Driver Dan's Story Train
Character Description Voice actors
Driver Dan An anthropormorphic lion that drives the train : has a tool ( multipurpose and somewhat like Doctor Who 's sonic screwdriver ) that lets him repair any malfunctioning vehicles Peter Serafinowicz in the UK and Train frontman Patrick Monahan in the U.S
Twinkle A red flying bird that usually rides on the engine 's funnel , or flies ahead as a spotter . It is usually [ twittering ] , and occasionally is found crowing
Counting Sheep 5 cubical bricks with pictures of sheep on , and on the upper surface a pattern of 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 or 5 dots in order of descending brick size . They can move and jump about , and stack themselves . [ Bleating ]
Hip ( male ) & Hop ( female ) Two rabbits ; Hip is mostly brown with some white and wears a blue backpack , Hop has the same pattern but with the colors exchanged and mirror-imaged and wears a red backpack Alex Kelly and Maria Darling
Milly and Lily Two slender paper cutout birds who are somewhat like flamingos Maria Darling
Loopy A dinosaur who wears glasses and is fond of jumping ; his trampoline has wheels and folds to become his carriage Alex Kelly
Precious A one-humped camel with a decorated harness Maria Darling
Sweetie A giant panda who is fond of nature and is quiet Maria Darling
Tallulah An elephant who is always on a wheeled carriage , which is hitched directly to the Story Train Maria Darling
The Vrooms ( Red Vroom & Green Vroom ) Two egg-shaped vehicles , each with a bumper all round and one big wheel and two small wheels . They each have a detachable helicopter rotor to fly with . One episode ( 33 . Puddle Muddle ) shows each of them with a detachable bulldozer blade . One episode shows one of them with a detachable backhoe to dig a hole for a pond . They have a two-level carriage for themselves and their accessories . At least sometimes , their carriage has a crane to fit and remove their detachable accessories [ Vocal engine noises by David Yapp and Mark Taylor , and motor horn noises ]
Characters
Driver Dan's Story Train is a British children's series created and designed by Rebecca Elgar. It is currently being shown by Sprout, ABC2 and CBeebies. It is produced by Twofour54 and 3Line Media. Driver Dan's Story Train returns to CBeebies for a second series. Its first series was launched on CBeebies on 9 January 2010. The characters are all plush toys, except for Milly and Lilly, who are paper cutouts of flamingo-like birds, The Vrooms, who are two small egg-shaped vehicles, and the Counting Sheep, who are cubical bricks painted to represent sheep. Each character, or pair of characters (except for Driver Dan and Twinkle) has their own train carriage which can be hitched to the Story Train. The audience (sometimes seen as several children, but usually represented by the camera's viewpoint and a child's voice) are sometimes asked for their opinion or choice on matters arising. During the opening titles of each episode, a group of real children sit on a scatter of cushions. This scene disappears as a book opens, showing a pop-up model of a railway train with an engine and two carriages: steam locomotive, stores, a flatbed carrying story books. This is the Story Train. It quickly changes into a solid train, which is driven about, usually passing a character (or a pair or set of characters) without interacting, and later, during the episode, meets and interacts with other characters.