Before I bust out my trusty Microsoft Pen, let’s look at some code so you can mentally map it to the pictures (and vice-versa). But perhaps the worst thing the snowflake generation has done is the overall parent child relationship. He is in his mid 60s (as evident in a newspaper article in the Great Discovery), although his voice in the UK versions sometimes hints at old age. A model isn't a way of accessing the database (that's a data access layer), it's a collection of properties and methods that encapsulate some identifiable entity in your application: a person, a reservation, a product, etc.

Somewhere along the road after the shift to fat models we started building service objects, PORO classes and modules to run abstracted logic. When one of them goes missing, he is staunchly determined to find them - even if it means travelling entire countries to do so! Kerry Shale initially voiced him in the US prior to 2015, and gave the character a clear American accent and a deep, booming voice. See Duck Takes Charge, where at first he scolds Duck and Percy for causing a disturbance and just when the big egos think they’ve gotten away with it, he swings round and berates them for their treatment of the tank engines.I think this is best explained in the book “Enterprising Engines” because in this book, the Fat Controller truly shows what a great man he is. While Sir Topham started the NWR, Sir Charles was key in preserving the NWR, not only dealing with steam v diesel conflicts but having to prevent his railway from falling victim to the Beeching Axe (potential for a future fan story). Featuring classic choonage from the golden Old Skool era of 88-95, with plenty of banter along the way.

In the American version, he has always been referred to by his actual name, Sir Topham Hatt, possibly because "fat" is a much more pejorative term in the US than in the UK. He is quite a strong character and will remind the engines that he is in charge if they start to rebel against his authority. This one processes requests for loans by calculating loan terms based on a the requested dollar amount and a person’s credit score.

By the end of this book though, Awdry had a bit of a revelation, he realised portraying a comedic character would eventually become boring and lack story potential.