#ttte analysis

"There's no real harm in them… but they're maddening at times." -> "Maddening," he said, "is the word." 

"You know," went on Duck, "I sometimes call them the bees." -> "A good name," chuckled BoCo. "They're terrors when they start buzzing around." 

Gordon thought he was wonderful… "How do you do it?" -> "Ah, well. It's just a knack."

"You're all jealous. Edward's better than any of you." -> "You're right, Duck." 

Pretty sure psychologists and sociolinguists call this "mirroring." I'm not saying he's being insincere — no reason at all to think that in the context of everything we know. But throughout his intro book BoCo seldom ever ventures a remark that is anything but a confirmation or, at the very most, a modulation of what one of the other (steam) engines are saying.

Now, I'm not at all sure Wilbert Awdry meant to convey what this behavior usually conveys when you see people rely on it IRL — that the person in question is anxious or uncomfortable (or, possibly, manipulative). I think in Awdry's mind he's just having BoCo say pleasant, inoffensive things to convey that he's a pleasant, inoffensive bloke, one of "the good diesels." End of.

But, frankly, the very fact that Awdry thinks BoCo needs to be at maximum pleasant inoffensiveness at all times in order to be a "good" diesel demonstrates starkly the social bind that BoCo is in. I don't think BoCo's being excessively anxious — if his goal is to make a good impression on a main line whose previous impressions of diesels have all been awful, then I think he's being a pretty rational, well-calibrated amount of careful.

More importantly, however, I refuse to limit myself to Awdry's intentions here because the implications of why BoCo would be mirroring/echoing everyone else in this book are so much more interesting! It's extra interesting when you map this onto what's going on with BoCo's class IRL at this very moment. Mechanically, they've failed and and failed and failed, having fallen from grace in just about every way that a class of engines can. And BoCo's exceedingly careful behavior is not just about people-pleasing (well, engine-pleasing) — that seems to really be a subset of his larger goal: Doing a Good Job. This is not an unusual goal for an engine, of course, but BoCo is very single-minded about this. The only times he contradicts (or even mildly pushes back) against anyone not-china-clay-related are when it comes to his jobs. Therefore, he does not immediately drop everything to go cover James's express train (despite that the whole of this book series has led us to expect that an engine who gets to cover an express is on! it!! hellyeah!!!) — no, first Duck has to assure him that he'll see to BoCo's trucks  (yes, yes, I pinky-promise, don't worry, now go). And, too, I think BoCo's preoccupation with seeing his job done is what's at the bottom of his first encounter with Bill and Ben.

But the "Diseasel" incident is worth taking some time with. First, of course, because it's the one exception to BoCo's extremely circumspect behavior — when Bill "sidles up alongside" and tells BoCo to give his trucks back, BoCo at once dismisses him, quite brusquely. "These are mine. Go away!"

But his curtness makes my eyebrow climb all the higher because BoCo is actually in the wrong here. I haven't yet seen a fanfic or a discussion that acknowledges this? So I think it's time for us to remember and say with our full chests: BoCo done fucked up that time. He really did go to an unfamiliar harbour, he apparently didn't ask anyone for confirmation or help in locating his train, and sure enough the trucks that he took without the evidently common courtesy of asking the resident engine for permission were. in fact!. THE WRONG ONES.

Probably the main reason we either don't address or don't realize how much BoCo screwed up here is because of Edward's reaction. The gist of his intervention is to go rather hard on Bill and Ben, because to Edward playing a practical joke and calling someone names are way worse offenses than a newcomer making a mistake and also because Edward is already heart-eying BoCo something shameful. Seriously. Lookit this b.s. The referee is biased. 

Sorry. Tangent over. It should be noted, too, that Edward did not see BoCo's reaction when Bill first approached him and claimed that BoCo had his trucks. If we trust the narrative, Bill (though he had mischief in mind, of course) was up to this point pretty polite and, of course, his claim that BoCo had taken his trucks was (I cannot shout this loudly enough) legit! It is, in fact, BoCo who really fires the first shot by essentially telling Bill to fuck off.

Does this torpedo my whole case that BoCo is being so circumspect in this book? Not really. That "not talking to anyone in the harbour before taking what he thought were his trucks" — it was a mistake. But it was a mistake predicated on his single-mindedness to do his job, risk no drama, and cause no problems. He's avoiding any unnecessary interaction whatsoever (he just misjudged the necessity of this one). As for his dismissal of Bill/Ben, to some extent I think there's some good old-fashioned engine classism there — he's looking at some industrial engine that's about yay high (Bill’s ridiculously titchy), and classic engine size-ism comes into play. BoCo has a job to do and he does not have the time to indulge so insignificant an engine. I also think his finely-tuned "social dynamics" sensor is correctly pinging that this engine intends some mischief — he fails to realize that he himself did make a mistake, but of course he is correct in judging that Bill's intentions are no good. So I think his whole attitude here is the same self-defensive, tightly-wound one he carries throughout the book. He just expresses it differently in this case, but I think all his ticky-box crossed-t's and dotted-i's pleasant-inoffensiveness throughout the book has the same root as when he tries to freeze out and leer away whatever trouble or delay Bill has clearly come to throw at him.

One reason I want to emphasize BoCo's screw-ups (two screw-ups, actually) in "Diseasel" is because it corrects the notion that BoCo is either flawless or even especially smart. He's responsible and grounded and street wise rather than clever. The one area in which I think he is fairly sharp is in his constant scanning of the social scene. And even there, I don't think BoCo is incredible at it relative to his mainland peers, I think the Machiavellian nest-of-vipers situation on the mainland in the late '50s/early '60s just trained the entire first-gen B.R. diesels (probably the last B.R. steam engines, too) to all be very sensitive and circumspect about social dynamics. The engines' society was just a mess. Against a background of massive and cruel mismanagement, the new young engines would have learned life is cheap, managers don't have a grip on engine affairs and are easily manipulated, some engines are spying for management in order to secure their position, and scrapping is a common event that can be planned around and exploited for advantage. In such an environment schemes and backstabbings and betrayals would all be enormously common, and antisocial behavior would flourish. In such a world I reckon all BoCo's generation, whether they are nice or nasty, quickly became practiced in evaluating other engines and in knowing when and how to avoid giving offense (unless they damn well intended to). These are all behaviors that BoCo brought with him to Sodor… a relatively carefree sanctuary where there are few consequences for running your mouth. Oh, sure, there's a peculiar island karma where you often have an accident after inadvisable boasting, but that's quite a different thing. The engines are all safe enough to freely quarrel and twit each other. In comparison BoCo looks so tightly wound and comes across as so much more mature and smart — but I think in those regards he would have been pretty normal on the mainland. 

What would have been exceptional about BoCo on the mainland is his commitment, his optimism, and his tenacity. Of the first, we have a good bit of evidence but I think his work ethic apparently matching Edward's and even winning over Donald and Douglas says it all. As for the second, fortune has already knocked him down a thousand times in his short life before we meet him in canon — but we meet him, and despite all these clear signs of anxiety and hesitation, he is still moving forward and living his life. He's poking his way across the bridge into steam engine territory; he is willing to try new things, homsomever high up his guard might be while he does it. We see him laughing — not just smiling, but the engine equivalent of a belly laugh — at the end of the first two stories he's in, and according to Christopher Awdry he's "the funniest diesel on the island." Perhaps I read him in MLE as having (especially at first) his guard way, way, way up — but he is not cynical. Nor timid. Cautious yes, but not timid. And then there's his tenacity, which got him so far as Sodor to begin with.

These are all pretty positive qualities that should have surely guaranteed BoCo's popularity… even without the maximum-pleasant-inoffensiveness thing. But I agree with BoCo that he needed all of said maximum-pleasant-inoffensiveness initially. Long enough to get the railway to give him a fair chance. 

The thing is, though, I don't know that I see in the RWS proper that BoCo ever entirely gets over this "echo" shit: 

This is really nice, but I'm gonna be honest, almost artificially so. The garden thing in particular feels like a daft tangent. Like, bro — what are you talking about? You think Gordon is going to feel better by learning soil enrichment factoids? And you're just going to drop that brief commiseration of "oh yeah engines on this island have a go at me all the time" and then merrily roll the conversation along? Look, it's nice (especially in the context that BoCo helps Gordon with his train by the end of this story, there's definitely nothing but amity here). But it's almost a bit… weird. The other engines we see in the book so far are being spectacularly unhelpful so far as Gordon's feelings (a tune we've seen sung before, in this series!) but this feels a bit unnatural in a way that's hard to articulate. And I'm pointing the finger at BoCo, lol. It's his fault. There's a lot wrapped tightly up in the bundle of that one little speech. I think BoCo is still so very tightly controlled, so very close to the vest. And he and Gordon are actually good friends? So if this is what he's like with Gordon, what is he like with some of the others?? (I almost wonder if he's freer and easier with the engines who he is slightly less tight with. Gordon is talking about feelings, Of Which He Has A Lot. BoCo is supportive but he would rather keep things brisk and talk about anything more… concrete, than Gordon stewing.)

Indeed BoCo fading from the canon proper (both RWS and TVS) almost feels like an inevitability, so long as he's keeping most of his personality in rein. We know he can be forceful. We know he can be cross. But he spends a lot of time doing… this. Even his RWS interactions with Edward are, like, smiling indulgently at station while Edward excitedly tells him some news. BoCo's humoring them. Again, I don't think any of this is insincere. BoCo really likes his friends (we see that especially in his interaction with the visiting diesel), I think he even feels a sense of protectiveness because a lot of them are much more naive than he is ("Boco my dear engine!! Save me!!!!") But we know he's plenty tough and independent. It's weird how we see so little of it. It's weird how BoCo gets far more screen time in the magazine and annual stories, probably because in them he's often depicted as annoyed by something. Like, y'know, he has an actual personality, and he's far easier to like during these moments when we see it. 

BoCo is good, he's a thoroughly good egg sort of inherently, nothing about his Dickensian early life could crack it. But I don't think he's inherently nice. His pleasantness comes off as a bit…  artificial. 

Incidentally, this makes him almost an inverse to how I read Edward. And in fact this is a contrast that actually illuminates what I'm trying to express about BoCo, so let's dive into this: Edward is nice inherently, I suspect even at his youngest and most immature he had that sort of drive to be polite and cooperative and have ordinary everyday pro-social behavior. It was probably drilled into him and his class. But it's easy to be nice when the world is nice and easy to you. Being genuinely kind is an entirely separate thing. Edward had to choose to go beyond niceness in order to be good in a way that BoCo, I think, was naturally. That's Edward's early Sodor arc—he's adjusting to life on the short end of the stick, and he has to choose how to handle it. Plenty of "nice" people fail to be kind under those sort of pressures, they fade into the bushes (or just plain become bad people) the second that niceness would really cost them something. The making of Edward as a character, the thing that makes him special, is when he goes beyond that. Being good is an often thankless task in many of these stories. He does it anyway.

The fascinating thing about BoCo is that I think all that higher stuff—loyalty and courage and sense of fairness—kinda came naturally to him. But! That doesn't of itself prevent one from becoming a straight-up villain, under the wrong circumstances. Plenty of notorious villains and anti-villains have similar strengths of character, and that's why D5701-the-bounty-hunger is a source of such fascination to me — BoCo has a built-in foil to show us who he could have been. Instead, BoCo falls in love with Sodor because it offered him an alternative to becoming, mortally and even morally, a mainland casualty.

But he saw that in order to stay there he would have to learn to be nice. And it's that which took some doing — especially since 1) he may very well just not have seen a lot of it modelled for him, before he drifted over to Sodor, so he has to play catch-up and 2) he had to experience, several times indeed before MLE is over, that on Sodor it is safe to be nice.

(But, of course, is it? You can tell no one is reading the Christopher books like that because if more people did then we would spend a lot more time digesting what he says in that scene above to Gordon. He still gets crap on the island for being a diesel engine. I gotta assume this is more from the Unseen Eighty than the characters we know — by this point even James has had the scales removed from his eyes by St. The Works Diesel — but it's still kinda crazy to think of. And in New Chapter, that's something that I have informing all three of the diesel's characterization. It's also in part why Oliver wins them over so quickly. He's involuntarily terrified of them, of course, but he's making an effort to be friendly and that puts him in the minority, it seems.)

Shifting gears fully into New Chapter — putting BoCo around the other North Western diesels really allowed him so much more room to breathe and express himself, given that it's only three years removed from his constraint in MLE. So it was kind of a joy to have him interact with Daisy. BoCo is straight-up kinda condescending towards Daisy and honestly I think it's really good for him that he has someone to condescend to, ha! Daisy doesn't seem to mind — she enjoys playing the 'little sister' role; she enjoys that she has someone she can go to and badger — and it's great for him that he has someone he feels easy being so much less self-conscious with. Vent all that judgment and frustration outta your system, brother. 

It was equally a joy to have him bounce off Bear, his inverse in a lot of ways. As I discussed in the Bear essay, Bear and BoCo have a similar background and similar experiences on the mainland. So they're already hitting it off well; I'd say I think they'll only ever become better friends as Bear is installed permanently — but honestly I think they've already hit their stride. But they are also inverted in a lot of ways. Notably Bear speaks first, thinks second. It's important that both of these characters do both of these actions! But they do them in a different order. That means they have a lot to offer each other in their somewhat unique-to-them mainland-to-Sodor life path. In the fic they're already pretty comfortable with each other, and Bear gives absolutely no quarter to BoCo's throat-clearing and circumspection ("I know that, BoCo.") Which is probably also really healthy for BoCo.

In short, the more I dug into all three, the more I thought all three are probably really good for each other. The Oliver-ness of the fic quickly became less important to me than the dynamic these three are developing. The former was a fanfic whim. The latter is rapidly becoming an important headcanon.

... But it will be even more lit when one day I finally get around to writing the story of BoCo and his brother D5701. 😈

I don’t mean this in a critical “this is terribly written” way - far from it, in fact. The real issue with the ERS is more fundamental: they created a world, a rich tapestry of words and stories, that draws from the works of Wilbert and Christopher Awdry… and then they made it profoundly miserable to be in. 

Now, this is not a bad thing, as @mean-scarlet-deceiver has rather masterfully written, but with SiF, it’s a more cloying and existential form of misery that doesn’t really do anything or go anywhere. Sodor is on its face a normal place to live, like any other part of England, but read almost any story and you will find things happening that seem to go against the grain of most TTTE fic writers, but also of just basic understandings of human decency. 

Starting off from the beginning, ERS book 42 Evan the Private Engine is a great example of what I’m talking about. Evan, the titular engine, is a privately owned narrow gauge engine operating on the Skarloey Railway. At one point, many years ago, he broke down and was abandoned by his owner in situ. Now, for everyone who is a dyed in the wool TTTE fan like me, search your feelings and think of what happens to this engine next. Is he adopted by the Skarloey engines? Do they re-home him somewhere else? Is this actually a story being told by Skarloey to the other engines? Vote now on your phones. 

[Buzzing noise] Wrong answer! What actually happens is that Evan is left where he is for so long that everyone forgets about him, and he’s covered in the overgrowth out by the lake. When he’s discovered “many years later,” he’s lost his memory, and will never get it back. 

This is the first book in the ERS. I told @lswro2-222 about this and she’s still mad about it. 

Things do not improve from there. The ERS is filled with countless stories of: 

Engines being forgotten about for decades, (ERS #152 – Scrapyard Engines) 

Engines being threatened with scrapping after suffering from mechanical issues (ERS #58 – Brave Mountain Engines)

When said engine (quite reasonably) tries to ensure their place on the railway by sabotaging someone else, they’re sent away for scrap anyways (ERS #70 – Norman the Mountain Engine)

Engines rather abruptly deciding to leave the island of Sodor, for almost no in-text reason. (ERS #221 – Dane the Electric Engine)

Engines rather abruptly deciding to leave the island of Sodor, just as their character arc was reaching a high point (ERS #320 – Procor the Mainland Engine)

Massive interpersonal conflicts between members of railway staff that would in any other universe result in someone quitting due to the toxic work environment. (ERS #462 - The Joint Controllers, ERS # 464 - The Fat Controller's Birthday Party)

Extremely out-of-place bouts of anti-diesel racism all the way in the 1990s (ERSN #9 – Dockside Engines)

The Fat Controller (among others) treating engines like children, property, or in some other extremely dehumanizing way, even if they had no control over the situation. (ERS #452 – Lorries and Engines, among many others)

I could go on for some time, and many of these are far from the worst examples. There’s also a huge number of baffling choices, like creating an engine that can only talk in horse noises, and then much later having this engine have a mental breakdown over his inability to communicate. (ERSN7 - The Pegasus Railtour Campaign) They also killed off Stephen Hatt, but did it in a way that rubs me the wrong way and does nothing to really add to the character's legacy. (ERSN #15 – The Hatt Family’s Engines) I could go on about this one for about as long as I could go on about Pegasus, but I don’t have that much time at any point between now and forever, so we'll leave it at that.) 

Meanwhile, interesting characters are often created and then immediately set aside in favor of things that are nowhere near as interesting. Now that I know this is a matter of taste, but would you rather read about a diesel engine placed in storage for so long that she turned malevolently insane, (ERS #169 – Sudrian Diesel Engines) or various background characters like a skip lorry that interacts with almost none of the “main” cast of the island? (ERS #475 - Rocky the Skip Lorry) I know which one I want to see, which is why the insane diesel hasn’t gotten a story all to herself since her introduction in (checks notes) 2011. 

However, all of this pales in comparison to the real issue with the ERS - all of this is more or less subjective, but there’s a real, substantial, problem here: Nobody actually seems to like each other. 

Reading through the stories, there’s this overwhelming sense that none of the characters - engine, person, or otherwise, actually enjoy each other’s company unless it’s explicitly stated in text. Even then, that measure is sometimes shaky, as characterizations can change from book to book. Engines can be on good terms with each other in one, and the next, they can be snapping at each other for no clearly defined reason. 

Well, they might try to define it, but the ERS is rather insistent on following the short, easy to digest four-story format used by the Awdrys, which means that any character development occurs suddenly, and with little room to flesh things out. What this results in is often poorly-explained conflict that could be salvaged if they ever strayed away from the standard 4-story format. A good example of this is ERS# 340 - BoCo & the Freight Diesels. This book is actually one of the better ones in terms of character arcs - it follows a pair of class 60 diesels (Spartan and Wakefield) as they deal with the fallout of their brother/leader leaving Sodor unexpectedly. (ERS #320 - I could go on about that decision as well. The character was written out because it conflicted with what the actual, IRL locomotive he was based on was doing. Meanwhile, I’ve got City of Goddamn Truro running rampage through Sodor.) These three engines have better-than-average characterization due to the absolutely god-tier introductory story they received (ERS #151), but even still, the relatively short length of each book/chapter means that the contents of book 340 and the preceding stories don’t exactly give us enough insight into the engine’s psyches to fully grasp what’s happening. It’s not so much of a case of “telling instead of showing” as it is “this comes at you quickly and without any real advance warning.” This is probably more true to life with how people act under stress, but… this is fiction. You can show the audience what’s going on. There’s a good reason why some of the best works in the ERS are the long-form ERS Novels that allow characters room to breathe. 

(Also, in #340, the Fat Controller just absolutely rips an engine a new one for causing an accident, in the process completely sidestepping the fact that said engine had a driver and a second man on board the entire time. SiF does their level best to infantilize the engines whenever possible while at the same time making them 100% responsible for the failings of the people around them.)

Another great example of this is Daphne - the NWR’s Deltic that I stole for my own fan works because there’s a solid core to the character, but she’s been sadly let down by the works that follow. In the ERS she has a decently traumatic backstory, with lots of room for expansion of the character or at the very least, hints of other things. However Daphne is at most a secondary character to the ERS, and often appears in other stories, rather than her own. In these, the writers follow a handy rule of thumb for writing her: 

Deltics are loud, and so naturally, Daphne must be loud. Loud people are annoying, so Daphne must be annoying. Because Daphne is annoying, she must often speak without thinking. Because she speaks without thinking, she must be the most irritating bitch anyone has ever seen. 

I mean this seriously. Daphne’s entire role in a lot of the ERS is to show up, say something unintentionally insulting, and then drive away. She had a good introduction to the ERS in book #135, but since then she’s mostly been a loudmouth side character. Even her entry in the ERS guide says so: 

Daphne is best known as the big diesel with the big mouth! There is little denying that she is a good worker when she wants to be, but her occasionally spiky temper, bossiness and boastfulness can often lead to her fall from grace. She also has a knack of speaking without thinking, something that has caused many an upset or unfortunate incident over the years.

This is not an interesting character. This is an annoyance of the highest order and I don’t know why they keep her around.

At no point since her introduction over a decade ago has anyone tried to change this. They let her stagnate in the background while the fucking horse engine gets his own novel! 

-

I apologize, I’m getting slightly off track here. What I’m trying to say is that the ERS fundamentally does not understand its characters, starting at the Fat Controller and working their way down the list. There’s hundreds of episodes of someone getting yelled at for an incident outside their control, even when it’s plainly obvious that it had to be. Characters vary wildly, and act outside of what you would expect, considering when a story might happen in-universe. 

A great example of this is in Book #338. Honey, a new-build diesel shunter, is bought by the Ffarquhar Quarry Company and in short order, pulls every capital-D-Diesel trick in the book to get Mavis replaced… and it works. Mavis is hauled away on a lorry to an uncertain future, (she eventually gets bought by the NWR, don’t worry) with everyone in real fear that she’s going to get scrapped. Now, in my works, Thomas and Co. would probably commit murder; a lot of more normal folks might have the entire Ffarquhar branch in an uproar - something like the deputation that saved Donald and Douglas way back when. 

What SiF does… is nothing. Absolutely nothing. Thomas and Co. not only don’t try and get Mavis back, but they eventually welcome Honey into the branch line family a few books later (ERS #368 – Christmas at Ffarquhar) despite Honey being one of the only engines in the ERS or the original RWS to succeed in her evil mission. 

This is such a fundamental misunderstanding of the characters, starting with the most obvious one - Thomas the Tank Engine - that this almost would have to be set in the 1960s or 1950s. Nobody has grown attached to Mavis yet, and Honey isn’t obviously evil or something. 

Naaaaaaaaaaah. This story canonically takes place in 2018 and Honey speaks in Gen-Z/Millenial slang while actively sabotaging Mavis in broad daylight. I wish I was making this up. 

------

Apologies, I got off track again. 

So, what does any of this have to do with the Express Engines youtube video that I linked up top? 

Well, I think it shows rather clearly how the ERS rather wantonly misunderstands its own characters. Writers far better than I (@mean-scarlet-deceiver) have written pages and pages on the mental states of many of the RWS cast, most notably Gordon, who is the main character of Express Engines.

Again, Jobey has written far more on the subject than I have, but suffice it to say that by 1996 - the “canon” date of Express Engines - Gordon has mellowed out significantly. Even if he thinks that he’s going to be top dog on Sodor forever, he definitely isn’t up his own ass about it like how he was in the early days. He’s getting old and he knows it, and when Pip and Emma eventually do show up in the RWS, he’s remarkably mellow about the whole thing. Granted, that’s about 10-15 years further up the line, but it goes to show that he’s not going to go ballistic or act like a child at the first sign of his dominance being threatened like he might have in the 1930s. 

(Actually, having read all the books, I don’t think he’d act like that at most points after maybe WWII. A lot of his “I’m the fastest and the best!” schtick came from being a very big but very solitary fish in a very small pond, and getting him someone his own size to play with might have taken the edge off of his sense of self-importance.) 

Quite naturally, that’s exactly what he does in Express Engines. 

In the “book” version of the story, the main source of conflict is him lying to newly-arrived Sodor Castle about whistle codes, and this goes directly into the time trial section of the story, before wrapping up with a neat little bow of Gordon going off to get an overhaul. 

As a side note, the SiF-standard infantilization of engines starts off strong with this book. The primary conflict is Gordon feeling threatened by the arrival of a new express engine. What nobody has told him is that said new express engine is there primarily to cover for him when goes in for an overhaul. Why has nobody told him this? Because nobody told him he was getting an overhaul. The poor engine was going insane and picking fights based on literally nothing but a misunderstanding. 

Now, this is all fine and good - it actually reads a lot like Gordon just giving the new kid a hard time while working through his own insecurities, (something we can probably all relate to) but the video adaptation adds more stories, and goes… a lot further. 

For those who haven’t seen it, in the video, Gordon is basically being sidelined to the nth degree following Sodor Castle’s arrival, and it is driving him up the wall. Following the events of Fourth Time Unlucky, which covers the whistle code scene, Gordon and Sodor Castle are in a near constant feud, which comes to a head in the next (all-new) episode Keeping Up With Castle. In it, the primary set piece is a scene that @lswro2-222 called “Gordon McFuckin’ Loses It,” because, frankly, he does. There’s an extended race scene between a borderline-crazy Gordon and an all-too-smug Sodor Castle (seriously, he’s approaching unlikeable levels of smug and snooty) that ends with Gordon dangerously overshooting the platforms at Wellsworth. It’s very well shot, very well edited, has some great voice acting, and absolutely positively does not make sense within any existing characterization of Gordon that I have ever seen. 

I’ve thought about it for some time and maybe if this happened during the height of the modernization plan in the 60s, when everyone’s spirits were at an all-time low, it might have worked. It might have fit with the desperation and malaise of that era, maybe. For this story to take place in the late 90s, this is an almost impossible characterization of Gordon. I hate to be prescriptive of other people’s fan works and go “he would not fucking say that” but… he would not fucking say that. At all. Under any circumstances. It just wouldn’t happen. 

In a similar vein to that, the characterization of the other engines really chafes at me. Sodor Castle shows up, seemingly displacing Gordon to the slow services, and the immediate response is to embrace the newcomer while mocking Gordon. This is perhaps the closest to “canon” I would say the video comes - the engines would do that at first; Gordon getting one-upped so publicly by a Westerner would be hilarious for a good long while. The issue, however, comes from the fact that nobody ever seems to notice that Gordon is legitimately upset by this whole development. They either continue mocking him or actively take Sodor Castle's side, which isn't something you do unless you have a rather strong dislike for someone. Not exactly the way you'd think the engines would act after being shoved together for 50-70 years… unless you write for the ERS. 

Also, I have a particular bug up my ass about Sodor Castle in this video. He's almost too smug and prissy to be likeable. A lot of his lines work really well as singular lines, but the instant you realize the circumstances they're said in it all falls apart. As an example, during the race scene in Keeping Up With Castle, you'd think he'd be concerned or worried when Gordon goes screeching through Wellsworth with his brakes hard on. Even if he dislikes Gordon by now, the passengers must have gone through the far walls of the coaches, and instead Castle takes the time to gloat. It's the little things like that that really get me - the writers are obviously aware of what's going on, and choosing this particular response says a lot in a very unintentional way.

And, on the subject of saying things, I do want to make one point clear: This is not a mean-spirited “takedown” of the ERS. Any fan work that’s gone on for literal decades, with hundreds of distinct stories and characters, is commendable just in the sheer effort exerted by those involved. I will gladly applaud SiF in their work to have a consistent quality and tone to their work, even if it's not one that I universally agree with. 

Furthermore, I like the ERS. While many of the stories in it are misses, when they hit it out of the park, they really do it. The ERS Novels, especially numbers 1, 2, and 9 (The Life & Times Of Jim The Jinx, The Peel Godred Railway, Dockside Engines) are unironically good.

Many of the characters, especially those introduced in the ERS’s early days like Daphne, Winston, Samarkand, Zelda, and the Class 60 trio, are legitimately interesting, and had captivating introductions to the franchise. Sometimes, SiF even predicts the future, adding Pip and Emma to Sodor years before Chris Awdry did, and did so with an excellent set of stories that heavily influenced my own interpretation of the characters.  (and then, in a classic SiF move, they de-canonized those stories once it became clear that they couldn’t be reconciled with new Awdry canon) There is a lot of genuine skill that has gone into the ERS, and it’s definitely influenced the entire TTTE fan community whether you realize it or not. (Everyone calls the works diesel Wendell. Why? SiF named him.) It certainly influenced me, and that’s why I feel the need to write this all out. This series has been a significant part of my life for a significant part of my life, and it disappoints me to no end that it stumbles so often. This isn’t a callout of “you suck,” instead it’s a callout of “do better, please.” 

--------------

This viewpoint has taken me several months to collate into a single thinkpiece. I kicked the idea around for a bit, thought it out more, watched the video a few more times, and then realized that I’d have to talk about SiF a lot. (oh no, what a tragedy.) So here it is. Hope you enjoyed it.

------------

Oh, one other thing. 

While I was watching the video, and thinking about how wrong this all was, and then I thought, “well I’d do this differently.” 

And then I did. 

And then things got very out of hand. 

I may have stolen some characters from SiF. 

(Don’t worry, they’re some of the ones that I like, from the few books that I enjoy.)

Anyway, here's Express Engines. 

2001 

It was barely spring on the Island of Sodor, and already the railway was being pushed to its limits. Congestion at other ports on the mainland had forced more ships into the port of Tidmouth (and, by extension, the ports of Knapford and Arlesburgh), and so the cargo trains got longer and more frequent. 

At the same time, the Easter holidays coincided with a spate of unseasonably early warm weather, so the island was swarmed with people seeking sunny beaches and scenic getaways. Tourist class tickets were in especially high demand, and on some days the Limited and the Midday Express would strain under the weight of five, seven, or even ten third class coaches. 

Fortunately, none of the engines were “down” for heavy maintenance, so while there wasn’t a scrabble to find available motive power, some… interesting schedule choices had to be made. 

-

“Henry, it’s occurred to me that I haven’t seen you leave to pull the Kipper in some time.” Gordon said one morning. 

“I haven’t been.” Henry yawned. “BoCo’s been taking it.”  

“BoCo?” 

“He said yes, don’t worry.” Henry said blearily. 

“But why aren’t you-”

“Because I’m getting about two hours of sleep if I take the Kipper and the morning stopper train, and that’s if someone isn’t snoring loud enough to shake the dust off the ceiling beams.”

“I assure you that I do not-”

“S’not you, you daft thing. It’s James. I think there’s something wrong with him.”

--

Bear growled in displeasure. It was a deep, bass-y sound that seemed to echo through the ground, and Bill and Ben fled back to the clay pits in terror. 

“-and if I catch you pulling that ever again, I’ll be the last thing you ever see!” 

Edward looked on in awe. “Can you teach BoCo how to do that?”

--

Duck goggled. “I think I’ve seen it all now.” 

Emma smiled meekly. “I know it’s a little unusual, but-”

“I didn’t mean it as a bad thing., Duck cut in graciously. 

“Oh thanks.” She looked around. “I wish we didn’t have such a long train, we could probably come down here more often. It’s very pretty-”

“Oi!” cut in Mike, from the Small Railway’s tracks. “What’s wrong wit’ Oliver?”

Looking back, Duck could see Oliver trying and failing to hide from Pip, much to her chagrin. 

“Don’t worry about it! He deserves it!” he said after a moment’s deliberation.

--

“Excuse me,” the big EWS diesel asked as he rolled into Crovan’s Gate with a line of flatbeds. “But is this a heritage railway or something? What are you doing here exactly? Are you on a railtour?” 

“Railtour?” James sniffed. “I’m not a railtour! I'm late! Ta ta!” 

And he steamed away in a hurry. 

“That… didn’t answer my question.”

----

During this time, the Fat Controller was nowhere to be seen. Rumours flew between the coaches and trucks that he was out finding them another engine, but the engines themselves knew better. 

“From where would he find a King class?”

“I don’t know! But there’s a biiiiig engine back there under a sheet, and a bunch of paint all labeled “GW Green” sitting around - more than Duck and Oliver could need put together!”

Well, some of them did. 

“James, what now?” Henry groaned as he rolled into the shed. All he wanted to do was sleep,but it seemed like this wouldn’t happen soon. 

“Look,” James spluttered, as Gordon and Bear stared with skepticism heavy on their brows. “All I know is: Engine, sheet, paint, and soon!”

“Soon?” Bear scoffed. “Soon what? Soon the hols will be over? Soon that summer will come? Show me some proof.”

“Oh for- what about that tarped over thingy that came in last Christmas? I saw it! That’s real!” 

“That could be anything!” Gordon butted in. “There’s dozens of preserved lines that wish to make use of our facilities. For all we know, it is a King class that’s being restored for a museum!”

Henry suddenly felt very bemused. He had something to say now, but it needed to be timed perfectly.

He waited a few minutes, as Bear and Gordon continued grilling James over details that he couldn’t possibly have known. It was quite funny, but not as funny as what he had to say. 

Finally, as his eyelids drooped and his fire died down to embers, he saw his chance. “Excuse me, if I may.” He yawned. Gordon and Bear stopped mid-sentence to look at him. From the startled look Gordon was hiding, it seemed like they’d forgotten he was there.  “But I did overhear from the coaches on the Limited, who themselves overheard from the Fat Controller, that we are getting another engine - just not a King, but instead, a Castle!” 

The reactions of the others were priceless, and held just long enough for him to close his eyes and fall happily to sleep!

-----

The next morning, The Fat Controller arrived as the sun rose. “Well, my ears have been burning all morning,” he said jovially. “So I assume you already know about the new engines,-”

“EngineS?”

----

Last year - around Guy Fawkes Night

Stephen Hatt strode into his office to find his secretary holding the phone about three feet from her ear. Even at that distance, a great commotion was clearly audible. 

“The National Railway Museum for you sir,” she said, straining to keep the phone as far away as possible. “Mind the volume when you answer.” 

He gave her a wide berth and an askance look as he entered his office. Sitting down at his desk, he picked up the handset out of reflex, and quickly set it back down again. Carefully, he moved the phone to the other end of his desk, and pushed the speakerphone button with the corner of a particularly tall book. 

Pandemonium burst forth from the device, and it took a moment for Stephen to pick out the sound of a human voice over what sounded like a fully-involved riot in the background. “Hello? Stephen? Are you there? It’s Andrew. Look, Stephen, I shan’t mince words with you, but we’ve made a terrible mistake and you’re the only person left who can fix it.”

Stephen, having recovered from being assaulted by a wave of sound, raised an eyebrow. “Fix it? I haven’t even been told what the problem is yet!” 

“What? Can you speak up- oh for goodness’ sake!” There was a sound of a phone handset being put down, and then the sound of a door opening. The sounds of the riot became louder and more pronounced for a moment, and then there was a bellow of “QUIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEET!” that shook the phone. 

The door then shut with a suddenly audible click, and then Andrew was back on the phone. “I’m terribly sorry about that.”

“What is happening over there?” Stephen asked, agog. 

“My problem.” Andrew said, his tone hasty. He clearly expected the noise to start up again. “We’ve done some, uh. re-arranging of our collections you see, and two engines were put together who really have no business being anywhere near-”

“CITY OF TRURO I WILL KILL YOU TONIGHT.” A female voice came through loud and clear, to the point where the speakerphone vibrated halfway off the desk. “KEEP TALKING AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.”

Stephen’s expression became slightly more fixed, and he stayed quiet for a long moment. 

Andrew could feel his hesitation. “Please. We haven’t been able to open for three days. They’re on opposite sides of the building and they’re still at it. We have to get one of them off property.” 

“Andrew…” Stephen said slowly. “You do recall that City of Truro had a most remarkable change of fortune some years ago, correct?”

“Stephen,” Andrew was close to begging. “Nobody will take him. We have to do something!” 

“Your use of the word 'we' is very inspired, Andy.” Stephen was actually going to have to get up and walk around his desk to reach the phone. 

“Wait! Wait!” His finger stopped inches from the “end call” button. “We’ll do anything! Name it!” 

The Fat Controller smiled. “Anything, you say?” 

-------

The engine had been brought in under cover - both tarpaulin and darkness. Once it had been delivered, it had been immediately shunted away into a far corner of the works, away from prying eyes. 

It was only then that the cover was removed, and the engine was revealed. A six-coupled Westerner, one of the great Castles of yore. She - and she most definitely was a she - was resplendent in Great Western Green and Gold, complete with all the little filigree marks that only a steam-era Swindon would apply. The paint had barely lost its luster, and it appeared from the outside as though this engine had been shunted through a portal in time. 

The only part of her that showed any age at all was her face. Around her eyes and brows were laugh lines and wrinkles, a generation of smiles and conversation physically worked into the structure of her beauty. 

She wasn’t smiling now, though. Frown lines cut into her face unnaturally, as she sent a venomous glare in the direction of the man standing by her pony truck.

“You were much more compliant back at the Science Museum,” he said, continuing an argument that had been ongoing since the moment he’d arrived in her line of sight. 

“I was valued at the Science Museum,” she snapped, putting heavy weight on the word valued. “And then you deaccessioned me.” 

“We were renovating!” He protested. “I would’ve thought that you would have loved being amongst your own kind. You were to be put in your own special museum!” 

“I was in the Museum longer than I ever was on the rails, but you never cared enough to find out which setting I preferred, did you?” she hissed. “All you wanted was Neil’s job!” 

“Sir Cossons stood down to run English Heritage and you know it.” 

“All I know is that you were in there for less than a month before I was 'better suited for display in York!'” 

“So you could be put in Swindon when the museum there was ready!” 

“But I didn’t want to go to Swindon!” she screeched. “And in any event, This. Isn’t. Swindon! You and Andrew sold me rather than deal with Truro!”

“Truro is more…” 

“Say that he’s more famous than me. Say it. That’s all Showboat Sharp ever cares about. Not that he’s totally unsuitable for public display, or that he-”

“He can keep his mouth shut when Andy tells him to, which is more than I can say about you!” He looked at her with disgust in his eyes. “You are a train! You are supposed to be seen and not heard, and no more!” 

Whatever she was about to say in reply - and it would have been vicious - was cut off by the opening of a distant door. A top-hatted figure emerged from the outside, and made his way towards them. 

“And,” the man whispered. “We didn’t sell you. I gave you away. It’s the only way the fat bastard would take this deal.”

There was a quiet “so glad to be valued...”, but it was lost in the arrival of the top hat wearing man. “Ah, Dr. Sharp, and Caerphilly Castle, I’m Stephen Hatt. Wonderful to meet you both in person.” 

“Charmed.” Lied man and engine as one as a small crowd of workmen filed in behind the man. 

Without prompting, the portly man clambered up onto Caerphilly’s bufferbeam to address the room. To her surprise, he did so gracefully, managing to not snag himself on her lamp irons, and his shoes were sturdy boots that gripped the metal properly. Maybe he wasn’t an officious fop after all?

“Well everyone,” he said, facing the group. “This is the surprise that I have been talking about. Without going into too many details, it seems as though the Science Museum’s recent renovations have left Caerphilly Castle without a home. Now, she was originally relocated to York, however a…” He paused diplomatically. “Certain engine caused much trouble for her there, and she has now made her way to us. I’d like to thank Dr. Sharp, the director of the Science Museum, for this kind contribution to our railway.”

“How much did you pay for ‘er?” came a voice from the front of the group of men. “Was it market value for once?” It was followed by poorly-suppressed laughter from the crowd. 

Even with his face away from her, Caerphilly could see that Stephen’s body language turned slightly defensive, but before he could say anything, Dr. Lindsay Sharp PhD., head of the largest  Science Museum in the United Kingdom, spoke up. “Actually, you have received her gratis.” he said with a smarmy smile. “We’re just glad to see her go to a good home! Hopefully you can put her on display someplace where the public can learn from her.”

Less-suppressed laughter met this. Stephen Hatt turned to look down at the other man. “Lindsay? Forgive me for disagreeing with you in public, but you do know that we intend to restore this engine to traffic, right?” 

There was a not insignificant amount of spluttering and swearing. Dr. Sharp had absolutely not known that. 

Caerphilly hadn’t known either. “You want me… to run again?” she said, not quite believing what she was hearing. 

“Of course!” Stephen said kindly. “Gordon, our primary express engine, is coming up on his boiler ticket, so we need another express engine to fill the gap.” He paused seriously. “Did you think that we were going to stick you on a plinth somewhere?” 

“I… I really did sir,” she said quietly. “I didn’t think that anyone wanted steam engines anymore.” She blinked. “Goodness, if I’d known, I would have insisted on having someone else come with me! Lord knows that Evening Star is never going to run under the current administration.” 

Stephen missed the acid glare she sent Dr. Sharp’s way. “Oh, how funny it is that you mention that. We actually have a 9F that we purchased recently. You’ll be meeting her soon enough, her name is-”

In the 1850s, the tiny fishing village of Harwick was in the middle of an economic slump. The people of the Ooyre Valley had long supported themselves with a lucrative smuggling trade, but this had recently been suppressed by the authorities, and there was almost nothing in the way of legitimate work to fall back on. Something had to be done if poverty and unrest were to be avoided.

At that time, the first railways were being built on Sodor, and someone suggested that Harwick should have one of its own - it would help bring money to the area, and provide honest work for the people. A scheme was drawn up which would see a line running from Harwick, up the Ooyre Valley, and then swinging south to the nearest major settlement, the fort town of Peel Godred. There, it would link with the rest of Sodor via a line which had already been proposed by the fledgling Sodor & Mainland Railway.

The Cronk & Harwick Railway Company, as the scheme became known, was formed in 1855, and construction began right away. Naturally, they started at the Harwick end, constructing a stone pier where goods could be exchanged between ships and wagons. The stone came from a new quarry at Droghan-y-Claghan, about six miles up the valley...

...And therein lay a problem. The new railway had been planned following the route of an existing road between Harwick and Peel Godred, with gradients deemed suitable for both horses and steam locomotives. However, the line had been forced to diverge from the road at one point a mile or so out of Harwick, and the new route took it up a much steeper gradient.

Above and Below: The top and bottom ends of Sheep Pasture Incline, on the Cromford & High Peak Railway in Derbyshire. The incline on the C&HR was worked to very much the same principles.

The solution in this case was a rope-worked incline, up and down which wagons could be raised and lowered. Initially, only a single line was laid, with the hauling power provided by a stationary steam engine at the top. In later years, though, the incline track was doubled, and it became more common to use descending loaded wagons to haul ascending empties.

The C&HR extended eastward in a piecemeal fashion throughout the 1860s, and by 1870 had reached the hamlet of Cregwir. It had also become clear by now, though, that the Sodor & Mainland Railway was on the verge of bankruptcy, and unlikely to get around to building its promised branch line to Peel Godred. By this time, the narrow gauge Mid Sodor Railway was making an effort to reach the town, and the C&HR decided to forge ahead with construction, in the hopes that they could build an interchange station.

The 1870s also saw the opening of a roadside tramway between Harwick and Ballaswein. This used the existing C&HR line for its first mile or so, diverging to the north just before Harwick Bottom, the yard at the base of the incline. At this stage, the tramway was worked by horse-drawn vehicles, as indeed was the rest of the C&HR network.

Above: The Harwick & Ballaswein Tramway used double-decker tramcars somewhat akin to this example on the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway, over on the neighbouring Isle of Man.

It was not until the 1880s that money became available for steam engines to be introduced to the C&HR. The Harwick Incline had effectively split the line into two sections, and the motive power considerations were different for each. For the lower section, it was decided that two tram engines would suffice - one to work the Ballaswein Tramway, and the other to haul wagons between the Incline and the Pier.

Above: C&HR #1, Flora - the first of the two tram engines, and now the only surviving C&HR engine. Seen here in her heritage livery, circa 1980.

To this end, the C&HR ordered two engines from Thomas Green & Sons of Leeds, to a specification not unlike a pair they'd recently supplied to the Dundee & District Tramway. Both engines arrived on Sodor in 1885, and began work later that same year. C&HR #1 was named Flora, after a Roman goddess of spring. #2 should have been named Chloris - Flora's Greek equivalent - but there was apparently a miscommunication, and she ended up being named Clarice instead!

When it came to the upper section, only one engine was deemed necessary for the moment - with the possibility of more being acquired once the Peel Godred extension was complete. The C&HR turned to the second-hand market for this engine, purchasing a Black Hawthorn 0-4-0ST from parts unknown. This became the railway's #3, and gained the name Zanthus (after one of the horses he was to replace - who was himself named after an immortal horse in Greek mythology).

Above: Zanthus bears a striking resemblence to this 1874 machine, Bauxite No.2, now preserved at York. The coach, too, looks not unlike the two supplied to the C&HR.

The seller also offered the C&HR a pair of ancient four-wheeled coaches, which they accepted with the intention of establishing dedicated passenger services on the upper section. These plans never really came to fruition, though - the closest they got was using the coaches as guard's vans on goods trains, and allowing passengers to hitch a lift if they needed one (for a small fee, obviously).

The stage was now set for the two halves of the C&HR to settle into the pattern of life they would enjoy for the remainder of their existence. Flora and Clarice handled the lower section together, with one engine carrying passengers between Harwick and Ballaswein, and the other hauling wagons between the Pier and Harwick Bottom. Meanwhile, Zanthus had sole charge of the upper section. His main duties were hauling loaded stone wagons from the two quarries to Harwick Top, and bringing back the empties. The level of traffic in the area was such that he had no problem also carrying general goods, or even the odd passenger. The line as a whole paid its way, but only just...

All the while, the C&HR continued extending towards Peel Godred, progressing bit by bit as money and materials allowed. To their credit, they actually got surprisingly far - by 1914, they were only two or three miles away from their goal. I mention this year specifically because that was of course when the North Western Railway was formed, as an amalgamation of most of the existing standard gauge lines on Sodor - with the exception of the Cronk & Harwick line, which remained independent.

The NWR had intended to build their own line up the coast to Harwick, as a strategic railway during the First World War, but by the time they’d reached Arlesburgh, the immediate threat had passed, so that was where the line stopped. Other projects took priority, and one of these was to finally construct the S&MR's proposed branch line to Peel Godred, which was completed in 1923.

Above and Below: NWR #1, Thomas (with Annie & Clarabel) on a railtour along the C&HR line, some time in the 1980s. The producers of the television series took inspiration from the line when designing their version of Toby's old tramway. These views are a few miles north of Peel Godred.

The NWR still wanted to reach Harwick somehow, and upon hearing about the C&HR's line, entered into talks with the smaller company. Terms were soon agreed: the NWR would complete the last bit of track, in exchange for being allowed running powers over the C&HR network. They were as good as their word - they built the last couple of miles of track into Peel Godred, and expanded their station there to accommodate the new line. At the other end of the line, they built a new line which diverged from the existing line at Droghan-y-Claghan, bypassed the Incline, and travelled into Harwick on a gradient much more suitable for steam engines. The work was completed in 1925, and the results were...

...Disappointing, in the long run. The NWR didn't gain much from the endeavour apart from access to Harwick itself. Even this wasn't quite as successful as hoped - the route was long, arduous and convoluted, its isolated nature made it unpopular with engines who had to use it, and NWR trains often had to stop and make way for those on the C&HR - and their timetables were...relaxed, to put it mildly.

Above: Another view of Thomas on the C&HR, on the same railtour. I forgot to include it on my map, but this is Black Loch - I imagine this is at the opposite end of the loch from Callan Castle.

By the 1930s, things were not so rosy for the C&HR either. The last few years had seen the rise of motor vehicles, and these had gradually taken away what little traffic the line still carried. It started with the motor buses, which killed off the Ballaswein Tramway in 1933 - effectively turning the lower section into a goods-only line.

Then came the really fatal blow, in the form of the motor lorries. This did for the stone traffic, and in 1935, the Cronk & Harwick Railway finally shut its doors for good - with rolling stock, track and infrastructure all being sold to the NWR. There was very little they could do for the line, and it's most likely that, had it not been for the outbreak of war in 1939, they would have abandoned the line much sooner than they actually did.

As it was, the War gave the C&H line a brief reprieve, when it provided a vital rail link to a small naval base established at Harwick. This reprieve only lasted as long as hostilities did, and as soon as it was all over, the NWR finally made the reluctant decision to pull the plug. By 1947, the line had been completely abandoned, but the tracks were left in situ, just in case - a decision that was to pay dividends years later...

The story of the C&HR ends there, and does not pick up again until the late 1960s, when the NWR successfully reopens its branch line to Arlesburgh. This had prompted discussion within NWR circles regarding the possibility of extending the branch up the coast to Harwick, as had been intended in 1916. At the same time, though, there had also been growing pressure from the people of the Ooyre Valley to reinstate the old Cronk & Harwick line. Ultimately, the latter course of action was decided upon, as a short-term means of reaching Harwick by rail until the coastal line could be constructed.

Restoring the line itself was relatively straightforward, at least compared to the problem of finding sources of traffic - and motive power to handle it. The quarry companies had long switched over to lorries, and not too bothered about taking their business back to the railways - and there was almost no other goods traffic to fall back on. This meant that the line would have to cater entirely to passengers, but there were hardly enough of them to fill even a single coach.

Above: The observation saloons mentioned in the next paragraph - shown here in this undated view, being temporarily stored in the private siding of O.L King Coal Merchants, Ffarquhar.

The solution to both problems came rather by chance. During the line's restoration, Sir Topham Hatt had placed a pair of the NWR's observation saloons at the disposal of the gangers, to allow them to easily travel between worksites. Unfortunately, this restoration took place during 1968/69, at which time railtours and enthusiasts' specials were becoming popular on the rest of the network. The saloons were frequently in demand for these specials, and the workmen in charge of the C&H restoration were increasingly having to make do with whatever other coaches could be spared (to say nothing of the problem of having to roster an engine to pull them).

In response to this, Sir Topham Hatt made arrangements with British Rail to have a railbus loaned to the NWR to replace the saloons on the C&H project. BR had recently introduced these railbuses - smaller versions of their existing railcars and multiple units - on many of their lesser-used rural lines, and they'd helped enormously in helping to keep certain lines open. I'm sure you can see where this is going - Sir Topham Hatt realised that a railbus was exactly what was needed for the C&H line.

Above: A BR Park Royal railbus, of the same type as NWR #D5 Sheridan. This example is working on the Ayr & Dalmellington line in Scotland - the sort of isolated, sparsely-populated line these railbuses were designed for.

Sheridan - for that was this particular railbus' name - was duly taken into NWR stock, becoming the railway's number D5. With his help, the C&H restoration was complete by the beginning of 1969, at which point he took on the running of the passenger service between Harwick and Peel Godred. For this, Sheridan proved to be ideally suited - he could carry just the right number of passengers, had additional space to carry parcels and small goods, and he was even fitted with automatic folding steps, which allowed him to stop between stations to let people on and off closer to their homes.

The reopening of the C&H line did not exactly create an economic boom in the Harwick area, but it did help revive the area's fortunes in a small way. It was now easier for the people of the Ooyre Valley to travel to other parts of Sodor, and Sudrians were likewise better able to reach the scattered settlements to the north of their island - this area has largely been overlooked by mainland visitors, and so is a popular holiday destination for Sudrians looking to get away from it all.

Because of its remote location and low-key existence, the C&H line has not seen as many changes as on the rest of the NWR network. That's not to say it hasn't changed at all, of course, so let's finish this article by looking at a couple of the developments which have occurred in recent years.

Above: A picture of the Bowes Railway near Newcastle, an incline railway now operating as a heritage concern - pretty similar to how I imagine the Harwick Top Railway.

The late 1970s, for instance, saw the formation of the Harwick Top Trust, a band of enthusiasts who set up an industrial heritage centre at the yard of that name. As well as restoring the incline for demonstration purposes, they also reopened a stretch of the old goods line, running from Harwick Top itself to a point just outside Droghan-y-Claghan.

Above: Flora on running-in trials following her restoration in 1980. Alongside is the NWR's own #1, Thomas, and both are standing in the station at Great Waterton - itself newly-restored at this time.

The enthusiasts also managed to restore Flora, by now the only surviving engine from the old C&HR. Following the line's initial closure, she'd been put on static display in Harwick Park, along with one of her tram coaches. Both were purchased by the HTT in 1978, and restored to working order over the next two years. When the work was completed in 1980, the NWR generously allowed Flora's running-in trials to be carried out on their metals - this neatly doubled as a promotional tool for the fledgling HTR.

Below: Flora and her tram coach, circa 1980. The Sodor Tramways signs should of course actually read Ballaswein Tramway - although in HTR service, the coach carries a rotating selection of vintage advertisements sourced from old Sodor Roadways buses.

The next major development to affect the C&HR was the long-awaited extension of the Arlesburgh branch up the coast to Harwick. This was completed in 1986, a good seventy-odd years after this rail link to Harwick had first been proposed. For the most part, this did not physically affect the running of the C&H line - save for several agonizing weeks where Sheridan had to work around the major upgrade Harwick station received to accommodate the new line.

Below: The upgraded Harwick station, as it appears in the television series. While heavily simplified, the broad strokes of the layout have been preserved. The rightmost track is the through line to the C&HR.

In fact, the only serious effects on the C&H line were to be felt in its timetable - this being rewritten so that Sheridan provided a guaranteed connection with services at Harwick as well as Peel Godred. Although he was not a fast railbus by any means, he still provided the quickest way of travelling between those two settlements, which meant the line's importance did not diminish with the coming of the Arlesburgh branch extension.

Above: Treeton Colliery, South Yorkshire - purely because I needed a picture of a modern-looking colliery for this final section. Below: Ditto for this picture of Calder Hall nuclear power station. I know it's not a modular reactor, but shush...!

In the late-80s/early-90s, the railways around Harwick rose to even greater importance thanks to two major Sudrian developments. Firstly, a new modular nuclear power plant was constructed on the site of the long-closed quarry at Droghan-y-Claghan. Around the same time, vast untapped deposits of coal were discovered beneath Sodor's northernmost coastline, and the first shafts were sunk close to the site of the former Cregwir Quarry. Obviously, this necessitated the restoration and upgrading of both the old quarry lines.

Needless to say, both these developments have resulted in a major growth in traffic for the C&H line. While passenger numbers have increased, they remain just about enough for Sheridan to cope with on his own. Should the need arise, though, he is occasionally aided by other engines: either Valiant or Violet from the Arlesburgh end; and either Clarence or Callum from the Peel Godred end. From the late-80s onward, it has become just as common for other engines to visit the area on railtours - be they fellow NWR engines or mainland visitors.

Above: Vulcan, a sister engine to NWR #13 Valiant. Not exactly the best picture, but it was the only one I could find of this type of engine pulling trucks!

Speaking of Valiant, she was actually originally brought to Sodor with the working of the Arlesburgh-Harwick line in mind, and her duties now extend along the C&H line to what is now known as Cregwir Colliery. From here, she hauls trainloads of coal down the Little Western to Tidmouth, for further distribution across Sodor and beyond.

The only other major goods traffic on the line is nuclear waste from the power plant at Droghan-y-Claghan, and this was initially transported by NWR #D22 Chopper. He would carry one or two flask wagons all the way to Barrow-in-Furness, where a pair of BR diesels would take them the rest of the way to the processing centre at Sellafield. From 1995 onwards, though, Direct Rail Services took over the transport of nuclear materials by rail, and now only their diesels are allowed to handle this traffic.

Below: This view is not unlike that of nuclear flask operations on Sodor post-1995 - a pair of DRS-owned diesels (Class 20s, in this case) hauling a couple of flask wagons.

I think there's a lot to be said for Edward's forbearance in terms of dealing with people being rude to him. He's not interested in getting even with other engines or rubbing their misfortune in their faces. He doesn't even ignore them! Instead, he continues to be kind and to be friendly, greeting everyone he sees and helping out those who need help, and in the end, continues to come out on top by choosing to not hold a grudge the way so many others on the railway do.

What motivates this particular choice, though? I'm hardly the first to speculate on why Edward is the way he is, and others have done and will do far deeper analyses on this point than me, but nonetheless, I'll offer a few ideas. In the context of the TTTE universe, I think that part of Edward's kindness simply stems from being old, wise, and experienced. He's seen engines come and go, and his class replaced and was replaced by another. The engines that are so proud of themselves now will find themselves in his wheels eventually. Plus, it's quite likely that Edward knew of engines who were replaced and eventually scrapped; back then, it wasn't the terrifying thing that it became later in the series because it followed the idea of engines simply living out their full and natural lives. Scrapping and modernization became such threats because even engines who hadn't lived out their service lives were being withdrawn and scrapped, and an early death is much more terrifying to engines than death itself.

But Edward's experience aside, he's well-versed in yard politics. If he causes trouble, then that won't make him friends with either other engines or the management. Edward has, in a sense, been abandoned for being a shy steamer, and unlike the others who are here on trial, this is his home now. They may be being rude to him in his own home, but whining and whinging will get him nowhere, and he's learned that lesson well from watching countless upstart engines be put in their place or live long enough as kings to eventually lose their crowns. He knows he's older, that he's almost lived up to the end of his expected service life, so all he can do is put on a brave face and do his best to prove that he's Useful still.

Outside of the book's context, Edward's character feels very much like an ideal of the upstanding Christian, which makes sense given Awdry's profession. Edward consistently turns the other cheek when people are cruel or rude to him. He stands up for himself through his deeds rather than giving in to anger. And that's a very important lesson to teach young children; being good and kind individuals leads to much better outcomes down the line. Edward feels like an intentional role model by which Awdry could deliver these stories to his son, and keep him as an interesting protagonist who taught important lessons about the importance of being kind and persevering through and despite adversity from both one's friends and family and outsiders. Many of us see Edward as a role model, as someone to aspire to, for this very reason.

The first example of Edward's kindness comes up in the very first story of the Railway Series. The coaches ask Edward to "not bump and bang [them] like the other engines do" (Edward's Day Out). And Edward obliges! He comes up to them "very, very gently" and takes them along. They're so grateful that they say they're glad he's the one who took them out. At the end of the story, he does have a moment where he tells the other engines: "I'm going out again tomorrow[;] what do you think of that?" (Edward's Day Out). Admittedly, this could be seen as slightly snarky, but I think it's moreso coming from a place of genuine excitement and wonder, like "Wow! Finally! Finally, I got to go out, and tomorrow, I get to do it again!" It doesn't feel malicious so much as wanting to share his joy with the others, mostly because he falls asleep right after. If he actually cared about their opinions or being right, he likely would have stayed up to hear them.

In the next story, Edward helps Gordon up the hill, and naturally, is not thanked by Gordon himself, but rather, his driver decides he'll ensure that Edward gets a nice new coat of paint in thanks for his hard work. It's quite clear though that Edward didn't help Gordon out of any expectation of a reward, or even a thank you. He did it because it was the right thing to do, and the driver noticed that. But an even better example of Edward's kindness being notable is in the next book.

After Henry is shut up in the tunnel for being vain, Gordon teases Henry about it, and Edward does not. This is pretty significant because it's rather likely that Henry was one of the engines teasing Edward in the first story:

It's quite likely that that's Henry on the left, there, with Gordon being on the second to right, next to Edward. Plus, looking at all of their smiles compared to Edward's distress, it's clear that Edward is the butt of the joke and everybody's laughing. Thus, it makes it all the more satisfying when Henry and Edward work together to pull the express, and Henry is rewarded with a new coat of paint. He wants a blue and red one, as then, he says, "I'll be like Edward" (Edward, Gordon and Henry). It's just delightful to see how Henry, who had also been unkind to Edward, now strives to be more like him due to acknowledging and seeing the kindness and grace that Edward has shown him even when Edward truly didn't have to. Edward, I think, is much more interested in making friends than remembering faults, and seeing this happen is just proof that his efforts are starting to bear fruit. What he's been doing matters. His kindness has begun paying off. And I think that this is more than enough to prove to him that his efforts AREN'T in vain. That choosing kindness will work. Edward has never been one to shy away from hard work, and this proves that it's both working and worth it.

Now, there's also times when Edward's kindness doesn't particularly help the recipient, and such an example comes in the form of the tale Thomas and the Trucks. Thomas wants to do something other than shunt, so Edward offers to let him take some trucks. However, Thomas doesn't know anything about trucks, and disregards Edward's advice about managing them. Perhaps it was irresponsible of Edward to allow Thomas to take the trucks--it could very well be a lapse in judgement that came about from wanting to do a favor for a younger colleague. However, I would also argue that Edward may not have known that Thomas had never dealt with trucks. When Edward offers, Thomas gives an enthusiastic yes. Plus, Edward clearly takes trucks to and from Barrow (he mentions that he's "got some trucks to take home tomorrow" in Thomas and the Trucks) and in the context of the story, it sounds like Edward isn't always at the same sheds that Thomas is at. Thus, he likely just didn't know that Thomas had no experience with trucks, and did indeed think that he was doing Thomas a solid. The Fat Director not being mad at Edward for his role in the mess also supports this; if he really felt Edward was at fault in any way, he wouldn't have given him compliments.

I think that a lot of the fandom also sleeps on James and the Top-Hat and Troublesome Trucks as great James and Edward stories. While it's true that James the Red Engine is often considered one of W. Awdry's worst, there's still some good moments to be gleaned from it. In the first story, James and Edward double-head a train as James has to get used to working on the railway. He gets steam all over the Fat Director's new hat and immediately wants to run away from his problems, urging Edward and his coaches on so that he can outrace consequences. He gets so overzealous that he accidentally overshoots the station, and he and Edward have to back up. Despite this, and his worsening mood, Edward is encouraging, getting them both up Gordon's Hill, and even tells him a story that causes him to laugh so hard he gets hiccups. Of course, James has to deal with the Fat Director's anger in the end, but it's clear that working with Edward, at least for a little while, brought him some comfort and relief. In Troublesome Trucks, when the coupling snaps on some of James's trucks and he has to figure out how to proceed, Edward offers help, but James refuses, wanting to do it himself. Edward then offers him encouragement throughout it all, and when James finally succeeds, is rewarded for his efforts by the Fat Director. This is an excellent start to James and Edward's friendship, which continues to deepen with time and makes their relationship in future stories such as Old Iron feel that much more organic. James comes onto the NWR as having messed up, by having a fiery debut that lands him in a field, and as seen in other stories, suffers from Gordon and Henry's derision as a result. It's my opinion that with this foundation, Edward's kindness is keenly felt and appreciated, even subconsciously, and pays off in dividends as the series progresses.

From the earliest point in their relationship, Edward is encouraging and kind, seeing James's attitude as a deep, genuine desire to do well and fear of being unable to live up to expectations. Edward knows those feelings! He's felt them keenly himself! And this is another reason why he chooses kindness: Edward has developed a keen eye for people (and engines). He has a good sense of how they're feeling, and why they may be acting the way they do. He can empathize with a lot of what everyone's going through, and that also makes it easier to choose kindness. After all, none of these engines are truly bad people. They can be arrogant and stubborn, but that comes with youth and prestige more than anything, and Edward has seen plenty of that smoothed away with time.

The last example I'll give is that of Edward and Skarloey in Skarloey Remembers. Edward knows Skarloey well, from bringing him passengers way back when, and seeing him looking worse for wear in an open-sided shed, stops to talk to him. He invites Skarloey to talk about his line and just reminisce for a while, because he knows that's what the other needs. Not to mention that he and Skarloey are on the same page about a lot of things; it's nice talking to a fellow older engine who just gets it. It's also very telling that Edward was chosen to introduce Skarloey and the Skarloey Railway; he's the best listener and it makes sense that he would have history with Skarloey. Just by listening and being invested in other engines' lives and things that they care about is he able to make genuine and meaningful connections with other engines, because Edward has learned that by listening to people, people will generally start also listening to you. It's another subtle expression of kindness that helps him connect with others and be part of their lives, and I get the sense that's really what Edward wants.

Part of Edward's idea of feeling Useful is not being lonely. He knows what loneliness is. He felt it when the Furness abandoned him on Sodor by selling him for cheap and essentially telling him to not bother coming home. He knows the shape of loneliness from staring at the other engines coming and going, never being chosen, his boiler cold. And so, when he sees other engines at their lowest, at their loneliest, when they feel foolish and without any support, he extends his kindness. He extends his empathy and support. He has been there, and wouldn't wish the same on any other engine. And he has seen how kindness pays off--perhaps not in the short term, but always in the long run. Edward's wisdom comes from one who has seen and experienced too much, and has worked hard to receive the love that he has. The world may be cruel to humans and engines alike, but that's what makes Edward's choice to be kind all the more meaningful--his kindness is given freely and rewarded handsomely, in ways both big and small.

Edward reminds us of what it means to be at our best. And it is that which makes Edward stand out for so many of us, 40 years on, as the kind of person we want to be some day.

Happy birthday, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, and a very, very happy birthday to you, Edward <3 Dry rails, and good running!!