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The Characters who were in the books, however never made
it to the TV screens, by Ryan and Christopher
WILBERT THE FOREST ENGINE
Wilbert lives in the Forest Of Dean Railway, and named after The Rev. W. Awdry.
He was glad to help at Sodor when Donald and Douglas couldn’t manage the goods work alone, when he found his line too
short. However, he temporarily had to help out on Thomas’ Line when Percy had an incident with some porridge, but went
to Duck’s line afterward to help Donald and Douglas. He’s a stronger engine than he seems and is very organised
when handling difficult, hard jobs.
SIXTEEN
(16)
A main character from
a story Wilbert told. Sixteen worked in a steelworks where he kept the same routine for most of his working life, stopping
in the same place each day. He thought he knew better and often tried to pass the DANGER board
without success. However, he took advantage of a damp day and slid beyond it, only to end up “cab over
wheels”. Sixteen was sent to the back of the shed, but was apparently saved following his accident
and went on to live on a preserved railway in the Midlands.
IVO HUGH
(Skarloey Engine No7)
Ivo Hugh was built by the Skarloey Railway to help out with the
additional traffic that has come to the line over the years. He was named after the Chief Engineer of the Maintenance
Crew, Mr Hugh, who thought it a great honour to have an engine named after him. Not much is known of his personality
of the new engine as he only featured on the last page of the last book of the Railway Series thus far to feature the Skarloey
Railway.
NEIL
Built in the 1860s , Neil was part of the Sodor
and Mainland Railway and helped to ferry Skarloey from the port of Kirkronan to his home at the Skarloey Railway terminus
of Crovan's Gate. Very little is known of the engine, or what happened to it following the amalgamation of the S&M
with the other railways on Sodor to become the NWR and fell under the control of Sir Topham Hatt. Undoubtedly the engine
was most probably scrapped when deemed to be outdated or incapable of dealing with the more modern day workloads.
FLYING SCOTSMAN
The last surving locomotive of the A3 class, (with the exception
of Gordon), and the first locomotive to go 100 Miles Per Hour came to Sodor in 1968 prior to being shipped to America
for a number of years by owner Alan Pegler. Flying Scotsman proved popular with the engines, however, did spark a little
jealousy with Henry, who proved envious of his two tenders! He provided Gordon and the others reassurance at a time
when steam on the mainland was officially being abolished in favour of modern Diesel traction. Flying Scotsman is now
out of private ownership and was bought by the National Railway Museum in York in April 2004.
ALBERT
Albert is an engine who ran with Victoria on the now preserved
Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway back in the days of the Furness Railway. He is recalled by Victoria
as being similar to Thomas in his way, generally polite and well-mannered, but with a tendancy to be boastful and cocky.
This got him into trouble when he made too much noise leaving a station, and ended up covered in snow! Needless to say,
it made him a far more humble engine!
199 - Spamcan
199 came from the Other Railway along
with 7101, and managed to cause uproar in the sheds amongst the engines. But during his
stay, the arrogant Diesel failed, which led to Henry having to form a “Super Rescue” by hauling
both him and 7101 and their trains to the nearest station.
Diesel 199 was terribly embarrassed—he
was called names from “Spamcan” to “Old Reliable”, and thus was sent home immediately.
BEAR
Bear started out in life as an engine on the Other Railway, numbered 7101,
who came to Sodor along with 199 for a loan period. He did not approve of his companion's comments toward the engines
they were staying with and duly told him so.
During a run with the Limited, in which ironically both Diesels failed and
had to be brought home by Henry, 7101 struck up a friendship with the big green engine and won a second chance with the Fat
Controller. The other engines gave him the nickname of Bear because of the way his engine growled, although this
cannot be helped, Bear doesn't mind and accepts the nickname as a term of endearment.
OLD STUCK UP
This haughty visitor was very rude
about the steam engines, who complained that they were “dirty, slow Smokey things”. The visitor
then refused to share a shed with the engines and opted to sleep outside instead. However, when he did have to use the
shed's Diesel facilities, he came a cropper and slid on the oily rails and crashed through the back of
the wall.
PIP &
EMMA
Philippa (or Pip for short) and Emma are an Intercity High Speed train, who were brought to stand
in for Gordon when he took a special to Charlsie. Although that they suffered problems when they tried to help, the other
engines took an instant liking to their kindness they received from them. Following Privatisation, the Fat Controller
has decided to buy Pip and Emma and use them for work on his Railway to allow for a faster service on Express trains.
These Small Railway Engines were brought
to Sodor when the railway in England closed. Their line starts from Arlesdale, the top
station of Duck’s branch Line, and goes into the hillsides when they collect ballast from the quarries. The Fat Controller
uses this ballast for his railway.
REX
Rex is painted green and has a remarkable
personality. He’s cheeky and thinks himself as a “know-it-all” which has once or twice landed him
in trouble such as when he did the wool runs and ended up on his side. Strangely
he and Mike enjoy teasing each other, especially when Rex mentioned that when they were painted red, passengers thought he
was Mike!
BERT
Bert the blue engines is younger
than Mike and Rex, and is often bossed about by either of them. He’s a good worker, but can be rather temperamental
if not maintained properly, as shown by his reaction to being splashed by the Fat and Thin Clergymen when they came to visit
the Small Railway! Since his last book appearance, Bert has undergone a rebuild to look more like a proper narrow gauge
engine, similar to Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway counterpart - River Irt.
MIKE
Mike is red and is a very conceited
and haughty little engine indeed! He thinks he’s the best engine to run the line, and doesn’t let the others
forget it! However, he considers himself as a goods engine as he enjoys pulling trucks rather than passengers.
He finds the coaches and passengers to be awkward, and prefers the peace of pulling a train of ballast trucks instead.
FRANK
Frank is the only Diesel engine on
the Arlesdale Railway who is mentioned so far in the books, the others are listed below. He tends to get grumpy
if he doesn’t get what he wants and his bad behaviour often lands him in a sticky spot, much like when he never appeared
in a previous Small Railway volume, and felt left out. But he’s actually a kind-hearted engine who knows how important
teamwork is on a railway, and is always on-hand to help out and do his duty regardless.
JOCK
Jock is the newest engine on the
Line, from having been built to help out of Rex, Bert Mike fail or if Frank can’t manage their work alone. He was named
“Jock” thanks to an idea by Douglas, who mentioned that the engines he saw ion the Highlands were painted yellow and
were called “Jocks”. He’s a much harder worker and can pull heavier trains than the others, but
is always willing to lend a buffer in an emergency.
The Mountain Engines featured in their only Railway Series book in Book 19,
aptly named Mountain Engines! The main focus centered around three characters, being Culdee (4), Lord
Harry (6) and briefly, Godred (1).
Culdee was the friendly,
cheerful and charasmatic engine within the stories, always showing initiative and being careful whilst doing his duties.
He was a long stander within the railway, alongside engines such as Ernest (2) and Wilfred
(3). Recently their railway had been graced with three new engines, and were sending the older engines away to
be mended in Switzerland. Two of these new arrivals, Alaric (7) and Eric
(8) had turned out to be quite nice engines and fit in well with the current standing engines.
However, the third, Lord Harry (6), was proving to be a bit
of a handful. He was rough with the coaches and highly reckless on his journies up the mountain. The manager soon
made him see sense by taking away his name, only for No.6 to redeem himself later by doing a heroic
rescue. As a reward, he was given the name Patrick after the man he rescued.
Although
Patrick was fortunate enough to be given a second chance, Godred wasn't quite
as lucky. He was wrecked in an unfortunate accident descending from the summit and never rebuilt, much like his counterpart
Ladas on the Snowdon Mountain Railway in Wales.
You
may be wondering, what about No.5? According to The Island of Sodor, the fifth locomotive's
name is Shane Dooiney. The reason he never appeared in the book the other engines featured in was because
he wasn't there! Due to the rotation of engines being sent to the Works in Switzerland, it was his turn to go prior
to when Culdee returned and when Alaric arrived, and so missed out on his opportunity
to appear. Shane Dooiney was the last engine to make the long journey across the continent, and since
then, the engines have been sent to Crovan's Gate works, which is now fully equipped to deal with all manner of locomotives,
as opposed to previously.
ISABEL THE AUTO COACH
Isabel was due for scrap along with Oliver
and Toad, but escaped along with them in search of a new life on Sodor. She and Oliver worked together
on his branch line previously and still do now with the addition of another coach, Dulcie whom the Fat Controller
rescued for work on Duck's Branch Line, along with another two, whom he gave to Duck, being
Alice and Mirabel.
VICTORIA THE VINTAGE COACH
Victoria once worked on the Furness Railway with another coach
called Helena, and an engine called Albert. However, when she was taken out of service, she was later made into a garden
shed and found her way on to the Island of Sodor. It was there that Thomas found her, and suggested the Fat Controller
restore her to help Toby and Henrietta to transport Quarry Workers. Victoria now runs in full Furness Railway colours
and is really useful again!
THE SKARLOEY RAILWAY COACHES
Agnes, Ruth, Jemima, Lucy and Beatrice
are the stalwarts of the Skarloey Railway coaches. They were built to carry the first passengers on
the line and still see regular service on the line today. Agnes is the first class coach, Ruth,
Lucy and Jemima are all third class and Beatrice is the guard's van.
They were supplemented in the 1950s by new coaches, such as Cora, Ada,
Jane, Gertuide and Millicent. The last two have become firm favourites of Sir Handel's
as they have bogie wheels, he feels they are better to pull!
CATHERINE THE MOUNTAIN COACH
Catherine has an important role to play on the
Mountain Railway. Since engines have to push their coaches up, it is her job to see ahead and warn of any danger.
She has a good working relationship with Culdee and the two make great companions as they take visitors to the top of Culdee
Fell.
THE SMALL CONTROLLER
Contrary to what is presented as fact on the TV series, there is
actually more than one person involved in running the railways on Sodor. Mr Fergus Duncan is the Small
Controller, nicknamed so as he is in charge of the Small Railway at Arlesdale. He was appointed
by both the Fat and Thin Controllers to run the line so they could get the supplies of ballast that reside in the hills on
his line. And despite his nickname, he is actually taller than the other
two Controllers on the Island!
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| The Thin Controller |
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| Sir Handel Brown |
SIR HANDEL BROWN & MR PETER SAM
Mr Peter Sam is the Thin Controller,
in charge of the Skarloey Railway and its engines. Unlike the Fat Controller, we also find that the Thin Controller
works beneath another man, being the owner of the Railway, Sir Handel Brown II, who inherited the Railway
from his father before him. The owner isn't around very often with other duties to attend to, so he leaves the
running operations to the Thin Controller. (While the Thin Controller does now appear
in the TV Series, he is otherwise known as Mr Percival.)
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| Rev Awdry |
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| Rev Teddy Boston |
THE FAT AND THIN CLERGYMEN
Don't those two Railway Enthusiasts look familiar? Funny
enough, they should be to Railway Series fans. The men in the picture are no other than the Reverends Wilbert
Awdry and Teddy Boston, otherwise known as the Thin and Fat
Clergyman. Toward the end of his books, Awdry began adding himself and good friend Teddy into infrequent
books. They featured firstly in Small Railway Engines as a pair of enthusiasts taking photographs,
and then again with the same set of characters in Duke The Lost Engine, where they helped to find
Duke with the view to repatriate the lost locomotive.
FRED
(Skarloey Engine No.9)
Very little is known about Fred's character, but he is a Hunslet
0-4-0 Diesel who arrived on the Skarloey Railway in 1989 from the National Coal Board as a secondary Diesel locomotive.
He is a hybrid of the best parts of two machines, with a maximum speed of 9MPH and used exclusively for engineering work on
the Railway. Fred made his first appearance in the book New Little Engine, but was only mentioned briefly when
he wouldn't take a weedkiller train!
SIGRID OF ARLESDALE
(Arlesdale Railway Diesel)
The most we know of Sigrid of Arlesdale is what was put in the Island of Sodor
book. She was built in 1969 with a Hydraulic engine, replaced by a Perkins later on, from plans made by the Small
Controller, Ivan Farrier. Sigrid is one of the four Diesel locomotives on the Arlesdale Railway and was named
after a Sudrian heroine from the 11th Century who secured the defeat of the Norman Invasion in 1094.
BLISTER I and BLISTER II
(Arlesdale Railway Diesels)
These two engines are four wheeled tractor units which are used
for maintenance and shunting duties on the Small Railway, but originally brought in for line construction. Their nickname
of "Blisters" was given to them by the staff due to the starting difficulties on cold mornings!
Like Sigrid of Arlesdale, these characters were not shown in the
books, despite their counterpart, Jock, being first realised in the "Island of Sodor" and being thrust into the limelight
with his own volume later on, with a new Diesel, Frank, who ironically never appeared in the Island of Sodor book, which
probably explains his disgruntled mood at the beginning of the first story in Jock's book! Overlooked twice!
STANLEY
(Mid Sodor No2)
To cast aside the TV Series guise of "Smudger", Stanley, was the proper
name for the Mid Sodor Railway's engine Number 2. He was a Baldwin locomotive bought following World War one, like
many of his own design sold off to private Railways, and proved not to be as useful as hoped. With several attempts
to resolve the derailment faults, he was instead turned into a pumping engine at Arlesdale Works and then moved further up
to Cas-ny-hawin Mine. He broke down in 1946 and the following year, the mine flooded, meaning the end of the Railway.
Most likely, Stanley was scrapped following his final breakdown, and very little is known past this point.
THE "OTHER" MID SODOR ENGINES
Mine Engine, Jerry, Jim, Tim and Alfred were all supposed members of the
Mid Sodor Railway, whom served alongside Duke, Falcon and Stuart in the line's heyday. These engines were mentioned
in passing in the Island of Sodor as having been in existence, but never called upon by name. But whilst
the engines were there up until 1935, when many of the line's stock was sold off, nothing is known of their existence further
to that. Pictures of these locomotives on the Mid Sodor Railway layout are available here at Martin Clutterbuck's site, as well as a detailed look at the History of the Mid Sodor Railway.
98462 & 87546
The Rev Awdry received correspondance about the two other engines
in the shed in The Three Railway Engines, children were aware that the other four were Gordon, Henry, Edward and
perhaps James, so Awdry often found himself conjouring up little stories to satisfy the curiosity of these children.
He explained that the two engines in the shed had no names, but only numbers, those being of course - 98462 and 87546.
He explained to the children that they were both rude and nasty to the other engines, and they were sent away accordingly
by the Fat Controller, and as a further punishment, the Reverend never put them into any of his stories because
of their bad behaviour.
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