Belle's Domain

Greaseball the Diesel
Greaseball's the Reigning Champion, the king of the toy set, Control's favourite engine. He's big, fast, good looking, ruthless. He's also a bully, abusive to Dinah, unfaithful, a cheat and a coward, but he's the leader of his own gang!
He opens the show with "Rolling Stock", boasting of how he's unbeatable, he's the best. While he has no fear of Rusty beating him in the races, he won't take the disrespect from the little Steamer, and sets his gang on him to... explain matters. When he sees Electra getting the attention he rightfully deserves as the champion, he pulls out all the stops to impress in "Pumping Iron", even snatching Electra's girls, to his disgust! In the original production, Greaseball and Dinah won heat 1, with no complications. In Bochum, Greaseball and Electra tie in a dead heat, fuelling the tension for the Final. However in the later london production, Greaseball won the heat, with Electra in 2nd place. Somehow, with all the rivalry between them, Electra's ego was never dented by the fact Greaseball had already beaten him... After the first heat, Dinah starts complaining about Greaseball's cheating, so he unceremoniously dumps her. He can have any coach he wants, so he doesn't need to put up with her whinging, even when she begs him to take her back. After the last heat, Greaseball comes across Poppa trying to persuade Rusty to race, He's amused by the audacity of the steamers to even attempt to race against him!

For the final, Greaseball takes Pearl, breaking Dinah's heart, but he doesn't stop and notice. In the uphill final he and Caboose wreck Rusty's chances, causing the race to be postponed. Pearl doesn't like the way Greaseball plays, but he gives her no option about following him. In the downhill Final, Greaseball and Electra are fighting it out while racing, and Electra misses GB and hits Pearl instead. As she is limping, injured, Greaseball uncouples her at full speed to continue the race, leaving her careering to the edge... But he is so involved in fighting Electra he can't avoid a horrible crash, and Rusty takes his title as champion. In "One Rock'n'Roll Too Many" Greaseball, wrecked, realises he's not invincible, and he's screwed up pretty bad. When sweet and ever-forgiving Dinah approaches him, he apologises and she believes he's a changed Engine.
Greaseball is the classic abusive partner, in the original production the sleepers try to dissuade Dinah from staying with him - "But he beats you all the time, he gives you hell, he two-times you and he likes to kiss and tell" But she is so dependant on him that she always goes back to him. Greaseball is full of machismo, in both positive and negative aspects of the alpha male. He's big, strong, good-looking, confident, attractive. Yet he's also aggressive, careless, abusive, mean, compassionless and violent.
Greaseball's costume is influenced by the Greaser, unsurprisingly, the 50s biker leathers, the Elvis-style quiff. The patterns on his jacket emphasise his muscled frame, some productions even pad his top to increase his bulk. In non-London productions he also wears a race-pack for the races, drastically increasing the bulk of his costume. However this can backfire as the costume becomes so enormous that even the most impressively built actor within gets swamped and appears smaller.
Throughout the different productions of Starlight Express Greaseball remains a most destinctive character, having had minimal design changes across the years. Bochum, 1994