TTTE - Hiro

Hiro is an old steam engine who has been on Sodor for a very long time and was originally known as the "Master of the Railway". He is grand, masterful, mature, wise, very dignified, enormously kind and is able to find good in any engine he meets. He has an appreciation for serenity and order and often thinks fondly of his homeland, far away, where he was once one of the strongest engines. Hiro fell victim to neglect when waiting upon parts to arrive for him from his home country, when he began to break down and became lost. He was eventually rediscovered by Thomas, who, despite some problems in worrying about sharing the discovery of Hiro with the Fat Controller, helped Hiro to be fully restored to his former glory. Hiro continues to be gentle, wise and graceful, as well as a useful engine on the railway and a good friend to the other engines, especially Thomas. He does not appear to hold a grudge; in his first appearance, he helped Spencer after an accident, despite Spencer previously trying to send Hiro to the smelter's yard. Hiro is also very close to his friends on Sodor, knowing that even in a different location they will always be his friends. Despite his good nature, he has been shown to get frustrated on few occasions, such as when the trucks were biffing and bashing him and when he was stuck on the line at Vicarstown.

Hiro once lived on an unnamed railway in Japan. He was the strongest engine on his railway and was famously known as the "Master of the Railway". He was eventually brought to Sodor as the island's main heavy goods engine, where he worked for many years. However, he began to show his age and break down and the workmen did not have the necessary parts to repair him. To avoid being scrapped, he was put on a siding to wait for the parts to come from his homeland. However, the parts never came and Hiro was all but forgotten.

Thomas eventually found him and fearing he would be scrapped if he was not Really Useful, promised to bring him back to his former glory while keeping him a secret from the Fat Controller. Thomas also had the rest of the Steam Team help in the restoration and Hiro quickly gained their friendship. After breaking down again while trying to avoid Spencer, Hiro was hidden away in another siding, where the engines visited him and kept him company.

When the Fat Controller found out about the situation, Hiro was brought to the Sodor Steamworks, where Victor oversaw his restoration. Once Hiro was restored, he helped Spencer after his accident and worked with him and Thomas to finish the Duke and Duchess of Boxford's summer house. Despite everything, Hiro had grown homesick, so the Fat Controller arranged for him to be sent back to his homeland.

Hiro eventually came back to Sodor when the engines needed help with the summer holiday traffic. Upon his arrival, Hiro went to the Steamworks to be examined and then went to Knapford station for his welcome party, which was almost delayed as Thomas was trying to find a welcome present for Hiro instead of telling the other engines about the party. But, Hiro told Thomas that having his friends at the party was the best welcome present. Shortly after his return, Hiro told Thomas to take the load of bees through the woods, which Thomas ignored. However, Thomas took Hiro's advice after taking Hiro's flower truck to get the bees back to their hives. Later on, Hiro saw the Fat Controller and assumed he was too busy to give orders to his engines. So, he tried to help the Fat Controller by giving out the orders - but he only succeeded in becoming "Master of the Muddle". However, he made up for his mistakes by telling the engines to go to Knapford and await orders from the Fat Controller.

When Jobi Wood was being delivered to the Docks for the construction of the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre, Hiro told Thomas about where it came from. He later pushed Henry to the Steamworks to have his side-rods repaired and when he became homesick, Thomas took him to Misty Island, which reminded him of his home.

Ever since the introduction of the Vicarstown Bridge in the television series, Hiro has been shown travelling back and forth between Sodor and the Mainland, often pulling heavy goods trains. However, he still pulled goods trains elsewhere on Sodor, such as the day he was tasked with delivering two goods trains to the docks with Henry. When they learned they had taken on some bad coal, Henry did not want to carry on. Hiro, however, was determined to get the job done and did so, but during his next job of transporting girders with Henry, Hiro broke down and Henry had to come to the rescue.

Once, Diesel tried to teach him how to handle trucks, suggesting that the only way of tackling them was with force. However, Hiro insisted that being gentle was the best policy. However, when Diesel stuck to his own belief, he ended up causing Hiro's milk churns to spill over the Fat Controller — twice! After this, Diesel was found out and Hiro was tasked with teaching Diesel the correct way to treat trucks!

Sometime later, he stopped Caitlin while he was on the Mainland after she accidentally took Annie and Clarabel and brought them back to Thomas on Sodor. Later, he helped clear the tracks so Connor could deliver the last of his passengers on Christmas Eve and nearly mistook Harold for Santa Claus.

After a long while of virtually no accidents at all, Hiro derailed at a bend when he hit some pipes which came loose from Thomas' train. With his left side severely damaged, he was sent to the Steamworks to be repaired again. Thomas - believing that there were no spare parts for him - went to Hiro's old hideout, only to get lost. When Thomas was found, Hiro revealed that the Fat Controller had bought plenty of spare parts for him and that he was already repaired.

At Christmas, he had the job of taking the mail to the Mainland to be delivered to the North Pole. Percy was supposed to bring more mail, but got stuck in a snowdrift and Hiro had to leave without it. Harold managed to catch up to him and give him the rest of the mail.

He later went to the Great Railway Show to compete in the Strongest Engine Race, representing his home country, Japan.

When Henry was taking a goods train to the Mainland, Hiro had to wait at a signal at Vicarstown while pulling a goods train. Because of another faulty signal not being able to warn anyone that he was stuck on the track, Henry ran into the back of Hiro's train and derailed, dangling dangerously over the edge of the viaduct.

When Kenji hid from Thomas (fearing going back to Japan alone), Hiro helped Thomas find him in the Whistling Woods. After hearing of Kenji's fears, Hiro decided to travel back to Japan with him, having missed Japan himself, both leaving Sodor on the Rail Ferry, and telling Thomas to visit should he get the chance. i could imagine him using japanese endearments and having a slightly heavy japanese accent and speaking the language itself <3