Casey Junior

Casey Junior is a fictional anthropomorphic steam locomotive and among the more memorable characters of the 1941 Disney film, Dumbo, but has also appeared in other Walt Disney productions. His name is a reference to Casey Jones, the famed railroad engineer who died in a train collision in 1900.

Dumbo
In the film Dumbo, Casey Junior is the tender engine hauling the circus train, and even has his own song. Casey appears frequently throughout the film, and is shown to be somewhat sapient. For example, when the Ringmaster calls for all aboard, Casey's whistle can be heard tooting:

"All aboard! Let's go!"

As is the case with most Disney vehicles, Casey Junior has the ability to move in a more fluid and cartoonish way than actual locomotives, and his boiler is often seen bending and twisting like rubber when in motion.

In addition, he can twist and flex his metal body to express motion. He uses his steam cylinders like limbs, giving him the ability to shrug, point and make other gestures.

Although a male (according to Casey's song, being referenced as he or him), Casey was originally voiced by Margaret Wright, and he is currently voiced by Cathy Cavadini. While the sound of the voice resembles that of a voice processed through a vocoder, it was actually done with a more primitive device, a Sonovox, which uses one or two small loudspeakers in contact with the throat, which allowed Wright to "speak" by modulating an artificially produced sound with her mouth.

Earlier Work
According to a cartoon done before Dumbo, Casey was in fact formerly a passenger train. He unfortunately crashed after an effort to jump the chasm left by a broken bridge in a storm. In this video he was of different wheel arrangement, 2-4-0 with the main rod on the forward driving wheel and a bell on the top of his cab. He also had a bell and wasn't quite as stubby. In his circus work he was a 2-4-0, but his rod arrangement changed to the back wheel, and his bell was removed, and he became more stubby. This leads us to think he was overhauled after the accident and bought by the circus.

Appearance
Casey Junior has a 2-4-0 wheel arrangement, a small four-wheeled tender at the back, a big tall funnel, a little lamp hat, a short stumpy boiler, a short stumpy dome with a whistle on the top and a small cowcatcher at his front.

Disney Meta-reference

 * Casey Junior is the second float in the Main Street Electrical Parade and its versions. Casey, driven by Goofy, pulls a drum with the parade logo and Mickey and Minnie.
 * Casey Junior makes a brief cameo in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
 * In the film Kronk's New Groove, a sequel to The Emperor's New Groove, Kronk has a miniature model train set of Casey Junior in his new home, complete with scaled-down models of the carriages featured in Dumbo.
 * In the film Babes in Toyland (1997 film), the train in the opening sequence, the Toyland Express, looks a lot like Casey Junior.