Carrie the Luggage Van stands by friends Belle the Bar Car, Dinah, and Pearl. A coach who lifts the mood, she won't allow any engine to think that without mutual respect they can just carry her across the finish line.
Personality[]
Carrie is quick to back up her friends and stand her ground, along with Belle.
The updated Bochum production reduced character development for the supporting coaches in favour of expanding on main characters, Dinah and Pearl. This is most obvious by the cutting of Girl's Rolling Stock in the 30th anniversary production. They both still are shown to support Dinah during U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D, but in a way that encourages Dinah to get over Greaseball rather than winning him back.
Tickovers: Carrie the Luggage Van tends to mime carrying and moving suitcases, as is typical for her role as a luggage van. Sometimes she can be seen inspecting the tags on each suitcase.
Story[]
Carrie the Luggage Van or - der Gepäckwagen, in German - is one of the established coaches in the train set, friends with Dinah and Belle the Bar Car. She introduces herself just before I Got Me - 'Ich Bin Ich' in German - along with Belle, pointedly telling Pearl not to standout or she won't fit in with the rest of the coaches. Her and Belle are eager to join Dinah in welcoming Pearl through their girl-power anthem introduction - I Got Me, a rebuttal to Greaseball and the rest of the Nationals claiming that coaches should just be quiet and hitch onto the engines in charge.
She races with Ruhrgold, and makes it to the Uphill Final, a role previously held by Joule. She is shown to support him in the race, as he shows her mutual respect rather than treat her as inferior.History[]
Carrie the Luggage Van is a new character, added to the show for the Bochum 2018 rewrites.
Her initial counterpart in the 2017 Workshop was named Tassita the Quiet Car who replaced the position of Buffy the Buffet Car in the coaches lineup. Tassita raced with Espresso in Heat 2 passionately crying out, "Pianissimo! Clear my track", meaning "Very quietly! Clear my track". Whether they struggled expanding the Quiet Car concept, and where the Luggage Van idea came from is unknown.
Appearance[]
Carrie's costume consists of a grey dress with bright yellow, tan, and cinnamon accents, studded in vertical stripes. She has recurring "JN" lettering patterned across her belt, shoulder-boxes, and the luggage on her head. It is a fun mockup of the "LV" initials and stylings used by designer brand Louis Vuitton, with "JN" referencing John Napier the resident costume designer at Starlight Express. Her skirt is broken up into flaps, the sides featuring a yellow stripe with suitcase iconography in darker brown. Her chest piece features the lettering "FRAGILE," a lower panel includes more suitcase iconography, and colourful destination stamps overlayed faintly with the phrase "HANDLE WITH CARE". Her shoulders include luggage handles and her belt is equipped with an old fashioned suitcase lock.
Her headpiece is made up of numerous luggage fixed to a headband. Early press photos were taken with her wearing only two suitcases on her head; this was increased to four by opening night. Her braided strawberry blonde hair is styled into a bun, wrapped up with parcel string, and decorated with beads.
Gallery[]
Veronika Hammer, 2018 - 2019[]
Emilie du Leslay, 2019 - 2020[]
Sadie Levett, 2020 - 2022[]
Sydnie Christmas, 2022 - 2023[]
Lotus Lowry, 2023 - 2024[]
Backstage[]
Role[]
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| Audition Notices |
Cast[]
| 2018 - 2019 | Veronika Hammer |
| 2019 - 2020 | Emilie du Leslay |
| 2020 - 2021 | Sadie Levett (Cancelled due to Covid) |
| 2021 - 2022 | Sadie Levett |
| 2022 - 2023 | Sydnie Christmas |
| 2023 - 2025 | Lotus Lowry / Ida Swann |
Fan Theories[]
See Here for Fan theories about Carrie.