and the makers wanted an engine that was "big and strong and could pull heavy loads".
"We therefore spent time researching Australian engines and chose the SteamRanger 520 ... as we felt this worked well for the character, including its yellow and green colours, which made it stand out immediately to us - especially as they are the colours known around the world as worn by the Australian rugby team," he said.
"It's an awesome looking engine." SteamRanger marketing manager Peter Michalak said the 520 fitted the bill for size, strength and speed.
"They were designed for passenger traffic but they were able to work anything and everything, pretty much anywhere, because they had a really good axle load," he said.
"Their streamlining made them really unique â€¦ they were very stylish for the era. They are something that is quintessentially South Australian - there's nothing else in the country like it." SteamRanger founder Dean Harvey said that in a Thomas & Friends-style race, the 520's advantages would be speed and endurance. "It was able to run non-stop all the way, whereas smaller locomotives had to stop at least once for water," he said.
SteamRanger's 520 has not operated since 2000 due to corrosion, but a private benefactor has put up about a third of the $300,000 needed to restore it.
In the movie, Shane is nicknamed the "Whispering Giant", a moniker that Mr Harvey confirmed the 520 had from the start.
"When it was running at high speed, you could hear the steam fizzing out of it but it was a whisper," he said.
VIDEO: GO BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE MOVIE ADVERTISER.COM.AU
THE STEAMY LIFE OF THE 520 LOCO â-  Only 12 South Australian Railways 520 class steam locomotives were built at the Islington workshops from 1943-47.
â-  Frank Hugh Harrison's -design featured extravagant streamlining, in the style of the T1 engine in the US.
â-  The 520 was designed to provide extra power to cope with the growing size and length of wartime troop and supply trains.
â-  It combined quick acceleration and high-speed running with power "under the belt" forthe long graded journey up theAdelaide Hills to Melbourne.â-  520s were phased out in the 1960s as the steam era ended.