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- “You weren't concentrating, Thomas. Lucky for you that the buffers were there."
"That's what buffers are for; to stop engines from crashing.” - ― James and Thomas, Thomas and the Magic Railroad
Buffers are devices to prevent engines from going past the end of a physical section of track. The buffers themselves are made of rubber, plastic, or metal and the buffer beam and stand are generally made of wood.
Although buffers are made to stop engines from derailments, they can occasionally break if an engine goes too fast and crashes into them. Thomas once damaged his front by charging towards the buffers while showing off his race with Bertie to Jinty (Oliver in the TV series) and Percy broke two different sets of buffers, one of which led him into a pile of coal. Donald and Douglas also had their own mishaps with a set of buffers.
Sometimes, if a siding has no buffers for the line to end on, serious accidents will occur, such as when Thomas crashed into a stationmasters house when the siding he was on had no buffers to stop him. Duck also had a mishap when he crashed into a barber shop when there were no buffers at the end.
Trivia
- Percy once collected a new set of buffers as the "something new" of the good luck package for Mrs. Kyndley's daughter.
- Since Thomas and the Magic Railroad (the sixth season for the Skarloey Railway), all the heights of the buffers were lowered.
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