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Analysis:
Episode 14 marked a real change in the direction of the series –
darker, moodier and most definitely a forewarning of that to come. The lighting of the episode, the snow falling and the general
layout of the set marked a real departure in the series' design, the sheds lit up at night, and properly, for the first time.
The minor event of the episode comes with Hawk's departure. The plucky
pannier tank engine has proved a most popular character, and was rewarded for his entertaining stay at Copley Hill with a
dedication in the end credits - “Hawk lives on” refers to his real life counterpart: Hawksworth Pannier Tank number
9400, which is preserved at the STEAM museum in Swindon.
Many people have written in to ask whether Hawk will come back to
the current series. The answer is no, on the grounds that to write Hawk into the series in the first place, stretched the
bounds of history slightly (although there are fair and logical reasons behind the borrowing of the Pannier Tank – including
that a batch of the engines was built in Leeds, where the series is based), to keep him throughout the series would make the
character nonsensical.
Hawk will return, but not in “The End of the L.N.E.R”.
Meanwhile, the main plot of the story concerns Nigel the V3 tank engine.
Tired, grumpy, he is taken to the out of use siding by a naïve and unsuspecting Gronk. This plot is not dissimilar in how
it is played to Episode 6, but with a fundamental difference: Nigel gets a reprieve, only because there is a spare cylinder
and boiler available. In future, none of the engines will be quite so lucky...
Episode 14 was the last of the three Christmas
2008 episodes, which in essence, formed a quartet which started in Episode 11. Firstly, the yard gains its first real diesel
character – Gronk, which is the first indication of life on the railway starting to change. Secondly, it becomes clear
that the characters are not going to be immune from the scrap man for much longer.
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