The Sudrians: The Archive Collection

Tank Engine

The Island of Sodor is surrounded by beautiful blue sea. It has fields of green and sandy yellow beaches. There are rivers, hills and trees that cover areas of vast valleys.

But there's also lots of railway lines, and I dare say there is for this small island, three of these railways from Sodor would become the North Western Railway that is fully connected from one side of the island, to the other. I myself was to take the normal passenger or goods trains whilst the older engines worked with constructing the mainline. There were many engines who had once ran on the three standard gauge railways. There was the Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsbridge Light Railway engines - it was a mouthful for all us - three of the first engines were coffee-pot engines, with vertical boilers and sometimes, would have dirty water spurt out of them, which gave them the name coffee-pots. The first one was called Glynn; he was the oldest of the bunch and was wise and kind but joked up a lot and was a fierce defender to rude engines. The next two I never saw as much since they oversaw looking after the branch lines, but their names were Claire and Jane. The last one was different from the rest, the same railway where I came from and his name was Samson, he was the worse out of them, extremely proud, yet extremely rude to others.

Then there was the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway engines, they were colourful trio they were. The first one engine was Benjamin, you'd say he was the complete opposite to Glynn, young and very oblivious to his surroundings, but a sweet engine nonetheless. Then there was Anne, she was probably one of the most incredible female engines I have ever had the pleasure to meet. She was caring and responsible, maybe took too much pride in her work but a proper lady. The last one of the trio was George, he was surprisingly the oldest one out of the three yet was very arrogant and rash engine, but a good worker all the same.

Lastly, there was the Sodor and Mainland Railway engines. Five of them there was, the first three was were box-like engines, the first one was Roger, he was very kind and showed just as much wisdom as Glynn, then there was Neil, he was just like his brother, kind but proved to be a little gruff at times. Then there was Clive, he was young and naive but meant well all the same. The next two were quite different indeed, the next one was an engine called Whiff, he wasn't that good of an engine, he could only pull small trains and couldn't see well. The other engine apparently made the company go bankrupt when buying her, she was called Emily and was a Sterling Single from the Great Northern Railway. I could definitely see why the S&M went under after seeing Emily, she was one of the bigger engines, though she had a good heart, she was a bit stereotypical with how railways should run and was a bit vain.

Both I and the midland engine were kept at the soon-to-be main terminus and headquarters of the North Western, which was Vicarstown. I was glad that the midland engine was with me, and we soon became good friends and chatted all night, with George and Emily always trying to shut us up from each side of the shed so they could rest. Soon, I was taken to the town of Crovan's Gate where my driver drove me into a big building, it looked like a shed to me, but then I realised it was a workshop, with rolling stock and other mechanical things being repaired or built. The fireman cooled down my fire and I was sitting on one of the lines, patiently waiting.  Then workmen came up to me and placed lots of paint pots next to me.

"Am I getting repainted?" I asked curiously.

"Indeed," replied my driver, "you'll be in a bright blue, close to a cyan shade I believe. Its the NWR wanting it's passenger livery to look bright and attractive to the people on the platform."

"I see," I replied, "will the others manage on their own?"

"Don't worry about them!" laughed the fireman, "the railway is almost complete anyways, and the director wants you to be put on permanent passenger work right after your repaint, so you won't really help them at all!"