#ttte loaners

[sparkarrestor]

My First Story

I wrote this like 2 years ago, and have only now rewrote it for an au that I haven't touched in a while lol.

TL;DR Sodor is more industrialized, the pre-NWR railways are more prosperous, and industries are backdated. It's all mainly inspired by Sudrian Histories so go check that out.

Please enjoy and please be nice lol.

The Loaned Engines

  Edward the Blue Engine was, to put it simply, exhausted. Being one of the NWR’s only tender engines, he was frequently used, and frequently tired. Now don’t get him wrong, he had been expecting hard work, (It was much better that sitting in the shed out-of-use back on the Furness), but this was more akin to being run into the ground. He had to deal with Express trains, boat trains, light goods work (which he had to shunt himself) and even the evening mail train! The only other tender engines were Crovan and Varian, though Edric was converted from a tank engine, and he wasn’t fast enough for most of Edward’s trains, and with Crovan and Varian already busy with goods trains, almost exclusively double-heading, this left the newly-painted blue engine in a bad mood, though he tried to hide it as much as he could.

“Oh - I hope the Director can get some more engines loaned in!” said Edward in the sheds that night, “I am EXHAUSTED”

“You and me both!”said Rognvald, a tank engine from the old WSR,“These yards are extremely difficult to handle right now…. And that’s not even mentioning the station and the coaches and the bloody stupid workmen and the rude foreign engines who always seem to have an opinion and-”

“‘Vald, your rambling again”

“.......sorry Edward, it - it's just a lot right now…”

“ Well besides” , continued Edward, “Isn’t Thomas helping out?”

“ Pah!--the idiot does more harm than help. He gets on my nerves far to easily”

“ Now, now, he isn’t that bad-”

“ NOT THAT BAD - but of course you would say that, you're the only one he listens to for some reason!”

“ Well….anyways, I have to leave for the mail, bye ‘Vald! ”

Rognvald only gave a grunt in reply. It was a good thing he did have to leave, or else he would have said some very bad words just then…..

The Fat Director came the next day. He had important news that all the engines would be thankful for. Though he considered just leaving then and there when he had trouble getting everybody’s attention….

“ SILENCE! ”, he bellowed at last.

“ Now then, now that I finally have your attention, I am very pleased to announce that the LNWR, Highland railway, and Great Central have agreed to loan us some big engines to help us out! They will be arriving in a few days, and I expect you all to give them a warm welcome and if you all ruin this in any way I will. go. Feral. …. Now have a good day! ”

He left for the station cafe.

“He said that all in one breath…”

A few days later, Edward was shunting some coaches. He dropped them off in the carriage sidings and made his way back to the sheds. He was mildly surprised to see 4 large engines simmering outside the sheds. Two were painted green, with red-and-white lining and red frames to match. One was a darker green with long splashers, and the last was painted Black. All of them were just lazing about with differing expressions on their faces.

‘Must be the loaned engines’ He thought. ‘I should go introduce myself!’

“Hullo!”

The engines looked at him. The black engine was unamused and frowned, the dark green engine was angry at something, and the green engines looked mildly intrigued.

At last,  the black engines spoke.

“Who are you, exactly? We were told that this No-Where railway’s main passenger engine was to arrive here. Are you covering for him or something? Also, you really need to be cleaned, I mean you are filthy!”

“And tiny as well!” Said the larger green engine.

Edward frowned. He did not have the energy for this.

“ I am the main passenger engine, I’ll have you know! I’m Ed-”

“ You can’t be serious...”

The look on her facing was one of disgust and disbelief, and was shared with the larger green engine. The dark green engine was annoyed and the smaller green engine thought it was a great joke.

Before Edward could reply, the Black engine spoke again.

“It’s no wonder that your Directors had to beg for us to come here, if they have tiny things like you running around!”

“Yeah!”said the larger green engine, “ You’re ancient, I mean, you look 40 years old! ”

“ I’ll have you know that I’m only 25! ”

“Whatever ya say blueberry…”

“ BLUEBERRY ”

“Aight that's it-SHUT UP”

All three arguing engines looked at the dark green engine. She looked livid.

“ Ahm no’ dealin’ wit this right now. I’m fookin’ tired, I’m angry, and I’m at some fookin’ railway in the boonies where their best engine is a blueberry-”

“ I say!- ”

“ Now I'm goin’ tae go take ah nap. Don’t talk tae me fer the next few hours unless ya want meh tae run ya into the shed wall.”

With that, she reversed into the sheds.

The smaller green engine soon began snickering.

“ That. Was. Hilarious! Honestly, I can tell I’m gonna have a good time here! Now, since Miss Green-bean is done, I’m gonna go find something else to do! See ya real soon blueberry!”

With that, she left for the yards.

Only the black engine and big green engine were left, but Edward decided that he was just too tired for this right now, and left, leaving the two engines alone.

He made his way to a siding nearby the station to rest when he saw Thomas.

“ Hullo Edward! ” called Thomas. He then saw the expression on Edwards face.

“ What's wrong? ”

“ The loaned engines ”, Edward replied, before he promptly went to sleep in the carriage sheds. 

He knew the next few months would be so tiring. Thomas, who actually picked up on what Edward really meant, frowned.

#ttte #ttte edward #ttte thomas #ttte loaners #ttte ocs #No-Where Railway #All of their basis's changed like several times over #lol #Hope you all enjoyed #ttte au #Spark Writes

[whumpster-fire]

Headcanons about RWS/TTTE characters' idea of geographic identity, inspired by an earlier thread about engines identifying with their class vs railway vs works location vs country or state.

Thomas I think sees himself as a Sudrian engine through and through. Whatever interesting circumstances brought him to the NWR by accident, they happened very early in his life, and the best I can tell it seems like he's a weird experimental E2 with a shortened wheelbase or something? So possibly he was always intended to be shipped off somewhere else for the war effort. Instead he found himself on a railway full of leased engines and ones inherited from the railways merged into the NWR.

Edward was built in Scotland, but if you asked him I think he'd say he was a Furness Railway engine, and he supposed English if it came down to it - not necessarily out of any stigma against being Scottish but because of a sense that his home was more important than his birthplace. However looking at the roster of F.R. Engines... jeez, there's a lot of Sharp, Stewart, and Co. and North British Locomotive Company engines. Makes me think maybe the F.R. had more Scottish influence than Edward ever realized because he went from Glasgow to a railway full of other Glasgow-built engines from the same works as him. He's an engine of the NWR now, but Edward had to watch his railway slowly die to grouping from right next door, and he certainly considers the few other surviving Furness engines family.

Henry, like Thomas, uhh... doesn't feel much connection to his roots. He was a one-off, and given that whoever built him was using stolen Gresley plans but due to some combination of being built from drawings that weren't built by Gresley for a reason and his builders changing things to make it less obvious that they ripped off Gresley without knowing what they were doing, they messed him up. I imagine there was some... secrecy around his construction and he was not really socialized with other engines at whatever sketchy shop built him or on any railway, until they managed to offload him to some desperate sucker in a top hat who'd take any cheap engine.

However, Henry then ended up around Gordon, who's a proud Gresley Doncaster Engine, and probably a bunch of the early-NWR loaners had siblings they were built alongside back on their home lines. Pre-rebuild I imagine he felt like he was missing out on that sense of belonging and missed being a proper brother to Gordon. So aside from physically being healed by his Crewe rebuild, I think Henry really liked having a proper "Works Family," and would have stayed in touch with them. Sadly I'm not sure who among those are still around - it looks like while a bunch of Black 5s were preserved the only Crewe one not built in the 1940s was No. 5000, who was built in March 1935 and would probably have been out the door very shortly after Henry arrived.

Gordon is the one out of the first six NWR engines who feels the strongest connection with his Works. Gordon takes his "family name" and heritage quite seriously, not just out of gloryhound tendencies but because he was a prototype who was never given a proper number on his railway and essentially used for testing, but he was there for a couple years and got to interact with his siblings before going to Sodor.

James on the other hand, despite having like a decade-long career on the LY&R and then a couple years on the LMS, really doesn't feel connected to it or the Works that built him. James was an experimental prototype like Henry, Gordon, and Thomas, that was offloaded to the NWR for cheap, but James is a deeply insecure and status-conscious engine, and even if I think he was in denial that his design was deemed unsuccessful and the LMS didn't want him for a long, long time, he subconsciously knew. He's an engine who really wanted individuality but was treated like a bog-standard goods engine. Then he got a rebuild that made him "special" and "improved," but instead of being treated like that he was painted black (i.e. the cheapest paint color and the one that dirt doesn't show up on so you don't have to clean an engine as often) and given wooden brake blocks. Honestly the more I think about his pre-Sodor history the more I'm convinced that so much of what's wrong with James is trauma-related. He's desperate to be one of the "important" engines and to be valued and cared about, and I'm suspicious that it's in large part because he was not worth maintaining properly to his previous owners.

And the thing is, James is an engine who reacts to any slight against his ego with defensiveness and anger. I think out of anyone in the main NWR fleet James would feel resentment towards his old railway and builders, and if pressed say they didn't deserve to have his name associated with them.

Percy is the weird little industrial franken-engine who was sold and modified and rebuilt so many times that he doesn't know what he is anymore. I think before Sodor he didn't really have enough of a connection with anywhere to think of it as "home," and he had friends at his various old workplaces but no real family until he came to Sodor.

Then I think there's kind of a cultural divide, where in one way or another most of the early-NWR engines acquired pre-nationalization other than perhaps Edward think of themselves kind of like adopted children - whether they were given up at "birth" like Thomas or Henry, at an early age like Gordon, bounced around like Percy or were tossed aside like James. But post-nationalization they started getting steam engines who'd had much longer careers and had a home railway, and felt more like immigrants or refugees from somewhere else.

Toby I think still identifies with the tramway and harbor where he used to work with his siblings, and out of anyone on the NWR he might be most likely to refer to himself as English.

Duck is, of course, Great Western. He at the very least, even if this isn't universal GWR Culture, believes Railway is more important than Works or Country to an engine's identity, and would strongly discourage making distinctions between the many batches of 5700-Class engines based on whether they were built at Swindon or somewhere else. He became even more of a GWR Patriot after Nationalization, and in his mind if he resents anyone it's the British Rail "outsiders" who took over and messed up his perfectly good railway.

Donald and Douglas are, of course, Scottish. Not Caledonian Railway, even though that was their origin, Scottish. Which kinda makes sense because even if they originated on the Caledonian Railway and were part of it for over a decade, most of their 50-year pre-Sodor lives were spent Post-Grouping on the LMS, and then on the Scottish Region of British Rail.

Oliver is also Great Western, but I agree with others who've said he seems less attached to that identity than Duck, possibly due in part to another decade of being on BR and being officially withdrawn and marked for scrap. Like, he enjoys having the Little Western, but if Duck wasn't on the NWR or he'd escaped to some other heritage line where he was the sole ex-GWR engine I think he might have just gone "I'm part of your railway now."

But what about the diesels? Uhh... I think post-Nationalization because classes of engines were built in multiple locations and sent all over BR, and many classes were big, there was much less regional or railway or even in some cases class identity. Engines from smaller classes might consider all their classmates siblings, but larger classes such as the Class 08s might not. I don't know if Diesel or Mavis would consider a Class 08 or Class 04 built in a different batch at a different works to be family.

...and then there's America, and uhh, I think locational/cultural/regional identity in the US would be at just as much of a clusterfuck for American locomotives as for humans.

#railway series fandom #headcanons

[brhater]

Ttte oc: Lucy NWR #27

Lucy is a Gresley k1 (later k2) built in 1911 for the GNR and numbered 1636 at Doncaster. She as very old connections to the NWR as she was a loaner engine send to the NWR in 1916 to help with war time traffic she was one of the few loaners that was not sent back asap for bad behaviour but because she was recalled to the GNR as they had need for and where not willing to sell her to the NWR. But during her time on Sodor she made a very important connection this being that she took an older sister like role for Thomas who was at this time still very much in need of some more permanent presences in his life that where willing to help him but more on that some other time. After she left Sodor she bounced around the GNR, LNER and BR where she lasted until early 1960 when she was supposed to be withdrawn from service but instead was transferred to the NWR on orders from sir topham Hart 2 who heard of her from his father who kept tabs on her in hope of having her join the fleet when she became available. She arrived back in may 1960 where she was assigned Tidmouth MPD for mainline mixed traffic work where she has stayed at ever since. With the operational history over time for her character: her name gives a short view on her behaviour being the workmens version of calling her lucifer as she can be aright old devil a least verbally with people who annoy her with a very foul mouth to boot but this is only when she is annoyed other times she is a very kind and but mischievous engine most of these traits have also been picked up by Thomas much to everyone’s displeasure.

_________________

Trivia/meta facts

1. Thomas is in my AU a j50/1.

2. Lucy was inspired by @mean-scarlet-deceiver OC Linda who’s role is a pretty nice one

_________________

Let me know if you enjoyed this as I have more HC stuff to share

#ttte #ttte fandom #ttte oc #ttte headcanon

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

Why the hell is Thomas, supposedly a LB&SCR engine, on Sodor?

That's a long trek! Plus, E2s are way bigger than Thomas is portrayed in every iteration of canon!

The second thing can be explained away as "major rebuild" (I suppose—it's still weird), but the first is a pretty big strain on belief.

Here are some of the options:

Thomas was being sent to the front but his ship called at Tidmouth and his crew just rolled him right off into the docks. The NWR was in a state of half-built chaos and desperately needed engines, so no one questioned too hard what tf Thomas and his crew were doing hanging 'round so long as they were making themselves useful.

Young Thomas stowed away on a long-distance train out of his home depot wanting to see the world and/or show up whatever engines were currently teasing him. He managed to finagle odd jobs in the chaos of war preparation until he wound up on Sodor.

STH is plain lying about Thomas being an E2. It's an amazing bit of cheek. I'm thinking in this case Thomas is something close and handy, maybe a Johnson 2411 class or a contractor engine, and when his owners tracked him down to Vicarstown FC1 just bald-facedly claimed that this was an LB&SCR engine that had been sent to them for war service, sorry about your lost engine, if you have any posters we're happy to put them up. They were infuriated but Thomas had already been modded so much that they couldn't prove his identity.

Bonus to that: STH made it legal with the LB&SCR, who knew there were shenanigans afoot but who just shrugged and accepted his five hundred pounds or whatever for an engine they knew very well they hadn't lost.

Variant: There is also the @tethrendevez explanation!

For the "lying to his owners" theory I did not propose the obvious alt of Thomas as a Furness G5, if only because I can't see even FC1 having the chutzpah to try gaslighting his next-door neighbors. But consider: Thomas was a G5, but in 1960 he was embiggened in the post-breakfast rebuild. FC2 decided to have him rebuilt to look like a somewhat plausible LB&SCR E2... so that they could request that BR send one or two of these soon-to-be-withdrawn engines to them gratis for Thomas's "spare parts." The beaten, frightened engines arrived to find their mysterious long-lost brother was... just some northern sidetank rando winking at them and saying that he hoped they didn't mind being rushed off their wheels at their new assignments!

The North Western was one of the odd railways that were then air-braked, so when the Admiralty decided they needed to be loaned locomotives they sent some engines from railways like the LB&SCR that would be compatible with their stock.

Bonus to the above: Annie, Clarabel, and probably similar coaches were also donated during this time, being themselves air-fitted.

Thanks to @joezworld for helping spark this post.

#the furness and midland engines who are said to have been loaned in the early years were not air-braked #it's possible they had to be sent with dedicated coaches and trucks? #that was the start of sodor's transition to vacuum? #alternately these loaners could have been modded to be air-braked #the railway series #this is ttte #thomas the tank engine #ttte thomas #the fat controller #ttte heaadcanon #ttte analysis #ttte lore

[sparkarrestor]

No-Where Railway OCs Part 1: The Loaners

So right I as I posted my first story for No-Where Railway (Unique AU name I know), i realized that you all only have vague ideas of the basis's for the loaned engines. Not even their names lol.

So I ought to change that.

Their basis's have changed like ten times since I created this AU lol, so I hope this is the final version of them. I'm sorry if it isn't.

Also all the loaners stick around in my AU, the NWR does way better in the cash department. That still doesn't mean their well off, just not poor. And FC1 is still a cheapskate because of course he is.

Vivienne (The Black Engine)

An LNWR Claughton 4-6-0. Specifically No.13 "Vindictive" because I think it's cool and the name fits her in her personallity. She is very stuck up and rude. The LNWR was at one time the biggest joint-stock company in the world and one the the major railways in the UK before the 1923 grouping, so she usually complains that she's been "cast away from paradise to the outskirts of civilization". She's kinda like Heather Chandler from Heathers in both personality and voice.

She is also the last engine to mellow out after she gets purchased full-time, and she is still kinda a bitch going into the 1950s.

Sebastian (The Large Green Engine)

A Great Central Railway Class 9P. I originally didn't have any GCR locos but they proved to be very good lookers so yeah lol. Very similar to Vivienne in personality, but thats mostly because he's more of a follower anyways. Theres like a weird sybling dynamic between the two I suppose, and Seb tries to be more of a dick (He already kinda was one) to be like her. It's kinda like he's the younger brother that always tries to impress his older sister. In return, Vivienne treats him like an "Equal".

Also it turns out that one 9P was offically named Lloyd George so @mean-scarlet-deceiver watch out for that one lol.

Clara (The Small Green Engine)

A Great Central Railway Class 8B. She was originally a proposed LMS 4-6-0 that I backdated to just before ww1. Just imagine a 4-6-0 midland compound.

She's kinda like a rude jokester? Mean insults, likes to come up with mean nicknames, a bit chaotic, likes to start drama, that sort of stuff. She likes to cause problems on purpose. Just imagine like a really mean version of Queen from Deltarune Chapter 2.

She's like the first engine to become not a dick after she gets purchased and ends up actually becoming fairly nice by the 50s.

Still a chaotic little gremlin though.

Kellie (The Dark Green Engine)

A Highland Railway Clan Class. I love the look of these things lol. \

The first story kinda already showcases most of her personality but yeah she has anger issues. And is Scottish. I wonder what will happen when she meets the twins. She's also somewhat gullible, which I'll be showcasing later. She likes literature though, and maybe when she's alone she can write (and by that I mean her driver) her feelins down in order to get them out. She begins to lean heavily on this in later years and becomes far more approachable. She still gets angry very easily though so watch it.

#ttte #ttte oc #ttte ocs #No-Where Railway #ttte loaners #hope this give some insight on them #train pictures #also I just realized that most of them begin as some shade of green #oh well #lol

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

OC ‘loaners’ working the N.W.R. main line at beginning of 1922 (when Henry arrives on Sodor) 2/3: the “ham engines”

So the whole point of the “ham engines” is that these two look nothing alike: 

Pretty different, right? Also, as of the beginning of ‘22, ham #1 (above) is painted in umber-brown, and ham #2 is painted black. 

And yet, almost no one bothers to learn to tell them apart. 

They are basically locomotive nerds who have bonded over their obsession with the ‘20s radio shows that their Sodor drivers introduce them to. Soon they cannot function without hearing at least one of their ‘stories’ every day.   

This is their defining trait. They speak in nothing but quotations from their shows and in-jokes/homemade memes, and the other engines can’t understand them (the humans have some difficulty too). So none of the other engines get close to them.   

Also, I don’t know any ’20 radio shows, so I have given them no lines of dialogue whatsoever. *shrug* Yep, even the narrative itself can’t be arsed.

I won’t give you their names here, because to even know their names is to miss the whole point of their characters. 

Though they actually each have two names: official names given to them by the N.W.R.—but which literally no one except perhaps Topham Hatt himself ever uses—and rather silly names that the two engines gave each other as a seal of their friendship—their crews and cleaners actually use these names, too. (So, apparently, does Edward. In-story, he will refer to each of them by name on two separate occasions. And both times the other engines are just like “… who?”)

Thomas works with them the most closely, and he loathes them. He is not at all a radio show nerd, and finds them unbearable. He would love some friends at the station, but these two nutters... aren’t ever gonna be that for him. And being on the outside of their inseparable bond makes him lonelier than ever. (There’s also a LOT of jealousy, because they are allowed to take trains, and he isn’t.) He almost certainly was the one to coin the dismissive ‘ham’ moniker (... which is based off of someone’s confusion as to what a ‘ham radio’ and ‘being a ham’ actually are, and that sounds 150% like Thomas to me!) 

Thomas at least can tell them apart (which is more than Henry can). He mocks one of them for being weak, and the other for being (and especially for looking like) a ‘Yankee.’ Henry’s just like… I don’t know what you are talking about? Thomas: C’mon, look! Right over there. Ridiculous spectacle. Total Yank. Henry: … (I relate to Henry because I also cannot tell what looks so American about the ‘Yankee tank.’ Apparently the tells are really obvious, though.)   

Henry vaguely tries to learn their names but fails. Later they are both painted in N.W.R. blue, and that is the absolute end of Henry’s half-hearted efforts to distinguish them.   

As can probably be told by their repainting, the ‘hams’ do give satisfactory service and the Fat Controller buys them (it helps that they are dirt cheap), but not too long after they are then sold to raise funds to bring in Gordon. Thanks to significant improvements that have been made at Crovan’s Gate over their time on Sodor, they turn a nice profit for the N.W.R.

Hatt makes sure they are both sold to the same buyer. Because at this point to separate the two would be cruel. Like an amputation.

Ham #1

painted in umber brown with gold lining at the beginning of 1922

—this was actually an unauthorized job done “off the clock” by the old Wellsworth and Suddery crowd (there’s a whole livery-based power struggle between the N.W.R. and the former W. and S. until at least the mid-‘20s... but that’s another story... )—

Built 1891 by Dübs and Company (Glasgow). Not himself Highland Railway, but identical to the H.R. Class P ‘Yankee tank.’ 

Historically, the first five engines of this design were ordered by the Uruguay Eastern Railway. But then the customer couldn’t pay for them after building. Dübs and Co. then scrambled to find other buyers. Two of these engines became the first of the H.R. Class P. I can’t find info on the other three (didn’t try that hard, either), so, guess what! Ham #1 and, later, one of his brothers get purchased by a small Manx railway. 

Ham #1 is another engine (seems to have been a few, eh, N.W.R. No.s 1 and 2?) who got sent to another railway for war service and... has never really made it back; instead he has made a second career of being sent to other places. It helps that their owners are starting to eye their two Yankee tanks for withdrawal, so ham #1 (full of life just now, having thoroughly enjoyed his war work and now the wonders of pop culture/mass broadcasting) is well-motivated to just stay on the road and be nothing but an invisible revenue source for as long as possible. 

He actually first arrived on Sodor “way back” in 1919, borrowed to help on the old Wellsworth and Suddery line while two of their four engines were in repairs. By 1921, the North Western switched him to the main line, and it was shortly after this that ham #2 arrived. Ham #1 had not gotten on all that well with the W. and S. engines (not quite his fault; no one does), but he and ham #2 fell into instant platonic love. 

Ham #2

painted in black with yellow and white lining at beginning of 1922

—which was ordered by private owner when ham #2 was adapted back to rail service after his ever-so-slightly very terrifying stint as a paper mill generator—

Built 1903 by Henry Hoy of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway as Class 26. 

This class had a troubled history. They were designed to handle heavy passenger trains and steep gradients, and they… didn’t. Not for very long. Their side tanks often leaked and they didn’t stop well. Also, they were too hard on the rails. They had their original flanges removed to make them lighter and easier on the track, but that only led to a good deal of derailment issues.  

Eventually they were given up on as passenger engines. They had some of their water and coal pickup equipment removed to increase visibility, and were put on shunting and banking duties… at which they also did not perform well. Their wheels were rather large for this assignment, and, if they still had their center flanges, that would have helped, but, oh well.   

Given all these problems, someone picked up ‘ham engine’ #2 on the cheap and loaned him out several times, including an eighteen-month stint as a stationary boiler for a paper mill. (This was actually where he got initiated into the joys of radio. Later, he would get ham #1 hooked.) 

The N.W.R. struck a bargain with ham #2′s owner to lease him two years for free with a nominal purchase option in exchange for restoring the stationary boiler to running order at their Works. Some of Crovan’s Gate’s journeyman engineers achieved master status by making some clever modifications to ham #2 (notably re-insertion of the flanges and a change in cylinders and valve gears). With these improvements, ham #2 did just fine on Sodor with shunting, banking (but then there was an incident where his brakes failed and his crew still hasn’t recovered from the fright so nahhhhh), post train, and double-heading trains with ham engine #1... who is quite protective of his new adopted brother. 

#ttte oc #ttte headcanon #real true railway stuff #this is all going in the early n.w.r. fic #'23 loaners

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

OC ‘loaners’ working the N.W.R. main line at beginning of 1922 (when Henry arrives on Sodor) 3/3: Linda

“‘e’s not from nowhere near Doncaster, this great slowpoke ain't,” said the first engine, “listen to the accent on ‘im. I’ve worked there, and everywhere else most like,” she told Henry threateningly, “and I can tell. Don’t try to pull the wool over me.” 

I needed to have some pre-Gordon main line engines on Sodor, and I meant to keep them as, like... easy, distinctive, simple, flat, and un-intriguing as possible.

But I accidentally created Linda, and now she keeps insisting on running roughshod over my narrative. She’s managed to take over the PoV for almost a whole episode? This is not okay?

Linda is an (experimental, of course!) L.B. & S.C.R. B4... the never-rebuilt kind. Her designer was trying to achieve a better mixture of weight vs. tractive power, and somewhat missed their mark, making her too light for use on her intended route in Brighton, so she became a “floater” engine, leased out to different railways. Many leased engines wind up being bought by their hosts, of course, but Linda... has a pretty sharp tongue (and can’t stop criticizing or picking fights literally to save her life), so “floating” has become her entire career. She has worked over twenty different lines all over the country between her creation in 1901 and 1922, when Henry arrives to find her helping out on Sodor. 

The above picture is of her sister Holyrood, but Linda has since been repainted in orchid purple and black (and she now wears “L.B.&.S.C.R.” in place of her name). She teases the story behind this in the fic, but isn’t actually given a chance to tell. Short version: She volunteered to make multiple coastal runs under enemy ship fire during WWI, and as a reward for heroism her managers allowed her to choose her own colors before being sent on to her next assignment. I wish the story did make the fic, because the flip side of Linda being... kind of a dick (but she’s got nothing on the ‘23 loaner engines, lol), is that she is tough as nails, physically and mentally. 

Her original name was The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, but it didn’t last long. Obviously, she went through a period of getting nothing but Unholy Island  (den of sharks! den of sharks! den of sharks!) before acquiring “Linda” from one of her many drivers, which she liked and always tried to get used afterwards. (The N.W.R. usually issues new names readily to even the most temporary engines, as they are not big on either numbers or place-name-names, but "Linda” fit in just fine with their usual theme and so the Fat Controller agreed.) 

She’s got thick skin and remarkably foul language—which the Fat Controller has, semi-futilely, instructed her not to teach Thomas. (Thomas already heard most of it with the engines who worked the island during WWI. The engine that’s actually young and innocent and scandalized is Henry.) 

The workers and crews aren’t thrilled with her—there’s “Sodor license,” where engines are quite expected to be heard as well as seen, but then there’s Linda, argumentative and fierce... and unable to say more than twenty words at a time without insulting someone. The crews are not so stable at this time, for various reasons, and Linda is definitely the hot potato that the unluckiest crew gets “stuck with.” 

The engines, however (Angus excepted), generally get on with her, with no more than the usual amount of shedmate friction (which I guess for normal people means ‘they don’t get on with her’ but anyway they’re fine). It may help that she’s from Thomas’s railway and built in Edward’s workshop, so there are some “extended family” connections here, and for that or whatever reason she’s more often found with those two just... pulling their pigtails, rather than trying to start a real feud. 

In particular, her relationship with Thomas could easily be summarized as:

Linda: Hello! I’m now your evil big sister.

Thomas: I’ve always wanted an evil big sister!

Linda: Why, of course you did! Every rotten teensy station pilot deserves an evil big sister. Now go away and fetch my coaches! ... I’ll micromanage to the point where anyone would want to murder me.

Thomas: Hey, stop being so bossy and annoying!

Linda: ... what exactly did you think an evil big sister would do 

Thomas: Teach me how to cause trouble, mostly.

Linda: Oh, you do very well with that, all on your own.

Thomas: *pleased* Why, thank you, Linda! 

Linda: Oh, you deserve it. I don’t know how you got so good at the art, stuck on this pokey, suffocating island of sweetness and light. You, Tommy, are the self-taught Renaissance con-engine of trickery!

Thomas: *beaming like sunshine incarnated* ... Oi, but call me Tommy one more time and I’ll make the rest of your time on Sodor a living hell. 

Henry, though, is brand-new to railway “den of sharks” culture, and rather sensitive, and definitely finds her (and her frank criticism) hard to take. 

She’s also an interesting source of information for Henry, who is (understandably) miserable on Sodor, and who longs to be sent elsewhere. She sets him straight: He is damn lucky to be there; although, obviously, she always complains, the North Western is still definitely the least objectionable assignment she’s ever had. (This intelligence, which does not take into account the peculiarities of Henry’s situation, does nothing to inflate Henry’s will to live.) 

Linda, obviously, doesn’t stay on Sodor. But, despite all her rough and profane cheek, it is very seriously considered. No one could call her lazy or stupid, and she is just about affordable. (Angus, their first choice, was flat out of their price range; he’s more valuable, despite his age, because he’s stronger and hardier. The ‘20s and especially the ‘30s weren’t the best time to be a light British non-superheated 4-4-0 already several ‘design generations’ out-of-date—a reality that Edward is also about to canonically slam into a year later, though being North Western makes his outcome much better. Unfortunately, on the whole, Linda is not in the best position to survive a decade post-Sodor.) 

But why doesn’t Linda stay on Sodor? Well, that would be a spoiler. It’s... someone’s fault. Obviously, she’ll be the first to tell you it sure as hell wasn’t hers. And, for once, I think she’s right about that. 

#real true railway stuff #(well there's a bit) #ttte headcanon #ttte oc #ttte #the railway series #ttte oc: linda #this is all going in the early n.w.r. fic #i mention that she's not as much of a dick as the 1923-4 'loaner engines' #i failed to mention that arguably she's not even QUITE as much of a dick as the later 'big 3' #so yeah the fact that sodor took to her so poorly but put up with james's bullshit for decades? #i cite some sexism honestly #linda is at least self-aware #she usually KNOWS she's being obnoxious #(and when she is bested has a good chuckle... before she comes back swinging a day later) #(well sometimes more like 10 minutes later) #'23 loaners

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

OC ‘loaners’ working the N.W.R. main line at beginning of 1922 (when Henry arrives on Sodor) 1/3: Angus

Slow, strong, and ever-so-slightly shellshocked from some war-related shenanigans, Angus is a bit of a gentle giant and deeply taciturn... 

... though, as his hosts discover, if you do finally exhaust his nearly infinite patience, he does have the ability to rant on... and on... 

Despite this one memorable outburst, Angus is difficult to dislike (and one of the OCs tries her damnedest to dislike everyone, so that’s impressive). But we don’t get to know him too well. Very shortly after Henry’s arrival, he is returned home. 

I do have some backstory for Angus, though, and it’s a bit of a shame because “home” is a very uncertain word, for him. 

Angus is originally built in 1884 off the design of Caledonian Railway 0-6-0 “294 class,” making him a distant and much older cousin to to the twenty-five-years’ younger Donald and Douglas (well, I would say cousin? they’re not even quite the same class, though you could call them, like... ‘fraternal twin’ classes? though it looks like by RWS standards this is all plenty close enough to be considered 'brother’, idek anymore). 

However, he was actually ordered by a private coal company. So, although he had running rights on the C.R.’s Moffat line, he was not himself C.R....

... though now he (sorta) is. The Admiralty ordered that Angus be put under C.R. management during WWI. His original industrial owners were not all that interested in fighting to get him back after the war, when their business model had changed so much. On Sodor, this situation would be Topham Hatt I’s cue to snag up free new engine yaayy!, but the C.R., not quite so desperate for locomotives, has been more... baffled by what to do with him since 1918. 

Modified by a small, now-defunct engineering workshop with a more powerful boiler and cylinders, Angus is harder to maintain than the rest of the class. Hence, he’s always a favorite choice to ship out when someone (smaller railway or private railway) comes knocking on the C.R.’s door looking to borrow a heavy freight hauler. 

Angus’s color is sage-green thanks to a 1919-20 stint on the Highland Railway, though it’s already so faded that it strikes others (Thomas... we’re largely talking about Thomas) as yellow. 

Angus liked Sodor, untroubled by the vocal green/yellow discourse and the ridiculously heavy workload he was given during his last two months. He was often shedded alone at the goods depot, but he liked the peace and quiet. Actually, on the whole, the other Sodor engines were not an attraction for him. (Although he and Edward got on fine. Angus considered Edward a somewhat flighty young thing, but, whatever, he’s still all right... and Edward even stirred him up so far as an ongoing game of ‘tag-the-truck,’ played in railway yards from time immemorial, although apparently not where Angus comes from wth do you have no joy in life?) That the humans treated him well and didn’t mind his (sometimes blunt) input was the thing that he found so pleasant. The general rural quietude of ‘20s Sodor was also a big draw.

And the N.W.R. would have loved to keep Angus but definitely couldn’t afford him. (To be honest, the fact that they couldn’t keep Angus because they “blew” the ‘new engine budget’ for the year on Henry, their “green elephant,” at first did nothing to endear Henry to some of the souls on his new railway. Though these souls were somewhat misinformed. The budget wasn’t completely blown; strong, reliable Angus was simply the most expensive of their four options by far.) 

The C.R., pitying their neighbor’s 1921-22 struggles (the North Western was in that pitiful a state), did extend the loan several times on pretty gracious terms. But in the end, Angus had to be returned. 

Thanks in no small part to Hatt sorting a replacement boiler for Angus to return home with (as a thank-you to both engine and railway for being so generous with their assistance), Angus does “go on” for over two decades after leaving Sodor. Which is more than all these OCs can say. 

#ttte headcanon #ttte ocs #this is all going in the early n.w.r. fic #real true railway stuff #oh yeah i changed my mind back #i was intrigued by the 'rivers' but they did not fit the criteria i needed for an Angus basis #i miiiiight call them back for one of the Gordon-era loaner engines #two of whom look LNERish and the 'rivers' were designed by the future NER chief engineer #'23 loaners

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

Do you have OCs?

Do I have OCs? Do I have OCs?

*nervous laughter* Ohh… maybe a few…

(And thank you for asking! Even though I have no idea how to begin organizing this one, eesh.)

They include but are not limited to...

Here are the ones I have shared most about on this blog—you can find material in them related to the “ttte oc” tag or else trust yourself to the tender mercies of tumblr’s search function (which I find actually works pretty okay for unique single words within one blog):

the Ulverston—ancient, crusty Wellsworth and Suddery tank. grumpy old fart, though in fact the most chill of a rather spiteful lot, who he generally keeps from being actively terrible. absolutely loyal. a dick Hufflepuff, basically. oh, he was in charge of training Edward on how to manage trucks. (Edward learned more from Skarloey and Rheneas despite them not even being on the same gauge because the Ulverston was mostly like “yeah… i’m not doing that… *waddles away*”)

Janey the Coffeepot—the “daringly shy” one among her three even shyer brothers. anxious sweetheart with a sense of humor and nerve that surprise only those who haven’t bothered to get to know her. she and Thomas were quite close. (Thomas was the protective little/big brother of all the Coffeepots. there was a reason he was “jealous”—and more!—when Toby first arrived.)

Araby—prior to WWI, he had been a new engine on his small railway’s main line, in theory “mixed traffic” but in practice mostly “preening with passengers and obsessed with football specials!” he is sent to Sodor at the beginning of 1917. his crew comes with him from home and stays with him a whole year, hinting to the fact that he’s actually a lovable vain, shallow, sharp-tongued twit… and war service forces him to grow up in a hurry

“the Single”—everyone fails to get a name *small voice* before it’s too late. but he was also one of the engines the NWR scourged up during the Great War. he’s mind-blowingly ancient but easy-going, perceptive, a great source of advice. does this sound familiar to you? yeah, Edward got at least one of his canonical ghost stories from this source. (the Single also once told an absolute mindscrew of a campfire tale. Edward has—so far—kept that one to himself. equally traumatized, Thomas memoryholed it a.s.a.p., but this one still haunts Edward when the moon is right)

Awdie (the Truck)—a particularly troublesome truck during the WWI era. He had once been an Awdry Industries wagon (hence his name, due to faded paintwork). In my universe, All Engines Are Aromantic—but Awdie isn’t an engine now, he is? Has a hopeless star-crossed crush on [Spoiler Alert].

the ’22 main line loaners—Linda, Angus, and “the hams” (Peter a.k.a. Punch and Niall a.k.a. Goonie) They actually have wonderful chemistry with N.W.R. #1-3, if I do say so myself, but due to [QLIR Spoilers] they didn’t last on Sodor. They have their own tag.

Dorothea and Penelope—the N.W.R's top-link coaches when Henry arrives. Dorothea is an absolute trip, out-of-date and at this point is held together mostly by pride, yet still the terror of most engines she works with, whom she will criticize and boss around to the point of rendering them a shivering bundle of nerves. Penelope, the more grounded of the two alpha females, knows her cousin Dorothea is a bit ridiculous but still won’t allow anyone else to cheek her off.

Samuel, Ipswich, and Lloyd (George)—These guys are my take on the Unnamed Tender Engines from TTRE. They appear in snippets and sneak “QLIR” previews in my ficlets.

Myron—Very nervous, selectively mute tank engine who works on the Brendam line starting in WWII. He’s still there when BoCo arrives and I won’t say more than that because [Spoilers].

Araby

Here are a sampling of OCs that I don’t think I've posted about on this blog:

Mesmer Line—He was the Pacific that the North Western was sent during the ’48 Engine Exchange Trials while Gordon was abroad. He’s a real-life SR Merchant Navy 4-6-2, and… a bit of a proto-Spencer in attitude. However, he’s more sympathetic in that there’s a case to be made for his complaints about the way he’s treated on Sodor. (Topham Hatt I, being cheap? There’s no way…) However, his snobbery and carping don’t exactly endear him to the others. Percy (whom, mind you, Mesmer treats like crap) does God’s work in keeping peace at the Big Station despite Mesmer positively baiting the others (who more and more often Snap Back).

Laura—Another guest engine on Sodor during the Exchange Trials. She is a Midland 8F and she’s a delight (especially in contrast to Mesmer). Eager, conscientious, helpful, curious, and optimistic to the point of foolishness… in fact, she does something rather stupid out of excitement on her last day, but by that point the rest of the engines are so charmed that they only rib her about it for about six hours or so before coming together to see her off properly! She treats Henry with great respect, her very own celebrity mentor. This attitude surprises Henry but agrees with him very much so she gets his absolute best side.

Bernice—A Nasmyth Wilson 0-6-0 (formerly of the North Straffordshire Railway—“ah, yes, the old ‘Knotty’!”) and diverted to Sodor by Stanier as a “temporary” replacement engine for Henry. After his return she “got lost en route to totally doing my best to report back to Crewe" helped work Vicarstown and served as the eastern side of the network’s utility/rescue engine. She’s a good-natured, hard-working thing, but she does crack a lot of sarcastic jokes that can rub other engines the wrong way! She never means malice, but she is impatient with the notion that she should think before she speaks… On the other rail, after the war, in a bid to not be sent away, she transformed herself into a pattern-perfect, prunes-and-prisms, butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth paragon of politeness. The engines she worked with quickly realized that she was very boring this way and wound up caving and positively begging her to act “natural” again. Bernice hasn’t looked back since (though she has mellowed, over the decades. She’s since been shifted to one of the newer branch lines, in any case.) I get rid of most of my OCs by the 80s at latest to make way for TVS characters but I’m keeping Bernice coz there should be a lot more 0-6-0s on Sodor, dammit.

Diana—A brisk, busy beaver of a GER J15… yup, another 0-6-0! In fact she’s the one who historically set a record by being built in like nine hours flat and who ran from her photoshoot straight to her first coal trains still in her Works undercoat. Similarly, like fifty years later, she kind of… never noticed that she had ever been withdrawn? She barely ever visits the Works anyway? She was sent to an out-of-use siding once, got bored, and coached two random young vandals on how to drive her away so that they could “go and do something”? She kept knocking about west-wards doing odd jobs and briskly shaping up clueless young diesels and nimbly taking advantage of the fact that God loves an innocent idiot? In 1966, a signalman finally just diverted her over the bridge to Sodor coz, you know. Come on. Bernice and the other engines at Vicarstown promptly got her “adopted” which was easy because on paper she had already been scrapped. Way to go, BR. Way to go.

Dumpling—A trusty old brakevan, repaired so many times that he’s the Sodor exemplar of “who can even tell where this thing came from, how old it is, or who actually, hahaha, ‘owns’ it.” He got his name due to some of his warped wood giving him a “dumpy” shape… but his brakes remain absolutely clutch, and even James scrambles to get Dumpling on his trains whenever possible. (Gordon is the only engine who really sniffs and “won’t have that rotting log trailing at the end of my trains.” James will snap Dumpling questions along the lines of Can’t you do anything about your paneling/peeling paint/roof/[whatever James’s bugbear is that month]?!?… but he won’t actually leave Dumpling behind because, unlike Gordon, he is a goods engine by training, he knows all too well the importance of braking power, and he is smart enough to know that a reliable brakevan is worth its weight in gold.) Dumpling, however, complains very much if he is ever stuck in “the big yards” or “the old harbor,” and prefers to stick as close to the Brendam line as the high demand for his services will actually permit. It’s not uncommon after the second war for Edward to find an excuse to make a special trip to Tidmouth and rescue Dumpling from one of his dreaded overnight stays.

Tild—A mysterious, inscrutable, odd-looking brakevan who arrived at Wellsworth one day in 1948 with no explanation. No one has yet owned up to even being the one who brought her train in. She can tell the future, but she will not tell her backstory (which is that she used to be an engine!)

A preserved sister of Tild's

Aaand here are some OCs that I want to write about one day who don’t actually have anything to do with Sodor. They work a fairly southern depot and they are kinda LMS and also kinda LNER and also screw you, if this level of vagueness was good enough for Wilbert Awdry then it’s good enough for me!

Joscelyn—Her friends call her “Joycie” or “Joz”… which means you can call her Joscelyn, thank you. A proud, exuberant, rough-riding 2-6-0 who is totally not a Gresley K2, but only because committing to that would cause continuity issues. She is our headstrong protagonist, full of determination, loyalty… and spite. She loves her latest assignment, but a new class of engines have been allocated to her depot and she bitterly expects to be forced off her beloved flying kipper duties. Then her faithful crew unearths a secret weapon…

Skimmer—Totally not a Hull and Barnsley Railway survivor. A dispassionate charmer, he proves the perfect partner for Joscelyn, who at first was unimpressed with the notion of needing help from some pre-grouping 4-4-0 passenger engine. She thawed, though, because he proved jut as petty and proud as she was! Together they snark the night long, snigger as they twit anyone in their way, oh… and they run the fastest flyers on the whole route. Bonus: For reasons no one can understand, Skimmer is freakishly coal-efficient on lengthy journeys, keeping the bean-counters off their tenders as they continue to double-head Joscelyn’s old trains for a couple years.

Dot—A hardworking, tightly-wound 0-6-0T who is in charge of the depot’s shunting operations. She is always on the verge of a tizzy, which both the train engines and her subordinates roll their eyes at—but, if you are the one to tip her over the edge and make her cry, everyone will in fact despise you for it. She keeps the whole place from falling apart and deep down everyone knows this. Especially among the rival train engines, everybody gangster until Dot’s had enough. (I should remind you here that dear Joscelyn is a dumbass, so she has to learn this the hard way. Very lucky for her, Skimmer’s been flattering and flirting with Dot since his arrival… and poor Dot doesn't get that treatment often so he's in her graces but good.)

Delphie—An absolutely ancient and hopelessly nearsighted 2-4-0T (Beattie LSWR well tank) who should have been scrapped ages ago, but she’s been hidden away in the deepest recesses of the sheds. By now she is now a multigenerational secret among the workers, who steal away to consult her as both agony aunt and fortune teller for all their deepest troubles. Dot also applies to Delphie whenever she’s absolutely had it… but then again, Dot also frets a lot about what is to be done with her old mentor, too.

Hogan—One of the bigger new 2–6-0s who were sent to replace Joscelyn and her lot. Unlucky for him, he and his lot have more than their share of teething troubles. As they are sorted out, he is uncertain, polite, clueless, and deferential to a fault. (Joscelyn despises him for it.)

Grady—Another of the new Moguls. Joscelyn can’t be bothered, and refers to them both as “Grogan.” Grady is much more confident than his brother, and will push back against Joscelyn and Skimmer and anyone else who tries to make fun of his clan. Less admirably, he is also suspicious of any perfectly good advice…

Delphie, back when she was in *better* shape

#this does not get into human OCs because fml #but i have a Lot #ttte #thomas the tank engine #the railway series #ttte oc #original characters #chatter #ttte headcanon #long post #i've been tooling with this for three weeks now and i gotta post it before i think up a new one

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

QLIR: the forgotten pilot! (2)

So there is a follow-up to the other ‘holy crap I already had thought this all through back in March?’ first-ever TTTE fanfic writing attempt:

Thomas has arrived and the first four rehash… you know… everything.

Stuff I apparently had already decided, even before properly starting work on QLIR:

Thomas basically having a memory issue (though here I also posited Edward having lost his pre-Sodor memories… I’ve abandoned that)

pretty much all my patented early Thomas headcanons

Edward being FC1’s scapegoat early on because FC1 just temperamentally requires a scapegoat and it sure as hell wasn’t gonna be Thomas

Edward’s “airy” tone for when he’s winding Gordon up

the hams! and their radio shows!!

Linda!!! (I had even established that she and Thomas really rather cared for each other a lot, sibling style… despite chronic squabbling)

also, about the above OCs, I seem to have even gotten the hams’ colors almost right? amazing because i distinctly remember changing my mind about them ten times over the course of last summer, but i seem to have wound up almost exactly where i began (one difference: ham #2 was G.N.R. here instead of L. & Y., which is now my 'canon')

Thomas barely remembers anything about this era… except that he totally remembers hating it when they painted the hams blue!

the loaners being the fucking worst (let’s be honest, no surprise, that’s just obvious) and Thomas being kept segregated from them

but that was also the era when Thomas basically blacked out everything about his whole life

the railway almost failing circa ‘22-’23

1954

“You never did talk much about your old railway,” said Thomas. “I can remember being terribly jealous, back in the day, that you had lived on the mainland, and worked other lines, when I was dying to go anywhere. And I did so want to hear some stories, and it drove me crazy because I could never get any out of you.”

“Oh, Thomas! I didn’t realize.”

“It’s probably ungrateful of me to bring up,” grinned Thomas, “you were always so good to me in every other way, and now I reckon there was some reason behind it. But at the time I really thought you must be putting me off on purpose, just to pay me back for all my tricks.”

“Oh, no indeed. I don’t think I had any stories, really.” Edward grew vague. “I could have told you how things were done there, and whenever I met someone else from the F.R. I could say whether I had known so-and-so or not, there would be these flashes, but, as for stories, as for any real memories…”

“They say your memory is the first thing to go.”

“Cheeky pest,” said Edward, still rather faraway. “No, I really don’t remember much at all until the day I arrived on Sodor, with you.”

“That’s an awful first memory,” Henry murmured, with grave sympathy, and Thomas rolled his eyes at him.

“It’s a wonderful one,” said Edward. “I wasn’t exactly a young engine even then, and before being sent out I thought I knew everything. But I suppose I didn’t really live till I left there. The island was lovely. And I can't even tell you if that day was more like a dream, or more like waking up from one…”

“We came over in the same ship, didn’t we?” said Thomas. “So they’ve told me. I don’t remember any of this.”

“No, you wouldn't remember the journey. You still hadn’t ever been steamed!”

“Stuff and nonsense!” said Gordon, opening his eyes, and breaking the pretense that he wasn’t listening.

“Some of the workers thought the same, so it always remained a bit of a question whether Thomas was first steamed to life right here at Tidmouth or not. Afterwards, though, the Fat Controller—the first one—said he was certain that Thomas had never been conscious before; and if he thought so, that’s good enough for me. Anyway, everyone agreed that, whether it was the first or not, this was a very special sort of event—a brand-new engine, or, if not, then still as near new as most should ever expect to meet, waking to the world in the open air, already at his first job—”

“Open air!” Gordon was dubious. “To bring an engine to! That’s scarcely decent.”

“Well, there was a war on, Gordon. Tidmouth was nothing but a clearing with two tracks at that point. The workers used tents when they needed shelter, and it was a fortnight before we’d get even a makeshift shed.”  

“Disgraceful,” said Gordon, and there was some real indignation on behalf of his smaller friends.

“Was it?” returned Edward, in the airy tone he used when he especially wanted to needle Gordon. “I thought it was exciting, getting to help build a new line. But Controller did agree with you on one thing, Gordon—he said it was disgraceful for an engine to have to be brought to without his designing engineer, war or no war. Said an engine is owed that, or as close to it as possible. He made it a special point to not allow it to happen until he could be there himself, even though it caused a delay. I think he must have been a fine substitute. They say his brothers on the mainland didn't fare all too well, but Thomas certainly seemed to get on wonderfully under Controller’s care.”

“I do sort of remember seeing him,” said Thomas vaguely, “and coming to, and the light—it was a rather grey day, with a little wind—and birds cawing, and commotion all around me… felt like it sort of rushed in from a long way off, though. What did I say, do you remember?”

Edward smiled. “Not in front of the rest. You should have that kept private. It was very sweet and funny to listen to you those first few days, though.”

“Eurgh! Sweet?”

“Sorry, Thomas, but there’s no other word for it! I had been pretty jealous, you know—”

“Jealous! You? Of me?”

“And why not? There were only the two of us on site, and everyone was giving you all the attention. Meanwhile I had to pick up the slack when the Fat Controller delayed your steaming, and still again when it took some weeks to get you up to speed.”

“You’ve never been jealous of anyone in your life,” laughed Thomas.

“That’s where you’re wrong. But probably never as much of anyone as I was of you then. I had been told, you know, that once here I would be the biggest engine on all the island, which obviously I knew couldn’t last long, once we got a real railway running. And thanks to you and your first steaming I felt quite cheated out of getting some special attention for once. But I was there as you first came to, and it—well—well, I won’t embarrass you, but suddenly I quite understood what all was the fuss was about.”

“And you didn’t hate me anymore, after that?”

“Bless you, I never hated you a moment. Even before you came to I was curious as could be. And, for that matter, even after you came to, it's not as if I magically stopped feeling jealous!”

“Still?”

“Of course. Controller and the men were ever so much harder on me that summer—“

“Hard on you?”

“Yes. Of course, they were good to me really, but my head was so turned by all the new sights and sounds, and I made all sorts of silly mistakes. I hadn’t been faulted for years, and the corrections were very embarrassing—and meanwhile you were so indulged as you daydreamed and learned. Controller, for all he was very busy that summer, always made a special point of visiting you—you could hear people joke that he liked you more than his own son. Of course I couldn’t help being jealous. And at the same time I couldn’t help being very, very fond of you indeed. Whenever I frustrated about anything, there you were, forever getting stuck in some absurd little scrape, or asking me the most unanswerable questions, or just coming out of nowhere to say the funniest things—this was before you were trying to be funny, you see” (Edward winked, so as to try to reverse course from the heavily mounting sentiment) “so back then you sometimes succeeded.”

“I still don’t like the thought of annoying you,” said Thomas frankly.

“But you annoy him all the time,” Henry observed.

“I don’t like the thought of annoying him before I was trying to.”

“Oh, Thomas. You didn’t annoy me! I’d never had a friend like you before—I don’t know if it was because of how very young you were, or the unusual way you were brought into the world, or just because it was you. But, whatever it was, there had never been anyone on my old railway I liked so well. And when I was frustrated, it wasn’t with you. It was just that I was longing to pass my trial and be told I’d be kept on too. I knew from the start that I wanted to stay on Sodor forever.”

Thomas had gone thoughtful, which was a rather different look on him. “I wonder if that’s why you don’t remember the mainland—you weren’t happy there.”

“Hmm. I don’t know about that. I don’t think I was unhappy there, and there have been some times on Sodor where I was very miserable—not often, but a few—still—this is home.”

“Driver told me once it’s all in an engine’s name,” said Henry. “If you get a new name, it’s a bit of a different lifetime for us. Of course I’ve only ever had the same one ever since leaving the workshop where they made me… such as it was.”

“It works for me too, as they named Thomas and me as soon as we arrived,” said Edward, “but then I’ve heard some engines tell stories from days when they had different names. Haven't you met either of the new narrow-gauge engines?”

“Oh, I’ve met the green one many times,” said Henry, “but he’d be no help. I don’t think he remembers anything hour to hour.”

“Come off it. Sweet little chap, he is!”

“I didn’t say he isn’t sweet; I say his dome’s cracked.”

“But this is most peculiar,” murmured Gordon. “I can remember all the way back to the day I was first steamed, with no breaks at all. I suppose I can understand it in Edward, for if I had spent two decades on some dirty third-rate northern backwater like the F.R. I should readily forget as much as I could too—”

“Gordon.” Edward was rolling his eyes. He never had seen any point in taking offense at Gordon’s various snobberies, but this was rather too much of a classic not to mark.

“—What could possibly be the matter, dear fellow? You clearly don’t care, yourself, and why should you? N.W.R. to your axles, and you’ll be so good as to note I’ve never presumed, even my first day here, to say a bad word about that. Not to you, certainly; you were so full of a simple pride in your young little railway.”

“The word ‘northern’ came up quite a lot that day, too,” Edward muttered to Henry.

“What of it? It is northern. It’s right there in the name.” (Henry was quite amused, and looked happier than he had been since the conversation began.) Gordon went on, with some dignity, resuming the interruption: “Anyhow, Thomas has been here his whole life, and it’s a strange business, his not remembering. Don’t you recall anything from that summer, apart from your first steaming?”

“No I don’t! Bits of it, probably later, ‘coz Tidmouth was already complete…” Thomas was now in that dreamy state of searched remembrance too. “I can see certain things from back then, and feel certain moments, but I couldn’t tell you what was happening… I remember quite a lot of Edward, though I think it's all well after I learned how to annoy-him-on-purpose, and sometimes the first Fat Controller… maybe my crew?… but I think I’m mixing a few of them together… and that’s all I can recall until after the war…”

“You’ve told me about the Coffee Pots,” said Gordon, and then looked at Henry with a grin. “Half-a-dozen times, as I’m told.”

“You know, I’ve told you what others have told me, but now that I’m thinking it over I honestly don’t think I could tell a coffee pot on the rails from a coffee pot on a stove, myself. Anyway, after the war it’s still very fuzzy… very… I remember Henry a bit when Henry was new, and you, Gordon, there was a whole lot of excitement for your first big run and I can remember my driver telling me to behave, and I can sort of recall a few of the others who left… Edward, am I right in thinking there were two tank engines for a while, one black and one yellow? And I couldn’t stand them?”

Edward laughed. “Yes! The ‘ham engines’! I bet you can’t remember a thing they ever said, though.”

“No! And I can hear your voice, and Henry’s, oh, and that floater engine's too—she was very nice, I think—”

Henry spluttered and Edward laughed. “She did have a soft spot for Thomas, at any rate. They were both L.B.& S.C.”

“You were always saying she had some soft spot or another, Edward, and she never did.”

“Well, I can see her smiling at me,” said Thomas, “but those two tank engines, they sound just like trucks in my memory. And I must have worked with them the most. I can see them among the coaches at the big station.”

“Their crews listened all the time to their radios. They would stay late and eat in their cabs while they tuned in. Well, it was quite a thing for a while; sometimes all of us in the shed would listen too—” Here Henry groaned extravagantly, and Edward went on with a grin. “Most of us couldn’t take too much of it, it was all human stories, and hard for us to follow, but somehow the ‘ham engines’ were addicted. It soon got to the point where they never uttered a word that wasn’t some quote from one of their shows. Very confusing—and you found it most annoying.”

“No…” Thomas was still vague, although he had made a face. “No, I don’t remember any radios or stories, and I can’t really remember anything they did, but I do remember finding them right irritating sods—and now all the sudden I can remember how one day they were suddenly painted in our blue. I hated it. Talk of jealousy! I was furious to think that they were a part of my railway now.”

“I couldn’t be bothered to tell them apart after that,” said Henry, who was making a similar face. “They weren’t the same class, and didn't even look particularly alike—one of them might have been an early pannier tank. But when they were together all the time, and the same color, and never spoke any sense, what was the point in trying to keep their names straight? They were sold to raise funds to bring in Gordon… never missed them, myself. And it certainly gave you one less thing to grumble about.”

“He was never exactly at a loss,” said Edward, eyes twinkling.  

“Rude!” protested the tank engine. “Save it for a night I’m not here, if you please!”

“Do you remember, Thomas,” said Gordon, opening one eye, “the time I taught you not to be cheeky with me?”

Thomas stared frankly. “You mean you did?”

The others laughed so hard that Gordon simply snorted and closed the eye again. He rather ruined the pretense of sleeping, though, when he said: “Just as well, good to let go of the dark days.”

“Like when all the loaners were here,” said Henry quietly, and the laughter died.

He and Edward exchanged a look. Gordon only grunted.

All three were quite agreed that, if Thomas had been able to forget the details of those two years, it was all the better.

“All I remember from that,” went on Thomas, quite oblivious to this silent, sober conversation, “is that they separated the tank and tender engines, and moved me out of the shed! I hated it!”

“Little Thomas,” said Gordon patiently, “you hated everything back then.”

“Then?” muttered Henry.

“Well, moreso.” Gordon might have almost been smiling.

“Was I stuck sleeping with those ‘ham engines’ then?”

“No, they were long gone,” said Edward, “and we didn’t know how good we’d had it when they were our worst problem, honestly. Anyway, much of that time you had to work alone, and very hard. You and Gordon were the railway for a year there, Thomas, and you both did splendidly.” No one, even Gordon, saw fit to mention that, in lieu of a proper shed for their tank engine, and with either the yardmaster or the Fat Controller or both working late into each night, almost to dawn, they would watch over Thomas as he slept near headquarters. Strange days. Stressful, and that was the very least of it.

“That time is all a big ugly blur,” scowled Thomas, “and I recall hating all of you big engines. I think I must have even hated Edward for a while there. All of you lot were forever busy, fussing and fighting and being just ridiculous.”

“Well, you did not, in fact, see much of Ed—” began Gordon. But Edward and Henry, for once in agreement, hissed him quiet. Thomas was still talking and probably didn’t notice.

“But no, I don’t remember much in particular from that time. I know the song about you and the tunnel, Henry, but to be honest I don’t remember it at all.”

“Exaggerations and distortions all around,” said Henry, sublime.

“Thomas was the one who made up that silly song to begin with,” observed Gordon, in reproof.

“Hush,” said Henry. “Either you’re sleeping or you’re not, Gordon; make up your mind.”

“It seems that getting any sleep will be a tall order, tonight.” Gordon’s grunt was resigned, as if, yet again, he was being extremely magnanimous in putting up with all of them—and as if he was not, in fact, enjoying himself (especially the parts where he corrected the others) immensely.

“I did?” Thomas was saying, at the same time.

“You were very obnoxious to poor Henry in those days,” said Edward.

“Those days?” demanded Henry.

“Do you remember the day you took his train—”

“—and left the coaches behind?” Thomas rolled his eyes. “No. Everyone tells me that story, and they say I was very happy that day, at the end of it all, because it was my first-ever passenger train. But I don’t recall any of it. I don’t really remember any happenings until…” His eyes glazed.

“Until your branch line, and Annie, and Clarabel,” Edward finished quietly.

Thomas smiled, slowly coming out of his trancelike state. “Yes indeed! A few of the days before there too. I remember taking the breakdown train on James’s first day and buffing up all those terrible cackling trucks, and then the Fat Controller coming with us over to Elsbridge to show me the line, and then… and then it’s all so clear from there.”

#the railway series #ttte #ttte fic #ttte gordon #ttte henry #ttte edward #ttte thomas #... the framing device to a large degree had a lot of such trips down memory lane #because we saw in scene 1 that the original trio had agreed 'we'll keep mum after all' #but the more time they spend reminiscing #(and tomorrow's exhibition features a lot of that too) #the more edward and henry's original vote of 'nooooo! why would we tell?' #turns into #'CONFRONT THE OLD BASTARD WTF SOME OF THIS STUFF WAS SO F'ED UP' #... poor gordon sees none of this coming #'you two might have given me some notice' #... the HC that edward also had a Memory Reset Event did not survive further research into the F.R. #and yet i find that i'm still really in love with his line #'and i can't even tell you if that day was more like a dream... or more like waking up from one...' #i'm just going to go and award myself a +1 for that one #did not remember writing it but i like it! #jobeywrites