#stmy

Janet, my latest OC for Sodor the Modern Years, is complete. I recorded how I made her in Blender, and will be doing a series of videos showing how I made her after Season 3 of Sodor the Modern Years.

Basically, her backstory is that in 1959, when her sisters were being withdrawn, her crew hid her in a barn. In 1997, when British Rail was privatised, they approached the North-West Railway about restoring her. She was put into service on the mainline, and is based at Barrow with the rest of the Barrow Bunch.

(Before anyone asks, Oliver runs under his GWR number, so the no. 11 spot was free.)

A 'turn' is a short train that leaves a yard, delivers trucks, picks up others and returns to the yard it departed from.

After doing some 'hypothetical' liveries for Rosie, I was struck by inspiration. So here's her full backstory for STMY.

She was originally built as the prototype of the USATC S100 class, and was test-run in Bigg City port between 1941-1943. After her test runs, her sisters were built. She was shipped off to Europe with them to help with WW2.

After the war, Rosie was bought by the Southern Railway in England and rebuilt with an extended bunker. In 1948, she was absorbed into British Rail. In 1956 she was repainted with the BR ‘ferret and dartboard’ logo. In 1960, she was repainted green with the same logo.

In 1967, Rosie was withdrawn from BR service. She was bought by a small harbour in Southern England and acted as the pilot there until 1972. That year, the harbour bought a withdrawn BR Class 08 diesel to replace her. So she was sent to a scrapyard.

After spending one year in the scrapyard, Rosie was purchased by the Sodor China Clay Co. and repaired. She mostly shunted Brendam Harbour, and took supplies to the quarry. She got on well with the engines, including James, who came down the branchline a couple of times.

In 1979, the existing seams of kaolin in the china clay quarry ran out. As such, the quarry briefly shut down while new seams were found. Rosie was no longer needed, and was sold to a heritage railway. Funds from this sale kept the quarry going and new seams were found in 1980.

Rosie enjoyed working on the heritage railway, but missed doing real work in industry or on a branch line. They looked after her well. In 1993, she was given a new livery, based off the green she’d previously worn under British Rail.

In 2012, it became clear an engine was needed to shunt the yard and harbour at Arlesburgh. Edward got wind of this and suggested Rosie. For the first time in her life, she was given a choice of livery. She chose NWR red, which she’d seen on James and liked.

After a few teething troubles, Rosie settled into her new role. She quickly got the hang of working the yard & harbour, and still works there to this day.