What is Nia's backstory in your headcanon? Has she had some interesting incidents like for example, crashing into the stationmaster's house or accidentally leaving the guard behind?
Hi! Well for starters, Nia is actually narrow gauge in my au (a NGR Class N 4-6-2T 1906/South African NG 4-6-2T 1906)
Nia was built by and for the Natal Government Railways in 1906, she worked around the KwaZulu-Natal province mainly the Weenen-Estcourt line where she worked for mixed traffic either delivering produce (after all the line was known as the Cabbage Express) then after being sold off to the Moçâmedes Railway in 1915 she ends up globetrotting about in South Africa and neighboring regions like the Cairo to Cape Town line (she was also a participate in ww1 delivering supplies to the locals she had entirely mixed emotions which is why she secretly leaves but ends up in Western Front where she meet Freddie and Stanley)
The trio ended up bouncing around together thanks to Stanley's "jinx" though both familial figures never held any grudge against him and defended him especially during their old railway (not the msr) where they were all mistreated badly, especially Stanley thanks to his "bad luck" the manager who also hailed from South Africa (the Western and Eastern Cape) often used Stanley being mistreated by the other engines as leverage where she and very fierce arguments with until he got rid of her (his uppercommence doesn't come until years later
She came to the Mid-Sodor in the late 1920s where she worked in the mines with Millie, Luke, Bertram and Atlas so when Stanley finally was reunited with her and Freddie in 1938, they're quickly took him under their nonexistent buffers to show them the ropes, when the railway started in decline after ww2, Nia was along soem of the engines who willingly themselves herself to be sold off to keep the railway afloat, wanting Stanley to having a regular working service.
She, Luke, Mighty Mac and Freddie were actually brought together to work at the aluminum works and electric power station companies. Now she tends to work on the either the skarloey's northern end of the line doing shunting at the quarries, being part of the Gleigh Fell Quarry Company, she now works with Luke Freddie and mighty Mac the most occasionally she takes up maintenance alongside atlas rusty and Fred even the weed killer train which she doesn’t mind often taking advantage of being alone with her thoughts and observing her new surroundings
Like She sometimes also helps taking passengers on the narrow gauge express that runs alongside with duke from ulfstead to crovans gate, even to the estate railway and even revisiting the cronk and harwick scenic heritage railway where’s shes reunited with kwaku after discovering he wasn’t scrapped and helps with her recovery of survivors guilt
Fun fact she was the maintenance engine for the skarloey railway until atlas comes in who in turn he and Nia take rusty under their nonexistent buffers, she’s tends to sees all of them (Falcon they bond over their fear of heights, Stuart cause he's cheeky she keeps Andreas on his wheels when he gets too big-headed), as brothers/siblings/familial, Luke and Stanley are her kids. She's a polygot and is one of the engines who helped Ivo Hugh learn to "speak" with whistles/morse code though she does have to tendency to put her work first before her own needs and health like if she's working with someone who's is giving her a difficult time or a mechanical issue she tries to complete the job first (having participated in a war totally doesn't help at all)
Nia often sings when she works to help her concentrate. She’s pretty popular with the coaches and passengers because of it. Unlike Duke's relationships, she and Stanley tease each other and push each others buttons, but it’s all in good fun. And when push comes to shove, they’ll always have each other’s backs. The other engines assume that Stanley or Freddie is Nia’s best friend, and while she does think he’s a good friend, he’s not her best friend. That honor goes to Millie, having also been part of a war but they got along swell the moment they met at the mines on the MSR, Nia offers to take passengers or anything to visit Millie at the Ulfstead Castle and keeps her updated on everything, from gossiping to a quick chat.
When they first met Duncan and Nia 100% teach each other swears. Why, imagine the thin controller’s (sir Handel Hans brown) surprise when he overheard Nia calling a particularly rude passenger a… well I don't think it’s best to know. And to be fair it was well deserved after the passenger called Luke and Stanley names and drove Luke to tears (bonus: Stanley joins in) She also expressed disappointment and tried to help both sides with strict tough yet understanding love over the remaining MSR engines treatment of Duncan when Andreas scarified himself and ended up in a coma
Some interesting incidents included her nearly falling off the tracks which was off the cliff during her wartime years, hence her fear of heights (she and Falcon bond over that), searching in the crystal caverns alongside some of the narrow and standard gauge engines Nia also has a flower garden and greenhouse I’m still figuring out where I’m thinking at Cros-by-curin by or inside the apple orchard but somewhere alongside the skarloey railway and she loves completing puzzles during game nights (she's up to a 1000 pieces right now) her and Stanley info dumping about creepy animals (she wants to see Duke squirm as she’ll clap back without hesitation for her loved ones or she and Stuart quiz each other with numbers equations or stargazing with kwaku and her friends
