Claudia the Commuter Train

Claudia the Commuter Train
Genre	Children's television series
Developed by	Mattia Conte
Theme music composer	Fabian Skala
Opening theme	Anthem of Puffin Island
Country of origin	Malgrave
Original language(s)	Mystrian Common, Malgravean Ancient, Dornalian Common (Various)
No. of series	39 (1984-)
No. of episodes	14,196
Production
Executive producer(s)	Sandra Filipek
Production location(s)	Aurora
Cinematography	Luna Albani
Running time	10 minutes
Production company(s)	Ministry of Transport
Distributor	Ministry of Transport
Release
Original network	MBC Kids
Picture format	1080i (16:9 [HDTV)
Original release	1 January 1984 (1984-01-01) – present
External links
Website

Claudia the Commuter Train is an animated Malgravean children's television series that takes place on a fictional railway known simply as Puffin Island Regional Railway. It originally focused on the exploits of the titular character, however, over the decades more episodes have been dedicated to side characters.

With over 10,000 episodes available on MBC Play it is one of the most popular children's tv shows in the country.

History

In 1951 a short series of children's books called Railway Adventures were published, with the series following Claudia the Commuter Train as she serviced small communities located on Puffin Island and encountered difficulties that sought to teach the reader or spar wide discussion and curiosity.

It quickly caught popular attention and in 1957 MBC purchased the rights to create a children's series on the book series, however, despite early promise the series never materialised and no clips have been released. It is rumoured that the inaccuracy in the show caused Mattia Conte to scrap his deal with MBC and focus on writing books.

In 1980 work to create a children's show restarted, with the Ministry of Transport proposing a series in an attempt to promote a career in the railways. Work on this series proceeded to last for two years, with a mixture of accuracy and comedy being settled upon.

Claudia the Commuter Train aired in 1984 and has continually since that date, with over 10,000 episodes broadcast.

Characters

Character	Description
Claudia	Claudia orginally worked as a commuter train in Aurora, however, following rail improvements on Puffin Island is dispatched to serve the small townships that make up the island. Claudia is intent on becoming the best train on the island, but her enthusiasm can get her into trouble.
Renato	Renato is a mixed-use train that is used to carry freight and passenger trains around Puffin Island. Renato thinks that he is the best train on Puffin Island and always complains whenever he has to pull freight carriages.
Yu-Mi	Yu-Mi is a shunter and pilot train that has worked on Puffin Island for nearly a decade before the start of the series. Yu-Mi is looked down on by trains like Renato, however, her hard work around the station and the occasional additional work she does carrying freight and passenger rail makes her popular with the carriages who occasionally pull pranks on Renato as a form if justice.
Jadzia	Jadzia is a former mining train from Pakosc that was saved from retirement to pull freight containers on Puffin Island. Jadzia acts as a mentor to Claudia and dispenses her words of wisdom to all that are willing to listen.
Oskar	Oskar is an old express train from the Socialist Republic. Following the collapse of the SRM Oskar was nearly scrapped but he was rescued from the scrapyard and now serves as a priority express train for tourists on Puffin Island. Oskar can occasionally be quite boastful due to his position and proud history, however, is also is also friendly to all the trains and carriages and often helps out despite his displeasure around carrying freight.