Zephie

Zephie is a young scissor-lift chugger like a trolley. She was introduced in Season 1.

Personality
A kind scissor lift trolley, Zephie is good friends with Koko, Wilson and Brewster. Though a very small engine, she is really useful and an important engine for Crotoonia as she is used to check that the tracks are well maintained and safe for the engines use. Being a specially built scissor lift trolley, she can spin around 360 degrees and zoom up and down to manoeuvre her cab, though she is fitted with a bell instead of a horn or whistle. Zephie goes through life with her head held high, figuratively or literally, and although she can be a little excitable, she knows that hard work has its rewards. Zephie often looks up to hard-working Brewster as a role model.

Basis
Zephie is loosely based on an early San Diego cable car, which can not spin around 360 degrees. The spinning function may have come from a Manchester horse drawn tram. It had the ability to turn 180 degrees. The spinning feature may also have been inspired by certain North American track inspection cars ("speeders"), such as certain versions of the Fairmont P-5, which are equipped with a drop down lifting pivot. In such cars a central foot is dropped between the rails from the centre of the car, raising the entire machine (including the wheels) off the rails, and enabling the operator to spin the entire car around by hand.

Trivia

 * In Zephie's Zoomaround, Zephie was fitted with a siren. However, before that episode and since then, she only has her bell.
 * She used to be a trainee with Hodge as stated Outward Bound Olwin. However, some episodes seem to prove that Zephie may not be a trainee yet. As in Brewster's Little Helper for instance, she loads her cargo too roughly and delivers her loads to the wrong places. It may be possible that her size and weight meant that she could only do some of the training. She still does some more training in Brewster to the Rescue.
 * Zephie idolises Brewster.
 * She was not built for heavier loads like the other engines as seen in Brewster's Little Helper.
 * Zephie gets tipped over more than any other engine.
 * She is the only character to have flexibility.
 * Zephie is the only chugger who cannot pull loads.
 * She was the only tram in Chuggington until Decka entered the series but does not run a scheduled passenger service like Decka does.
 * In German, she is called "Sophie". In Polish, she is called "Zosia".
 * Acording to an early storyboard for Zephie's Zoomaround, Zephie was intended to be smaller, more boxy, and have two horns.
 * In Chuggington Interactive Railway, Zephie is not so good at switching tracks.
 * She cannot give the usual danger/assistance needed signal (three honks) as her bell is too small, so she shouts "Chugger down!"