Billy Shoepack

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"Dynamite's exciting stuff - makes lovely big bangs! Fairly harmless if you know how to handle it, like I do."

— Billy Shoepack ("Trapped")

Billy Shoepack
Background Information
First appearance	Trapped (TUGS)
Last appearance	Up River (TUGS)
Voice Actors
Voice actors	Lee Cornes (UK) Mitsuaki Madono ((Japan) Trapped only) Rokurō Naya ((Japan) Up River only) Pauli Virta (Finland) Paul Dobson (Salty's Lighthouse) Mieczysław Morański (Poland; Salty's Lighthouse)
Overview
Name	Billy Shoepack
Gender	Male
Nationality	British (Voice) /Canadian-American (Design)
Technical Details
Vessel	Tugboat
Type	Alligator Tug
Power type	Steam
Fuel type	Wood

Billy Shoepack is an alligator tug who resides up river.

He speaks with a strong West Country accent.

Biography

TUGS

When Zug and most of the Star Tugs were trapped up river by a tramper blocking the river, Sunshine was sent upriver to get help. Instead, he found Billy. Billy offered to blow up the tramper with his dynamite and despite Big Mac and Top Hat's reservations, blew it in half setting the tugs free to return to Bigg City.

During winter, he helped Sunshine out of a burning log jam by blowing up the logs in the way to make a path. Unfortunately, the blast caused the logs to be washed downstream, out of control, towards Uptown. Once he realized this, he promptly said "Well I think I'll be going then" and was never seen again.

Personality

Billy Shoepack is described to be just as dangerous as a real alligator due to his bizarre personality and common occupation of transporting dynamite. Despite this, Billy is shown to be surprisingly competent and sensible when it comes to actually handling explosives.

Technical Details

Basis

Billy Shoepack is based on the alligator boats that worked in Ontario, the Maritime provinces of Canada and the northern Untied States from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. They were used for the forestry industry and were a pioneer in the mechanization of the industry. These tugboats are named “alligators” due to their ability to travel on land to different lakes by pulling themselves with a winch.

Livery

Billy Shoepack is painted white with a black stack and a dark green cap.

Appearances

Episodes

• Trapped
• Up River

Salty's Lighthouse

• Mixed Signals
• The Last of the Red Hot C-Gulls
• Sofie Come Home
• Guilty Gull

Audio Files

His whistle has two middle-to-low pitches with a distinct whooping noise. It is modified from Hercules' whistle.

Trivia

• In 2012, Billy Shoepack's model was purchased by The Star Tugs Company and is currently on display at the Tugs Exhibition.
  • At first, he was bought without a face, but he was then reunited with his set of faces (minus his happy one) in 2014, when the owner came to one of the events. This was also the case with Big Mac and the Fire Tug. Replicas of the missing face have been made using the original moulds.
• A small pile of wood can be seen on his deck, hinting that he is fueled by wood instead of coal.

Up River

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* Television Series only | ** Annuals only