Rusty, our little Steam Engine protagonist, is deliberately un-prepossessing in appearance. As his name suggests, he is rusting and poorly maintained. He wears dungarees as you'd expect to see on a junior member of the Steam Engine crew, a hat or sweatband to keep his hair out of his face. Elements of the steam engine are incorporated in his costume - he carries his coal tender as a backpack, the firebox doors on his torso.