May 23, 2022
Observation: Skimbleshanks, in the 1998 film, has an English accent throughout the musical except during his own song, when he suddenly becomes Scottish.
Doylist explanation: ALW wanted Skimbleshanks to have a Scottish accent for the film, so he got David Arniel to dub Geoffrey Garratt for Skimbleshanks' number, but left Geoffrey's voice for the rest of the musical.
Watsonian explanation: Skimbleshanks code-shifts! When he's at the Junkyard he usually uses his English accent, but he uses his Scottish accent when on the train, since it's the northern express and runs to and from Scotland—or when telling fun stories about train life to cheer up kittens. It's his Fun Train Dad voice!